Daily Photo Galleries

Mt. Pleasant Photo Galleries

By A.J. Panian

Published: Thursday, June 27, 2013, 9:33 a.m.

Updated 7 hours ago

Rob Cronauer calls it mimicking Mother Nature.

That’s the purpose of the ongoing rain garden project in Mt. Pleasant.

The gardens — designed by the Westmoreland Conservation District — add splashes of natural beauty throughout town while absorbing rainwater runoff where asphalt and concrete have edged out earthen soil, said Cronauer, the district’s watershed specialist.

“Basically, with all these stormwater projects, we’re trying to retrofit areas to counteract the effects of development,â€� he said.

In 2009, Mt. Pleasant was allocated $475,250 in federal grant funding through the state Department of Environmental Protection, to cover the cost of bringing rain gardens to the borough.

The following year, Mt. Pleasant became the first municipality in the state to install residential rain gardens by doing so in the Ramsay Terrace section of the borough.

Soon after, borough leaders were cited for providing one of the best examples of community partnerships with the district through the initiative.

Earlier this year, the funding was used to install of a storm water retention basin on property owned by Excela Health Frick Hospital.

The project’s latest phase recently began with the planned installation of two rain gardens near the borough building in Frick Park.

One of them is being installed near the park’s restroom building by Penn-based Jupina Landscaping Inc., according to Kathy Hamilton, the conservation district’s landscape architect/stormwater technician.

Borough engineer McCormick Taylor provides oversight on the projects and helps the borough seek contractors, Hamilton said.

The second garden will be located in the narrow lawn area between the park’s restroom and the borough building at 1 Etze Ave, Hamilton said.

“Both gardens will contain landscaping that will be low-maintenance, will have some seasonal interest and will help with the uptake of water from the gardens during and after rain events,� she said.

In addition, they both will intercept storm water runoff coming from uphill onto Etze Avenue, which contributes to winter icing problems, and subsequent damage to the paved surface in front of the borough building and its handicapped-accessible entrance, Hamilton said.

Issues with ice coating Etze Avenue are seen as a threat to hamper emergency response efforts of the borough’s police and volunteer fire departments.

“That ice takes up about half of that lane from the (Frick Park) walking track down past our police cars,â€� said Dan Zilli, the department’s assistant police chief. “If it helps curb that, it would help us out a lot.â€�

Borough Manager Jeff Landy said he would like to see the gardens make a difference in warmer parts of the year, too.

“In the summertime, the Frick Park ball field gets a little soggy or muddy after heavy rains,� he said. “Hopefully this will alleviate some of that.�

The cost of the current rain garden project at Frick Park, combined with another two rain gardens to be installed at Frick Hospital, under the same contract, totals approximately $60,000, Hamilton said.

With the September deadline for usage of the grant funding looming and roughly $50,000 still available, the borough is eyeing implementation of one last rain garden in town, Landy said.

“I believe there’s going to be one more installed in parking lot across from the gazebo,â€� he said. “Rainwater runoff there leads to ice buildup in Union Alley. That last portion of money will help solve that problem.â€�

A.J. Panian is an editor for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-547-5722 or apanian@tribweb.com.

1. Descendant of storied Mt. Pleasant family gets local history lesson

2. Mt. Pleasant’s rain garden project is nearing end stage

3. Cat Committee of Mt. Pleasant to man TNT Fireworks stand

4. Mt. Pleasant native writes paranormal romance novel

5. Mt. Pleasant’s Quilt Patch Etc. participates in 15th annual Shop Hop

6. Summer park program begins at Mt. Pleasant’s Frick Park

7. Chestnut Ridge Lions Club honors top 6th-graders

8. Mt. Pleasant adds 23 new pedestrian crosswalk placards

9. Mt. Pleasant Township woman still awaits double lung transplant

10. Mt. Pleasant VFD Street Fair starts Monday

Subscribe today! Click here for our subscription offers.

Daily Photo Galleries

Mt. Pleasant Photo Galleries

By A.J. Panian

Published: Thursday, June 27, 2013, 9:33 a.m.

Updated 7 hours ago

Rob Cronauer calls it mimicking Mother Nature.

That’s the purpose of the ongoing rain garden project in Mt. Pleasant.

