GardenDesignOnline

2022 Urban Tree of the Year

photo: NY State Urban Forestry Council

The Society of Municipal Arborists has named the musclewood tree (Carpinus caroliniana) as its Urban Tree of the Year for 2022. 

Native to the eastern United States, (and also known as ironwood or American hornbeam) it's similar to the European hornbeam (C. betulus), but it's smaller in size, maturing at 20-30 feet high and wide.  The tree is named for it's smooth gray sinewy bark that resembles muscles.

The leaves are dark green with ragged edges and prominent ribs, and turn to a deep red, orange, or yellow in fall. Spring catkins are followed by nutlets in fall that appeal to some birds and other wildlife. The tree is hardy in Zones 3-5, and prefers full sun and moist soil conditions. Newer cultivars with spectacular fall color include Ball O'Fire™, Firespire™, and the upright Palisade™.

You can read the more detailed original press release from the NY State Urban Forestry Council  here.

ASLA Awards - I

ASLA has announced its professional awards for 2020 (and I was honored to be on the jury that met virtually last March. This is the first installment of posts on the awards.

photo: Garry Belinsky - click to enlarge

General Design - Award of Excellence
Portland Japanese Garden
LA: Walker Macy, Portland, OR

Walker Macy worked with the garden curator, local and Japanese architects, garden staff and others to create a new 3.4 acre development for the arts and cultural programs.

The elevated site includes a new entry, pond, and a path that ascends to a central plaza with three new buildings, gardens and terraces.

photo: Stephen Tamiesie

The new design does not follow traditional Japanese design principles.  Rather, it blends sustainable techniques with modern Japanese design to create a place where visitors may learn about the arts and culture of Japan.  As the jurors noted, "an expansion blends together new and old seamlessly .... A freshly choreographed entry and arrival sequence gently ascends 90 feet of grade along an accessible wooded switchback pathway to arrive at a sublime set of pavilions designed by Kengo Kuma; these feature planted rooftops alongside stormwater retention and recirculation systems that promise to sustain the new gardens well into the future."

 

Urban Design - Award of Excellence
Dilworth Park,  Philadelphia, PA
LA: OLIN

Photos: OLIN/Sahar Coston-Hardy

The new Dilworth park in Center City Philadelphia fits perfectly with William Penn's vision long ago for a "Green Country Town."  Sitting at the foot of the ornate City Hall, the park now serves as a transit center for commuters, a quiet gathering place for office workers, and a public performance space for enjoyment by all. 

Olin transformed the dilapidated, sunken site with malnourished trees into a street-level, vibrant 2.5 acre park with a sizeable lawn, a cafe, an interactive fountain that becomes a skating rink in winter, and ample seating throughout surrounded by four-season native plantings.  And ... the entire site, just three feet deep, functions as a green roof for the transit center below.

As the jurors put it, the park now serves as the "democratic front porch of City Hall--that links three major transit networks into a single, multilayered node.  Spanning four acres, yet wrapped on three sides by busy thoroughfares, the park succeeds in offering workday respite for downtown commuters as well as a central gathering and recreation space for weekend visitors."

 

 

ASLA Garden Trends Survey 2018

ASLA, Reed Hilderbrand LLC Landscape Architecture, photo: Ngoc Mingh Ngo

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has released its 2018 survey, and PR manager Karen Grajales says one possible conclusion is that "Sustainability is a key trend when it comes to residential landscapes -- as well as space for outdoor fitness activities like yoga and the ability to charge mobile devices."

The survey this year was revised to include single-family as well as multi-family and retirement communities. And due to that change, some new items entered the top 10 project types for the first time:  outdoor spaces that could be used for activities like yoga or movie nights, and charging stations for mobile devices.

The highest client demand was for projects with native plants, native/drought-tolerant plants, and low-maintenance landscapes -- each scoring over 80 percent.

The other top ten elements -- each scoring over 70 percent -- included flexible use spaces, water-efficient irrigation, permeable paving, rain gardens, reduced lawn areas, edible garden areas and charging stations for mobile devices.

