APLD The Designer Fall 2013

Fall 2013

2013 International Landscape Design Award Winners 2013 Landscape Designer of the Year

Paul Connolly, APLD

We Define Landscape Design

www.apld.org

Thanks to all of our 2013 sponsors for your support.

We couldn’t do it without you!

Fall 2013

Editor Jane Berger, APLD

2013 APLD platinum sponsor

Certification Coordinator Kelly Clark certification@apld.org

Contributors Bill Healy, APLD Executive Director Denise Calabrese info@apld.org

Associate Executive Director Lisa Frye assoced@apld.org

Membership Director Angela Burkett membership@apld.org

Communications Director Stacy Zimmerman communications@apld.org

Director of Conferences & Events Jen Cramer events@apld.org

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2013 APLD gold sponsors

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APLD is not responsible for unsolicited freelance manuscripts and photographs. All printed articles and accompanying photos become the copyright of APLD. 2013 APLD bronze sponsors

The Designer is an official publication and member service of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD), 4305 North Sixth Street, Suite A, Harrisburg, PA 17110. Ph: 717-238-9780 • Fax: 717-238-9985 • www.apld.org Change of mailing address: APLD members should login to their member account at www.apld.org to update any contact information. Non-members and subscribers should e-mail any changes to: communications@apld.org.

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Deadlines are Feb. 1, May 1, Aug. 1 and Nov. 1.

Disclaimer: Mention of commercial products in this publication is solely for information purposes; endorsement is not intended by APLD. Material does not reflect the opinions or beliefs of APLD.

Letter from the Editor One of the most impressive things about this year’s annual awards is the commitment of our members to sustainability. Take a moment to read through the written descriptions of the projects. You’ll note that many more members are using permeable paving; planting drought-tolerant species; designing systems to carry off storm water; building garden structures with recycled materials. And one of our members, Margie Grace, APLD, participated in a project that was LEED platinum certified for homes and was the first (and currently the only) residential project in the country to receive SITES certification. That’s something we should all aspire to as we go forward.

We have just one more issue this year – the Winter issue – so if you’ve designed a garden that looks great in the winter months – please consider writing an article about it and sending it in for publication (with photos, please). Or if you live in the South, let us know what keeps going all year round.

Special thanks to Stacy Zimmerman and Keith Bell for putting this issue together... always the most challenging and time-consuming of the year.

Jane Berger, APLD 2013 APLD Communications Chair jane@gardendesignonline.com

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Cover and Contents Page Photos: 2013 APLD International Landscape Designer of the Year Paul Connolly, APLD/Sundrea Design Studio, Tucson, Arizona Residential Project: Rio Ranch in Tucson, Arizona

Fall 2013

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Letter from the Editor

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Letter from our President

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Board of Directors

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2013 International Landscape Design Award Winners

40 Landscape Designer

of the Year Project

43 Interview with our

Landscape Designer of the Year

Paul Connolly, APLD

44 Special Thanks to All of the

2013 APLD Landscape Design

Awards Judges!

46 Anthony Archer-Wills

Honored With APLD Award

of Distinction

Photo Credit: Robin Stancliff Photography

Letter from the President The Lurie Garden essentially sits inside a very big box, the city of Chicago, and within a still smaller box of shoulder hedges 14 feet tall framed by a steel armature. It is masterful in its design, one that was conceived, executed, and continues to be successful.

Essentially a rooftop garden, it is located over a large series of parking garages, demonstrating that a landscape can be created anywhere. The garden is the antithesis of the city, making it a welcome addition. www.luriegarden.org One of the things I love about downtown Chicago is that it is so lush with summer plantings. While there, I can easily walk and see elaborate boxes spilling forth with all manner of plantings, some with tastefully arranged combinations of woody and herbaceous materials to provide a season’s long display of color.

Others appear to be little more than a collection of whatever was left at the end of a weekend sale at the greenhouse. I could see where the end of one flat of annuals ended and the next one began. Even with the lesser plan, the exuberant color was a welcome relief to the concrete surroundings. The people who realized the importance of having plants and color as part of the urban landscape were true geniuses. This thought alone, which occurred outside the proverbial box, sets Chicago apart from every other city I have been to and most certainly my own.

Thank goodness for out-of-the-box thinking.

The city of Detroit and the surrounding area, site of our 2013 APLD conference, provided the most extensive assortment of boxes, both large and small. A private tour of the city offered an inside view of the history of the growth and decline of this industrial powerhouse. In spite of the abandoned buildings and empty lots, there is an underlying spirit of renewal and growth.

I have been infatuated with boxes since I was in grade school, where I spent hours sketching the details of the inside corners of my classrooms. Boxes are everywhere. We live in them, sleep on them, wrap them up and give them as gifts, fly to distant places in sleek tubular ones, and when life is over, we are buried in them. They can be plain or fancy, large or small, locked or open. On the road to find solutions, we talk about the need to think outside of them. Research has shown that the phrase is not just a metaphor; the simple act of changing your environment can enhance your ability to think more creatively. Actually removing yourself from a confining space can help you find the answer you seek. So get up and go somewhere new.

A recent trip to Chicago and Detroit to attend two separate conferences on landscape design presented me the opportunity to observe the use of the box in some unexpected ways. Staying at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel in downtown Chicago was quite remarkable. A visual delight, it is Silver LEED Certified and located just off Millennium Park, which made walking to the Lurie Garden quite easy. This hotel is a much unexpected box. Our room was like a movie set, with sparkling disco tile floors in the bathroom, frosted glass doors, and a balcony overlooking a rooftop garden. Every detail had been considered. The exterior of the building was a series of rippled bands, and the balcony floors suggested waves washing down the side of the box. A very distinctive look, this detail was seen again in the profile of the planters along the sidewalk outside the front entrance. Every aspect of this box was given the utmost attention.

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When our keynote speaker, Rebecca Salminen Witt, president of The Greening of Detroit, spoke about the mission and impact of her organization, you could feel her passion move through the room. Now a well-established nonprofit resource agency partnering with various federal, state and local agencies, Witt has guided the growth of this group from a staff of three in 1986 to a powerful 40-person, six-and-one-half-million per year operation. Looking beyond the disintegrating boxes of abandoned homes, someone saw a better idea and turned the vacant land into an opportunity to “improve the ecosystem in Detroit through tree planting projects, environmental education, urban agriculture, open space reclamation, vacant land management, and workforce development programs.� www.greeningofdetroit.org.

Focusing on the future instead of staying entrenched in the ways of the past has brought a healthier, safer and greener environment into this urban area. Workforce training is opening up career opportunities in green jobs for young people and adults; this would not have been an option before. Thinking outside a very big box can bring an enormously successful result.

Touring a collection of new and renovated landscapes provided all in attendance the chance to see how great minds have faced design challenges over the years. A visit to the Turkel House provided the rare opportunity to see a restored Frank Lloyd house. A delightful combination of structure and informality,

the house itself is a large concrete box. Innovative at the time, it still has structural challenges to its ongoing maintenance. The garden design plays homage to the architects’ vision while balancing the needs and desires of the current owners. The box form appears repeatedly in the layout of the garden rooms, leading you from one space to another. www.turkelhouse.com

The Designer Call for Submissions APLD’s Communications Committee is always looking for submissions to The Designer and article ideas to keep the content of our publication relevant to the landscape design industry.

A trip to Detroit Garden Works and the gardens of Deborah Silver brought the box into a much smaller scale. A master of detail, Silver has taken the classic box planter and elevated it to a higher form.

Dissatisfied with what the market provided to enhance her landscape projects, she established Branch Studio to fabricate her own designs for garden furnishings. Silver has designed and created a series of iconic containers and structures out of galvanized metal that have become hallmarks of her exquisite style. Instead of settling for less, a determination to find a solution has created a vibrant business. Detroit offered the perfect location with skilled craftsmen and resources. With a classical approach to design, Silver’s work is magical, simple and fluid.

Each element necessary in its own right, nothing is frivolous. www. detroitgardenworks.com

The next deadline for article submission is February 1, 2014 for the Spring issue.

We all have a box to contain our ideas, safely surround our psyche, inhabit effortlessly. It takes some courage to jump outside and look beyond for something new. You have to travel outside and get a little uncomfortable, but it gets easier. The first conference I attended was in 2002 in Austin, Texas. I didn’t know a soul, had no idea what to expect and just hoped for the best. The hardest part was showing up the first time. They say you get hooked when you attend a conference and it’s true. Where can you find a hundred plus creative people to talk to about landscape design and every related topic and not have to explain yourself?

If you have an article that you would like to submit for inclusion in The Designer, send an e-mail to the editor, Jane Berger, at jane@gardendesignonline.com and copy Stacy Zimmerman (APLD Communications Director) at communications@apld.org, or feel free to call the office at 717-238-9780 to speak with our communications staff.

By showing up and becoming part of the organization, I gain insight into design that enables me to communicate with my clients on a level that separates me from my "competitors." It has been through the many bus rides, conversations, and lectures that my understanding of design has deepened and my ability to communicate new ideas has become more refined. One cannot truly understand the magic of a well-designed landscape without spending time with it. If you also have the opportunity to listen to its designer speak about the process of creating it, that is a priceless moment. That only happens if you show up, and that requires you to get out of your box. Stepping outside can be uncomfortable or a great adventure: you can decide which. Everyone’s box is of their own making. My box is lush and verdant, and yes, quite cozy, but I cannot stay inside. I find myself sitting on the edge looking beyond its borders and I find the view quite pleasing.

Help us make your magazine even better by being a contributing writer yourself!

Marti Neely, APLD 2013 APLD President martineelyapld@gmail.com

Feature articles can range anywhere between 500 to 1500 words and can be about a unique project, an interesting problem or a design inspiration and philosophy—really, it can be anything you think your fellow designers would want to read about. Have you written an article for another magazine? Feel free to tweak that article a little and submit a slightly different version for The Designer.

Before submitting an article, please take a look at this writer’s checklist for instructions and deadlines. Please also read over these writing guidelines as well.

2013 Board of Directors Immediate Past President Susan Olinger, APLD Sterling Horticultural Services 110 Bartley Road Flanders, NJ 07836 (973) 252-0600

Chapter Liaison Debby Ruskin, APLD Ruskin Gardens Co. 174 Walter Hays Drive Palo Alto, CA 94303 (650) 853-1665

Membership Committee Chair Dr. Jules Bruck, APLD University of Delaware 152 Townsend Hall Newark, DE 19716 (610) 662-2986

President Marti Neely, APLD DMS Estate Management 9811 Sprague Street Omaha, NE 68134 (402) 630-0050

Advocacy Chair Lisa Port, APLD Banyon Tree Design Studio 3630 Northeast 123rd Street Seattle, WA 98125 (206) 383-5572

Communications Chair Jane Berger, APLD Garden Design Online 474 Woods Hole Road Woods Hole, MA 02543 (202) 723-3605

Sustainability Chair Toni Bailey Gracefully Green, LLC 4 Vallingby Circle Rockville, MD 20850 (301) 279-0234

President-Elect Susan Cohan, APLD Susan Cohan Gardens, LLC 69 Hedges Avenue Chatham, NJ 07928 (973) 665-9260

Awards Committee Chair William Healy, APLD Healy Design, Inc. 4945 Granger Road Akron, OH 44333 (330) 606-3273

Education Chair Vanessa Nagel, APLD Seasons Garden Design LLC 12517 Northeast 20th Avenue Vancouver, WA 98686 (360) 546-2746

Sponsorship Committee Chair Colleen Hamilton, APLD Bloomin’ Landscape Designs 7122 Willey Way Carmichael, CA 95608 (916) 961-0191

Secretary/Treasurer Jock Lewendon, APLD Outdoor Living Spaces, LLC 766 Schoolhouse Lane Bound Brook, NJ 08805 (732) 302-9632

Certification Chair Maryanne Quincy, APLD Q Gardens PO Box 2746 Sunnyvale, CA 94087 (408) 739-5493

International Program Chair Ellen Johnston, APLD ETJ Designs 5543 Wateka Drive Dallas, TX 75209 (469) 628-3321

Technology Committee Chair Greg Morris LandFX Design Group 923 S. Palo Verde Street Mesa, AZ 85208 (480) 389-5110

susan@sterlinghort.com

martineelyapld@gmail.com

susan@susancohangardens.com

jlewendon@msn.com

lisaport@banyontreedesign.com

wmhealy@roadrunner.com

qgardens@sbcglobal.net

debby@ruskingardens.com

jane@gardendesignonline.com

vanessa@seasonsgardendesign.com

etj518@aol.com

jbruck@udel.edu

toni@gracefullygreen.com

colleen@bloominlandscapedesigns.com

greg@landfxdesign.com

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Non-Residential Merit Award Chengdu Zhixin Lidu, Chengdu, China

Scott Hostetler, Professional Member APLD, HZS USA Landscape, Atlanta, Georgia This project is part of a large, multi-phase community development and greenbelt in USDA hardiness zone 8, and the objective was to turn a highly disturbed urban brownfield into a show and sales garden. The client requested an iconic, recreational and urban garden paradise that would seamlessly connect with adjacent urban parks. The client wanted residents of all ages to interact with nature, culture, art and the environment within this initial urban show garden, a garden that would promote community residential sales but could later be used as an educational outdoor classroom and school and part of an expanding garden healing trail.