The gardens — designed by the Westmoreland Conservation District — add splashes of natural beauty throughout town while absorbing rainwater runoff where asphalt and concrete have edged out earthen soil, said Cronauer, the district’s watershed specialist.

“Basically, with all these stormwater projects, we’re trying to retrofit areas to counteract the effects of development,â€� he said.

In 2009, Mt. Pleasant was allocated $475,250 in federal grant funding through the state Department of Environmental Protection, to cover the cost of bringing rain gardens to the borough.

The following year, Mt. Pleasant became the first municipality in the state to install residential rain gardens by doing so in the Ramsay Terrace section of the borough.

Soon after, borough leaders were cited for providing one of the best examples of community partnerships with the district through the initiative.

Earlier this year, the funding was used to install of a storm water retention basin on property owned by Excela Health Frick Hospital.

The project’s latest phase recently began with the planned installation of two rain gardens near the borough building in Frick Park.

One of them is being installed near the park’s restroom building by Penn-based Jupina Landscaping Inc., according to Kathy Hamilton, the conservation district’s landscape architect/stormwater technician.

Borough engineer McCormick Taylor provides oversight on the projects and helps the borough seek contractors, Hamilton said.

The second garden will be located in the narrow lawn area between the park’s restroom and the borough building at 1 Etze Ave, Hamilton said.

“Both gardens will contain landscaping that will be low-maintenance, will have some seasonal interest and will help with the uptake of water from the gardens during and after rain events,� she said.

In addition, they both will intercept storm water runoff coming from uphill onto Etze Avenue, which contributes to winter icing problems, and subsequent damage to the paved surface in front of the borough building and its handicapped-accessible entrance, Hamilton said.

Issues with ice coating Etze Avenue are seen as a threat to hamper emergency response efforts of the borough’s police and volunteer fire departments.

“That ice takes up about half of that lane from the (Frick Park) walking track down past our police cars,â€� said Dan Zilli, the department’s assistant police chief. “If it helps curb that, it would help us out a lot.â€�

Borough Manager Jeff Landy said he would like to see the gardens make a difference in warmer parts of the year, too.

“In the summertime, the Frick Park ball field gets a little soggy or muddy after heavy rains,� he said. “Hopefully this will alleviate some of that.�

The cost of the current rain garden project at Frick Park, combined with another two rain gardens to be installed at Frick Hospital, under the same contract, totals approximately $60,000, Hamilton said.

With the September deadline for usage of the grant funding looming and roughly $50,000 still available, the borough is eyeing implementation of one last rain garden in town, Landy said.

“I believe there’s going to be one more installed in parking lot across from the gazebo,â€� he said. “Rainwater runoff there leads to ice buildup in Union Alley. That last portion of money will help solve that problem.â€�

A.J. Panian is an editor for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-547-5722 or apanian@tribweb.com.

1. Descendant of storied Mt. Pleasant family gets local history lesson

2. Mt. Pleasant’s rain garden project is nearing end stage

3. Cat Committee of Mt. Pleasant to man TNT Fireworks stand

4. Mt. Pleasant native writes paranormal romance novel

5. Mt. Pleasant’s Quilt Patch Etc. participates in 15th annual Shop Hop

6. Summer park program begins at Mt. Pleasant’s Frick Park

7. Chestnut Ridge Lions Club honors top 6th-graders

8. Mt. Pleasant adds 23 new pedestrian crosswalk placards

9. Mt. Pleasant Township woman still awaits double lung transplant

10. Mt. Pleasant VFD Street Fair starts Monday

Subscribe today! Click here for our subscription offers.

