GardenDesignOnline

Green Survey

Hard to believe what people don't know, but here are some of the results from a recent survey of American consumers by Project Evergreen, an organization that promotes the economic and environmental benefits of landscapes and green spaces in communities around the country. 

• 40% of participants said they didn't know that trees, shrubs and lawns remove pollutants from the air.  Did they attend elementary school?
• 55% support tax increases (what??) to build public green spaces and parks.
• 100% agreed that public areas used by children for sports and other activities should have well maintained landscapes.
• 90% agreed that landscaping improves home value
• 45% agreed, 55% disagreed or had no opinion whether access to green space improves worker productivity & provides a sense of rest.
• 80% did not know that trees shading homes can reduce attic temperatures by as much as 40 degrees. 
• 30% agreed that landscaping can reduce energy costs.

Makes you wonder who these people were that took the survey ... and what's been going on in science classes.

New Botanic Garden

Pittsburg is finally getting a real botanic garden. Ground-breaking ceremonies were held earlier this month at the 452 acre site just 15 minutes or so from downtown Pittsburgh.  The garden is located in the southeastern corner of Settler's Cabin County Park on the site of a former minefield.  The project begins with a three-year plan to excavate abandoned strip mines and take care of a serious acid runoff problem that pollutes the groundwater and nearby streams.

Working together on the project are MTR Landscape Architects of Pittsburgh and Overland Partners of San Antonio, TX.  Once complete, the gardens will include Aquatic Gardens, a Meadow Garden, and a three-part woodland of English Woods, Asian Woods, and Appalachian Plateau Woods.  In addition, there'll be an Amphitheater, a Research Center, a Rose Garden, an Appalachian Cove Forest, and much, much more.

(photo: Kate Lewis)

Arty Italian Containers

Here come the new garden containers for the 21st century --
OUT: cherubs and terracotta
IN: Sleek, molded polyethylene from Serralunga of Italy

The top pot, by Israeli architect and designer Ron Arad, comes in a rigid version and in a collapsible version, the only garden container with a changeable shape.  It can bend to fit the plant or the place, and it received a Design Press-Award ICFF New York. The pots come in various sizes and bright colors, as well as white.

Italian designer Luisa Bocchietto came up with a twist on the usual oriental-inspired container.  This container is called Kabin, which in Japanese means cache-pot.  Refined and elegant, the series comes in several sizes and many brilliant colors.

Italian artist Denis Santachiara designed the Pisa pot, which, true to its name, leans a bit to one side. So we have to think about that a bit ... if using a plant that happens to lean to one side or the other.  Or should we plant something that grows absolutely vertical?

All Serralunga items are available at wholesale prices through Gibraltar Furniture in the United States. Serralunga has been producing containers for more than 170 years in the Biella region of Italy.  They are now a leader in the production of contemporary planters made from molded polyethylene.  They're said to be strong, lightweight, and tolerant of sub-zero temperatures.  Many more styles are available.

(photos: Serralunga/Gibraltar Furniture)

September Happenings 2006

Sept 9 Eastern IA Garden & Landscape Show, Cedar Rapids, IA
Brucemore Estate, 9AM-4PM

Sept 9 Wilmington City Garden Contest Awards
2PM, DE Center for Horticulture

Sept 9-10 Garden Conservancy Tours, CT, NJ, NY
NJ: Middlesex County; CT: Hartford County; NY Columbia, Dutchess, Westchester Counties

Sept  11  Secrets of the  Chaparral,  Del  Mar,  CA
6:30PM,  Surfside Race Place.  San Diego Hort  Society Lecture on plants that tolerate  summer drought, winter rain, wildfire.

Sept 11-12 8th Urban Land Institute 8th Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA
Omni Hotel, CNN Center. Place Making: Developing Town Centers, Transit Villages, and Main Streets

Sept 12-13 Historic Landscapes, Madison, WI
Seminar, National Preservation Institute reviewing the basics of scenic vistas; designed, cultural, rural, agricultural, and urban landscapes. In cooperation with The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF); the National Park Service, Historic Landscape Initiative, and the State Historical Society Society of Wisconsin.