The overall design intent was to create a mature, memorable and diverse multi-faceted show garden, including a children’s education garden with an outdoor classroom and a sustainable, healing garden therapy trail.

We were to design the entire phased landscape, implementing sustainable and regenerative strategies, while serving diverse needs that initially focused on community sales but would later serve both children and elderly residents.

The designer repaired a damaged urban landscape with interconnected, sophisticated outdoor garden spaces, outdoor classrooms and healing trails, while also restoring and maintaining a sustainable relationship between residents of all ages and their environment in a complex and changing landscape that fostered a genuine re-establishment of spirit.

A sense of place was created through microhabitat diversity and connective relationships between people, art, education and ecology. Native trees, shrubs and groundcover species were selected for their bird-attracting characteristics, drought resistance, low maintenance, fragrance and four-season characteristics.

The landscape was an expression of function and the needs of users.

Welcoming spaces were creatively defined, an interconnected habitat was re-established, and the design complemented the existing architecture. Overall, the aim was to emphasize a diverse, imaginative, robust, sophisticated and memorable environment fit for living.

The landscape represents the designer’s commitment to a sustainable urban landscape design that seamlessly connects a network of adjacent natural areas and community outdoor rooms in order to maintain vital ecological processes and wildlife populations within this urban Chengdu region. It also establishes an enjoyable sensory experience where residents can enjoy art, delight, pleasure, excitement, shelter, subtlety, sustainability and resilience.

Photo Credit: Ryan Pyle

This landscape region is famous for hundreds of migratory bird species that reside there each summer and winter. The designer understood and enhanced the urban space by introducing species within the landscape design that would attract other local migratory birds that are native to the area.

Measured successes include an ecological, sustainable and regenerative landscape with increased biodiversity and removal of existing invasive plant species. There has been a 75 percent increase in bird species sightings, including some on the high priority watch list, along with species of regional migratory significance. The designer increased the ecological integrity of plant communities by tripling the diversity of native plants, while also providing garden therapy and outdoor classroom landscapes for 100 school children annually.

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Photo Credit: Chad Ingraham

Non-Residential Merit Award

Lhasa Tibet St. Regis Resort and Spa, Lhasa, Tibet Scott Hostetler, Professional Member APLD, HZS USA Landscape, Atlanta, GA The clients asked for a tranquil and reflective landscape symbolic of the place, history, religion and people, a design considered as one that could purify the soul. They also wanted an effective, stunning irrigation system that would harvest rainwater and storm water runoff. The existing site conditions included a dry riverbed in a semidesert environment with only three existing mature Salix in USDA hardiness Zone 7.

Our design intent was to create a spiritual, reflective and soulful landscape of intimate spaces and courtyards that would capture and store rainwater and storm water runoff via catchment surface harvesting ponds that would supplement the irrigation water supply. We also wanted to create sustainable, modern landscape architecture around these contemplative ponds.

We decided to focus on the essence and spirit of an indigenous landscape using entirely native specimen plant materials to restore the landscape and capture its true alluring qualities that would reflect off the surface of the water-harvesting ponds within a singular design expression of sustainable and lyrical beauty.

The water-harvesting ponds provide an independent irrigation supply which is especially effective during the 45 day January to February drought period. Guests are encouraged to circulate clockwise around the ponds in order to receive the blessings of the gods.

Sustainable materials introduced within the landscape included composite wood for timber decks made from recycled plastic, wood products and resin, permeable paving for emergency vehicle access lanes, walkways and site amenities, and furnishings made from recycled materials.

The existing mature Salix were all saved and enhanced as ancient grand features.

Context, culture, history, environment and social sensitivity are at the forefront of this meaningful and holistic Lhasa, Tibet inspired landscape design.

The designer educated and sold the client and locals on the benefits of the proposed landscape design that not only harvested rainwater and storm water for irrigation purposes but also incorporated native plants that were drought-tolerant, disease resistant, multi-textured, and low maintenance.

The plantings were designed for four season interest as well.

Working with village elders, the designer handselected majestic native trees and collected local, nutrient-rich river valley soils, using the indigenous material in a design composition of ever-changing beauty. The designer also directed the site construction and landscape implementation efforts.

Denniston Architects International designed the architecture and associated hardscape surfaces.

The native landscape was inspired by the local and ancient Lake Namtso ecosystem and its enchanting Salix Island focal points that are reflected within a natural and mysterious water- harvesting lake.

In the interests of sustainability, all surface water is collected within the ponds and managed entirely on site. Benefits include a minimal cost of irrigation, since the harvested water is located close to planting beds. This eliminates the need for complex and costly distribution systems; reduces consumption of treated water; reduces the cost of pumping, operation and augmentation of limited groundwater supply; reduces peak storm water runoff; reduces non-point source pollution; and reduces greenhouse gas emissions since there is no over-dependence on pumping.

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Planting Design Merit Award Beach Area Residence, Westport, Connecticut Eva Chiamulera, ASLA, Professional Member APLD Austin Ganim Landscape Design, LLC, Fairfield, Connecticut

Integrating this newly constructed Westport, Connecticut residence into the adjacent beach community presented us with several unique challenges and opportunities. There was a significant topography change between the front and back of this corner lot and the neighbors were in close proximity. The front of the property is extremely sunny while the rear is under heavy shade from the neighbor’s mature trees.

Our clients were particularly concerned about the front of the house. They wanted additional privacy, but they asked for plantings that would not “wall out” the neighbors. As avid plant lovers, they requested a tapestry of mixed plantings that would grow together in time and provide habitat for birds and butterflies. The clients previously lived in a home with woodlands and meadows, and it was important to them to them to integrate reminders of that site into this new this new suburban environment.

The stepping stone walk in the front yard creates an inviting but casual entrance to the property, reflecting the relaxing atmosphere of this beach area community. Drifts of beach rose, hydrangeas and viburnums accented by thunderhead pines, hibiscus and grasses soften views into the property. The semi-formal foundation beds defined by boxwoods and cherry laurels provide winter interest while roses and perennials carry the summer months.

Our design marries the site challenges with the client’s needs for a friendly, private, relaxing atmosphere that incorporates plant life as the main focal point of the property. We took the opportunity to create intriguing and inviting spaces not only for our clients, but also for their guests and neighbors. Our four-season approach to planting design ensures that there is always something interesting in the garden. Rather than rely on fencing for privacy, we relied heavily on plantings that would screen as well as create interest through texture, color, and flowers.

Incorporating the woodland and meadow theme gave us the opportunity to expand our typical beach plant palette in a way that would not overwhelm this less than half-acre lot.

In the backyard, a series of steps and terraced planting beds connect the lower patio to the deck above; a mixture of spruces provides privacy and a backdrop for the bark of red-twig dogwood and white birches in the winter months. While descending the stairs, your eyes are drawn to an arc of dogwoods surrounding the lower corner of the property and creating a canopy of layered plantings for privacy.

The design allows an organic-shaped pool to be integrated into the patio and plantings at a future time.

Plant material was chosen for its hardiness in this Zone 7a region, integrating a number of natives and incorporating species to provide food and shelter for birds and other local wildlife. Many of the flowering plants attract bees, butterflies, and other critical pollinators.

The landscape designer designed and oversaw the installation of this project.

Our team installed the plant material while the builder’s masons constructed the hardscape.

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Residential Merit Award Small Spaces, Novato, California Joyce Rietveld, Professional Member APLD Green Roots Design, San Rafael, California

This site, in USDA Zone 15, was basically untouched since the 1970s. Concrete pad covered half the site, and the other half was dotted by a handful of plants and bark chips. The backyard fence was in need of replacement. Due to a large oak tree adjacent to the space, half the yard was in full sun while the other half was mostly shaded.

During the winter months, the yard was in almost total shade the entire day. The soil was compacted sand with little organic material.

To start the project, the old fence was torn down and rebuilt on the actual property line. This increased the available space and brought an oak tree into the backyard. The back fence could not be replaced so instead, it was painted. The concrete pad was removed. The curves of the garden were laid out with steel borders and soil was brought in to amend and level the planting areas. A decomposed granite patio was installed with buckskin flagstone placed on high traffic areas to keep down any tracking. A small water feature was added. A large and diverse plant palette was used both because of the client's wishes to have a variety of plants and to meet the client's wish to attract wildlife and insects.

The client wanted a diverse planting palette consisting of low-maintenance, droughttolerant plants that would also attract varied animal life. The client also wanted some portion of the backyard setup to allow them to entertain a small number of guests.

Most of the plants are natives or succulents with low water needs. The water feature was made using stone pulled from a previous job site. Switching to a more permeable patio will allow more runoff to remain on the property and not in storm drains.

Pest problems should be decreased due to the variety of insects and birds attracted to the site.

The intent was to make better use of the space and bring about a more open feeling to a previously cluttered yard. Organic curves and the flow of plantings were used to soften the boxy look of the surroundings. To attract varied wildlife, a large collection of native plants were used and a water feature was to be included.

The entire design was done by Green Roots Design.

The property was basically untouched when the project began. The only limitations were the inability to replace the shed, back fence or stairs.

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Residential Merit Award The Swirls Garden, Battle Ground, Washington Vanessa Gardner Nagel, APLD, NCIDQ Seasons Garden Design LLC, Vancouver, Washington

analogous color palette: yelloworange-red and white; yellow and white were used to brighten shady areas, but in the context of a woodland garden. Another goal was to create unity and balance through repetition and massing of plants, to define areas with larger shrubs, create four-season interest and privacy from the road, coordinate plants with the adjacent natural ecosystem, add fragrance, and create textural interest.

The hardscape features anchor the primary garden areas.

There’s a swirled stone patio and water feature at the front woodland, with a stone landing and step nosings at the entry area. There’s a swirled fire pit and seat wall with lower garden-defining gabion wall intersection, a swirled steel pergola with glass accents at the lawn and south woodland. A recycled glass “duck pond” swirl is near the back deck. Stone relates to existing stone at the front door and is the same throughout the project, with the exception of the rounded river stone in the gabion wall.

This natural woodland area in USDA Zone 7 had a steep slope at the back of the property that descended into a ravine and a year- round creek. Winters in this area are rainy and summers are dry. There were native trees and shrubs along with considerable invasives (English ivy and holly, Himalayan blackberry). A well-traveled road was in front of the property, as well as an existing curved driveway at the front of the house. Existing front and back brick walkways were disintegrating. There was a barn located approximately 100 feet from the house and a linear “orchard” extended from it toward the road. In front of the orchard was a partly shady lawn. A wood walkway connected the covered parking area to the existing back deck. The site limits for the project did not extend beyond the southern orchard or the north driveway border. The deck overlooked the ravine, and there was a narrow landing below.

Of utmost importance to the client was sustainable property stewardship. The elderly clients included a print artist with a Celtic background. The couple wanted a low-maintenance, waterefficient, and naturalistic garden, including native plants and the removal of invasives. They’d had problems with deer and moles. A privacy buffer was required near the road, and access to a landing near the ravine was desirable. They had a budget around $100,000. They wanted a focal point viewable from the back deck, a water feature in the front woodland; and improved access to the front door, including night lighting and new house fixtures. It was also important to include garden art and retain the lawn, but only in the sunnier location.

My intent was to provide design consistency using the client’s favorite graphic: the swirl (Celtic origin); improve house and garden accessibility; require excellent workmanship for all hardscape and art; coordinate house and garden with color, form, and materials. I wanted to provide an

Photo Credit: Vanessa Gardner Nagel, APLD

The garden was installed using only sustainable methods and materials, and it is sustainably maintained. The soil was enhanced with compost and cedar chips were used on woodland paths.

