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‘Earth Perfect?’ to feature prominent speakers, garden tours

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1:34 p.m., May 15, 2013–Everyone who appreciates the beauty of nature and gardens — from backyard enthusiasts to art historians — will find something to learn and enjoy at the “Earth Perfect?” symposium, being held June 6-9 at locations at and near the University of Delaware.

“Earth Perfect: Nature, Utopia and the Garden” will combine themed tours of some of the area’s most renowned gardens with lectures, panel discussions and academic papers on topics related to the garden. Designed for members of the public who are interested in the importance and meaning of gardens, as well as for professional gardeners and scholars, its expert speakers will focus on such aspects as landscape architecture, history, art, literature, botany, environmental impacts and garden design.

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The symposium follows the publication of an essay collection by the same name, co-edited by Annette Giesecke, professor of ancient Greek and Roman studies at UD, and Naomi Jacobs, professor of English at the University of Maine (Black Dog Publishing, 2012), that explores the relationship between humanity and the garden through a variety of disciplinary lenses. A second collection of essays is in development. 

“This is not an event designed primarily for scholars,” Giesecke says of the symposium. “Just about everyone seems to have some connection to gardens — their own, their grandmother’s, a public garden. People really light up when they hear about this event.” 

Following are a few highlights of the symposium.

  • Keynote speakers will include Emma Morris, author of the acclaimed Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World; Jane Knight, landscape architect of the Eden Project, a new global garden and environmental education charity in Cornwall, England; Rick Darke, widely published author, photographer, lecturer and consultant on regional landscape design and conservation; and Stephen Forbes, executive director of the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide in South Australia.
  • Additional keynote talks will be delivered by photographer Margaret Morton, whose work includes four published books; UD’s McKay Jenkins, professor and author of What’s Gotten Into Us: Staying Healthy in a Toxic World; UD’s Doug Tallamy, professor and author of Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens; permaculture expert Eric Toensmeier, author of Perennial Vegetables; and landscape architect Marcus de la fleur, whose projects apply sustainable site development principles.
  • Tours will be given at Longwood Gardens, site of the June 7 sessions, and at Chanticleer Garden and Winterthur Garden, where the June 8 events will be held. June 9 will feature tours at Mt. Cuba Center and at the Delaware Center for Horticulture, where Wilmington community garden tours will be available.
  • In addition to several opening-day lectures on June 6, when all events will be at Clayton Hall Conference Center on UD’s Newark campus, a variety of presentation sessions and workshops will be held that day. Topics will include science and the garden, reclamation and reuse, ecosystem designs, literary gardens, sustainability, and gardens and healing.

For a detailed program and registration information, visit the website. The symposium offers attendees 20 American Society of Landscape Architects CEUs.

UD sponsors of the symposium are the Interdisciplinary Humanities Research Center, the Center for Material Culture Studies and the departments of Art, Art Conservation, Art History, English, Fashion and Apparel Studies, History and Philosophy, all in the College of Arts and Sciences; the colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources and of Earth, Ocean, and Environment; and the Delaware Environmental Institute. Other sponsors and participants include Longwood Gardens, Chanticleer, Winterthur, Mt. Cuba Center, the Delaware Center for Horticulture and the American Public Gardens Association.

Article by Ann Manser

Photo by Evan Krape

Jenny Feuerpeil of Real Japanese Gardens Shares Japanese Garden Design …

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Tokyo, Japan, May 16, 2013 –(PR.com)– Jenny Feuerpeil, garden designer and writer of Japanese garden e-books was selected for the second time as a presenter for the Tokyo edition of PechaKucha Night. After delivering a talk about her career change at age 26 and how her Japanese garden studies have since then impacted her life, the young garden designer returns to the stage with new insights gained from the Japanese garden tradition.

This time, Jenny Feuerpeil concentrates on overall design principles that can be learned by carefully looking at Japanese gardens. In 20 garden pictures, which stay on for 20 seconds each, the audience in the SuperDeluxe club in Tokyo will catch a glimpse of the ancient garden culture in Japan.

