Q Street Green Alley was awarded the “Social Impact” Award from the Potomac Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. You can visit the alley at 4515 Q Street NW in Washington, DC
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This eclectic, Asian-themed has been in development for more than 30 years. This one acre property has more than 30 different varieties of Japanese Maples, myriad varieties of mainly dwarf and miniature conifers - with some large conifers used for screening - multiple varieties of hydrangeas and other plantings. Various types of stone, some from the Shenandoahs, many from China and other parts of the world, accent the garden. Several subtle garden 'rooms' exist throughout the garden.
This beautiful garden is maintained and pruned by Yankee Clippers, a dedicated team of pruners with horticultural expertise specializing in the hand pruning of shrubs and small trees led by Elizabeth Doyle. Dennis Fravel and Dawn Szelc LDG Co-Secretaries In February 2017, Beth Ginter, Lead Coordinator of the Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional (CBLP), presented an overview of the CBLP professional certification program to LDG members and guests. Beth has been Lead Coordinator of the program since 2015. CBLP is a regional certification covering conservation landscaping for landscape professionals in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The need for a certification program for professionals arose when the Chesapeake Conservation Landscape Council (CCLC), other CBLP consortium members, and local governments realized that constructions to collect and channel storm water were failing to perform as expected. These constructions are known as Best Management Practices (BMPs), and include rain gardens, bio-swales, filter strips, and pervious pavement, among others. The lack of expected performance was traced to problems with their design, installation, and/or maintenance. To overcome these problems, the CBLP certification was developed to provide a workforce that could address these BMP failures. It was determined that having landscape professionals that are consistently trained in conservation landscaping practices would likely result in higher BMP performance. The certification would also be a pathway for pushing conservation landscaping into the mainstream of landscape design and maintenance practice. The CBLP program started in 2013, and the certification program was developed over the next three years. The program has two levels of certification: Level 1 focus is on design, installation, and maintenance of BMPs; and Level 2 focus is on credentialed design and installation of BMPs. A pilot trial of CBLP Level 1 certification training and examination occurred in September 2016 to January 2017, and Level 2, from December 2016 March 2017. Certification credentials were issued in early 2017. The pilot program results were: Level 1 had 113 certifications; Level 2 had 21 certifications; and two certifications that included Level 1 and Level 2. Of pilot candidates, 55 percent were landscape designers and 9 percent were landscape architects. A second group of applicants for CBLP certification is underway now--May 2017. Currently, the certification is available in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, and will also be available in Pennsylvania in late 2017. CBLP will then be expanded to the other states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which are New York, West Virginia, and Delaware. For more information please see:
Chesapeake Bay Landscaping Professional (CBLP) https://cblpro.org Chesapeake Conservation Landscape Council (CCLC) http://www.chesapeakelandscape.org Dawn Szelc, LDG Secretary, Clear Blue Landscapes Taking a walk in the garden with Jane MacLeish is an eye-opening experience and a delight. In January LDG was treated to an evening video walk with Jane, touring the various garden projects she has completed in recent years. Jane began by talking about her childhood in England where her parents were avid gardeners around their house, and she and her siblings were expected to help with the work. Jane’s brother is now an eminent tree pathologist and her sister is an experienced gardener. As an adult Jane came to the United States, and was married and then divorced. She needed to have an income so decided to work as a gardener. She also enrolled in the GWU Landscape Design program but describes herself as a terrible student, so she quit. She requested garden nursery jobs and learned much about plants and dealing with people there. She also worked with contractors and did “take-offs”- pricing landscapes for new building projects. She worked with a Dutch gardener who taught her a great deal about design and balance – also never to work for one person. She worked with a number of other people who provided additional learning experiences. Jane has always worked in private gardens – not commercial. She described how she worked at the Vice President’s residence on the garden surrounding the pool. For another prominent family she did a garden rework and created a circular lawn area that could handle party tents if needed. She also worked on Blair House, the President’s guesthouse, where the Empress of China had provided a silver birch that needed to possibly be removed, but finally was not. Then there was Trinity Graveyard in Upperville, VA, at