GardenDesignOnline

Happenings October 2011

Selected Events Around the Country:

Sept 29-Oct 1 The Landscape Show, Orlando, FL
Florida Trade Show: Lectures, Demos & More. 407-295-7994

Oct 2, Annual Fall Garden Tour, Charleston, SC
1PM-4:30PM, Hampton Park & Wagener Terrace gardens, 843-579-9922
Oct 3, Character, Significance & Spirit of Place, NYC
6:30 PM, Lecture, Brazilian designer Rosa Kliass, NYBG Midtown Center, 800-322-NYBG(6924)
Oct 6-8 America in Bloom National Symposium & Awards, Washington DC
Garden tours, lectures, awards and more. AHS, 614-487-1117.
Oct 7 Leadership in Landscapes: Design from around the World, Kennett Square, PA
8:30AM-2:30PM, Symposium, Longwood Gardens, 610-388-1000
Oct 7, Sustainable Gardening for Homeowners, Washington DC
noon, Lecture, US Botanic Garden, 202-225-1116
Oct 8, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, Putnam County, NY

Oct 9, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, Tarrant County, TX
Oct 11, Small Spaces, Big Impact, Baltimore, MD
7:30PM, Lecture, Chanticleer curator Jonathan Wright, 410-821-5561

Oct 14 Perennial Plant Conference, Swarthmore, PA
7:30AM-5:30 PM, Scott Arboretum, 610-388-1000 (CEU's, APLD, ASLA)
Oct 14, Right Plant Right Place, Washington DC
noon, Lecture, US Botanic Garden, 202-225-1116

A Dumbarton Oaks Revival

Finally, there's a real plan and a real organization to save Dumbarton Oaks Park.  Designed by celebrated landscape architect Beatrix Farrand as part of the original estate owned by Mildred and Robert Bliss, the property was split up in 1940.  The buildings and gardens were donated to Harvard University and the 27-acre park was donated to the National Park Service and then fell into disrepair due to a lack of funds and other problems.

On April 12th, Dumbarton celebrated its 70th anniversary, and a new organization -- the Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy -- was officially launched to raise money for the restoration of the park and its perpetual maintenance.

The president of the conservancy is Roberta Trafton, a founder of the organization and also producer of GardenStory, a PBS series on the ways gardens influence peoples' lives.  Joining Trafton at the ceremony was Harvard University professor E.O. Wilson, a biologist and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction.  Wilson spent much of his childhood exploring the park and after the event said that the landscape likely needs a plan to overcome flooding problems before supporters can tackle its biological restoration.

(photo: Dumbarton Oaks Conservancy)

Happenings Oct 09

Selected Events Around the Country:

Oct 1, Big Little Skip in the Middle, Washington DC
5:30 PM, Lecture, landscape architect Ken Smith, Music Room, Dumbarton Oaks 202-339-6460
Oct 1 Green Landscape Tour, Oakland, CA
5PM-7:30PM, Margarido House, Tour of LEED-H Platinum rated home, landscape & roof garden. $25, benefits Garden Conservancy 415-441-4300
Oct 1-3 The Landscape Show, Orlando, FL
Orange County Convention Center, Seminars, Demos & More 800-375-3642
Oct 2, Global Plant Conservation, Chicago, IL
8:30AM-6PM, Symposium, Chicago Botanic Garden, 847-835-8261
Oct 3, Garden Conservancy Tour, Pawling, NY
2PM-6PM, Brine Garden

Oct 4, Garden Tours, Charleston, SC
12 noon-4PM, Folly Beach, Charleston Hort Society 9th annual "Gardens for Gardeners Tour," 843-579-9922
Oct 4, New Forms & Texture for Gardens, Washington DC
2PM-4PM, Lecture by Horticulturist Sean Hogan, US National Arboretum 202-245-2726
Oct 9 Symposium on American Landscape History, Bronx, NY
8AM-5PM, NY Botanical Garden, "Shaping the Am. Landscape: NYC & the Region," 202-483-0553
Oct 10-11 Green Festival, Washington DC
DC Convention Center, Green Homes, Gardens, and Much Much more.

