GardenDesignOnline

Garden Trends 2017 - II

Everyone has a different take on garden trends, and this one is the latest -- from Garden Design Magazine.

Hoerr-Schaudt via Garden Design Magazine

Geometry is out, natural materials are in, and consumers favor a more DIY look to their gardens.

Color-blocking is also popular, as in a bold wall color to set off a particular plant or an outdoor sofa, or as in a solid color outdoor rug on a patio.

Native plants continue to be popular, but designers are also looking for locally sourced plants and materials.  Lawns are out, particularly because of drought and water shortages, replaced by grasses that don't need mowing or - yes -- by artificial turf.

While vegetable gardens, chickens and bees remain high on the list of "wants," the latest in the modern homesteading trend is for dye gardens -- ie, plants that can be used to make natural dyes for coloring clothing, textiles, and yarns.

More designers are mixing traditional and new styles and installing creative spaces for child's play and for entertaining.

Sustainable remains the current watchword, and tons of new dwarf shrubs that require little maintenance are being patented to go along with the trend toward smaller houses.

Happenings November 2016

SELECTED EVENTS AROUND THE COUNTRY:

Exhibitions:

Nov 5-April 16, 2017, "The Landscape Architecture of Lawrence Halprin," Washington DC
National Building Museum, 202-272-2448, sponsor: TCLF

Nov 19-Jan 16, Holiday Train Show, NY Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 718-817-8700
Nov 19-Jan 1, Garden Glow, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, IL 314-577-5100
Nov 25-Jan 2, Wonderland Express, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL, 847-835-5440

 

Nov 1-4, Cities Alive Annual Green Roof & Wall Conference, Washington DC
Nov 1, Larry Weaner's Revolutionary Landscapes, Washington DC
7PM, American University, Lecture by Larry Weaner, sponsor: Garden Conservancy 845-424-6500 x 212
Nov 3, "The Landscapes of New York," New York, NY
12 noon, Lecture, 92nd Street Y, author &  garden historian Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, sponsor: Garden Conserancy 845-424-6500
Nov 3, "Wild by Design," New York, NY
7PM, Lecture, LA Margie Ruddick, 92nd Street Y, sponsor: Garden Conservancy 845-424-6500
Nov 5  Water-Wise Landscaping Seminars, Dallas, TX
9AM-5PM, Richland College, sponsor: Dallas Water Utilities, 214-670-3155

Nov 7, "Integrity and Relevance," Bronx, NY
6:30pm, Lecture, LA Raymond Jungles, NY Botanical Garden, 718-817-8700
Nov 10, "Edith Wharton & the Villas of Rome," New York, NY
6:30PM, Lecture, LA & author CeCe Haydock, General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen, sponsor: Garden Conservancy 845-424-6500
Nov 10, Landscape Design Studio, Glencoe, IL
9AM-3PM, Chicago Botanic Garden, 847-835-5440
Nov 10, LA Charles Waldheim, Boston, MA
7pm, Lecture, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 617-278-5156
Nov 10, Ecological Landscape Alliance Season's End Summit, North Grafton, MA
8:30AM-4:30PM, "Landscape Design with Maintenance in Mind," 617-436-5838
Nov 11, Of Nature: Symposium, Bronx, NY
10:30AM-4PM, Wave Hill, 718-549-3200
Nov 12, Apartment Gardeners Saturday, NY, NY
10AM-5PM, NYBG Midtown Center, 3 separate classes, 718-817-8700

Nov 16, "Alexander von Humboldt: the Invention of Nature," New York, NY
7PM, Lecture, author Andrea Wulf, NY School of Interior Design, sponsor: Garden Conservancy 845-424-6500
Nov 19, Smaller American Lawns Today Conference, New London, CT
8:30AM-4:30PM, Connecticut College, sponsor: New England Wildflower Society, 508-877-7630
Nov 30, "Design for a Vulnerable Planet," Philadelphia, PA
6PM, Lecture, Penn Design, Dean  Frederick Steiner, 215-898-6591

Landscape Declaration for the Future of the Planet

At a summit last June in Philadelphia sponsored by the Landscape Architecture Foundation, more than 700 landscape architects met to discuss the future of the profession and what all could do to preserve the planet in the 21st century going forward.

The result is "The New Landscape Declaration," printed below, and everyone in the profession and associated professions should read it.