“My favorite Japanese garden master is Muso Soseki, also known as Muso Kokushi,” says the 30-year-old. “His most famous Japanese garden is probably Saiho-ji, the moss temple or Koke-dera in Kyoto from 1339. His gardens lead not only the visitor’s feet on the garden paths through the garden, but also guide the soul on a whole journey through it. It is said that Kokushi created a garden experience not unlike a pilgrimage through his gardens. I will explain in the presentation how he achieved this and what design tools he used. There will be lots of beautiful Japanese garden pictures and I cannot wait to share the beauty of the Kyoto gardens with the audience.”

She adds: “After the warm welcome on stage and the great feedback we received for our ”Real Japanese Gardens’ website in November (PechaKucha Tokyo vol. 97), I am thrilled to go back to Tokyo. I hope more Japanese people and foreigners living or traveling in Japan will discover the amazing gardens in Japan.”

PechaKucha night is a monthly event in Tokyo’s SuperDeluxe club in Roppongi. The May edition takes place on Wednesday, May 29th 2013. The event starts at 20:20, the tickets are 1.000 Yen.

Note to editors:
Tokyo-based garden designer Keizo Hayano and German garden designer Jenny Feuerpeil write short eBooks about Japanese garden culture on their website www.japanesegardens.jp. They focus on providing authentic, reliable information in combination with a great number of quality pictures at an affordable price. An eBook with 10-15 pages and 40-60 illustrations sells currently for USD 1.95.

Jenny Feuerpeil is a San Francisco-based German garden designer who came to Japan hoping to soak up the essence of Japanese design. After leaving her job at a global IT company, she studied garden design in Chelsea, London and founded the garden design label Dendron Exterior Design (www.dendronexteriordesign.com).

In 2010, she decided to go to Japan to learn the Japanese garden tradition first hand as an apprentice in a garden maintenance company near Tokyo. Since 2012 she writes e-book about Japanese garden culture for the online garden platform “Real Japanese Gardens.” She loves the rough texture of natural materials, the boldness of stone arrangements and dry landscape gardens.

Eco-design at Chelsea Flower Show 2013

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Although eco-sound landscaping is a thriving part of US garden design, it has been dragging its heels here. So it’s great news that at next week’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London (21-25 May), sustainable garden design will take centre stage. 

Several of the gardens on display, at what will be the centenary year for the legendary flower show, will feature environmentally sound materials and systems. 

Collecting rainwater

In the Trailfinders Australian Garden, landscaper Phillip Johnson will showcase an impressive system for capturing rainwater, complete with waterfalls! Water is channelled into a tank and a natural pool and filters through permeable landscaping (such as sand and pebbles) so that the garden doesn’t require watering. The space also features sustainably sourced timber, reclaimed pylons, solar-powered electrics and wildlife habitats. 

The centrepiece of the RBC Blue Water Roof Garden is another good-looking system of collecting and storing water. This has been created by Professor Nigel Dunnett (who wowed us all with his meadow flowers at the Olympic Village) and features a wetland that captures rainwater runoff. Nigel aims to demonstrate how we can bring greenery and wildlife onto rooftops and save water. 

Regenerating urban spaces

Designer Kate Gould is presenting a show garden called The Wasteland, which demonstrates how derelict, unloved spaces in towns and cities can be transformed into havens for wildlife and the community. Industrial waste (such as corrugated steel panels, old timber and stone) has been recycled and used as the garden’s hard landscaping materials.

In the East Village Garden, designers Michael Balston and Marie-Louise Agius follow suit, illustrating how an urban area can be regenerated in a stylish way. 

Native plants

Studies show that native plants are more appealing to wildlife (such as honeybees). Award-winning designer Robert Myers has planted the Brewin Dolphin Garden with native UK plants, showing how they can be used ornamentally. 

Elsewhere, in both The Daily Telegraph Garden and The Fera Garden, designers will try to hit home the dangers that our native trees and shrubs currently face. 

All in all, 9 out of the 15 main show gardens at Chelsea will focus on the environment in some way. Such a strong emphasis on green gardening at the world’s foremost gardening show is great news. Long may it continue! 