The designer’s role was to create the master plan and at the client’s request, undertake site observation during construction in lieu of more drawings.

After completion of the installation, the client added art and a stone bench.

Vole invasions limit plant growth, even using controls.

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Photo Credit: William Ripley, APLD

Residential Merit Award

Dauwe Residence, Village of Indian Hill, Ohio William Ripley, APLD, Architectural Landscape Design, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio The original site in USDA Zone 6a contained an old dilapidated home on three and a quarter acres. The property had been neglected for many years and there were many damaged trees located throughout the property. Invasive honeysuckle had taken over sections of the woodland understory at the perimeters of the property, and the existing pavement made vehicular and pedestrian pathways uncomfortable.

The clients wanted to transform the entire property. They preferred that the scale and style of the proposed home be reflected in the exterior design. They desired a landscape that felt grand and sophisticated yet complimentary to the emotional tone of the land and neighborhood. The clients envisioned a dramatic journey leading up to the home’s entrance with stylish pathways wrapping around the home’s footprint. They did not plan on occupying the home during the summer months and therefore wanted the flower cycles and the textural interests of the plant selections to be dominant during their months at the home. They also needed to find a solution to running water from three adjacent properties that continuously streamed across the center of the property and vehicular pathway.

It was my intent to meet the client’s needs and provide solutions for many other intricacies associated with a project of this scale and scope. I developed structural features that reflected, extended and accentuated the architecture of the proposed home. I chose materials appropriate for the property and selected plant material to fit the client’s requirements, while being sensitive to the ever-present wildlife.

The project was a blank slate. The old house was razed, the new home built, new infrastructure installed, and the remaining property developed and landscaped according to our client’s wishes. We built supporting structures and accented those features with proper plant selections.

We developed a preservation plan, acquired all hard materials such as fieldstone, creek stone, and brick from local sources, and purchased all plant material from local growers. Instead of capturing the water from adjacent properties and draining it into the village sewer system, we made it part of the natural landscape and allowed it to flow naturally into a nearby pond.

My role as a designer included all conceptual and construction drawings necessary for the implementation of the project, together with day-to-day oversight of the construction, landscaping and planting. I was responsible for designing and for construction management of everything from the foundation of the home to the property lines. I was accountable for siting the home on the property, including the establishment of the home’s elevation and orientation, and designing all structural elements and aesthetic features, which included walls, a bridge, vehicular and pedestrian pathways, exterior lighting (both line and low voltage), topography and drainage plans, and planting and preservation plans. Although I was responsible for the conceptual designs for the vehicular bridge and the large stone retaining walls, engineering was requested and required for the completion of construction drawings for these two features.

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Residential Merit Award

Holistic Integration in Connecticut, Greenwich, Connecticut Matthew Willinger, Professional Member APLD Doyle Herman Design Associates LLC, Greenwich, Connecticut

Care was taken to match the specific look of old existing stone walls by sourcing local reclaimed material. The uncomfortable patio was leveled and expanded around a new outdoor fireplace that extends the enjoyment the landscape and also serves as a striking focal point centered on the living room’s French doors and a mini-orchard of Macoun apple trees. The fireplace is balanced by boxwood parterres brimming with the blue-violet flowers of Geranium ‘Rozanne’.

When a large, ailing tree came crashing down on their property, our clients decided that it was time to invest in the landscape of their property in USDA Zone 6. Set upon .711 acres, the site slopes down from back to front and for several years, a broken underground infiltration system had degraded the lower part of the property, and the wet conditions were harmful to existing trees. The site contained an abundance of plant material around the house and along the street, but the plantings were poorly sited and had grown completely out of scale. An inadequate retaining wall did little to encourage outdoor family activity. In addition, a back patio on two levels was awkward and uninviting.

The gate to the organic vegetable garden stands centered at the end of a turf pathway between a double border of German iris and peonies.

Espaliered pear trees in the border along the house provide additional fruit and interest without taking up additional space. A fieldstone ramp to the garden enables easy wheelbarrow access.

The clients asked for a design to include a large, flat play area for recreation, an organic vegetable garden, and the absence of chemicals in landscape maintenance.

Foremost in our intent was the increased functionality of the site with clearer direction and harmonious, more orderly plantings. The architectural details of the house could be better complemented both in materials and the layout of landscape elements to promote a more integrated relationship between the building and the site. In addition, a large vegetable garden was to be incorporated to fulfill the homeowner’s desire for the productivity of the property.

The scope of work included the construction of masonry walls and patio, re-grading, installation of fencing and lighting, and the planting of new formal garden areas.

A substantial, level lawn was created for family sport, and the landscape has been ordered to provide distinct areas for various activities. Native Connecticut fieldstone retaining walls at several elevations and axial geometry organize the property. A secret garden below the play lawn runs perpendicular to the house and is surrounded by a deciduous wall of hornbeam which provides unique seasonal interest. One is directed through this garden by conical yews whose dark forms are set off by billowing masses of chartreuse lady’s mantle.

Photo Credits: Matthew Willinger and Neil Landino

A custom-designed three-bin compost system serves for the local disposal of all yard debris and the nourishment of the vegetable garden. In keeping with the designer’s desire to avoid waste, a large quantity of existing plant material was lifted on site and successfully reused in the new design.

In the choice of new plant material, dependable and low-maintenance plant cultivars were selected, including the perennials and the thirsty Metasequoia trees now thriving at the formerly wet front of the property. Similarly, larger trees, including centuryold eastern red cedars and mature Japanese maples, have been conserved and will continue to grace the property and neighborhood.

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Hollister Retreat, Gaviota, California

Margie Grace, APLD Grace Design Associates, Inc., Santa Barbara, California

Situated between California’s Gaviota State Park and Point Conception, this small surf getaway on Hollister Ranch in USDA Zone 8b is tucked inconspicuously into a southfacing chaparral-clad slope. "The Ranch" is home to a rich diversity of flora and fauna, including several rare and endangered species. Mild seasons and prolonged periods of drought and wildfire characterize the Mediterranean climate.

The site is highly exposed to the elements. Wind is strong, nearly constant, and blows off shore (dry air) or long shore (moist). The site enjoys panoramic views of the ocean, islands, coastal plain and mountains. Shallow, sandy soil is underlain by shale with a well-developed layer of caliche that impedes percolation. Rainfall averages 17 inches per year.

Our clients use the site as a weekend escape where they spend time outdoors relaxing with family and friends. Their needs included low-maintenance, low-water use, fire-resistant plantings; lots of parking; an uninterrupted view; a fire pit; sheltered outdoor dining space; an outdoor shower and hot tub to use after surfing; surfboard storage and wetsuit drying area.

Our challenge was to meet the clients' program without adverse impact on the environment. Our solution was a restrained, pocket-sized garden using native materials to create a comfortable, highly livable space that meets the clients’ practical needs yet respects and blends seamlessly with its surroundings.

Our solution was to include a wind-protected dining/ lounge area that looks out at the panoramic view.

Lanterns and a campfire-style propane-fueled fire pit extend outdoor living beyond sunset. A cedar hot tub is set into the hillside to reduce its visual impact.

A small flash-heater provides a warm shower next to the spa for post-surf warming up. Driftwood details include a surf rack (by homeowner) and campfire stools.

Fall 2013 I apld.org

Residential Merit Award

In addition, a large gravel parking area - inlaid with a lyrical fieldstone spiral and scattered low plantings - blends seamlessly with the extended landscape.

Restrained plantings of native grasses tie into the view, and new entry gates on the south end of the property prevent unwanted bovine visitors. New native shrubs disguise the retaining walls, pots soften the hardscape and enhance the composition, and olives withstand the winds and provide needed shade and structure.

We used 100 percent native grasses, and other plants are 80 percent native. All gravel and plants are locally sourced (less than 25 miles).

No post-establishment irrigation is needed and there is no irrigation system. There are no invasive species, 95 percent of the new hardscape is permeable, and flagstone was salvaged from the site. Mature trees were retained and nursery containers were returned for reuse. New stonework was constructed of native fieldstone grubbed from the site, and total construction waste generated was only two trash cans. Shower water runs off to watering basins around the olive trees.

The designer performed all landscape design and installation. Pre-existing landscape elements retained included a concrete driveway, a small patio, site retaining walls, a small stone sitting area and six olive trees.

Photo Credit: Lepere Photography

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Residential Merit Award

Ciasulli Residence – Tuscany Outdoor Living, Kinnelon, New Jersey Chris Cipriano, Professional Member APLD Cipriano Landscape Design, Mahwah, New Jersey

The overall project includes multiple limestone patio areas, a gourmet outdoor kitchen, an infinity edge pool with 200 fiber optic star lights and custom glass tile inlays, four fiber optic deck jet water features, a spa, and a formal Tuscan landscape planting design with ornate statues and an antique gazebo.

This home is situated on 10 secluded mountaintop acres in USDA Zone 6b with a captivating view of the valley and nearby city below. Soil testing, as part of the design, showed areas of the property had rock shelf while other areas had unsuitable fill conditions 20 feet deep. The swimming pool area and subsurface soil were excavated to suitable subgrade; this required 1000 tons of clean stone below the pool and another 400 tons of compactable fill in the surrounding area to support the patios. The existing pool was not level (by three inches) and the surrounding patio had extensive settling issues.

Being seasoned world travelers, the clients had strong opinions about the pool, landscape design, layout, and materials. The owners wanted to step out into a Tuscan resort with grand entertaining areas, while also focusing on fun and functional areas for the grandchildren. The high demands of the clients turned out to be the best catalyst for bringing our landscaping and the swimming pool to a higher level of design and craftsmanship.

The goal of the swimming pool and landscape design was to create a grand outdoor entertaining area with a formal Tuscan feeling that accentuated the views off site.

We also wanted to provide all users a chance for active and passive recreation, day and night. The patio layout was designed to allow users to spread out and enjoy the vast views with the new landscape and swimming pool in the foreground. The goal was also to create a space for large-scale day and night outdoor entertainment, as well as scenic relaxation for the owners and their guests.

Our plans included specifications for onsite soil mediation. The organic soil from the initial excavation was stockpiled on site and reused during the planting portion of the project. We also took an inventory of all existing nursery stock and were able to reuse a significant portion of existing material. The project also had an extensive drainage system and erosion control designed for zero downhill runoff. Finally, we designed the project with a diversified palette of plant material, chosen to promote beneficial insects, birds and small wildlife.

All of the work, including the swimming pool, patios, outdoor kitchen, and plantings, were designed by our landscape architect with the intent of being built by our staff. In addition to completing the entire design, we constructed every aspect of the project with the exception of the cabana. The design/build model provided the ideal formula for constructing from detailed plans with precise accuracy and efficiency, maintaining the aesthetic integrity of the design, and meeting all of the homeowner’s goals.

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Fall 2013 I apld.org

Residential Merit Award Front Ridge Residence, Penobscot, Maine

Matthew Cunningham, Professional Member APLD Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC, Melrose, Massachusetts A contemporary farmhouse situated at the high point of a two-acre property in USDA Zone 5a floated in a sea of rough turf. Intensive sitewide mowing and fertilizing had destroyed site biodiversity. The yard immediately surrounding the house was void of character and related poorly to the agricultural context of the neighborhood. The south-sloping parcel offered gorgeous panoramic views of Downeast Maine and the Acadia National Park region but provided little protection from intense seasonal weather patterns. With no identifiable microclimates, it was evident that the landscape was missing valuable layers of vegetation.

The primary challenge of this project was to develop a site master plan that could be installed in phases by the clients––a retired couple with grandchildren and pets. Each improvement had to heighten awareness of the changing seasons, incorporate low-maintenance strategies, and heal as many damaged site systems as possible within the constraints of a modest budget.

The project grew from a shared passion between the client and the designer for the pastoral landscapes of Downeast Maine. The new design philosophy hinges on a solid core of vegetation management principles that revived fragmented native plant communities. These management strategies guided the site design process, leading to the designation of seven identifiable site vegetation systems: managed woodland and hedgerow, managed meadow, orchard and grove, hayfields and pasture lands, shrub borders, perennial gardens, and open lawn.

This project combats common and problematic environmental issues associated with the rapid suburbanization and commercialization of rural places. The work completed on this property serves as an important model for protecting scenic character and establishes easy-to-implement property management techniques for any do-it- yourself homeowner.

The project illustrates how easily expansive areas of turf can be transformed into vibrant habitats that enrich local biodiversity. Excessive water and gasoline consumption is eliminated, and the long-term health of soils and the local watershed are improved. Wildlife returned and a sustainable ecosystem is reestablished.

