GardenDesignOnline

America's Front Yard: "An International Embarassment"

A panel of top design experts led by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), has called for a comprehensive plan to re-vitalize the National Mall in Washington DC.  According to the panel, the Mall, which stretches two miles from the US Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial, is now in a state of crisis.

At a Washington news conference, ASLA president Angela Dye  said the Mall's "deplorable conditions" make it an "international embarrassment." She said that wear and tear from 25 million visitors a year has made the soil as "hard as concrete" and reduced the average life of newly-planted trees to no more than seven years.  In addition, she noted, stagnant water in the reflecting pool at the base of the Capitol is a "danger to wildlife."

The six-member ASLA design panel issued its report after a two-day meeting and tour of the Mall in March.  While the panel strongly supports a preliminary National Park Service plan to improve the Mall, it urged a broader vision that would also preserve the legacy of the original 1791 design plan by Pierre L'Enfant.

As panel member Gary Hilderbrand put it, "We need a comprehensive urban design plan that venerates the Capitol and venerates the Grant Memorial, one that accommodates our democratic tradition of public assembly... and one that re-connects these great symbolic components with the larger urban fabric of the District of Columbia."

Hilderbrand said the National Mall should be a "model of sustainable urban ecology," and he added that a plan is needed to re-vitalize the soil, improve the water quality, and revive or replant the "most significant stand of American elms in the United States," (600 of them).

The panel's report strongly supports the current standing ban on any new memorials or museums that have not already been approved; proposes an international design competition to reconsider plans for the Union Square/Reflecting Pool area at the base of the Capitol; calls for a centralized interpretation or visitor orientation center; and agrees with the Park Service plan to re-build the crumbing seawall around the Tidal Basin and calls on Congress to come up with the funds to bring the Mall back to life.

As the panel members noted, Congress should certainly consider using some economic stimulus funds to support the plan -- and create jobs in Washington DC in the process.

 

NYPD 9-11 Rose

A new rose from Bailey Nurseries, named 'The Finest'™ (Rosa 'BAlnest') is the latest selection for the "Remember Me" rose gardens that are to be created in memory of those lost in the 9-11 terrorist attacks in 2001. 

This hybrid tea honors the NYPD's 23 members who died in New York City while trying to save others on 9-11.

The new rose is ever-blooming, with full, pure white flowers and a spicy fragrance.  It's grown on its own roots (a very desirable trait), reaches a height of about 3-4 feet, and is hardy to zone 5.  It's also said to have disease-resistant foliage. It was hybridized by Bailey's Ping Lim.

The rose is available this spring at retail garden centers, and a donation from the sale of each one goes to the "Remember Me" rose gardens in New York City, Washington DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. So far, roses selected for the gardens have been tested, but final sites for the gardens have not yet been chosen.

Inaugural Crowds Damage Mall Garden

The Smithsonian's Mary Livingston Ripley Garden -- one of the small gems in Washington DC -- was badly trampled by crowds during the recent inaugural.  Read the sad story on The Human Flower Project.  Link is here.

And here's the link to my earlier story about the garden itself.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year

Rosa 'Peace'

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
from Garden Design Online

The Peace Rose was bred in France by Meilland International in 1942, and it has long been associated with the end of World War II.

It was named the day that Berlin fell to the Allies, and won honors from All-America Rose Selections on the day that a peace agreement was signed with Japan.  That same day, members of the United Nations were presented with its blooms.

'Peace' is a hybrid tea about four to six feet high, three feet wide; pale golden blooms with pink edges, and a strong fragrance. Zone 6 and higher.  Requires winter protection if the wind chill factor drops below 20 degrees F.  A wonderful rose, well worth growing.

Garden Design Online will return in early January.

(image: Jackson & Perkins)

Sustainable Gardening Survey

A new survey by the American Society of Landscape Architects has found that most American households are taking action to adopt practices to promote energy efficiency within their homes -- but not outside in the garden.

The survey indicates that 90+ percent of Americans turn off light bulbs more often, 55 percent have decreased the use of air conditioning and heating, and 38 percent unplug appliances when not in use, but the percentages drop drastically when people move outdoors.

Only 29 percent of respondents plant shade trees to lower energy costs; 23 percent use tools like hand mowers or hand rakes instead of power mowers and leaf blowers; and only 15 percent recycle water or collect rainwater for watering plants.   Most people said they would institute sustainable techniques in the garden if they knew more about them, and most agreed that such methods would save them money.

ASLA Executive Vice President and CEO Nancy Somerville said the survey results "clearly show a desire and willingness to use techniques that reduce utility bills at home, but few know what can be accomplished outside their homes."  She added that the space between buildings is "just as important -- perhaps more so -- to not only reducing energy costs ,but addressing a broad range of environmental issues."