FIND OUT MORE: Tickets for next week’s show have sold out, but since it is always such a crowded event, it is easier to see the gardens on the television anyway! You can watch endless BBC coverage of the gardens and their creation at bbc.co.uk


 
READ MORE…

GREEN LIVING
Greener gardening at Chelsea 2012
From boosting biodiversity to gardens that are helping to tackle climate change, Chelsea Flower Show 2012 will be green in more ways than one. Rebecca Campbell went behind the scenes

GREEN LIVING
How to… build a raised flowerbed
Whether it’s poor soil or limited space, a raised bed could be the solution to your gardening woes. And with National gardening week approaching there’s no better time than now

GREEN LIVING
The spotters guide to spring wild flowers
With spring in full swing, the UK’s ancient woodland is bursting into life. From bluebells to ramsens, Rebecca Campbell rounds up the best British blooms


GREEN LIVING
Why bees biodiversity benefit from indigenous wildflowers
Filling your garden with wildflowers helps honeybees and butterflies, and creates a relaxed mood. And, from the Easton Walled Garden to Sissinghurst, there’s plenty of inspiration

GREEN LIVING
Grow your own in pots
You don’t need a big garden to grow your own produce, says Hazel Sillver – a windowsill and a bit of outdoor space will do.

 

Steering clear of stereotypes

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Growing up with a strong sense of value and commitment is one reason Ryan Schrader is succeeding as an entrepreneur. The foundation his parents set certainly played a key role in molding his work ethic. Yet his giving heart, which he says came from his mother, is what elevates Schrader above his competitors.

Schrader owns and operates Mariner Auto Repair in a building just south of Elgin Boulevard. Bright yellow paint with deep red accents is meant to stand out and attract attention. It also hints at the fact that this is not a typical auto repair shop.

That is exactly what Schrader was going for. He operates his business, purchased nearly two years ago, as an existing auto repair shop, with a kind of philosophy that is a few steps removed from the stereotypes that give the auto repair industry a bad rap.

I hate salesmen, Schrader said, which is why he works exceptionally hard at not being one.

His experience working in the auto repair field shed light on practices he refused to buy into. Encouragement to up-sell a customer rather than simply fix the issue at hand helped steer him clear of following that path.

Instead, when faced with the opportunity to start his own shop, he chose to listen to the solid advice of his mother.

Be the kind of guy women can trust, he quoted her. Be someone their husbands can trust and the guy women can go to without feeling insecure.

The message, he said, was clear. And thats what Ive worked hard to become, he said.

He began his mechanical career working for others to build his experience on the job, learning the techniques that helped mold his passion. After co-owning Mariner Auto Repair with the previous owner for about six months, Schrader was ready to take the wheel as the sole captain of the ship.

I was looking at property at the time to build my own shop, he explained. Friends advised him to look at Mariner Auto Repair, which was on the market. Schrader met with the previous owner and the two discussed working together as co-owners for a period of time to ensure both were comfortable with the change of ownership.

I could, after six months, walk away, Schrader said. I walked into the ideal situation.

During that six-month trial period, Schrader turned the business around. Because he had been working on cars from his home for years, he had already built a dedicated following of happy customers.

They told a few friends who told a few friends, he said.

He also had done extensive research before considering the path of owning his own shop, something his customers had pushed him to do for years. He had all his ducks in a row and was ready to take the plunge. The offer to try the existing shop was the ideal solution to test his ambition and ideas.

Celebrating two years in October, Schrader is reaching forward, making dramatic changes to the property, including adding some impressive landscaping that transformed Mariner Auto Repair into an eye-pleasing experience.

His hope is that customers will not only feel the difference in the service they receive, but from an atmosphere that strays a bit from a traditional auto shop.

I want them to be happy to come here, he said.

With a team of highly skilled professional mechanics and a support staff that understands the same basic customer focus Schrader grew up with, the shop is receiving an influx of praise. They have taken on fleets of vehicles from local businesses in addition to working with individual customers.

My thing is efficiency, Schrader said. I want them in and out of here so they can get back on the road. And I want to know everything about the vehicle as fast as possible so we can get it done. And it had better be done right.

It is important, he added, that customers be given the facts about their vehicle. They need to be aware of whats going on, he said, so they can make informed decisions.

Schrader has been able to stay competitive with other shops by offering a menu of service items for most makes and models. He also keeps his prices lower than the industry standards, building strong relationships with parts suppliers.