Sept 15-17 3rd Annual Garden Fair , Winterthur, DE
Winterthur Museum & Gardens. Lectures, Demos, Plant Sales, Plus. Sponsored by Horticulture Magazine.

Sept 16 Annual Orchid Auction, Orlando, FL
9AM-2PM Harry P. Leu Botanical Garden

Sept 17 Garden Conservancy Tours, CT, NY
CT: Fairfield County; NY: Putnam, Westchester Counties

Sept 20 Garden Market Expo, Las Vegas, NV
14,000 garden retailers, horticultural growers, mass merchandisers, gift and department stores, and more.

Sept 21 Studio Workshop, NYBG
10AM-2:30PM with Landscape Architect Henry M. White, III, who's collaborating with LA Cornelia Oberlander and Architect Renzo Piano on the landscape plan for the new NYT headquarters in Manhattan.

Sept 21-22 Potomac River Gorge Rare Plants, Washington DC
9-21: 1-4 PM Guided 2-3 hour hike; 9-22: Lecture 12-1 PM, US Botanic Garden

Sept 23 - Nov 5 Exhibit on Great Gardens of the World, Chicago, IL
Chicago Botanic Garden, "In Search of Paradise: Centuries of Great Garden Design"

Sept 23, 24 Garden Conservancy Tours, CA, NC, TX
CA: Sonoma County; NC: Wake County; TX: Dallas County

Sept 26 City Roof Design, NYBG
10AM-1PM Lecture, the fundamentals of roof gardens with designer Jeff Mendoza

Sept 28-Oct 1 Stonework Symposium, Hood River, OR
6th annual meeting of The Stone Foundation, an international society of stone masons, contractors, designers, suppliers, landscape architects, artists.

Sept 30 Garden Conservancy Tours, AZ, NC, NY
AZ: Pima County; NC: Orange County; NY: Nassau County

LOOKAHEAD:
October 6-9 American Society Landscape Architects (ASLA) Annual Conference Minneapolis, MN
OCT 20 PERENNIAL PLANT CONFERENCE, SWARTHMORE,PA
Scott Arboretum 8AM-5PM
NOV 6-10 Aqua Show , Las Vegas NV
Nov 15-17 Greenbuild, Denver, CO
International Conference & Expo, CO Convention Center
Nov 28-Dec 1 Pool & Spa Expo / Backyard Living Expo, Las Vegas, NV

Philadelphia Gardens VII (and last)

A Small Space Masterpiece

This is a story about inspiration:  the inspiration that drives the design, and a very inspired design by landscape architects Mara Baird of ML Baird & Co. in Jenkintown, PA and Michael LoFurno of Composite Inc. in Philadelphia. Baird was mainly responsible for the design; LoFurno designed the plantings and figured out how to implement the plan.

The owners purchased a long narrow strip of land next to a church in order to expand their rear garden area. The wall of the Church of the Crucifixion in Philadelphia's Society Hill area contains one of many mosaic murals that artist Isaiah Zagar has installed outdoors around the city. According to  Baird, the design is not intended to compete with the wall, "but rather to respond to it, provide it a sympathetic context, and echo selected forms and colors within it."  She settled upon blue glass swirls in the walkway and metalwork that accentuates the metal bars on the church windows.

The owners wanted to share the art wall with the public, yet "they were concerned for their own privacy and security in an urban setting," said Baird.  Thus, "the design layout as well as the planting concept took care that the narrow linear space not be viewed at a single glance, but that the garden be revealed by moving through a variety of spaces," she said.

LoFurno said he selected the plantings to make the garden read like three separate rooms connected by a passageway.  He used as many native American species as he could, and carefully selected trees, shrubs, and perennials that mirrored the colors in the mosaic wall.

(click on images for larger view)

Hope for Honeybees

American honeybees have been hard hit over the past several years by parasitic mites and cold winter temperatures.  But now, there's hope that a new breeding program with Russian honeybees may give our own bees disease and temperature resistance. The Russian bees, from the eastern Primorsky Territory, have natural resistance to varroa mites, which suck blood from adult bees and their broods. A hive with tens of thousands of bees can be destroyed by varroa mites in six months or less, and wild hives throughout the country have now been nearly eliminated.