a church built by the Mellon family. A local family gave $85,000 for 2 pavilions and a garden for this area. Jane then moved into her slide presentation, starting with a garden of the family of Giant Foods. The wife wanted a garden that provided a view into the yard. Her brother lived next door and gave up part of his land for the garden. The next slides were of a prominent family garden in Georgetown. They wanted a rose garden among the stone and brick walls, and bowls of water for the bees. Jane showed photos of a trough fountain she installed, uniform pots and bowls, and used mazus to fill between the stones on the walking paths. People from Dumbarton Oaks come to prune the wisteria four times per year. The large trees on the site were craned in. One in particular was notable as Jane discovered the perfect tree in Connecticut. Bartlett Tree was on site when it was brought in and unfortunately the main branch broke in the process. Bartlett ended up wrapping the tree and it ultimately did just fine. Jane worked on a 68-acre project for a wealthy family in New York near the Hudson River. She used a helicopter so that she could hover from above to see the views. She worked on the gates with Noel Putnam, now a well-known ironworks in the United States. A large rock outcropping was near the site of the house and the plan was to blast it out. Jane asked them to keep it and it butts up right against and into the house making a beautiful statement. She also received two sculptures that needed to be placed. She created walks and resting places to host these. Next was the Glenstone property which LDG visited last fall. A team worked on this property for five years. They met every week to go over details and meet with the owner, Mitch Rales. One day a dam on the property burst and flooded the area, but did not do major damage. Jane suggested having good insurance was important. They moved a large tree on the property and had to have a bridge on the road coming to the residence rebuilt to handle the weight of the crane needed to do this. For another project in Upperville, VA, the first part of the landscape design was a question of where to site the house. After reviewing it from many aspects Jane told the owners that there was no good place to build a house and suggested they find another property instead. They ended up purchasing 500 acres in another location. A small cabin was on the property, Jane is able to stay here when visiting, which was the site of the “Lipstick murder”. She relayed the story that a fellow who lived there would get coffee at the nearby 7-11 and apparently met a woman there who then murdered him at the cabin with an axe. The owner wanted to plant trees from the property. She looked for trees that would be appropriate and those would be dug out at the roots and pulled by tractor to new locations. Ace Tree Movers http://www.acetreemovers.com/ did this work, and Jane described them as very professional and experienced. For planting around the swimming pool Jane found hornbeam trees in Maryland to move to the location. They also requested a Ha-ha wall be put in near the pool. The design of the house and barn was completed by a Canadian firm that also did the Shakespeare Theater. At the next property the owners were planning for the April wedding of their child. They had a number of fastigiate hornbeams that were there originally, and Jane continues to look after these. The King's Masons did the paths which were a mix of many types of stone – cobles, brick, and bluestone. A pavilion was constructed after which the owners decided they did not like the design of it. Jane decided to assume that cost of $15,000 in exchange for good will of the client and has made that back in the long run with this client. She stated that at times this is necessary and the results are often positive. There was a small garden at a home in Georgetown that had a small goldfish pond with decking all around. Jane took things in quite a different direction and changed it into a Pop Art garden with many bright colors. The pond is now wood painted to look like water and surrounded with plastic tulips. The trees are dead trees painted bright purple and red! At Dumbarton Oaks Jane worked with a brick mason to connect the main building with the pre-Columbian art collection building. The brick mason laid out a path with a beautiful swirl design. This project was completed 5-6 years ago. Jane worked on a residence in Arlington with stone masons that she did not have experience with but found they were wonderful. She had them build a wall with steps in the backyard. The couple had multiple children and they are able to climb the wall, sit on the steps, and hide treasures in little nooks. The wall has an amphitheater type structure so the kids can use it to present plays. She included beautiful pots and a terrace with a spa. They also had sculptures which are sited in the woodland part of the garden. Finally, Jane discussed her own garden, which is undergoing some new changes. Jane loves humor in the garden and is working with Tony Weaver, Olsen Weaver, LLC Lighting Design and Install, to install a clear mannequin with the top half lighted with changing colors. It will be put on a pedestal. Jane stated that she loves photographing different or weird gardens. When she travels she looks for “unusual spots to see unusual things!”