Yet there is much more to the story. Schrader is a believer in giving back to his community for no reason other than to show his appreciation. A culinary artist in his youth before auto mechanics steered his path, Schrader practices his chef skills on the public at regular benefits held at the shop.

Mariner Auto Repair hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and invited anyone who wanted to come. Still tweaking the events, he found he had more volunteers than guests.

He also organized a few benefits to raise money for worthy causes, including the Back Pack Foundation, where they raised money through a carnival to assist children in need.

I dont do it to increase my business, Schrader said. In fact, he hasnt gotten a single customer from the events that he knows of. And thats OK, Schrader said. I just want to give something back.

Hernando Today correspondent Kim Dame can be reached at dameswrites@yahoo.com.


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Peg McEntee: Grass-roots Mormons preach Earth-friendly green gospel

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Just a few months ago, the Legislature repeated its demand that the federal government surrender 30 million acres of public lands to Utah so the state can make more money on them.

That’s just the sort of thinking that the Mormon Environmental Stewardship Alliance (MESA) deplores, and why it wants its followers — more than 1,300 in more than 15 countries — to remember LDS teachings to revere the Earth, its sanctity, its people and the need to preserve it for generations to come.


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And, given that Mormons make up most of Utah’s population and hold a supermajority in the Legislature and the state’s administration, MESA wants all Utahns to insist on a clean, healthy environment.

“It’s the dominant culture here,” says Ty Markham, a Torrey rancher, former legislative candidate and now a registered lobbyist who spends part of the year in Salt Lake City.

“We really want to change — in Utah, in particular — how our environment is being managed and preserved in the positive sense of clean air, clean water, all of that,” she says. “We really need to mobilize our culture, our people.”

It makes sense. The LDS community is known for its reactions to disasters big and small. It seems natural, given our environmental circumstances, that Latter-day Saints should take up the e-cause with every bit of their well-honed communication and organization.

No one along the Wasatch Front and in too many other parts of Utah can deny our air is fouled, summer and winter, even in rural and remote areas. Extraction industries create their own threats to the environment and cherished public lands and waters. Utah’s first coal strip mine, and its proposed expansion, threaten the crystalline air at Bryce Canyon National Park as well as residents along Highway 89 who hear coal trucks roar by every day. In northern Salt Lake City and North Salt Lake, oil refineries belch pungent pollutants.

Much of MESA’s philosophy centers on the teachings of the faith’s founder, Joseph Smith, and his successor, Brigham Young.

In the Doctrine and Covenants, Smith wrote, “For, behold, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which cometh of the earth, is ordained for the use of man for food and for raiment, and that he might have in abundance.

“But it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin. And wo be unto man that sheddeth blood or that wasteth flesh and hath no need.”


Even institutionally, the Utah-based LDS Church is building more and more “green” meetinghouses, including a Farmington stake center that sports solar panels, xeriscaped landscaping and designated parking for electric cars.

For Utah anthropologist Charles Nuckolls, there is no “ownership or endowment to act only in respect to one’s interest. We are instructed by scripture to hold the Earth sacred … and to hold it in trust to the divine being who created it. That’s everything, not just animals and plants, but people.”

That’s apparent in MESA’s organizational plan, Nuckolls says. It’s a grass-roots movement with no hierarchy or leadership and just a few bylaws. Heck, it is not even limited to Mormons.

MESA does owe a debt to environmental groups such as Peaceful Uprising, Utah Tar Sands Resistance and a host of other Utah environmental movements.

“They’re pulling us along; they’re carrying the weight,” Nuckolls says. “We feel it is time for the majority to carry our own weight.”

That shouldn’t be a problem. Markham gave me a stack of papers with thoughts, actions, events and plans that bespeak the Mormon faith’s diligent planning and record-keeping.

The LDS Church, however, has given “no explicit guidance or examples … as to how we should behave or act” in regard to its teachings on being civic-minded, politically active and stewards of the environment, Markham says. “We are left to decide for ourselves.”

As for those Utah politicians who actually believe in hairbrained ideas like seizing all those federal lands?

“They will be swept from office by a growing movement,” Nuckolls says. “They will follow us. We will not follow them.”

