Some of us save maps; some vinyl LPs. Others hoard swatches of fabric, election buttons, or ticket stubs. But now you can drink your wine and save the bottle, too, thanks to Scott Cohen's Green Scene landscaping designs. Combining recycling with his avocation (pottery), his vocation (landscape design and construction), and his joy (great wine), Scott has been producing award-winning water features, pools and spas, outdoor kitchens, hardscapes, and more for clients throughout Southern California for nearly two decades.

Cohen takes great pleasure in re-imagining a plot of land to be more earth-friendly, while adding whimsy and creativity in the process. And whether he works with concrete, plants, water, sod, or other materials, he's always looking to reduce, reuse, or recycle—even reconstituting jack-hammered concrete as a substrate surface on which to rebuild.

"On a day-to-day basis," he says, "there's a lot we can all do—without being extremists—to improve our planet. Landscaping is my recycling canvas," he adds.

His spa and water feature utilizes 450 wine bottles and 500 fiber optic cables. The bottles are positioned with interlocking concrete shims to allow stacking and to carry the weight load and then lit with fiber optic cables that track back to an illuminator. The effect is one of dancing lights behind cascading water. "The public has been pretty good about recycling their wine bottles," Cohen notes, but this way you get to drink your wine and save your memories too."

Cohen looks for clients who cherish the unique and different. "With the advent of outdoor rooms, he says, "the standard solutions create additional demands for electricity and gas. But we can reduce those needs substantially with conscious design and plant selection." In fact, his next project will be an outdoor shower (below) with an old-fashioned rain barrel serving as the water source. The privacy wall will be—what else?—wine bottles!

ALISAN PETERS