ASLA, along with the US Botanic Garden and the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, are soon expected to release voluntary guidelines and a rating system for sustainable landcape design, covering back yard gardens as well as major urban developments.  A recent case study comparing a conventional and a sustainable garden found that the sustainable garden cost $4300 more to install, but it uses 77 percent less water, produces 66 percent less green waste, and costs 68 percent less annually to maintain.  Holly Shimizu, Executive Director of the US Botanic Garden, said once the new standards are in place, they can "change not only the landscape and gardening industry, but also raise public expectations about the health and quality of the built environment."

California's Largest Green Roof

California Academy of Sciences
The new California Academy of Sciences building in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park opened last weekend -- with the largest green roof in the state.  The roof itself spans 2.5 acres, featuring seven hills covered with more than one million native California plants.

The undulating roof was designed by architect Renzo Piano, with the aim of integrating the building into the landscape of the park.  The only difference between the plants on the ground and on the roof is that the roof plants are all California natives.  Academy botanist Frank Almeda explained that his goal was "to choose native plants that were well adapted to the climate in Golden Gate Park and would provide much-needed habitat for native birds, butterflies, and other beneficial insects." He added that another goal was to "select species that would look attractive throughout the year, since a visually appealing roof is a much more powerful educational tool." 

Thirty species were tested on the roof of the old Academy before a final nine were selected -- all plants that can survive on the roof's steep slopes without artificial irrigation or fertilization.  The nine winners are:

• Self heal. (Prunella vulgaris) - shown left. Attractive to hummingbirds and bumble bees.
• Beach strawberries (Fragaria chiloensis).  Berries attract native birds.
• Sea pink (Armeria maritima) Flower attract moths and butterflies.
• Stonecorp (Sedum spathulifolium) Produces nectar for Hairstreak butterfly and threatened San Bruno elfin butterfly.l

News & Notes 9-18-08

Free Garden Books
GardenVisit.com is giving away eBooks through the month of October to celebrate its 10th anniversary.  They are:
The Principles of Garden Design by Garden Visit editor Tom Turner
24 Historic Styles of Garden Design by Tom Turner
You can download them at the Garden Visit website.

Free Water-Wise Landscaping Seminars
Saturday, Sept 20, 2008
Mountain View College, Dallas TX Room 171, West Bldg.
Water Wise Landscape Design 9AM-12:30PM
Fantasic Plants for North Texas 1:30PM-5PM
INFO: 214-670 3155 or this website.

Organic Lawn Project through October 15
Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge, MA 413-447-7582
The garden has opened a Natural Lawn Demo Project to teach visitors how to create organic lawns without using harmful chemicals.  If you have to have a lawn, this is how to do it.

PA Hort Society Web Video Show
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has a new weekly gardening video show, Gardeners' Studio, starring Philadelphia Flower Show designer Sam Lemheney and Jessica Story, the head grower at Meadowbrook Farm in Meadowbook, PA. The first installment aired on Sept 17th, and it can be viewed at www.philly.com

News & Notes

New Sustainability Website

The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College has a new website on sustainability:  native plants, lawn alternatives, invasive species, plant conservation, just to name a few of the topics covered.  Also -- classes at the arboretum on sustainable subjects, and a section on how you can make your own garden more ecology-friendly.

Sky Gardens Website

Green Roofs.com has started a new blog on ... well ... green roofs.  An interesting resource for those interested in greening cities.

Green Roof Tours

And ... if you're hankering to see some terrific green roofs .. in Europe .. check out the Green Roof Safari website ... guided tours to some of the best green buildings in the world.

A Trip to the Archives

Garden Design Online is going to take a couple of weeks off to attend a landscape design conference, see a lot of great gardens and gather material for the blog.

In the meantime, here are links to some of your and my favorite past posts:

The all-time most popular post: Pushing the Crape Myrtle Envelope

Other favorites:

New Plants to Covet

Late Summer Plants

A "Green" Grower

Green Driveways

Philadelphia Gardens IV

Philadelphia Gardens VII

Channeling Oehme-Van Sweden

Garden Sheds & Hideaways

Abolish the Lawn, Improve the Community

The Huntington's New Chinese Garden

The Art of Color

Happy reading, and see you in a couple of weeks!

The White House Grows

Roosevelt Redux?

Presidents like to rip up the records of their predecessors, and that includes changes on the grounds of the White House.  Reagan ripped off the solar panels that Jimmy Carter installed on the mansion, and there's no trace today of the Victory Garden planted by the Roosevelts. 

So in this time of climate change and high fuel prices, Roger Doiron thinks it's time to "Eat the View" at the White House.  In an interview with Garden Design Online, Doiron, founder of Kitchen Gardeners International, said he's urging the next president to re-plant "an edible landscape" at the White House as an example to all Americans to conserve energy.

Doiron points out that it takes 10 calories of fossil fuel to produce every one calorie of food consumed.  Put another way, the average food item in the United States travels 1500 miles to get to your plate -- and costs 400 gallons of fuel.