Peg McEntee is a news columnist. Reach her at pegmcentee@sltrib.com, facebook.com/pegmcentee and Twitter, @Peg McEntee.

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Denver hopes to buy $2 million sculpture by Ned Kahn for DIA

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Denver International Airport is proposing the largest single purchase of public art in city history, a $2 million sculpture by internationally recognized artist Ned Kahn.

The piece, a kinetic work animated by the wind and spread across thousands of square feet, is intended to enliven the experience of air passengers crossing between the main terminal and the new transit station and hotel going up on the airport’s south side.

The purchase is part of a massive art buy, totaling $5.2 million, mandated by rules that require 1 percent of the construction budgets of major city projects go toward art. The set-aside, common to major municipalities across the U.S., ensures public officials will

consider aesthetics, and not just function, when completing new buildings.

The south terminal project has an overall price tag of more than $500 million.

DIA has already hired Colorado artist Patrick Marold to create a $1.5 million work for the massive bowl that will surround the train platforms where light rail passengers arrive and depart. Officials are also in talks with French installationist Yann Kersalé to create a $1.1 million piece incorporating the escalator that will take rail riders to the Jeppesen Terminal’s upper floor.

The projects are being ushered through the city’s bureaucracy with considerable speed so they can be integrated into the South Terminal project’s construction and landscaping, scheduled for completion by the end of 2015. Another $1 million has been reserved for art that is temporary or needs a shorter lead time to place.

The large purchases require approval from the Denver City Council, which recently gave the nod to the Marold piece and is likely to have the Kahn sculpture on its agenda this month. The council’s

Business, Workforce and Sustainability Committee voted unanimously in favor of the idea last week.

The council’s consent is one of several layers such deals must go through. DIA’s art staff first proposes projects to its in-house Art Committee, made up of eight volunteers representing the fine arts, academic and civic communities. Then, projects proceed through the city’s 24-member Commission on Cultural Affairs.

Dozens of officials and art experts, as well as the building project’s architects and construction staff, will have signed off before the latest pieces are completed, said Matt Chasansky, who oversees DIA’s Art and Culture Program. “It’s not just one guy making decisions on behalf of everyone,” he said

The airport is perhaps Denver’s busiest showcase for art. More than 53 million people pass through each year, half of whom never leave the building as they connect between flights. For many, the airport’s design, efficiency and art provide their only impression of the metropolis. “What we say to them is basically what we’re saying about Denver overall,” Chasansky said.

DIA’s art collection has been the subject of praise and criticism, much of it generated by artist Luis Jiménez’s 32-foot “Blue Mustang,” which greets visitors arriving via Federico Peña Boulevard. The fiery horse, with its electric, red eyes, has emerged as a lightning rod on public opinion about art.

Among its nicknames: “Blucifer” and “Satan’s Steed,” though it has many defenders who cite its recognizability, as well as success generating wide-spread conversation about fine art.

The airport operates an aggressive, international art program that taps new technologies and evolving ideas about visual art. Recently, it commissioned several, short digital pieces to play in rotation on electronic screens above the security check-in lines.

Another work, “Lightning Blues Express,” by artist Humberto Duque and on display through July, is a performance piece that has actors roaming the terminals, pulling behind them amplified music players that look like carry-on bags. The wheeled, boom boxes play various recorded songs with a theme of farewell, generating odd and amused stares from airport users. DIA paid $75,000 for the work.

In addition to making the airport a more lively place, the pieces are meant to shake people out of their hurried routines, if only for a moment. For some passengers, the art fills the down time air travel forces upon them. For others, the works offer an invitation to relax.

One “intent is to create artwork that will pull people out of their fear and anxiety,” said Kendall Peterson, who is heading up the art efforts for the South Terminal expansion.

The Kahn piece will put Denver into an elite list of cities who own one of his works. Kahn, based in Sebastopol, Calif., is best-known for large, graceful and easy-to-like sculptures, often made of aluminum, that move without electrical power. His best works are at public spaces such as San Francisco International Airport, as well as private spaces, such as the ultra-trendy 21C museum and hotel in Louisville, Ky.