Oct 11, Garden Conservancy Tours, TX
10AM-4PM, Arlington & Fort Worth
Oct 13, Symposium on American Landscape History, Nashville, TN
Day-long Conference, Cheekwood Gardens, "Shaping the Am. Landscape: Tennessee Valley Authority," 202-483-0553
Oct 16 Perennial Plant Conference, Swarthmore, PA
Scott Arboretum, Swarthmore College
Oct 17, Chickenomics, Brooklyn, NY
12 noon-2PM, Lecture, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 718-623-7200
Oct 17, Garden Conservancy Tour, NY
10AM-4PM, New Paltz
Oct 17 - Nov 15, Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden, Bronx, NY
Special Exhibition, Many Events, Final Year of the Kiku Exhibition, NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700

AHS Awards

The American Horticultural Society (AHS) has announced its 2007 award winners honoring great American gardeners.
Among the award winners this year are:

Michael Dirr, author, researcher, and professor at the University of Georgia (Athens). Cited for significant contributions in teaching, research, writing, plant exploration & more. We in the landscape design business all know him best for his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses
It's the most comprehensive woody plants guide in the United States, and if you don't have it, click the link above and order one.  You'll never regret it.

Dr. Elwin R. Orton, researcher and professor at Rutgers University.  He's hybridized more than 20 species of holly, as well as pyracantha and dogwoods. Extraordinary achievement in plant breeding.

Paul Saunders of Saunders Brothers Nursery in Virginia, leading growers and researches on boxwood. Cited for excellence in the field of commercial horticulture.

Kathleen Norris Brenzel, senior editor at Sunset Magazine. Cited for effective communication using media and research techniques for expanding horticultural awareness.

Steve Martino, landscape architect in Phoenix, Arizona. Cited for expanding the awareness of horticulture in landscape architecture.

Read the full article on this year's winners, along with winning books, in the current issue of American Gardener  magazine.

New AHS President

The American Horticultural Society has named Deane H. Hundley as its new President and CEO.  Hundley was most recently employed as a consultant with Ketchum, Inc a fundraising firm that works with non-profit groups.  Prior to that position, Hundley was CEO of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, FL, where he was in charge of financial and business operations.  Susie Usrey, Chair of the AHS Board of Directors, said Hundley's "unique blend of leadership and experience" will push the AHS to the next level "and help us turn our dreams into reality."  Hundley replaces Katy Moss Warner, who retired last summer.

Up on the Roof

You could hold a big party up on the new roof of 636 I Street NW in Washington DC -- headquarters of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

The plants are still growing in, but you can see the greenery from street level, and tours will soon be underway by appointment. ASLA unveiled the 3300 square foot project this week and hopes it will inspire others to plant their roofs as well.

Nancy Somerville, ASLA's Executive Vice President/CEO, said green roofs in general have positive environmental benefits in cities "where green space is at a premium."  While she admitted that this one roof "is not going to make a dent" in DC's air quality, she said planted roofs can reduce roof temperatures by 90 degrees, reduce heating and air conditioning costs, improve storm water retention, and make roof replacement unnecessary for 40 years or more. And, if enough owners put green roofs atop their buildings, they together could have a significant impact.  DC currently ranks second in green roofs in the United States, just behind Chicago.

This roof was designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Inc., of Cambridge, MA and New York City. Landscape architect Chris Counts said the designers wanted to use the roof as an educational tool and also take the concept a step further to "what the next generation of green roofs would be like."  He said it was "quite a challenge" to come with a design that had "a spatial quality" in the flat, 38 x 82 foot space. You have to acknowledge the solution is very ingenious.

(photo left: Courtesy Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc)
(click on images for larger view)