The designer studied existing vegetation systems and prepared planting design diagrams that included land management strategies for the site. Drawings provided to the client were used to install their own plants in phases. The homeowners continue to manage their own property and follow the initial management recommendations. Periodic visits are scheduled and the designer provides ongoing advice.

Photo Credit: Matthew J. Cunningham

A rural hillside residence in Downeast Maine serves as a model for regenerating fragmented native plant communities and restoring damaged site systems. Spaces carved from the landscape overlook stunning panoramic regional views, while new shrubs and trees define edges and thresholds. Vibrant perennial gardens encircle domestic areas, drawing eyes inward on a foggy day. Sensible management practices guide the homeowner’s efforts to rehabilitate expansive areas of mown lawn. The property receives no supplemental seeding or irrigation, and the lush, seasonal meadow continually evolves. Low-mow zones are established and adjacent agricultural patterns are acknowledged. Brilliant seasonal drama is heightened along mown paths meandering through a rich tapestry of managed native meadow. Important scenic and cultural assets are preserved.

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Residential Merit Award

Garden Pool Space, Westport, Connecticut

Laura Rogers, Debbie Woodhouse, Joe Scott, Professional Members APLD Glen Gate Company, Wilton, Connecticut This colonial-style single family house is centrally located on the 1.7 acre property in USDA Zone 7a. . The north side of the property is lined with a bamboo screen and the rest is maintained lawn. An expansive bluestone terrace covers the rear of the residence, and the rear lawn was created using a three and a half foot retaining wall. The land slopes dramatically from east to southwest.

The client initially asked us to design a pool in the immediate rear yard, with a direct connection to the house. They were interested in creating a garden atmosphere within the pool space that would have privacy and established plants.

As we began to explore the pool location, we found that the east side yard, an underutilized space, had a seamless connection to the informal side of the home. The pool shape reflects the movement of the house. We provided level changes using walls and staircases to mimic the natural progression of the land. We connected the upper porch or balcony to the pool space to create flow. Our design also focused on maximizing the amount of useable area and extending the slope of the property.

Photo Credits: Neil Landino and Laura Rogers

The space can be entered in three locations. From the front of the house, you descend a set of grass steps, planted with large ‘Annabelle’ hydrangeas, 16- to 18-foot river birches, and lush perennials. The entrance from the rear connects the entertaining spaces from above with the pool area. This staircase descends into the outdoor kitchen and is lined with ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea, iris, and a focal point Styrax.

To accommodate privacy concerns, we designed a stilted hedge of Tilia under-planted with a solid Taxus hedge to define the boundary and disguise the dramatic change in slope. The final way to enter the space is from the home, by way of the porch or lower level. The lower level functions as a pool house with an extended entertaining area and bathroom facilities. We designed and installed a staircase from the upper porch with detailing that mimics the existing railings.

Grass terraces, bluestone banding, and a bluestone terrace surround the pool. A wall separates it from the pool below, which creates a sense of definition and draws the eye through the space.

We are implementing a master plan, which includes the rear terrace and front entrance to the main home. At this point we have completed the pool space, rear gardens, and front entry gates and street presence.

The slopes required rooting vegetation to prevent erosion. For this we planted the entire slope with Vinca minor. We also installed a root barrier for the bamboo and a dry riverbed to move water through the space into newly installed drywells.

The balcony and terrace in the pool area were existing. We created the pool, outdoor kitchen, fences, gates and entrances into the space. We designed all the décor and chose the furniture as well.

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Greenhouse Living, New Hope, Pennsylvania

David Fierabend, Professional Member APLD Groundswell Design Group, LLC, Hopewell, New Jersey

The scope of work for the design focuses primarily on the eastern portion of the large countryside property. Gabion cage walls were inserted to address the change in topography to the north end of the site and to solve drainage and erosion issues. The gabion walls wrap around the site, reinforcing four distinctly different spaces. These spaces are separated through changes in topography, materials, and program.

Fall 2013 I apld.org

Residential Merit Award

The program was defined mainly by the changes in elevation and the increasing distance from the main residence. Closest to the residence, the outdoor patio is centered on seasonal entertainment and relaxation. Next, the greenhouse focuses on outdoor living and year-round habitation. The parterre garden is primarily a space for horticultural activities and harvesting for the residing family’s personal use.

Finally, the outlying areas of the property beyond the vicinity of the greenhouse are meant to be more natural, very low maintenance, and beneficial to the native wildlife.

The site conditions at the outset of the design process consisted of four primary elements: a contemporary-style residence and rolling topography in USDA Zone 7; large existing locust, silver maple, apple and fir trees; and expansive areas of lawn.

The client’s primary objective was to extend the indoor living space to the outside.

They wanted an outdoor space suitable for activities through all four seasons ranging from large scale parties to intimate opportunities for individual relaxation.

Our design intent centered on the concept of creating a multi-use activity space in the landscape that would reflect the homeowner’s contemporary design sensibilities and also accommodate the owner’s specific lifestyle. In addition, there were some problematic challenges, including undesirable grade changes, drainage issues, and large areas of lawn. .

The resulting design features a greenhouse as a living space, with patios composed of recycled plastic railroad timbers. Terraced succulent gardens are retained by Corten steel, and there are gabion-cage retaining/seating walls, and vegetable garden parterres. Drifts of grasses and shrubs soften the industrial-like exterior of the house, and a planted native wildflower meadow provides habitat and food for birds and other wildlife. The interior of the greenhouse was designed with found objects and salvaged material reflecting the homeowner’s personal taste.

Designing with a responsibility and sensitivity to the environment was paramount in the conceptualization and construction of this landscape. Reclaimed building materials were used wherever practical. For other applications, local materials were purposely sourced so as to maintain a minimal carbon footprint. An example of this is the stone used to fill the extensive gabion cage walls, transported to the site from less than 10 miles away. In keeping with the theme of sustainability, large areas of lawn were replaced with drought-tolerant, native meadow plants.

Other than the existing residence, there was no other pertinent work performed outside of the designer’s control.

Photo Credit: Top Kat Photo

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Residential Merit Award

Temiz Residence – Natural Outdoor Oasis, Saddle River, New Jersey Chris Cipriano, Professional Member APLD Cipriano Landscape Design, Mahwah, New Jersey

The client wanted a luxury, natural-style swimming pool, a waterfall, a quiet place to relax, and several large patio areas for outdoor entertainment. The waterfall was a must, not only for aesthetic purposes but also for the practical purpose of drowning out the noise of a nearby highway. The outdoor gourmet kitchen had to be fully equipped, including extra counter space and close to the rear entry for convenience.

The project showcases an eight-foot waterfall into the swimming pool and a natural vanishing edge flowing down to a collection pool at the main dining patio elevation. In order to save space, the natural stone for the waterfall was set vertically to mimic a sheer cliff. To soften the one-thousand-tons of stone used to retain the slope, a combination of evergreen and woody ornamental trees were layered with large shrubs, ornamental grasses, and perennials. The upper pool patios are constructed from an irregular grey Tennessee Crab Orchard paving stone, and the lower patio is random patterned bluestone. On one side of the pool patio, we built a custom koi pond with a small stream overlooking a complete gourmet brick outdoor kitchen.

There was a 26-foot elevation change over a short distance from the back door to the rear property line on this two-acre lot in USDA Zone 7a, which left very little functional space, and we were working with a maximum four-foot cut and fill restriction. In other words, we could not set the pool at the same elevation as the first floor patio because it would have called for a 10-foot cut wall behind it and patios that would not have been in scale with the enormous footprint of the house.

Fortunately, these site conditions allowed for a creative waterfall idea that gave the design tremendous character.

Our specifications included soil remediation. The organic soil from the initial excavation was stockpiled on site and reused during the planting portion of the job. There was a strong focus on erosion control, downhill runoff and drainage. Also, a diversified palette of plant material was chosen to promote beneficial insects, birds, and small wildlife.

The goal of the backyard design was to utilize a vanishing edge swimming pool and waterfalls to create terracing that maximizes the entertaining space on the severely sloped property. Natural boulder rock outcroppings extend away from the pool and were designed to retain the steep slope, while maintaining a natural appearance.

The natural appearance was enhanced by massing plants. Views of the waterfall and natural vanishing edge pool were in line with the master bedroom but visible from virtually every vantage point.

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Our staff designed and built this entire project including the swimming pool, masonry and plantings.

By designing and building the entire project, we preserved the integrity of the detailed landscape and pool design, producing one seamless project that met every goal of the homeowner. The process offered convenience, efficiency, and precision across every aspect of the job.

Fall 2013 I apld.org

Residential Merit Award

Valentine Park, West Newton, Massachusetts Matthew Cunningham, Professional Member APLD Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC, Melrose, Massachusetts A new, shingle-style gambrel home is sited upon a gentlysloping, one-acre corner lot in a gorgeous suburb of Boston.

Mature oaks, beeches, and maples populate surrounding properties in an established neighborhood. A lengthy house construction process scraped valuable features from the landscape, revealing a stark, compacted canvas. With just three trees remaining, only a comprehensive master plan would heal the land.

The property belongs to a busy professional couple with three young children. The family sought guidance on the placement of a swimming pool and spa, areas for entertaining, activity, and relaxation, driveways and parking, terraces, walls, grading, and planting design. The goal was to craft durable, memorable outdoor spaces that capture the spirit of the family’s busy lifestyle, and to reestablish ecological balance to the property within the framework of a carefully monitored budget.

The project received LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, and water conservation plays a lead role in the landscape design.

A 3,400-gallon rainwater-capture system collects over 50 percent of the precipitation from the roof and is used to irrigate the property. A highefficiency irrigation system maximizes coverage and minimizes water consumption. Areas of lawn are minimized (only 30 percent of the site is carpeted with turf). A low-maintenance 95 percent native plant palette maximizes drought tolerance, providing spectacular fall color.

All stones used in wall and terrace construction were sourced within a 500 mile radius of the site, and slabs of reclaimed granite and antique cobblestones were used to construct the front walkway and driveway aprons. Areas of porous peastone were located to allow water to percolate into the ground.

Strict zoning guidelines defined design tactics.

Site improvements incorporate sustainable, low-maintenance concepts, healing damaged site systems. Solid grading and landform strategies respond carefully to adjacent topographic conditions and storm water is managed. Heat and droughttolerant plantings artfully reveal New England’s exceptional multi-seasonal color palette. These prerequisites informed all stages of the design process.

The project grew from a spirit of collaboration between the design team and the client. The role of the landscape designer included analyzing and assessing existing conditions; generating concepts; conceptualizing storm water management and irrigation systems; designing the pool, spa, fencing, terraces, walls, walks, planting, lighting, etc.; integrating site-related LEED sustainability concepts; preparing construction drawings; coordinating bids; hand-selecting masonry and plant materials; enlisting multiple subconsultants; coordinating landscape construction; and directing property maintenance.

Photo Credit: Matthew J. Cunningham

Restored ecological health is now visible, as newly structured vegetation communities begin shaping a vibrant landscape.

Meticulously crafted Pennsylvania fieldstone retaining walls rise from the ground, retaining crisp landforms that form the foundation of a lush, terraced garden. Rich perennial gardens surround the pool and spa, spilling over walls in dazzling multi-seasonal displays of color. The footprint of the new home appears purposefully located, and intuitive planning reveals functional connections between the house and garden. Individual spaces host intimate gatherings or flow freely into one another to accommodate larger groups.

Stone staircases glide through walls to bluestone terraces, and crisp wood fencing creates a private setting. The new landscape feels structured, contemporary, and permanent.

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Photo Credit: Glenn Switzer

Residential Merit Award

Inspired Bali, Northfield, Minnesota

Glenn Switzer, Professional Member APLD Switzer’s Nursery & Landscaping, Inc., Northfield, Minnesota Existing site conditions on this USDA Zone 4 project included a two-story vintage Arts and Crafts home with an overgrown and minimally maintained backyard. The project area was on the north side of the home, where there is a late 1970s screened porch and garage addition and a level area between the home and the existing fence.

The clients had lived in Bali for an extended period of time and wanted to recreate the pleasures of that tropical destination. A water feature that embodied the essence of the Balinese plunge pool was their top objective, and they also asked us to integrate the screened porch, an outdoor dining space, and privacy for the spa.