"Across borders and beyond walls, from city centers to the last wilderness, humanity’s common ground is the landscape itself. Food, water, oxygen – everything that sustains us comes from and returns to the landscape. What we do to our landscapes we ultimately do to ourselves. The profession charged with designing this common ground is landscape architecture.

After centuries of mistakenly believing we could exploit nature without consequence, we have now entered an age of extreme climate change marked by rising seas, resource depletion, desertification and unprecedented rates of species extinction. Set against the global phenomenon of accelerating consumption, urbanization and inequity, these influences disproportionately affect the poor and will impact everyone, everywhere.

Simultaneously, there is profound hope for the future. As we begin to understand the true complexity and holistic nature of the earth system and as we begin to appreciate humanity’s role as integral to its stability and productivity, we can build a new identity for society as a constructive part of nature.

The urgent challenge before us is to redesign our communities in the context of their bioregional landscapes enabling them to adapt to climate change and mitigate its root causes. As designers versed in both environmental and cultural systems, landscape architects are uniquely positioned to bring related professions together into new alliances to address complex social and ecological problems. Landscape architects bring different and often competing interests together so as to give artistic physical form and integrated function to the ideals of equity, sustainability, resiliency and democracy.

As landscape architects we vow to create places that serve the higher purpose of social and ecological justice for all peoples and all species. We vow to create places that nourish our deepest needs for communion with the natural world and with one another. We vow to serve the health and well-being of all communities.

To fulfill these promises, we will work to strengthen and diversify our global capacity as a profession. We will work to cultivate a bold culture of inclusive leadership, advocacy and activism in our ranks. We will work to raise awareness of landscape architecture’s vital contribution. We will work to support research and champion new practices that result in design innovation and policy transformation.

We pledge our services. We seek commitment and action from those who share our concern."

Dulles Airport - For the Birds

Well, if you fly in and out of Dulles all the time, or live in the DC area, why wouldn't you want want a Dulles Airport birdfeeder?

It's fashioned after the iconic building designed by Eero Saarinen -- and made to order by Paul Coffaro in his Mid-CenturyModernWoodshop in Nevada City, CA.  I first came across his site in an article in the NY Times about designers' favorite furniture. It featured a mid-century modern birdhouse by Paul - in the style of one of  Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian houses.

Coffaro's site also offers this terrific solar-powered water feature inspired by the Stahl House in Hollywood Hills by Julius Shulman. It's made to order from redwood and cedar -- a great gift for any dedicated gardener.

You'll find many other outdoor items on the ModernWoodshop site -- planters, benches, privacy screens, chairs and much more.  But I know many people who would covet one of those Dulles birdfeeders.

 

Indestructible Outdoor Furniture

Well, you can't get any more natural and indestructible as these chairs, sofas, and tables crafted by Stefano Giovanoni and his wife Elisa Gargan in Milan. You may have seen them mentioned recently in an article on furniture in the New York Times.

Available from Vondom, these pieces are crafted from stone -- either white or black -- and wouldn't they look just great with colorful cushions.  And of course you can leave them outside in any kind of weather, and they won't deteriorate, no matter what happens.  (Unless maybe a very powerful tornado?)

Modern, elegant, the perfect fit for any contemporary garden.

 

NYC Guide to Landscapes

The Cultural Landscape Foundation -- TCLF -- has released the second in its series of online guides produced in collaboration with the National Park Service. The What's Out There Cultural Landscapes Guide to New York City includes profiles of 78 landscapes, from Paley Park -- my favorite outdoor place in NYC -- to Floyd Bennett Field, to the more familiar Central Park, Ellis Island, Rockefeller Center. 

Each entry has several photos, a description of the site (including who designed it), and profiles of the city's major landscape architects and designers, past and present.

You will not want to miss this fabulous guide ... probably the only one you'll need when you visit the city ... and hey ... you can access the site on your mobile devices.

Find the guide to NYC here.

 

Books: Climbing, Rambling Roses

This book reminds me of a visit some years ago to Ravello, Italy.  I'll never forget visiting a garden that featured an enormous tree absolutely covered in yellow roses hanging down in great looping chains off the branches.  Sadly it was back in the day before cellphone cameras, so I do not have a photo of it.  But as rose grower and author David Austin notes in the introduction to his book, Climbing and Rambler Roses (Antique Collectors Club Dist., 2016), "Strong Ramblers may be encouraged to grow into trees, from which their flowers will hang down in festoons; others may be allowed to clamber over shrubs and hedges."

