GardenDesignOnline

USA's Largest Green Wall

Longwood Gardens opens its new East Conservatory Plaza thie weekend -- October 9th -- with the first terraced lawn in the US designed by British landscape architect Kim Wilkie -- and the largest green wall in North America.

Longwood Director Paul Redman says the design is "deeply rooted in tradition, while also embracing innovative landscape design."  He added that the plaza is to serve as a place for quiet contemplation and a site where visitors can experience creative new programs. 

The green wall covers an area of 3590 square feet -- twice as large as the green wall at PNC Bank in Pittsburgh -- and it supports more than 47,000 plants, most of them ferns.  They include holly, rabbit's foot and button ferns as well as maidenhair and asparagus ferns.

The terraced plaza is composed of five tiers covered with grass in a sweeping form.  Landscape architect Wilkie says the main idea was to create "a gentle environment of light and shade that would be transformed by the changing hours of the day, a place where people could relax in the morning sunshine, enjoy views out onto the rest of the gardens, take in a special event, or perhaps even attend a sparkling party at night."

The plaza is grounded in the surrounding woodland landscape, which includes a 200-year-old English yew, red maples, sweetgum, bald cypress and tulip trees, as well as southern bush honeysuckle, Virginia sweetspire, and other shrubs.

Well worth a visit to Pennsylvania.

(drawings: courtesy Longwood Gardens)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Design: Sustainable Landscapes

Everyone seems to be into sustainable design and sustainable landscapes ... and ASLA has just put up a sustainable design feature on their website featuring 20 projects across the country ...  parks, residential properties, schools, corporate projects, green roofs.

It's a great overview of what's going on in the sustainable design arena.  Check it out here.

New 2011 Roses - David Austin

Five new roses for 2011 from David Austin include some pretty nifty new cultivars that would look fabulous in many a garden design.   Rosa  'Susan Williams Ellis' is pictured above. Austin roses tend to do very well in heat and humidity, so they're usually a great bet if you encounter those kinds of conditions in summer.

This one is repeat-flowering, a sport of the disease resistant pink cultiver 'The Mayflower', and is hardy from zones 4-8. It grows to about 4' high by 3' wide and is said to have a strong "old rose" fragrance.

David JC Austin, the company's managing director, says the five new cultivars represent "our newest and best breeding," and the rose shown left, Rosa 'Lady of Shalott', is his personal favorite.

Similar in style to the well-known 'Pat Austin', its color is apricot and it's said to have improved health and performance. (Must be a real winner!).  It blooms continuously throughout the season and has a warm tea fragrance. Hardy in zones 5-9, it forms a bushy shrub 4' x 3.5'.   "The Lady of Shalott" was a popular ballad inspired by Arthurian legend and written by 19th c. poet Alfred Lord Tennyson.  The rose is named after the Tennyson Society.

Happenings October 2010

Selected Events Around the Country:

Thru Oct 12 Designer Shed Exhibition, Stockbridge, MA
Berkshire Botanical Garden, 413-298-3926
Thru Nov.  Making Scents: The Art & Passion of Fragrance, Kennett Square, PA
Exhibition, Longwood Gardens, 610-388-1000

Oct 1, Oct 8, Oct 15 Landscape for Life, Washington DC
noon, Lectures on Sustainable Gardening, US Botanic Garden 202-225-1116
Oct 2 Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, Pawling, NY
Oct 2-6  6th International Symposium on Japanese Gardens, San Diego, CA
San Diego Friendship Garden, "The Spirit of Japanese Gardens & Japanese Culture" 619-232-2721

Oct 5, Private Gardens of Connecticut, NY, NY
6PM, Lecture, Author Jane Garmey, Hort Society of NY, 212-757-0915
Oct 6-7 50th Annual Landscape Expo, Long Beach, CA
For Landscape Professionals.  Lectures, Demos, Expo, more 714-979-5276
Oct 8, Shaking Their Yankee Foundations, Waltham, MA
8AM-5PM, Symposium on Influential 20th c. landscape architects, Lyman Estate; sponsor: TCLF 202-483-0553

Oct 13 Designing with Silvers, Seattle, WA
6:45PM, Lecture, Author Karen Bussolini, Center for Urban Horticulture, NW Hort Society, 206-527-1794
Oct 13 Top Japanese Garden Designers Lecture , Portland, OR
7PM-9PM, Portland Art Museum, 503-542-0287
Oct 14, Edith Wharton & the Villas of Rome, NY, NY
noon, Lecture, Hort Society of NY, 212-757-0915
Oct 15, Perennial Plant Conference, Swarthmore, PA
8AM-5PM, Swarthmore College, Speakers include Piet Oudolf, Eric Fleischer & others, 610-388-5238
Oct 15-16 Southern Garden Symposium, St. Francisville, LA
Oct 16 Gardening for the 21st Century, Swarthmore, PA
2PM, Lecture, Eric T. Fleisher, Hort director at Battery Park City in NYC, Lang Music Bldg, Swarthmore College, 610-328-8025
Oct 16, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, Austin, TX

Oct 18, Landscape Design Portfolio, New York, NY
6:30 PM, NY Botanical Garden Midtown Center, Lecture on the work of Scottish firm GROSS.MAX 800-322-NYBG
Oct 23, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, San Antonio, TX

Oct 25, Landscape Design Portfolio, New York, NY
6:30PM, NY Botanical Garden Midtown Center, Leture on Andropogon Associates, 800-322-NYBG
Oct 26, Designing & Building Hillside Gardens, Bronx, NY
1-3PM, Workshop, NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700
Oct 29.  Garden Conservancy Symposium, Lafayette, CA
9AM-5PM, Lafayette Library & Learning Center "Fourth Quarter Gardens: An Aug to Dec Romance" (845) 265-2029
Oct 30, Garden Conservancy Open Days Tours, Mount Kisco, NY
Oct 31-Nov5 Backyard Living Conference, Las Vegas, NV
Mandalay Bay Convention Center; Workshops, Demos, Expo 888-869-8522

LOOKAHEAD:
Nov 5 Postwar Landscape Architecture in Georgia, Atlanta, GA
9AM-5PM, Symposium, Atlanta History Center, sponsor: TCLF, 202-483-0553
Nov 6, 8th Annual SALT (Smaller American Lawns Today) Seminar, New London, CT
8:30AM-3:30PM, CT College Arboretum, 860-447-1911
Nov 10 Living Green: Design meets Sustainability, Seattle, WA
6:45PM, Center for Urban Horticulture, Lecture Author Debra Prinzing, NW Hort Society, 206 527-1794
Nov 30-Dec 5, 8th Annual Green Roof and Wall Conference, Vancouver, Canada
Lectures, Workshops, Roof Tours, Expo, Awards & More 416-971-4494