The exact shape and size of the DIA piece is yet to be determined. It will be mostly horizontal with moving parts that reflect the patterns of the wind and other natural elements. It will be integrated into the architecture in a way people can walk around and through it, Peterson said.

Marold is known for working with light, and DIA hopes his piece will be visible both day and night.

Kersalé is creating an entire environment that will envelop the main escalator and entertain riders along their 90-second journey between levels.

In all, DIA solicited proposals from 180 international artists. Peterson said the airport wanted to work with established professionals who have demonstrated they can bring quality art projects in a timely manner to large public spaces. “There’s a pretty small sample out there,” she said.

Ray Mark Rinaldi: 303-954-1540, rrinaldi@denverpost.com or twitter.com/rayrinaldi

JUST ONE THING | Gardening Knife

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Dragonfly Landscape Design

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Dragonfly Landscape Design Ltd. is a full-service landscape design and implementation firm based in Westhampton Beach, serving the east end of Long Island, NY.

We believe that a great landscape starts with a good landscape design. Good landscape design is an art form and should express your individual taste and complement your home’s architecture as well as meet your lifestyle requirements. From a practical standpoint, a good landscape plan should also take into consideration not only what the space and plants will look like this season, but also what the design will look like 5 or 10 years from now. It should enhance desirable views, screen undesirable views, and ultimately create comfortable outdoor living spaces that you will enjoy season after season.

Parking Lot Rain Garden Landscaping Protects Our Water – Marketwire

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MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA–(Marketwired – May 14, 2013) – Yes, there are solutions to the water pollution created by parking lot runoff that winds its way through drainage systems, rivers, lakes, canals, and, at some point, into our water glasses. Water contamination has to be tackled at the source – in the parking lots themselves – and one of the answers to the problem can be with the addition of rain gardens and self-sustaining landscaping.

A TV short aired by the Knowledge Network in April 2013 described the problem and its management very well: our waterways are becoming increasingly polluted with oil, gas, anti-freeze, toxic cleaners, paint, and other chemicals that accumulate in parking lots, construction sites, and streets; as well as with fertilizers and pesticides used to enhance landscaping.

The TV cameras zeroed in on concerned citizens who had learned about the benefits of rain gardens to help control water pollution and were introducing the concept in the Seattle, Washington, community of North Ridge, with the goal of constructing 12,000 such gardens. Many other communities across the country are becoming involved in similar programs as citizens learn that rain gardens help manage storm water runoff and can protect our water sources.

“We offer our clients rain garden landscaping in an effort to help them reduce water pollution from parking lot runoff and to help absorb overflow after a storm,” said Gina Vella, President, Universal Site Services. “I think it’s wonderful that so many people are becoming involved in the management of storm water runoff.”

Rain gardens are shallow depressions about 12 or more inches deep filled with compost that will collect and filter storm water and parking lot runoff so that the water is cleaned naturally. As well, the rain gardens are landscaped with attractive vegetation, which grows well in the composted-enhanced, nutrient-rich soil.

“We calculate the size and number of rain gardens needed to support the runoff from parking lot surfaces and the best location for them,” Mrs. Vella added, “and our company specializes in providing self-sustaining, native vegetation to reduce the need for fertilizers and pesticides so that we don’t add to the pollution problem.

Plant species native to an area are self-sustaining because they have a natural protection against local weather conditions and insect infestations. Exotic, non-native plants usually require the protection of herbicides and fertilizers for survival.

Companies that landscape their parking lots with well-placed rain gardens covered with native plants provide three-way protection for the community: the rain gardens filter toxins from runoff, diminish overflow after heavy storms, and reduce the amount of herbicides and fertilizers that are washed into our water.

It’s one of the easier solutions to the problem of parking lot runoff.

About Universal Site Services

Universal Site Services is a full service property maintenance and site services company serving clients in California, Arizona, and Nevada. Founded in 1958, Universal is one of the largest family-owned, full-service outdoor maintenance companies on the West Coast. Universal was one of the inventors of the regenerative air parking lot sweeper. Services include parking lot sweeping pressure washing, day porter, landscaping, property maintenance and graffiti removal. For more information about Universal, please visit www.universalsiteservices.com or call: 800-647-9337.