The design intent was to use the water feature as a unifying element and a terminus to the two narrow corridors, blending the interior space of the screened porch and the exterior. A design concept of three main outdoor rooms and transitional spaces was developed. The “Outdoor Dining Room” is framed by a U-shaped contemporary pergola that establishes human scale next to the tall house. The reused antique clay pavers were installed with a double basket weave pattern to match the home style in front.

The transitional space that separates the dining room from the “Outdoor Living Room” is subtle but effective. The paving pattern changes to a running bond to reinforce the linear aspect of Balinese garden design. A small curve in the walkway is enough to shift movement and signal the change, while a canopy of ironwood trees helps compress the visual experience. A single step elevates the raised patio that defines the “Outdoor Living Room.”

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Landscape structures with angled tops emulate the pitch of the roofline, creating the experience of closure. The feeling of being inside while being outside is achieved. Colorful fabrics are draped from the structures. The rich saturated colors are another key to Balinese design. A random pattern of bluestone completes the patio surface and reinforces the linear feeling of the paver pattern.

Entering “The Garden Room,” one is immersed in the relaxing and replenishing qualities of water. A variety of natural stone was used to construct the water feature.

Plant material was chosen for the foliage. Largeleafed hosta, bergenia and ferns, to name just a few, create the feeling of a lush tropical paradise.

One exception is the ‘Royal Star’ magnolia. When its large blossoms appear in spring, it’s time to return the koi to the pond. Tropical water plants and koi fish complete the Balinese experience in summer. The spa location affords the clients privacy and a complete view of “The Garden Room.”

Reuse of paving materials and natural stone selections were part of the environmental sensitivity. A system of French drains accommodates all of the storm water and treats it onsite.

Wonderful warm feelings… a Balinese inspired landscape design in a northern climate.

Silver Lake Jewel, Silver Lake, California Laura Morton, APLD Laura Morton Design, Hollywood, California

The strategic siting of three large trees creates privacy and shade from different views. A forged iron “umbrella” supports a bougainvillea that shades a casual dining set.

Moroccan lanterns are suspended at the tip of its ribs to create ambiance.

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Residential Merit Award

The back wall of the curved seating area defines an upper garden with a black and white pebbled meditation circle. A black foliage hedge adds additional privacy and mystery.

Green upholstery echoes the seasonal grasses that pop up after the rains. Black lava rock was used in the moon fire pit; black marbles in the star-shaped fountain.

The apartments overlook a large, bare, flat backyard in USDA Zone 10b with poor drainage and elevation lower than the street. There was an obsolete side drive, since the garage had been transformed into a studio, and the front yard was composed of old turf.

The clients are a well-travelled couple (banker and spiritual healer wife) who love African art and color. He wanted privacy, a place to lounge, a fire pit and outdoor shower. She required a gathering space for council circles, meditation and healing arts. They asked for new plantings to provide shade; roses and fruit trees, and open areas where the wife could grow sacred herbs for her shamanic practice. Both wanted water features to cool the space.

Photo Credit: ©jeffdunas2013

Sapphire blue walls, espaliered purple bougainvillea and red roses form a lush tapestry backdrop. Thank you, Yves St. Laurent! Ornamental grasses add movement and softness against a floor of urbanite and permeable decomposed granite that is seeded annually with California wildflowers.

The master bedroom terrace becomes an outdoor boudoir with vintage bathtub.

Colorful Fez tiles pattern a half wall against the house and the new half pillars are covered with reed mats, African style. Cotton curtains frame views of a fragrant garden of white flowers.

The main design intent was to extend interior living spaces outdoors, provide privacy by drawing the focus inward, and pad the perimeter with plants. Grade changes and plant materials were to add dimension and softly separate spaces for gathering, dining, lounging, bathing, gardening and meditation. Sacred geometry and tribal motifs were added to symbolically surround the property in a protective cocoon.

Rainwater is managed on site, directed to infiltration areas and rain gardens. A sump pump in the back empties into the front yard bioswale. There is drip irrigation throughout.

Recycled elements include “urbanite” paving and pathways; refinished bathtub; powdercoated old metal dining set; shelves from old wood doors and thrift shop mirrors. Native plantings provide forage and habitat. No chemicals or pesticides here…only love, mulch and magic.

The design uses a curvilinear approach to organize the new elements. It winds like a snake (an auspicious symbol) down the new side-drive garden, through an eight-pointed star fountain, past the shaded dining area, around the tree, and along the curved seating area with “full moon” gas fire pit, ending at the outdoor shower.

The designer created a master plan for the property, including low-voltage lighting and provided oversight of aesthetic intent during construction.

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Fall 2013 I apld.org

Small Gardens Merit Award Courtyard Pool Garden, Greenwich, Connecticut

Brandon Jones, Professional Member APLD Glen Gate Company, Wilton, Connecticut

The pool space can be entered three ways: through a custom garden gate to the east; a doorway from the home and up a bluestone slab staircase that leads from a lower terrace; and lawns to the west. Carved stone weirs were integrated into existing and newly-built garden walls. The pool’s water circulates through the weirs, creating a focal element and white noise to dampen sounds from the outside environment.

Pool enclosure barriers are created by a combination of stone walls and wrought-iron fencing. Grading was done to the west of the pool, placing the fence two feet below the pool’s elevation to limit interfering views.

Material selections and architectural detailing were key to integrating the pool into its historic site. Terracing directly adjacent to the pool is constructed of reclaimed bluestone. A diagonal installation pattern was chosen, and this orientation continues in the lower terrace to the west. The joints were deliberately expanded to create informality as the space progresses to the setting of the lake beyond.

The 1930’s Tudor style home in USDA hardiness zone 7A is sited on the northern portion of the 2.78-acre property with a private lake to the west. Terraced patios, gardens, and intricate architectural details comprise the home’s architecture and environment. An area of the property was selected for the development of a pool, terraces, and gardens.

It was an underused space with slight views and awkward connections to the lawns and lake beyond. The site’s proximity to the lake added wetland considerations.

The client wanted a pool that could be viewed from home’s breakfast nook, a pool that would blend seamlessly into the period architecture and become a garden focal element.

The area chosen for development offered potential for expanded views, connections to the lake, and it also met wetland constraints. The client also desired a space that could be used for relaxation and respite along with plant material that was subdued in tone.

Fern gardens at the lake’s edge were enhanced to define the formality of the lawn and the natural wetlands environment. Drainage improvements were installed to capture runoff from the space.

The design focused on revealing the relationship between the architecture and environment through a slow progression of space descending to the lake. Walls were eliminated and reorganized to open views and create physical connections to the lawns and lake beyond. The pool and its stone weirs create the main focal element and bridge modern-day accoutrements of a pool with the history, detail, and character of the home’s architecture. Plantings are massed and are deliberate in their monochromatic nature to build on the serenity of the space.

The designer was responsible for pool site selection and form; reorganization of garden walls, terraces, steps, and weirs; plant palettes, fence details and layouts; garden décor and furniture. The designer also specified materials and implemented the entire project.

Photo Credits: Brandon Jones and Neil Landino

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Photo Credits: James Doyle and Enda Cavanagh

Specialty Projects Merit Award

Dublin Mews House, Dublin, Ireland Matthew Willinger, Professional Member APLD Doyle Herman Design Associates, Greenwich, Connecticut

The renovation of this historic property in Dublin, Ireland (USDA Zone 8) represented a landscape architecture endeavor of a distinctly international character. Once functioning as a shelter for carriages and servants, the mews house at the rear of an 1847 Georgian manor in Dublin had become an eyesore in its gentrified neighborhood with a dilapidated unsafe structure, and a landscape overrun with invasive plants and vines. Before renovations began, the local planning council requested the preservation of the mews house’s 1840s neoclassical façade, which added a distinctive physical and stylistic challenge.

The client wanted to maximize the value and functionality of the property as a contemporary residential site, maintain links to the site’s history, and utilize up-to-date energy-saving structural features in construction and low-maintenance landscaping.

Our design intent was to build a modern structure juxtaposed to the Georgian wall. This encouraged a pared down and restrained hand in the design of the outdoor spaces.

The new four-bedroom residence consists of two separate buildings that span the width of the narrow property, enabling three distinct garden areas that complement the building’s prominent angles. Although each of these spaces was to serve a different function, the landscape designer unified the design through common elements of hardscaping and plant material. Because exterior glass walls were a prominent part of the home, the scheme of the gardens was planned so they would flow directly from the house and break down the division between outdoors and indoors. In addition, problematic grading and drainage challenges had to be addressed.

The simplicity and openness of the front garden area was dictated by the need for maximum parking and the style of building’s façade. Composed of a gravel ground with a minimal planting scheme of a Taxus hedge and a Carpinus tree, the landscape provides balance without distraction from the bold glass and dark-stained concrete wall of the building. LED in-ground luminaires help direct the visitor through the building to a passageway that slopes downward into a lushly planted central courtyard.

Emerging into this central garden space, one passes through the restored neo-classical wall. A pathway of traditional Kilkenney limestone, cut into modern paving shapes, is lined with additional upright hornbeams and leads directly to the glass façade of the main residence. One can also descend stone slab steps of the same local material to a sunken patio off the home’s lower level. The descent to the lower level is given dimension by the suspended glass and steel pedestrian bridge that crosses from within the residence to the media building through an existing window frame of the old coach house wall. The slope beside the steps is densely planted with variegated wintercreeper. Climbing jasmine and Virginia creeper soften the vertical surfaces of the enclosed space.

The rear garden space is the main outdoor living area and is completely visible from the home.

The yard is divided into two levels connected by steps that echo the floor elevations of the main house. A row of upright hornbeams provide a sense of enclosure. Just off the angular plane of the living room’s wall, a stone patio of indigenous limestone leads to an open lawn area at the lower level. Up above, off the bedroom, neatly edged blocks of purple-hued perennials surround a gravel path.

Very close collaboration was necessary between the landscape designers and the engineering and architectural firms to incorporate complex drainage requirements into the landscape design. Gravity and pumping solutions, for both foul and storm drainage, had to be integrated into all three green spaces. A unique pedestal system was designed for the lower central courtyard terrace, which allowed a concealed pumping station below to collect and control all stormwater. The use of locally sourced materials and sustainable features such as an underground system for recycled gray-water, as well as rooftop solar panels for domestic water heating, were used and contributed to the designer’s goal of conserving resources in the installation and future maintenance of the property. The contrasted architectural styles that are dynamically incorporated in the architecture were significant and directed the design decisions of the landscape. Although the green spaces are of minimal size, their elements and layout reflect the juxtaposition of old and new and they greatly enhance the visitor’s experience of crossing the threshold between the two.

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Specialty Projects Merit Award

Victoria Garden Mews (VGM), Santa Barbara, California Margie Grace, APLD, Grace Design Associates, Inc., Santa Barbara, California

The “Mews” is a central shared garden that provides sensory experiences and respite from urban stress, while supporting social interaction. On-site organic food production includes 30 fruit trees and vegetables. We installed an organic soil nutrient injection system and use heavy mulching in the garden beds. Diverse, highhabitat value plantings, bee boxes and nesting areas specific to local species draw native fauna and pollinators.

This project is LEED Platinum certified for homes. VGM is the first (and currently the only) residential project nationwide to achieve Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) certification. (In its infancy, SITES has established voluntary guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices. Think “LEED for planning and landscape design.”

Graced with a mild Mediterranean climate in USDA Zone 10 and 17 inches of annual precipitation, this one-quarter acre site in downtown Santa Barbara was populated with a dilapidated Victorian house and ramshackle accessory structures. Forty-nine percent of the site was impervious. The soil was heavily compacted sandy loam.

The clients, three couples with the goal of trading their suburban lifestyle for a more sustainable one, set out to create a special “community within a community” where they would have easy access to urban amenities, minimize their environmental footprint and “age in place” together.

Our design intent was to maximize the outdoor space and minimize the vehicle and building footprints. We also decided to implement an “age in place” design and to encourage walking, biking and bus use.

Other priorities included the use of productive, high habitat-value water-conserving plantings; the retention of storm water on site; use of the sun to meet energy needs; and minimal use of potable water.

We wanted as well to optimize environmental quality indoors and outdoors and to meet local historical preservation, architectural, and solar access guidelines.

This innovative project has become a groundbreaking case study for sustainable site development. Beyond serving as a home for four families, VGM is a tangible example of sustainable residential development comprised of one single-family residence and a threeunit condominium, common garden space with fruit trees, a fountain, a vegetable garden, dining area, and quiet places to sit, and private outdoor spaces for additional food production and connecting with nature.

