Mr. Bartlett first did landscape architecture work with his maternal grandfather while still in high school in Rhode Island. Before graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Bartlett led a team of Washington, D.C. high school students on renovation projects of two inner-city parks that won a beautification award from the D.C. mayor’s office.

In 1973, he opened his firm, Michael V. Bartlett Inc., in Bethesda, early on redesigning gardens at the Moroccan, French and Finnish embassies and consulting on the renovation of Blair House in the 1980s.

Mr. Bartlett developed garden and landscape designs for estates along the Maryland and Virginia shores, commercial housing projects in Loudoun County, Va., and for private clients nationwide. He also worked on many projects for Chevy Chase Bank.

Just last fall, Mr. Bartlett traveled to Germany, the Czech Republic and Switzerland to complete photography for his book, Bartletts’ Encyclopedia of Garden Ornament, which is near completion. He and his wife occasionally lectured on their garden discoveries, and some of Mr. Bartlett’s photographs were exhibited at the Govinda Gallery in Washington in 2006.