Fireplaces and firepits were also popular, along with outdoor seating and dining spaces.  Enhanced railing systems, some with cable or glass, were top outdoor structure elements this year, followed by pergolas and decks.

Sports courts, spa features and swimming pools fell in popularity, replaced by recreation areas for dogs and bocce courts.

And for those of you who still might be into English gardens, formal gardens fell to bottom of the "gardens" category this year, scoring only 15 percent in popularity.

Landscape Design Awards - APLD GOLD II

photos: Charles Mayer - click to enlarge

Jim Douthit of a Blade of Grass in Wayland, MA, received a 2017 Gold Award from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) for this farmhouse garden -- his own --  in Wayland. To screen the property from a busy road, Douthit planted a row of mixed evergreens along with deciduous trees and shrubs, and also installed lush gardens to make the area around the gravel courtyard feel much less like a driveway. 

Views from inside the old farmhouse were reoriented to the backyard and the river beyond. The designer handled a five foot drop from the back door to the yard by adding a small porch one step down from the kitchen and a bluestone patio three steps down from the porch.  A yew hedge separates the patio from the front courtyard, and the patio and firepit are oriented to offer views to the river.

And finally, a veg garden was added on the far side of the barn, along with beehives and a chicken coop.

Most plantings on the property are native, and reclaimed granite pillars, cobbles and landings were installed throughout the site. 

Landscape Architecture: The Future

A lot of you probably missed the "Summit on Landscape Architecture and the Future," held in Philadelphia last June and sponsored by the Landscape Architecture Foundation.

It featured declarations from leaders in the field -- ideas for meeting the challenges of our times, such as global warming, urbanization, natural disasters and the like -- and how best landscape architects can contribute to solutions.

The Landscape Architecture Foundation has put together a 20-minute documentary of some of the summit proceedings, including interviews with many leading principals.

The link to the documentary is here.

Well worth a look for all.

Russell Page Garden at the Frick

photo: via tclf.org

The Garden Conservancy has joined the movement to preserve the courtyard garden at the Frick Collection in New York City that is threatened by future development.  The museum is planning to renovate the building, and in the process, the garden, designed by renowned landscape architect Russell Page, would be destroyed.

As the Conservancy notes, the Page garden has been described as "... his lasting contribution to the city," a "courtyard jewel," and "...one of the masterpieces of the Frick Collection."

Even the Frick, on its website, says its two famous gardens -- one designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr and the other by Page -- visually integrate "art and gardens in a way no other museum in the city can." 

Garden Conservancy president Jenny Young du Pont said that green space is vital to the inhabitants of large urban areas. "Nowhere is this more important than in large metropolitan areas like New York City," she said, "where steel, concrete, glass, and stone dominate."

 

 

Climate Change: The Trees at Walden Pond

Biologists at Boston University report that trees and shrubs at Walden Pond are leafing out an average of 18 days earlier than the mid-1800s, when Henry David Thoreau made his studies there of nature. 

The scientists looked at Thoreau's observations on leaf-out times in Concord, MA and they did the same over the past five springs.  Boston University Professor Richard Primack said that "climate change is creating a whole new risk for the native plants in Concord."  He explained that if plants leaf out early in years that are comparatively warm, they could be damaged by frost, but if they leaf out after frost is gone, then they may lose their competitive advantage to invasives that are more resilient. 

The scientists believe that if spring temperatures continue to rise, invasive plants will be the ones that take advantage of the warmer climate.  Studies are also going forward on flowering dates, the flight times of butterflies, and the arrivals of migratory birds.

In the Magazines Spring-Summer

The American Gardener May June
* Profile of edible gardening expert Rosalind Creasy
* Shrubs for great foliage & color
* All about zinnias
* My book review of Lifelong Landscape Design by Mary Palmer Dargan

Fine Gardening
May June
* The trick to great garden gates
* Plants that can take the clay
* Uncommon, easy-to-care-for plants
* Freedom in garden structure

Sunset
May
* Beautiful Bouquets from foraged flowers
* A garden for movie lovers by landscape architect Mark Tessier of Santa Monica.

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)