Environmental responsibility includes a number of elements: a greyfield, infill site; car lifts that reduce the vehicle footprint from 40 to 10 percent of the lot; harvested roof runoff that satisfies 85 percent of irrigation needs; infiltrators that capture site runoff; elevators and universal design to allow aging in place. In addition, the lawn and garden borders are drought-tolerant, and permeable paving and fruit trees meet historical guidelines and satisfy the clients’ program. An “art walk” and side yards provide food production, hidden storage areas, and beauty as well. There is night-friendly LED lighting.

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All landscape elements were demolished prior to our arrival; therefore our firm designed and built all landscape components of the project. This unique project was developed by an integrated team – owners, architect, engineer, general contractor and ourselves – to assure that every opportunity to optimize resource use, enrich the quality of life and enhance aesthetics was captured.

The integrated design approach allowed us, as landscapers, to impact aspects of site planning, building/infrastructure design, site engineering, etc., that might otherwise adversely affect the landscape.

Tsubo Niwa – A Courtyard Garden, Shoreline, Washington Heidi Hower, Edmonds Community College, Seattle, Washington This Design II class assignment was to design a new front yard for an artist / master gardener and her family. Their Pacific Northwest neighborhood is in the city of Shoreline, Washington, where native tall trees create a unique woodland feeling and provide dramatic background and borrowed views of coniferous and deciduous trees.

Their home is sited near the end of a dead-end street, making for a quiet environment despite being within a half mile of a major state highway and a business corridor to the west and an interstate highway a similar distance to the east. They have an established garden and an extensive natural wooded lot behind their home which fully occupies the client’s time, so she has requested an easy-care design for the front yard.

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Student Silver Award Rectilinear paths reuse all of the existing concrete pavers. The pattern requires a portion of the pavers to be saw-cut. The design is inspired by a path to a tea garden in a Japanese garden in Portland, Oregon. These are to be set in a concrete base for longevity and to prevent the need for weeding between pavers.

Existing stone boulders are used in a grouping at the entry garden underneath the Acer circinatum ‘Monroe’ tree, a native in our area and a beautiful and more affordable substitute to Acer japonicum and A. palmatum.

The client requested a serene, secluded and simple design that would provide privacy from the street, include a 100 square foot front terrace, and a new path to the front door with angles (no curves). She also wanted to reuse 27 concrete pavers and three stone boulders, remove an original built-in brick planter from the front porch, replace the downspouts with rain chains, create a water rill, and select plants available at local nurseries with plant costs not to exceed $700 wholesale.

The garden design was inspired both by the architecture of the house and by the idea of a Japanese courtyard garden. By using a combination of built and plant screening, several of the requirements are met: extending the living area out into the garden provides a feeling of welcome and discovery for the neighbors and of privacy for the family both from inside the house and when they are working or relaxing in the garden. The edge of their privacy is no longer the front door or windows, but is extended out by 20 feet and the screening and geometry of the paving provide a rational framework within which the selected plantings can be featured.

The concrete patio uses the principles and sizing of a tatami mat layout for the placement of the control joints. Not only is this visually pleasing, but the patio is also sized for flexible furniture arrangements and comfortable circulation. This approach results in a patio that is 144 square feet, one that is larger than requested, but still less than 10% of the total project area.

Three aspects of the proposed design focus on creating a lower maintenance garden: adding a concrete patio and path which reduce areas that need watering and weeding, specifying drought- tolerant plants that also require little or no pruning, and leveling the planted area to reduce water runoff.

Rain curtains provide privacy and sun shading at the southwestfacing living room window and provide architectural interest to the most prominent corner of the house even when it isn’t raining. A second curtain is positioned between the two bedroom windows on the right side of the house centered on the patio. The rain curtains drain into rills which disperse rainwater into the garden through underground perforated piping. Initially intended as chains made of metal and glass, the homeowner was interested in taking this on as an art project using her imagination for the materials and construction.

The freestanding dark stained cedar wood and translucent polycarbonate 3Form® panels in the courtyard provide shade, privacy and outdoor rooms. They also define the entry sequence and create a framework with nooks for plant vignettes. This is also an opportunity for the homeowner to put her creativity into the selection of the top panels as this 40 percent recycled content material is available in an endless variety of colors and a variety of surface textures.

The plants invoke the feeling of a woodland understory which relates to the overall site. The colors of the foliage harmonize with those found in the house paint, wood and brick siding for a unified palette. The plants were selected for four season interest and focus on foliage rather than bloom, the exception being the Azalea ‘Fragrant Star’ which will perfume the courtyard in the spring.

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Planting Design Gold Award A Painterly Approach, Tiburon, California

Kate Stickley, Professional Member APLD, and Gretchen Whittier Arterra LLP Landscape Architects, San Francisco, California This is a hillside property bordering grassland open space in USDA Zone 10a. There was a cross slope of hill oriented toward the house, creating a drainage problem. Deer are a problem, and weather conditions include fog, wind, and sun. At the top and bottom of the hill, there are coast live oaks.

The clients wanted a plan to divert storm water away from the house; to provide exterior access from the top of house to the pool below; to create a sitting area in the garden to take advantage of distant views and also to add warm colors, create movement, and expand habitat for wildlife.

Photo Credit: Michele Lee Willson Photography

The planted swale slows the velocity of storm water, fostering percolation into the soil. Low water and Mediterranean zone plants reduce irrigation demand, and the irrigation system includes check valves to minimize water loss on the slope. The plant selection attracts hummingbirds and bees, and deer- tolerant plants allow for a direct connection to the grasslands and eliminates the need for a fence. The pathway material is low maintenance.

Our design intent was to aesthetically integrate storm water management into the grading and planting design; incorporate movement of the wind and the fall of the land in the massing of plants; provide a gracious transition between the grasslands and the developed garden; maintain the existing oaks and integrate them into the design; and to activate this underused portion of the site into an area to be enjoyed.

The main goal for the project was to solve a serious drainage problem with an artful, painterly approach. Grading a sinuous swale to intercept cross slope drainage and carry water away from the building is the central organizing element. The meandering pathway engages the hillside by weaving through the grade changes and the planting and linking them together. Large masses of plantings undulate down the hill creating a sweeping movement through the space. It is both dynamic and serene in character.

Specific features include a grass swale with a slab bluestone bridge, a meandering decomposed granite pathway and wood steps, a gathering area with a boulder sitting arrangement and decomposed granite, year-round plant interest with flowers, color, and leaf texture, and a trampoline for the kids at the bottom of the hill.

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Our role was to resolve conditions that were pre-existing, to create value in a space that was underutilized and to develop a landscape connection to the existing pool area and the back of the lot. The pool area was designed by the architect when the house was renovated several years before we were involved. Our task was to honor the existing scale of spaces and create a seamless transition around the property.

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Residential Gold Award

Studio Gardens, Southampton, New York Beth Ann Block, Professional Member APLD Barry Block Landscape Design & Contracting, Inc., East Moriches, New York

When our design team came to the project site in USDA Zone 6, the small rear yard was stark with negative views on the western side of the neighbor’s property. The driveway extended all the way to the garage that was located in the far corner. Along the northern property line, there were additional negative views of a large home situated on a slope that looked down onto the client’s space, leaving them no privacy. The eastern side property line had some screening from an existing plum but still contained pockets of undesirable views.

The client, an artist, desired the landscape to be experienced as pieces of art, creating garden rooms that were to be viewed from both the house and the artist studio. The client wanted to sculpt the perspective when walking through the garden and establish unique moments within each space. A request was also made for a pool designed with the feeling of a pond.

Depending on where you are in the garden, you still feel connected to the cottage, studio, and garden rooms, each with its own special experience and views. Stone paths and grass walkways provide access, circulation, and connections to each vignette. Boulder steppers lead you from the lawn into the studio’s set of French doors that previously were the garage door. In order to unite all garden spaces and provide a cottage-y atmosphere, irregular granite stone was selected for both terraces. Irregular Misty Mountain flagging was used for the pool seat coping and veneer.

Photo Credit: Ron Papageorge

This project’s purpose was to create an artist retreat at a small summer cottage, while providing entertaining and seating areas, along with a pond-like reflection pool and intimate gardens. Because of the five-foot grade change, the pool rises from the ground, creating a desired seat wall. Groundcovers, perennials, and summer blooming shrubs add the most color during the season when the landscape is used most. In each garden room, repeated plant groupings help pull the property’s scale together.

No matter the season, the gardens are always evolving, awakening the senses and offering continuous inspiration for the artist.

Due to the five-foot grade change, careful attention was placed on the design component for planting beds to control erosion. By re-grading the rear yard and constructing retaining walls, excess runoff is diverted into garden beds and retained on site rather than flowing into storm water drains.

The designer’s role consisted of transforming a garage and uneventful sloping rear yard, and constructing an artist studio retreat with a pond-like reflection pool and intimate gardens.

Additionally, the designer had to connect changes in grade to work cohesively in a flowing, smooth transition throughout the property. Due to the small property size, setbacks, and five-foot change in grade, the pool was designed to rise from the ground, creating a seat wall.

The designer believed a heart-shaped pool with a dark liner would capture the ambiance of a natural pond setting and work best within the yard’s scale.

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Residential Gold Award

Brookline Residence, Brookline, Massachusetts

Pete Cadieux, Professional Member APLD, a Blade of Grass, Wayland, Massachusetts The clients, a married couple in their thirties with two young children, wanted to transform their barren one-third acre lot in USDA Zone 6b into a vibrant series of gardens. Their ornate home, built in 1909, was located on a gently sloping lot, and there was an existing privet hedge, but little else. The wife is an avid gardener and wanted garden beds she could tend, where she could experiment, and where she could teach her children the joy of gardening. The couple also desired additional off-street parking; a private, restful space for the husband; and lawn areas where their children could play.

The main thrust of the design was to coax outdoor rooms out of a narrow, U‐shaped yard. Each room would need to be distinct through its purpose or aesthetic, yet feel unified to the larger garden, like chapters of a novel. Given the clients’ love of horticulture, the primary means of definition would be accomplished through plantings, with hardscape playing a secondary role.

Beginning in the southeastern corner, three spaces were designed adjacent to each other to serve each of the family’s members: the cutting and kitchen garden parterre for the wife; the screened bluestone patio for the husband; and the kids’ play lawn. These were the spaces where everyone’s vision for their yard could be met and shared in proximity.

Moving clockwise, the driveway configuration was changed in order to incorporate two additional parking spaces. The altered driveway layout allowed a change from asphalt to a permeable Gravel‐Lok surface, with reclaimed cobblestone aprons/details. The reuse of material and the reduction of impervious surface made for a reduced ecological footprint.

Photo Credits: Jim Douthit and Matt Houde

The next garden room was designed to be a transitional space between front yard and the rear, due to its long and narrow proportion. Large yews were planted at the end of the room to allow limited yet enticing views beyond. A mixture of flowering shrubs, roses, and perennials bracket the space, making the experience of “just passing through” one that visitors and homeowner alike enjoy.

The front entry garden posed one of the most difficult design challenges, as the home’s front door was directed at a busy intersection and the electric box for the stoplights. The existing curved walkway did not do justice to the ornate home or the florid gardens. The solution was to combine a circular focal point with a stone and sod checkerboard. The circular pathway and focal point provide a place for both circulation and sight lines to collect and redirect to the front door, sidewalk, or to the two adjacent garden rooms.

The final garden space was to meant create the client’s ideal garden, an homage to long gardens she admired in her English garden magazines. The space culminates in a pergola and seating area on axis with the bowling green lawn. Due to the slope of the lawn, a flatter lawn area was achieved by using reclaimed granite curbing.

In keeping with our commitment to environmental responsibility, we used reclaimed hardscape materials and replaced the old driveway with a permeable surface.

Given a blank slate, the designer was asked to envision a series of ideal garden rooms, defined mainly with plant material, which met the separate needs of each family member, while working together as a cohesive whole.

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Belmont Hill Residence, Belmont, Massachusetts Matthew Cunningham, Professional Member APLD Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC, Melrose, Massachusetts

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Residential Gold Award

The design for this south-facing property reveals the true character of the woodland as it celebrates the dramatic topography, muscular canopy trees, remnant fieldstone walls, and native stone outcroppings. Sound vegetation management principles guide each phase of installation and identify long-term maintenance strategies.

A crisp palette of traditional and contemporary materials merge. Exquisite dry-laid stone walls form terraces that traverse native topography, while meticulously-crafted stone staircases provide casual passage to a gently sloping lawn knoll carved from the hillside. An intricately patterned brick patio, an herb garden, and lawn terrace overlook conservation land. Low-maintenance, droughtresistant perennial gardens and native plants create edges and thresholds.