By Melinda Myers
Gardening Expert
Container gardens have long been used to add a spot of color by a front entrance or to expand planting space.  Try one or more of these attractive, fun and functional ways to include containers in your landscape, large or small.
Add vertical interest to any garden or garden space. Select a large attractive container filled with tall plants like papyrus and canna. Or elevate a small pot on steppers or an overturned pot for added height. Create height with smaller pots and plants by strategically stacking and planting them into a creative planting. Try setting any of these planters right in the garden to create a dramatic focal point.
Create a privacy screen or mask a bad view. Use an arbor or other support for hanging baskets and then place a few containers below for an attractive screen. Or create a garden of containers to provide seasonal interest using a variety of plants.
Use trees, shrubs, and ornamental grasses for height. Save money by purchasing smaller plants. Elevate these on overturned pots for added height and impact. Mask the mechanics by wrapping the pots in burlap.
Then add a few colorful self-watering pots in the foreground for added color and beauty. Fill these with annuals or perennials.
Bring the garden right to your back door for ease of harvest and added entertainment. A self-watering patio planter, windowbox, or rail planter reduces maintenance and makes harvesting herbs as easy as reaching out the window or back door. Plus, guests will have fun harvesting their own fresh mint for mojitos or greens for their salads.
Define outdoor living spaces within your landscape. Use containers as walls and dividers to separate entertaining and play areas from quiet reflective spaces. And consider using pots with built in casters or set them on moveable saucers to make moving these pots easier. This way you can expand and shrink individual spaces as needed simply by moving the pots.
Create your own vacation paradise. Add some wicker furniture or fill vertical gardens, an old child’s wagon, metal colander or wooden and concrete planters with cacti and succulents.
All you need is a bit of space and creativity to find fun new ways to put containers to work for you in the garden this season.

By Melinda Myers
Gardening Expert
Container gardens have long been used to add a spot of color by a front entrance or to expand planting space.  Try one or more of these attractive, fun and functional ways to include containers in your landscape, large or small.
Add vertical interest to any garden or garden space. Select a large attractive container filled with tall plants like papyrus and canna. Or elevate a small pot on steppers or an overturned pot for added height. Create height with smaller pots and plants by strategically stacking and planting them into a creative planting. Try setting any of these planters right in the garden to create a dramatic focal point.
Create a privacy screen or mask a bad view. Use an arbor or other support for hanging baskets and then place a few containers below for an attractive screen. Or create a garden of containers to provide seasonal interest using a variety of plants.
Use trees, shrubs, and ornamental grasses for height. Save money by purchasing smaller plants. Elevate these on overturned pots for added height and impact. Mask the mechanics by wrapping the pots in burlap.
Then add a few colorful self-watering pots in the foreground for added color and beauty. Fill these with annuals or perennials.
Bring the garden right to your back door for ease of harvest and added entertainment. A self-watering patio planter, windowbox, or rail planter reduces maintenance and makes harvesting herbs as easy as reaching out the window or back door. Plus, guests will have fun harvesting their own fresh mint for mojitos or greens for their salads.
Define outdoor living spaces within your landscape. Use containers as walls and dividers to separate entertaining and play areas from quiet reflective spaces. And consider using pots with built in casters or set them on moveable saucers to make moving these pots easier. This way you can expand and shrink individual spaces as needed simply by moving the pots.
Create your own vacation paradise. Add some wicker furniture or fill vertical gardens, an old child’s wagon, metal colander or wooden and concrete planters with cacti and succulents.
All you need is a bit of space and creativity to find fun new ways to put containers to work for you in the garden this season.

Our gardens are a reflection of our styles – a fashion statement of sorts. If you like life neat and orderly, with everything in place, then American formal garden styles, similar to the classic gardens of Versailles designed during the reign of Louis XIV, matches your personality perfectly. For those of us who can never find our sunglasses and thrive in chaos, the disorderly beauty of a cottage or English country garden is so totally us. Hungering for authenticity? Prairie style and native gardens recreate the essence of the American prairies and are thought to be best for protecting the local ecosystem. And for those looking for peace and serenity, Asian gardens, which can range from just a simple stone and a few trees to more asymmetrical and elaborate designs with water features and more hardscape, are the thing.

“Garden styles depend upon the personality and desires of the garden owner,” said Melissa Mravec, a landscape designer at Allen Landscape Centre in Highland. “Some people like the more deliberate, symmetrical manicured look of formal gardens which have fewer colors in the palate. While English country gardens gives you differences in textures, a real strong vertical element and lots of colors which can pull you through the seasons.”

According to Doug Werner, a Registered Landscape Architect at Martin Landscaping and Landscape Design in Cedar Lake, very seldom do people request a certain type of garden style. Instead the style evolves from the lifestyle of the owner.

“It’s do they want formal or casual and how much maintenance they want to do and why did they call me,” said Werner. “Like kitchens and bathrooms, landscaping needs to be redone. And if it’s a garden redo, I ask what plants do they want to keep, add or want to get rid of. All this develops into the style of the garden.”