The Russian bees are also impervious to tracheal mites, which clog the airways of honeybees.  The Russian bees are fastidious groomers, and brush the mites away with their legs.  In recent trials, the Russian bees displayed superior winter hardiness as well, because they use winter food supplies more efficiently.

According to the Agricultural Research Service of the US Dept of Agriculture, Russian bee stock is being distributed to US honeybee queen breeders for more trials and evaluation.  The eventual goal is to supply US apiaries with 36 to 40 lines of queen bees that are resistant to mites and cold weather.  Honeybees pollinate dozens of crops, from flowers and apples to zucchini and cucumbers.  Food, feed, and fiber crops dependent on honeybees total almost $15 billion annually.

Russian queens are available through Bernard's Apiaries, Inc. in Breaux Bridge, LA, 70517 or email [email protected].

(photo: ARS/USDA)

Jessie

Wow!  Somehow I missed this plant when it was first announced ...  but for everyone else who also missed it, here it is .. Euphorbia 'Jessie.'  According to Barry Glick of Sunshine Farm & Gardens in Renick, WV, this stunning plant came about through a chance cross.  As Barry put it, "I wish that I could take credit for coming up with the idea in the first place, but Mother Nature did the thinking for me and in a bed of E. Griffithii 'Fireglow' growing side by side with E. polychroma, one summer evening romance filled the air and the "love child" 'Jessie' was conceived.  Barry has very limited quantities of this plant available to wholesalers at the moment ... so designers ... get in your requests soon!  'Jessie' has vivid yellow bracts, grows to a height of 48-60" and in autumn takes on bright red hues.  Moreover, this Euphorbia is sterile, so it does not seed around, and it's said to be hardy to zone 5.  Glick says it will probably handle zone 4 as well, it does well in sun or shade, and only needs average moisture. 

(images: Sunshine Farm & Gardens)

Philadelphia Gardens VI

LAWNS THAT LINGER IN THE IMAGINATION

Lawns can be one of the most annoying design challenges:  how to make them look like they belong in the design and make them functional at the same time.  Far too often, we see giant tongues of green stretching across the front of the house with no form and no meaning other than a tiresome chore. 

This side yard lawn in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia was formerly a dull green hillside.  The transformation of the space was achieved by adding the stone wall, terracing the lawn and giving it definition with the circular shape.  This is now a delightful garden to walk around or to view from the small terrace, which is perfect for breakfasts, lunches, or pre-dinner drinks and hors d'oeuvres.

In the front yard, the driveway that runs past the front steps is artfully obscured. The eye is drawn away from the drive and to the lovely rectangular lawn and surrounding planting beds centered on the front entrance.  To each side of this lawn are trapezoid-shaped patches of lawn, again surrounded by planting beds and walkways. 

(click on images for larger view)       

An Enlightened Idea

Here's an excellent idea that many nurseries might want to follow in their own communities.  In Monroe, CT, the Conservation Committee is considering plans for landscaping around the town's new library.

Ken Twombley of Twombley Nursery  (which, by the way, has wonderful plants) suggested the creation of an "educational arboretum," using native trees and shrubs, instead of normal landscaping.  Mr. Twombley told the committee the arboretum would need volunteers, but that perhaps town residents and businesses could donate "memorial" trees. Sounds like a great plan to get citizens involved in good landscape practices, in planting more greenery, and tagging the trees and shrubs so that everyone can find out what they are.

Philadelphia Gardens V

Repetition in Design

This is the story of a true garden rescue in the Chestnut Hill area of Philadelphia.  The house, Clevegate, built in 1911, is named after an English estate, and it eventually fell into serious disrepair.  The current owners purchased the property bordering on Fairmont Park in 1987, and after restoring the house, they began work on the gardens, adding a pool, retaining walls, and 50 trees to avoid further run-off into the park. The front view of the house includes paving in a diagonal pattern and vines growing up the front of the house. 

As you enter the property, the diagonal paving appears in front of you, and just a little further down the drive, you come upon a small house on the right.  This is the pool house, and steps set into the lawn lead down the incline to the pool house entrance.

(click on images for larger view)