Jane shared not only her beautiful gardens with us, but also several of her very challenging experiences and lessons learned as a garden designer. It was an inspirational evening and one not to be forgotten by the large group of admiring LDG members fortunate to be present. Thank you Jane! Dawn Szelc, Clear Blue Landscapes - LDG Secretary LDG met at the Glenstone property on a blustery day in October. Our guide was the lead horticulturist, Zach Pittenger, who met us outside the property’s art museum on the site, a post WWII museum of art. There was a large patio or open space area with a large sculpture there, Sylvester, 2001, by Richard Serra. According to Zach this was the only perfectly flat space on the grounds. The Glenstone property, owned by Mitch and Emily Rales, used to be a hunting estate. They intend to open it to the public in 2018. Near this area Zach pointed out the pool house backed by a grove of River Birch. After the introduction we then walked towards the road through a grove of Chinese elm under-planted by Carex pensylanica. Zach also pointed out the Itea virginica “Little Henry” as we walked. He was interested in help from LDG members with ideas to get the carex to fill in better or a recommendation on some replacement which would be a better ground cover to grow under the shade of the trees. The Landscape Architect for the property has been Peter Walker and Partners since 2003. They have had to move many trees on the property to create the planned landscape. Walker’s protégé Adam Greenspan visits there weekly. The other consultants involved are MGAC Consulting, Hitt Construction and Valley Crest Landscapes Contractors. Zach stated that there are 500-800 contractors onsite every day. He pointed to the Liriope spicata along the wood line which is going to be removed because it is not a native plant. It is also problematic in that spot, due to weeds from the woods. Chinese stilt grass (Microstegium vimineum) is a constant weed that needs to be controlled and all weeding is done by hand. For this weed they have found the best method is to remove the seed heads with a weed whacker. The goal for the property is to be 100% organic, sustainable and planted with natives. Part of that plan is to break up the monocultures which another reason to remove the liriope. They plan to plant New York fern and Haystack fern instead. Opposite Contour 290 is another large sculpture called Smug by artist Tony Smith. Smith died unexpectedly in 1980. This sculpture was constructed in 2007 as it was originally intended of aluminum painted black. They are trying out new paint on various sections of it - a small section can be seen in the photo. After selecting one, the entire sculpture will be repainted. We were invited to walk into and under the sculpture but to avoid touching it. Zach lead the group out towards a very large sculpture in the far meadow. It is called Split Rocker created by artist Jeff Koons. It is fabricated with steel boxes containing many pounds of soil each. There are 33,000 annual plugs planted in a mosaic culture. The sculpture looks like a toy and was fashioned from a toy that was broken during a fight that Koons had with his wife. One half resembles a dinosaur and the other a pony. We were then taken to a far end of the property where there were three stone houses, with mostly dry stack walls, and inside each is a different sculpture, titled Boulder, Room, and Holes respectively. The first has an enormous globe that fills the whole room. The second house has interior walls that are cracked. And the third has the circular piece on the back wall. These are all designed by Andy Goldsworthy. After the tour those who were able to stay longer had an opportunity to visit the museum and talk further with Zach. All in all it was a very informative and interesting day! We will be looking forward to the continued development of this property and the public opening in 2018.
Dawn Szelc, Clear Blue Landscapes - LDG Secretary The Landscape Designers Group was treated to a triple tour on September 17 of the Smithsonian’s Pollinator Garden, the Urban Bird Habitat, and the Victory Garden. The tour of the gardens was led by James Gagliardi, who is currently a supervisory horticulturist with Smithsonian Gardens in Washington, D.C. James began by describing a book he recently authored called Encyclopedia of Garden Plants for Every Location on sale in the gift shop and also Amazon.com. I checked into it on Amazon.com and it sells for $29.41 new and has very good reviews. James described that the Smithsonian Gardens is its own museum. They have a number of collections in storage including slides on Victorian furniture, and an orchid collection which is maintained in the greenhouses in Suitland. The Pollinator Garden is located on the east side of the Natural History Museum which is the 2nd most popular museum in the world, the first being the Louvre, with 8 million people visiting per year. The garden was established in 1995 as the Butterfly Habitat garden. In 1998 they received a large financial gift and then put in signage and the granite curbs that outline all the beds. After almost 18 years new signs were badly needed, so in 2016 the signage was changed. It was updated to include all pollinators, instead of just butterflies, to be in line with President Obama’s direction. President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum directing an interagency Task Force to create a Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. Under the leadership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Task Force released its Strategy, with three overarching goals:
James showed us a dead Lace Bark Pine that is in the garden. He had to get permission to keep it there as he wanted to display it as a natural habitat – a snag. Snag as in wildlife tree— a place to nest or den; a source of food for insects, who are in turn food for many other creatures; a perch for lookout, and more. He then described that they do two plantings of annuals per year. In late September the new designs are reviewed in-house. In October they pull out the coleus and other summer annuals and plant pansies and kale with the other plants put in in the late spring. He advised not to cut plants back in the fall but to wait until spring to provide winter food sources and habitats for birds and insects. They have 15 greenhouses in Suitland to stock the gardens including all holiday décor that goes inside the Natural History Museum. Although the garden is fairly small it has many species of plants, and James compared it against the Mall which is a large expanse and has 2 species – grass and American Elm. About 85% of the Pollinator garden includes native plants. He then walked us through the new profile signs - one for each pollinator: Bees, Butterflies, Hummingbirds, Flies, Moths, Beetles, and additionally wind, talking about the plants in those areas. The host plants for each pollinator are very important for example Oak trees host thousands of insects. Mountain mint is another popular plant with the wildlife, but can grow aggressively. James told of a number of ways in which the plants attract their pollinators – having landing stripes showing the bees where to land, the flower of the paw-paw attracts flies with a putrid smell much like rotting meat, and the moths are attracted to night blooming flower like moon flower. Beetles love the magnolia flowers and James stated there are four times the number of beetle species as the number of animals with backbones. The pollinators were busy that morning as we saw many butterflies including monarchs, moths, bees, and a hummingbird. From there we moved to the front of the Natural History Museum on Constitution Ave. We stood near a very large and old elm tree which is called the Witness Elm. It was planted around 1850 and has witnessed many momentous events pass between the White House and the US Capitol during its lifetime. Along the front at the entrance we stopped to check out the Evolution Garden – with its prehistoric dwarf ginkgo, and a number of interesting evergreens shown below. There were numerous Monarch butterflies on the milkweed planted in the hell strip in front of this which was very unexpected!. Moving towards 12th St NW we entered into the newly created garden called the Urban Bird Habitat. This is situated at the corner of Constitution Ave and 12 St NW. It is a nicely shaded area with a large number of woodland plants and a beautiful Dawn Redwood. The walkways are currently mulched, but James must get them to be ADA accessible to open it to the public. There was an interesting sculpture located there which was dedicated to the last Passenger Pigeon, whose remains are housed in the Smithsonian. James commented that among his many tasks he has also had to learn how to care for a bronze sculpture. The bird habitat extended along the side of the museum with the hell strips there planted with Pink Muhly grass and other flowers. Our final destination of the morning was the Victory Garden on the other side of 12th St NW next to the American History Museum and is modeled after the gardens called for during World War II in the 1940’s. This garden is not part of James’ responsibility but he was able to talk to some of the work there. There were many vegetables, herbs, and other edibles there that were available during that time period, showing the uses of plants for medicinal purposes as well as food. The garden is harvested and used for special events in the museum.
The Landscape Designer’s Group met together with the James Renwick Alliance members in June to tour the garden of the Ash family in Great Falls, VA. We were met by Ali Ash who directed the traffic and parking and Ellen Ash, along with Elizabeth Doyle from Yankee Clippers, to talk about the property. Ellen explained that they bought the property in 1977 and built the house in 1981. The house was designed as a contemporary rambler. She said she grew up in a Manhattan apartment with only a few potted plants. With her new property she became more interested in what she could do in the garden as well as became a lover of all kinds of plants – evident in her perennial garden which has numerous species. She does most of the gardening herself, and has developed the design over time with help from a horticultural friend who she can ask questions of. She and her husband collect all their leaves in one area in the fall, and use them during the year to mulch the beds. She has collected many pieces of art over the years from various places – Torpedo Factory, Shedoni outside Santa Fe, places in Carmel, CA, and American Craft in Baltimore. She also has collected what she termed as “junk”, all kinds of garden ornaments that are located throughout the gardens. Cats and white bunnies are a few of her favorite themes. The extent of the garden was breathtaking and provided a new view and whimsical sites at every turn. Instead of explaining it in words I can best show it through photos and there were infinite photo opps throughout!