Werner said when he’s working with people in helping them decide on what type of landscaping they want, he often asks permission to drive by their house because he wants to make it their garden not his.

Mravec said when designing a garden to keep in mind what it will look like in the winter.

“Plants like Knock-Out Roses which are prolific and great bloomers are great during the summer and fall,” she said. “And they also give the garden structure in the winter because of their branches and rosehips. Also trees with interesting bark, ornamental grasses which are not cut back and vertical structures made out of metal and wood also are an important part of the winter garden.”

Like fashion, garden styles come in and out of style, too.

“It’s like bell bottoms,” said Werner, “only because gardens grow more slowly it takes longer for the fashion trends to pass. In the 50s and 60s, landscapes were green with three trees here and a yew there. Now we have more colors from leaves to flowers. And now there’s a style making its way to the Midwest from the West Coast. People tend to edge the sides of their homes with plant borders. They’re easy to see from the street but you have to stand on your tip toes and look down from your window inside to see them. Now they’re moving out and away from the house so people inside can enjoy them.”

Werner also offers some relief for those who ponder and worry about what plants to buy and where to put them when working on their gardens.

“Basically when it comes to garden styles, there are no rights or wrongs,” he said. “There are technical mistakes like a tree that grows so tall that it blocks the front window instead of having planted a dwarf tree, but that can be fixed.”

Our gardens are a reflection of our styles – a fashion statement of sorts. If you like life neat and orderly, with everything in place, then American formal garden styles, similar to the classic gardens of Versailles designed during the reign of Louis XIV, matches your personality perfectly. For those of us who can never find our sunglasses and thrive in chaos, the disorderly beauty of a cottage or English country garden is so totally us. Hungering for authenticity? Prairie style and native gardens recreate the essence of the American prairies and are thought to be best for protecting the local ecosystem. And for those looking for peace and serenity, Asian gardens, which can range from just a simple stone and a few trees to more asymmetrical and elaborate designs with water features and more hardscape, are the thing.

“Garden styles depend upon the personality and desires of the garden owner,” said Melissa Mravec, a landscape designer at Allen Landscape Centre in Highland. “Some people like the more deliberate, symmetrical manicured look of formal gardens which have fewer colors in the palate. While English country gardens gives you differences in textures, a real strong vertical element and lots of colors which can pull you through the seasons.”

According to Doug Werner, a Registered Landscape Architect at Martin Landscaping and Landscape Design in Cedar Lake, very seldom do people request a certain type of garden style. Instead the style evolves from the lifestyle of the owner.

“It’s do they want formal or casual and how much maintenance they want to do and why did they call me,” said Werner. “Like kitchens and bathrooms, landscaping needs to be redone. And if it’s a garden redo, I ask what plants do they want to keep, add or want to get rid of. All this develops into the style of the garden.”

Werner said when he’s working with people in helping them decide on what type of landscaping they want, he often asks permission to drive by their house because he wants to make it their garden not his.

Mravec said when designing a garden to keep in mind what it will look like in the winter.

“Plants like Knock-Out Roses which are prolific and great bloomers are great during the summer and fall,” she said. “And they also give the garden structure in the winter because of their branches and rosehips. Also trees with interesting bark, ornamental grasses which are not cut back and vertical structures made out of metal and wood also are an important part of the winter garden.”

Like fashion, garden styles come in and out of style, too.

“It’s like bell bottoms,” said Werner, “only because gardens grow more slowly it takes longer for the fashion trends to pass. In the 50s and 60s, landscapes were green with three trees here and a yew there. Now we have more colors from leaves to flowers. And now there’s a style making its way to the Midwest from the West Coast. People tend to edge the sides of their homes with plant borders. They’re easy to see from the street but you have to stand on your tip toes and look down from your window inside to see them. Now they’re moving out and away from the house so people inside can enjoy them.”

Werner also offers some relief for those who ponder and worry about what plants to buy and where to put them when working on their gardens.

“Basically when it comes to garden styles, there are no rights or wrongs,” he said. “There are technical mistakes like a tree that grows so tall that it blocks the front window instead of having planted a dwarf tree, but that can be fixed.”