An early-20th-century brick home situated at the high point of a 1.35-acre parcel enjoys dramatic south-facing topography, gorgeous views of conservation land, muscular canopy trees, remnant fieldstone walls, and native stone outcroppings.

Overgrown foundation plantings surrounded the house and blocked sunlight from interior spaces. The property felt unkempt and outdoor spaces were inhospitable.

The diverse upland woodland was threatened by rampant colonies of invasive plants.

A tangled mess of vines choked stands of trees. Aggressive barberry, burning bush, multiflora rose, and pokeberry formed dense thickets that depleted moisture and nutrients from soils. These nearly impenetrable masses blanketed the property, placing the long-term health and vitality of the woodland at risk.

Photo Credit: Matthew J. Cunningham

The clients requested a thoughtful, phased master plan. They sought to artfully reclaim areas lost to invasive plants and to create new spaces that responded to the woodland context. Interior and exterior connections required definition, and improvements had to be contemporary and inviting. The new garden needed to blend unique materials and make the existing topography and woodland more evident. In short, the new landscape had to encourage exploration of the sloping site and increase awareness of the adjacent conservation land.

A design philosophy grew from an immediate commitment from the client to repair and restore damaged site systems. Solid vegetation management principles were developed, including the removal of invasives and the rehabilitation of contaminated soils. This strategy guided all subsequent stages of the site design process, resulting in the establishment of four specific vegetation zones on site: managed woodland, native plant gardens, domestic gardens, and open lawn. Spaces within the landscape would physically and visually engage the aforementioned zones.

Massive colonies of invasive and overgrown plants are eradicated and replaced with drought-tolerant vegetation. Soils are improved and the woodland is carefully managed. The clients are committed to maintaining the property organically, without dangerous herbicides and pesticides. New swaths of native plants provide habitat for an abundant garden full of life.

The designer led the analysis and assessment of existing conditions and systems; character studies; concept development; construction documentation; bid coordination; collaboration with arborists and transplant specialists; invasive plant removal; construction monitoring; and property management coordination. The design process engaged the clients extensively.

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Residential Gold Award Farlow Hill Residence, Newton, Massachusetts

Matthew Cunningham, Professional Member APLD Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC, Melrose, Massachusetts A classic wood clapboard and brick Colonial home built in 1916 stands proudly on a sloped, north-facing lot. While two prominent yews frame the house, creating a lovely threshold, its faรงade suffered from overgrown perimeter plantings that blocked sunlight from the modern interior.

A vertical height of nine feet separated the main floor from the landscape. Rotten wood decks and staircases restricted movement in the yard. The property suffered from significant drainage problems, with water penetrating basement walls and causing erosion. A gorgeous specimen tree hydrangea loomed awkwardly above a loosely stacked Pennsylvania fieldstone wall that bisected the yard, and an aged bluestone terrace with frost-heaved stones had failed. The garden was overgrown and had fallen into disrepair.

Photo Credit: Matthew J. Cunningham

The design seamlessly weaves site stockpiles of salvaged Pennsylvania fieldstone and bluestone with new materials. The sturdy mahogany decking is FSC certified. A French drain and dry well collect and distribute storm water away from the house and protect the basement. Fresh plantings require little maintenance, and much of the property is replete with native, moisture-conserving plants.

The designer analyzed and assessed existing conditions, developed precedent studies, prepared construction drawings, coordinated subconsultants, and arranged bids. Responsibilities included coordinating demolition, guiding transplants, identifying materials for stockpiling, monitoring construction, selecting site furnishings, and coordinating garden maintenance.

The property belongs to a busy professional couple with teenage children and pets.

Their primary goal was to create a unified, contemporary garden that made use of wasted space. Design solutions had to adhere to a local three-foot maximum grade change ordinance, and storm water had to be directed away from the house.

The maximum grade change ordinance, along with spatial limitations and topographic extremes, dictated the design approach. Connecting indoor and outdoor spaces required creative space-saving solutions. Thoughtful grading concepts resolved drainage problems and remedied tricky spatial and circulation issues.

Now, a durable, contemporary garden provides context-sensitive gathering spaces that celebrate dramatic topographic changes on a northern slope. New stone retaining walls rise from a carpet of native ferns, forming the foundation of a lush, terraced garden. A multi-level mahogany deck with stainless steel railings extends over site walls and overlooks a stunning stand of mature hemlocks. New wood staircases provide several flexible circulation routes from the house and encourage movement across the platforms. The garden accommodates both large and small gatherings. An elegant in-wall staircase exhibits efficient beauty and becomes a conversation piece.

A new sugar maple blocks unappealing views, and a transplanted tree hydrangea is a dazzling late summer focal point. Fountain grasses soften deck edges, while a casual grove of lilacs spills flowers through the railings in late spring. In the front, the removal of overgrown perimeter plants reveals an elegant faรงade, and a new perennial garden merges with the existing yews to create an inviting threshold into the property.

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Sterling Residence Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

Doug Myers, APLD, Fernhill Landscapes, Strasburg, Pennsylvania

Blending contemporary forms and lush plantings, the design for this garden (USDA hardiness zone 6) maximizes the sensory experience of the materials and planting from inside and outside the home. The garden occupies a courtyard framed by four interior walls. The home, built in 1948, was designed as a mid-century modern smart house. The space inside the courtyard is 884 square feet. The client’s list of needs and desires was brief. They wanted a space that would complement the mid-century style and provide visual interest from inside the home. Some form of water was also requested.

The designer’s intent was to create a garden that would possess a clear sculptural quality and would be as visually striking from inside the home as it would be from inside the courtyard. The strategy for the design was to use hardscape materials characterized by simple geometric forms, a planting palette that would emphasize form over color, and then to arrange the materials to achieve an interpretation of the modern aesthetic.

The views from inside the home’s three main living rooms present the garden as a graphic composition of space, hardscape materials and planting. Inside the courtyard, the edges are defined by stone and planting. The floor is composed of rectangular slabs of Teakwood flagstone with a counterpoint of Mexican beach pebbles set within the joints and around the edges.

Concrete along the edges of the Teakwood pads reduces migration of the modified stone and sand base. The contrast of the Mexican beach pebbles accentuates the pattern of the flagstone.

Low-profile edging contains the outside perimeter of the pebbles.

A concrete block pier set on a concrete footing is covered with black stucco and provides a perch for a custommade copper bowl that circulates water into the L-shaped water feature. The water feature’s subterranean basin is constructed of CMU block with a custom box liner insert. Since the Teakwood flagstone was unavailable as coping for the water feature, the designer chose Shawnee Buff stone to complement the Teakwood flagstone. The subtle sound of water spilling from the copper bowl and the reflective qualities of the water help to create an atmosphere of relaxation.

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Small Gardens Gold Award

The planting is composed of shades of green with white flowers in order to accentuate the graphic design. ‘Justin Brouwer’ boxwood, ‘Sum and Substance’ hosta, white anemones, black bamboo and ornamental grasses contrast dramatically with the clean lines of the hardscape elements. The black bamboo is set in 30-inch diameter concrete containers to control the vigorous plant from spreading.

All of the plants are able to thrive without irrigation and the Mexican beach pebble joints allow for return of storm water from the Teakwood pads. LED lighting is used throughout the garden to minimize energy use and maximize the garden experience.

The design’s sculptural quality compliments the modern feel of the home and creates a sublime yet dramatic view from within the house or within the courtyard. The designer’s design build firm installed the entire project.

Photo Credit: Doug Myers

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Specialty Projects Gold Award

Duke Farms Community Garden, Hillsborough, New Jersey Paul M. Smith, Professional Member APLD P’ In E’ Landscape Planning, Hillsborough, New Jersey

This community garden (CG) site in USDA zone 6 gently slopes from the south, draining to the north into the Raritan watershed. Soil is a red shale clay with moderate to poor drainage and percolation, making the site conditions poor for vegetable production.

In an effort to meet its LEED Platinum level rating for the Farm Barn Orientation Center, in which the CG is located, Duke Farms (DFF) wanted to find a way to give back to its community. To fulfill its mission, Duke Farms offered its local neighboring community space to grow fruits and vegetables; especially those less fortunate with no yards of their own. With that in mind, DFF wanted a design that would take advantage of local resources to revitalize unproductive farmland and offer it to those wishing to grow their own organic food. DFF also wanted everyone to have access to plots so they insisted there be more than enough plots.

After years of neglect, the soils had become very acidic, they lacked the needed mineralization, and the drainage was poor. The scope of the project included the need for effective drainage to help divert surface runoff and to drain otherwise soggy soils. Adjustments to pH were required and organic matter was introduced. They also needed to obtain organic matter and composted manure from local farms. The site had no water or electric service, so wells with irrigation lines were installed. Cost-effective options to introduce bathroom facilities were sought. Other considerations included the over-populated deer herds that had to be dealt with and adequate parking for visitors.

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DFF’s mission made it clear that the CG had to be environmentally friendly so it had to be organic and sustainable. Assuring that there would be little to no erosion and nutrient runoff was paramount. To achieve this goal, French drains and seepage pits were installed to help recharge groundwater. To provide for a successful outcome, DFF had to make sure all the participants were well educated in the art of organic farming. A class in organic farming was to be provided free to all participants.

In an effort to reduce water usage, the participant’s handbook required that no one use overhead sprinklers; that all watering has to be done by hand or with drip irrigation.

My role was to work within the context of the existing site, to make it work in an environmentally sustainable manner, and to utilize the site to its fullest potential without harming the environment. The land had been abandoned for some time, so it had lost its agricultural integrity. My main problem was a limited budget. We were fortunate to be able to complete phase two, creating one of the largest CG’s in the northeast. No one has been left out.

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Landscape Designer of the Year

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Photo Credit: Robin Stancliff Photography

Residential Gold Award Rio Ranch, Tucson, Arizona

Paul Connolly, APLD Sundrea Design Studio, Tucson, Arizona The initial site conditions on this uninviting, unusable landscape space in USDA Zone 9a included thorny native plants and a small, nonfunctional patio. The landscape abruptly dropped to a natural drainage swale, dividing the backyard, and there was a 12 foot elevation change within a span of 50 feet.

The client wanted a comfortable outdoor living space with a spa, outdoor kitchen, shade, a fire-feature, a water-feature, and a perimeter wall to keep pets inside.

Our design intent was to expand the interior living space into the landscape; create interaction between the natural environment and the living space; and take advantage of elevation changes and native plants.

We removed a set of steps and located the outdoor kitchen in that area in order to create two separate outdoor rooms: a main level kitchen/dining area, and a private lower level patio with a simple water-feature. Much of the rock retaining wall was removed; a new taller section seamlessly ties into the existing wall and extends further into the landscape, allowing plenty of dining and entertaining space.

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Flagstone paving and wood posts/beams define the new covered patio design as rustic southwest. Flagstone stepping stones connect the dining space to a spa patio, which is cut into the slope and accessed from a raised level. A gravel path leads from the spa to a southwestern style entry gate, consistent with the covered patio theme. Another gravel path leads from the spa to a beehive fireplace and loops back to the spa. The entire backyard is enclosed with new masonry walls to match the house. Fencing was designed at the southeast corner of the backyard to allow for drainage, while keeping pets inside. Distinct outdoor rooms are unified by flagstone patios, interconnected by paths, and surrounded by plants. The interaction between elements creates a harmonious spatial dynamic that flows rhythmically and cohesively throughout the landscape.

The unique challenge was to transform the backyard into a usable landscape without disturbing the natural drainage pattern cutting through the yard. It was recognized as a natural water course and incorporated into the original 40-year- old development plans. City hydrologists were suggesting elaborate and expensive solutions.

However, my original “low-tech� plans were approved without modification. Patios were creatively designed around existing native trees and set into the slope utilizing cut and fill. Cacti were salvaged and transplanted on site. Plant selection consists of native cactus and wildflowers, carefully chosen and placed so their mature growth size would fit the space, greatly reducing future maintenance.

Native boulders were brought in to hold the reconfigured slope and drainage swale.

Our role included communication between the client and contractors.

We ensured that the level of quality and professionalism exceeds industry standards; laid out all hardscapes and softscapes; worked closely with the client in selection of all accessories and colors, and included pots, ceiling fans, sconces, the grill, the spa and tile.