by Dawn Szelc, LDG Secretary The May meeting for the Landscapes Designers Group was held on a beautiful morning at Green Spring Garden Park. Judy Zatsick met us in the library and provided some introduction to the park and to the topic of the morning which was rock gardening. Green Spring has a large rock garden in the circle outside the main building that was installed Donald Humphrey. Judy, a horticulturist at Green Spring, has become the caretaker for the rock garden as well as other areas at Green Spring. Her responsibilities include managing the propagation of a wide variety of plants from seeds and cuttings to be used in the gardens and for sale. She oversees the Garden Gate Plant Shop and is responsible for curating and designing the front gazebo and the glasshouse conservatory collection. Judy has a degree in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan. She pursued a career in commercial and fine art before finding her path in horticulture. She serves as the Vice President of the local chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS). Judy discussed the history of rock gardening. It started in China and Japan and was brought first to England by affluent families who requested that their gardeners include them. It was then brought to the US in the early 1900’s, first in Massachusetts. Rock gardening is similar to perennial gardening but somewhat more difficult as the growing conditions are more stringent. It is best done on a small slope with a freely draining low organic mix soil. It is best to use locally sourced stone for a natural look and to use stone mulch around the plants. For our area that would include granite type stone and sandstone if available. Hypertufa containers, right below, are also often used and there was a class that morning at Green Spring on how to make your own. A north or east facing garden is best, while the garden at Green Spring is very hot in the summer with its location in the middle of the circular drive. The plants used within the garden are all alpine type plants and shrubs that are small and low growing. Judy talked about numerous plants that do well in rock gardens: Phlox subulata, bulbs and small species tulips such as Turkestan clusiana, and Pulsitilla vulgaris. Plants with silver foliage and small leaves such as Penstamon x jonesii, Lavender Bandera purple. Dwarf species of amsonia, plumbago, lungwort, winecups, hypericum, and prickly pear which has a lovely yellow flower. There are also small shrubs that used such as potentilla, cotoneaster (flowing over the rock wall), and small conifers. Winter bloomers such as heaths and heathers are included as well as fall bloomers such as aster, chrysanthemum, Alaska daisy and fall bulbs. Judy stated that moisture requirements are important to pay attention to for some plants. Some do need slightly more water than others. The rock garden at Green Spring does collect water from the pavement and parking in certain areas. When asked about sources for these types of plants she mentioned High Country Gardens and Plant Delights. She also said that it was better to look to xeric nursery sources than alpine nursery sources for our climate in Virginia. . We then walked out to see the garden. She explained that a rock wall feature like what was installed there was a key part of the garden. Many plants were growing in the crevasses of the wall. She also explained that although some of the shrubs had gotten overly large and were not appropriate for a rock garden she left them due to the high volume of visitors specially children who climbed through the garden. The shrubs restricted their ability to climb over everything. Judy pointed out additional plants of interest as we toured through the entire expanse – an unusual native Clematis, Walker’s Low Nepeta, Campanula “Blue waterfall”, Deutzia Niko Dwarf, Delasperma, and Aster “Snow Flurry” from North Creek Nursery among others. There were so many things to see in every crack and crevice as well as every vantage point in the garden. As we wound up the conversation people continued to wander through the garden and point out another interesting plant or collection of rocks and plants. Thanks to Judy for providing an eye opening tour of the great potential of what can be done in rock gardens. Dawn Szelc LDG Secretary / Clear Blue Landscapes Karen Rexrode was our speaker for the March meeting of the Landscape Designer’s Group. She is well known in the area for her horticulture experience and vast knowledge of perennial plants. Karen was introduced by Barbara Katz who described her past experience – owner of the Windy Hill perennial nursery near Middleburg for many years, and after closing that maintaining the grounds of Oak Hill estate in Aldie, VA. She also works during the weekends at Merrifield’s Garden Center in Fairfax, VA. Karen has 40 years of experience in the landscape and plants business. Karen highly recommended a book which is no longer in print, “Planting Design: Gardens in Space and Time” by Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury as a reference for her talk. Karen’s presentation to the group was titled “Perennials with Personality”. The ideas she discussed were apparently not new but part of previous theories such as the Grimes Triangle and Oudolf’s Universal Adaptive Strategy Theory. The personalities are based on the plant’s growth and survival strategies. The first category is Stress Tolerators. She provided some information on the level of maintenance for each category, and these require about 11 min/m2/yr to maintain. These grow slow and have tough evergreen leaves or have small leaves and are physically tough. Finally they flow early rather than late. Because they grow slower they may need to be planted closer to deter weeds. Examples are hellebores, asarum, epimedium, candy tuft, and rhodea. Their personality is independent and determined! The next category is Stress Avoiders. These grow seasonally, often flowering early and producing a lot of foliage afterward. They have bulbous root systems, and long periods of dormancy. Some examples are eranthis, Virginia bluebells, Primula sieboldii (Japanese primrose), bloodroot and Anemone blanda. The personality of these plants is practical and idealistic. The third category is Ruderal or Pioneers, requiring 20 min/m2/yr for maintenance. Many of these are biennials with an average bloom time of 8 weeks. They are rapid growing plants that have showy flowers and flower over a long period. They produce large quantities of seed and die young. Examples of these would be money plant, poppies, Sedum pulchellum which is a native of Virginia and West Virginia, and Aquilegia Canadensis (shown below left) which move around a lot and morphs into other colors. These plants are risk takers and live for the moment. The fourth and final category is Competitors. These require 10 min/m2/yr of maintenance time. These plants tend to be tall and grow fast to occupy space. They are able to rapidly extend shoots sideways to occupy vacant space or drop seeds as they spread. They have large soft leaves and flower relatively late. If two competitors are planted together the tallest will win out. You can try cutting back competitors so they bloom at shorter lengths. Examples are rudbekias (shown above right), hemerocallis, aster, most salvias, and hardy geraniums. Their personality is assertive and outspoken. Karen’s beginning statements were that at the end of this we would see how obvious this all was and it would change our view of plant selection. This was certainly true for me and in part because Karen is a master of plant knowledge and education.