He also notes that you don't just have to settle for the occasional hybrid tea or shrub rose because you like the scent or want one for the cutting garden.  "The rose is the most adaptable of flowers," he says, "in fact it's hard to think of a more useful garden plant.  There really does seems to be a rose for every part of the garden."

In the pages that follow, there are brief descriptions of very familiar roses and many others you've never encountered before.  And if you've wondered about the difference between Noisettes, Old Climbers, Modern Climbers, Climbing Species Roses, Wichurana and Multiflora Hybrids, you'll find it all here. 

Who wouldn't be entranced by Hume's Blush China, with long, pale pink petals, a tea fragrance, and blooms that extend over a long season.  It was brought to England in 1809 from Canton, China, -- thought to be extinct by the early part of the 20th century -- but found again in Bermuda and in a village garden in Pingwu, Sichuan.  That's the great thing about roses .... they really do last forever.

Anyone who likes roses will appreciate the great photos in the book and the rose wisdom passed on by one of the world's most prominent growers.

New Sustainable Design Credential for Designers

Phipps Conservatory Center for Sustainable Landscapes-- photo: Jane Berger

Green Business Certification Inc™ (GBCI) has announced a new credential for professionals who are trained in sustainable landscape design.  Called SITES AP (SITES Accredited Professional), it establishes standards for sustainable landscape design and gives professionals the opportunity to demonstrate their expertise in the area.

GBCI will be offering certification exams for professionals at different locations around the country, and the next is at the annual ASLA conference in New Orleans on October 25th.

SITES, a rating system for sustainable landscapes, was developed through a collaborative effort undertaken by ASLA, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC.  A two-year pilot program involved more than 100 projects, and under that pilot, 47 projects received SITES certification, including landscape installations at corporate headquarters, private homes, parks, and academic campuses.

Kiku Exhibition -- NY Botanical Garden

photos: Robert Benson - NYBG - click to enlarge

Don't miss this year's annual Kiku Exhibition at the NY Botanical Garden's Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, which runs through the end of this month.

Kiku, the Japanese word for chrysanthemum, is Japan's most celebrated fall-flowering plant, and you will see them in myriad forms and sizes throughout the wondrous display.  The exhibition honors the Japanese custom called hanami, enjoyment of the ephemeral beauty of flowers.

This year's exhibition features re-creations of displays by chrysanthemum masters at the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in Tokyo, including techniques such as Ozukuri (Thousand Blooms), in which a single stem has been trained to produce simultaneous blooms in the shape of a massive dome. You'll also see Kengai (Cascade), featuring small flowers cascading down like waterfalls and Ogiku (Double and Triple Stem) -- huge individual flowers at the ends of stems up to six feet tall.

There are many special lectures and tours during the exhibition, as well as Japanese fare in the garden's full-service restaurant.

 

 

In the Magazines Oct 2016

Garden Design Autumn 2016

*Piet Oudolf: Principles of Garden Design
*Profile: Jack Lenor Larsen, artist, gardener & founder of LongHouse on Long Island
*Dan Hinkley's take on trees the right size for any garden
*The Reid garden in Sonoma by a student of John Brookes
*A fabulous neighborhood gathering place in VA by late designer Tom Mannion

 

Fine Gardening Sept-Oct

*Designing a garden that fills in fast
*The best of the best hostas
*Water features for any garden
*Little known plants for great fall color

 

Sunset October

*Mod birdhouse that looks like a modern house, complete with green roof and patio planters
*A winery for garden design inspiration
*Sunset's test gardens in Sonoma - everything you'd want

 

The American Gardener Sept-Oct

*New redbuds of almost every color
*Profile of garden author, designer, and guru Stephanie Cohen
*Perennials with colorful foliage for fall
*How to integrate bulbs for impact
*An imaginative "play" garden in South Carolina

Horticulture Sept-Oct

*Weeping plants that create garden magic
*The Abbey Garden on Tresco Island near Cornwall
*Alluring Alliums
*Perennials that Bridge the Seasons

 

Better Homes & Gardens October

*Best plants for a spectacular fall show
*Little bulbs for naturalizing a lawn & a great spring surprise
*Replace a lawn with wildflowers