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by Bill Healey, APLD, Awards Committee Chair

For a man not quite sure of what he was going to do after high school, Paul Connolly has done very well. This is underscored by the fact that Paul was recently awarded the 2013 APLD Landscape Designer of the Year Award. The design quality shown in his project, Rio Ranch, shows how far he has come.

After earning a graphic design degree in New England, Paul moved out to Tucson, drawn by the desert scenery and a hopeful career in graphic design. He found employment only as a landscape laborer. After years of hands on experience, an employer started using Paul’s graphics abilities in design work. Designing for others prepared him to start his own company, Sundrea Design Studios, which has quickly grown to a staff of seven.

feature to act as a focal point and provide sound to the secluded space, which is often used by the clients for meditation.

Paul’s love of the desert landscape shows through all his work, which has won numerous APLD design awards over the past years. The Rio Ranch project also displays his sensitivity for native and site appropriate plantings, which were saved if possible, transplanted if needed, and added if necessary.

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APLD 2013 Landscape Designer of the Year Paul Connolly, APLD

Paul’s landscape design philosophy is simple and strong. He creates interaction between the hardscape and softscape, between the landscape and the house, and between the landscape and nature. The Rio Ranch Project highlights this design approach and it well deserves the APLD gold medal for landscape design. A more in-depth look into the Paul’s design will be forthcoming in a future APLD webinar.

This impressive example of a thoroughly thought out landscape design has earned Paul the honor of APLD's 2013 Landscape Designer of the Year.

The Rio Ranch project was constructed a few years ago. The clients contacted him from a referral, which is his greatest source of work. They were moving from another state to Tucson and had a strong appreciation for nature, which was why they bought a home in a development that had a nature trail. The entire design project was worked through telecommunication, and they never had a direct meeting with the designer, Paul, before moving.

The existing back yard of their purchased home had two small sitting areas cramped next to the house by a diagonal swale that ran close by.

The new homeowners wished for a comfortable living space, including sitting and dining patios, fire and water features, spa, and a fenced in area for their two dogs.

Paul approaches design by thoroughly analyzing and understanding an existing site, then deriving the design from what site and architecture can offer. With Rio Ranch, most views weren’t good, because a looming phone pole and nearby houses dominated, but there was a glimpse of the mountains to the north. The bisecting swale offered a challenge, but it was turned into a feature.

The design solution was to enclose most of the back with a six foot stucco wall. The swale became a focal feature and was embellished. The occasional natural drainage handled by the swale was allowed to flow though the stucco walls with fencing at the entrance and egress points.

The decorative metal fence was designed by Paul.

He designed a culvert which crossed the swale and started a meandering path leading to most of the clients’ desired amenities, designed as destination points. An especially nice one was the fireplace sitting area in a back corner that purposefully captured an evening view of the mountains in the setting sun. The path led to a back gate to a nearby nature trail that the clients and their dogs often use. The gate opens on a diagonal, designed to offer a more dramatic entrance to the space.

These solutions handled most of the issues except for the looming phone pole that was now outside the wall. Paul suggested a long roofed porch attached to the house. It was not totally necessary, because the area is on the north side of the house, but the roof took the eye down from the view of the pole and directed sight to the amenities of the yard. It also increased the sense of comfort in the new sitting and kitchen areas attached to the back. A stucco wall at one end of the porch provided a back for the kitchen and also acted as a retaining wall that screened off a lower private sitting area off the bedroom. Paul placed a standing water 43

Fall 2013 I apld.org

Special Thanks to All of the 2013 APLD Landscape Design Awards Judges!

Professional Judges Kathy Stokes-Shafer, APLD Kathy has been in the landscape industry for over 20 years. Since earning her landscape design degree from Temple University, she has managed a garden center, worked as a designer for a major design build firm. She has been a lecturer, a judge and a teacher for the Ohio Landscapers Association. She served on the board of APLD and currently is involved with the local chapter. Kathy now has her own business where she designs for several landscape companies. In her spare time she paints.

Eric Liskey Eric Liskey is deputy editor of gardens and outdoor living for Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Prior to joining Better Homes and Gardens, he was editor of Garden, Deck & Landscape, a Better Homes & Gardens special interest title. Eric’s involvement in gardening and landscaping dates back more than 20 years. He has a bachelor’s degree in ornamental horticulture, and a master’s degree in botany, both from California State University at Fresno. He has worked in various green-industry positions, such as park horticulturist, landscape contracting, and athletic turf management. He made the jump from landscape professional to magazine editor by taking a position as technical editor for the landscape trade publication Grounds Maintenance in 1994, eventually becoming editor there before moving to Better Homes and Garden in 2002.

Rosalind Reed, FAPLD Rosalind is a fellow of APLD and principle of her firm Rosalind Reed Associates. She has been a landscape designer for 20 years and specializes in residential and roof gardens. Her work has been published in Fine Gardening magazine, WaterShapes magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and many regional newspapers. Her former garden, in Oak Park, IL was featured in Julie Moir Messervy and Susan Susanka's new book, Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home. Her gardens have won gold merit awards from the Illinois Landscape Contractor's Association and APLD. For four years running, she has been named as one of Chicago's top landscape designers by Chicago magazine. She has served on the board of directors of APLD, and has held leadership positions in many local green industry organizations. Her work can be seen at www.rosalindreed.com.

Debra Prinzing Debra Prinzing is a Seattle- and Los Angeles-based outdoor living expert who writes and lectures on gardens and home design. She has a background in textiles, journalism, landscape design and horticulture.

A frequent speaker for botanical garden, horticultural society and flower show audiences, Debra is also a regular radio and television guest. She is the author of Slow Flowers (St. Lynn's Press, 2013); The 50 Mile Bouquet: Local, Seasonal and Sustainable Flowers (St. Lynn's Press, April 2012); Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways (Clarkson-Potter/Random House, 2008), a Garden Writers Association Gold Award book, and The Abundant Garden (2005).

Debra is a contributing garden editor for Better Homes & Gardens and her feature stories on architecture and design appear regularly in the Los Angeles Times’ Home section. She writes for top shelter and consumer publications, including Country Gardens, Sunset, Garden Design, Organic Gardening, Horticulture, Fine Gardening, Cottages & Bungalows, Metropolitan Home, Landscape Architecture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, Old House Interiors, Seattle Homes & Lifestyles and Romantic Homes, among others.

Her website and blog: www.debraprinzing.com.

Richard G. Turner Jr. Richard Turner served as editor of Pacific Horticulture, serving the West Coast gardener, from 1997 to 2012.

He began gardening at age five at his family home in Detroit. After receiving degrees in architecture and landscape architecture from the University of Michigan more than thirty years ago, he escaped to California, so that he could garden year round. He has worked in the fields of garden design, education, pubic garden administration, and garden publishing. When he’s not at his desk, he prefers to be traveling to distant lands to enjoy gardens and see garden plants in the wild. His small (1/50th of an acre), chemical-free garden provides habitat for all forms of wildlife (some of them desirable), while serving as a test ground for lowmaintenance plants suitable for San Francisco’s version of a mediterranean climate.

Duncan Heather Duncan Heather is an e-Learning entrepreneur and founder of MyGardenSchool and the Oxford College of Garden Design. He trained under then worked for top international garden designer John Brookes before setting up his own design/build practice in Henley-on-Thames in the late 80’s. Five years later at the age of 28 he started the Oxford College of Garden Design which is widely regarded as one of the best design schools in the world and one of only two private schools in the UK to have offered a univercity credit rated postgraduate level diploma in Residential Landscape Design.

In 2006 he established the world’s first online landscape diploma course and in 2009 started MyGardenSchool offering four week online tutor led courses in all aspects of garden and landscape design.

Student Judges Marilyn Guidroz, APLD Marilyn Guidroz is the owner and president of Marilyn’s Garden Design which serves the North County San Diego area including Temecula and Murrieta. Marilyn has been designing award winning residential landscapes for homeowners for over 30 years. Marilyn became interested in landscaping when she took an Ornamental Plant Identification course in college during her Horticulture degree studies. She graduated from the University of Arizona in Tucson with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture with High Distinction for a Horticulture major with Honors.

Marilyn is a certified member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) and is a founding board member of the newly formed San Diego District. Marilyn is also an active member of the San Diego Horticultural Society, an Associate Faculty Member and Advisory Board Member of the MiraCosta College Horticulture Department, gives lectures and workshops to garden clubs and at community events, and is a member of the Dos Valles Garden Club in Valley Center. She lives with her husband and son in Valley Center, growing fruit trees and vegetables as well as drought tolerant natives and Mediterranean climate plants in her test gardens.

Claire Ehrlinger Claire Ehrlinger has been a professor of Horticulture at MiraCosta since 2004, and department lead since 2007. She has taught a wide variety of courses including Landscape Design, Plant Identification, Landscape Irrigation, Landscape Management, Plant Science and Plant Pest Control. The Horticulture program at MiraCosta College provides Certificates and Associate Degrees for career and transfer students in Landscape Architecture, Landscape Management, Nursery and Crop Production and Viticulture and Enology. Prior to moving to California and teaching at MiraCosta, she was the Department Chair of the Landscape Horticulture Department at Cincinnati State, a two-year college located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Bob Perry, FASLA Bob Perry, landscape architect and Professor Emeritus from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, California, is a recognized expert in areas of landscape plants and water conserving garden design.

Over the years he has combined his academic career with writing and professional practice. Bob has recently written and published, Landscape Plants for California Gardens, a comprehensive color illustrated planting reference for professionals and serious gardeners alike. Many ideas and photographs in this book come from his extensive travel throughout California and design projects. Bob is a Fellow in the American Society of Landscape Architects based upon his academic career and long-standing commitment to resource conservation and sustainable landscaping.

Anthony Archer-Wills Honored With APLD Award of Distinction In 1994, APLD initiated its Award of Distinction. This award is presented to a landscape designer, whether or not they are a member of APLD, to recognize that individual's contribution to the profession of landscape design. The 2013 honoree of the APLD Award of Distinction is Anthony Archer-Wills.

Anthony Archer-Wills works earth and water to create environments that indulge the imagination and delight the senses. Inspired as a schoolchild watching water well up from the ground in the woods, well trained in engineering, and influenced by Roberto Burle Marx’s working on a large scale to “paint the landscape,” Anthony began designing water gardens in the 1960s.

A true pioneer and artisan, he developed new water gardening techniques while completing his first large-scale projects for Safari Parks in England and Bear Park in Scotland. By the mid-1970s, his techniques were adopted worldwide as the industry standard for building water gardens. Anthony has gone on to create more than 2,000 water features in Great Britain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, South America, Argentina and Turkey, as well as the United States.

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He is the author of The Water Gardener, Water Power and Designing Water Gardens, which have been published in five languages. A new book that builds upon Designing Water Gardens, from more of a technical viewpoint, is in the works.

A charismatic speaker and teacher, Anthony has lectured for the British Association of Landscape Industries, Kew Gardens, the Chelsea Physic Garden, the New York Botanic Garden as well as numerous universities, colleges and garden societies throughout the U.K. and U.S. He spoke at the APLD conference in Philadelphia and again at the 2013 conference in Detroit.

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He has been featured on several radio broadcasts, and on BBC television. In 2008, he received the Joseph McCloskey Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Art and Craft of Watershaping, awarded by WaterShapes magazine. He frequently contributes articles to a host of periodicals, including Elle Decoration, The Four Seasons, Country Living, Gardens Illustrated, London Sunday Times Magazine, Water Garden News and Ponds magazine.

on www.apld.org In addition to serving the needs of the professional landscape design community, www.apld.org has information for the public.

Discover how to care for the environment in your own garden.

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About APLD The Association of Professional Landscape Designers is an international organization that was formed in 1989. The mission of APLD is to advance the profession of landscape design and to promote the recognition of landscape designers as qualified and dedicated professionals.

To learn more about APLD or to become a member, visit www.apld.org.

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The Designer Magazine Goes Public!

FREE electronic subscriptions for everyone

The Designer is the quarterly magazine published by APLD. Starting with this issue, the magazine is going public!

The magazine was previously only made available to members of the association; then several years ago non-members were allowed to purchase a subscription; and now the decision has been made to make the electronic version of the magazine FREE to anyone who signs up to receive it.

The magazine is such a great PR piece for APLD that we want to share it with as many people as possible. So, please tell all of your industry friends to sign-up on the APLD website today!

All APLD members will continue to receive their electronic subscription – no need to sign-up.

Print subscriptions are still available. If you would like to purchase a print subscription, click here.