by Dawn Szelc of Clear Blue Landscapes The February meeting of the Landscapes Designer’s Group was held in Washington, D.C. at the Metropolitan United Methodist Church. Our speaker, Thomas Rainer, is a registered landscape architect from Rhodeside & Harwell. Thomas has a new book available called “Planting in a Post-Wild World” with co-author designer Claudia West. He provided us with a very thought provoking presentation on a new view of planting design. Thomas began speaking about his childhood growing up in Birmingham, AL and roaming through the woods in wild places. He also discussed his career track through Oehme van Sweden and now at Rhodeside & Harwell. He has realized that the way we design our gardens is quite different from the way nature creates plant communities. Wild places have many stresses yet plants still thrive. An example is the hell strip that Thomas found in his Arlington neighborhood, pictured below, where all variety of plants have established themselves. Mulch is not found in the wild, instead all types of plants cover the soil, especially low growing plants. Also in the wild the plant color palette is very harmonious, while we try to sometimes use very drastic colors against each other. Natural plant communities are complex adaptive systems and have very deep roots that allow them to survive some harsh conditions. He is recommending to design our own plant communities using these same principals. The first concept is to relate the plants to the place, using plants from similar biomes. Some examples would be an open sunny place design would be modeled after grassland, a part shade spot would be similar to a woodland or scrubland, and a closed canopy designed like a forest. A lawn should be considered as an area rug, so a small part of the overall design. Thomas gave some sources of plant mix ideas – one was Noel Kingsbury’s blog and specifically “It’s All In the Mix” http://noels-garden.blogspot.com/2013/09/its-all-in-mix-resources-for.html . He also mentioned Bernd Hertle who is a German designer and showed his Midsummer Night’s Dream plant mix in a traffic median in Germany. Many of these ideas have been used extensively in Germany and were familiar to Claudia as she grew up on a family nursery in eastern Germany. The next concept is to relate the plants to other plants with vertical layering. Thomas discussed three layers – Structural layer, Seasonal theme layer, and ground cover layer. The ground cover layer includes the plants that would cover the soil so that mulch is not required. He showed woody plants under-planted with low growers. Some examples were Geum fragaroides, Meehania cordata, and Juncus tenuis. He also provided a few examples for dry shade such as Erigeron pulchelles var pulchelles “Lynnhaven’s carpet”.
There were numerous questions from the audience about this very different way to view planting design. Someone asked about whether the plants needed to be divided. Thomas thought that was not necessary but that you may need to add diversity as some plants die off. For the colonial houses common in our area, he believes this design method will work but that you may need to add more structure. Adding evergreens and structural elements is very important. Thomas also suggested using staggered age plants – some gallons and some plugs to keep the area filled in. Our appreciation goes out to Thomas for providing us with his view of this new idea of planting design and showing some beautiful examples of how it can be incorporated into many different sites.
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AuthorsLDG is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the exchange and enhancement of knowledge relevant to the landscape design profession. We are a group of professional designers in the metropolitan Washington, DC area. Membership is meant for students studying and professionals employed in landscape design or associated professions (i.e. arborists, installers, contractors, etc.). Archives
October 2023
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