Rss Feed
Tweeter button
Facebook button

Garden Media Guild, hog whimper, like mine with blobs on, Harry and ash…again

by Leave a Comment

IMG_0382

1. Chelsea Flower Show launch at the Connaught
The stories were Prince Harry (I had in Mail) and Titch sounding off. Telegraph followed up their rip-off of Mail story with the same story three weeks later.

2. There’s 15 show gardens. Was 16 last year. Diarmuid not in yet. James Wong said he had no sponsor. Jo Thompson is showing dead trees for FERA garden. JT and Andrew Wilson were among designers not there and when I asked why they said they weren’t invited. Maybe get a bigger room so all the hacks and designers can fit in and then the hacks can talk to the designers. Alex Denman was pregnant. Sue Biggs announced a gnome painting competition. One designer said to me: “His design looks like mine with blobs on.”

3. Straight on to Garden Media Guild awards at Marriott across Grosvenor Sq. Wrote up Harry and Titch in Gordon Ramsay’s Maze with Caroline Owen and John Ashley. Coke is £4.50. Not really enough time to report on RHS then go to GMG.
4. On Westland table – thanks to Westland. Next to Stephen Anderton and Keith Nicholson. I was so full of caffeine I got SA and Stephen Lacey muddled. Later SA moved seats to sit next to Andrew Wilson to where the Daily Express woman had not turned up. So was next to Dennis Espley, who was answering customer queries on his iphone. That night at Arsenal there was a GCA leaving event for Gillie Westwood I heard.
5. The awards: All my predictions were wrong. Ken Cox won his category for Fruit and Veg from Scotland, which was good. Conifers did not win. Top selling books.
6. The Garden won mag of the year. Later discussed with  Chris Young digest nature of The Garden’s news. He agreed and said it was difficult to do monthly news. But he said everything was improved. I agreed that the ads had moved and Ursula Buchan was no longer involved.
7. Best news story was judged by someone from Indie and PR Liz Anderson. Saw her in pub after. Good story by Marc Rosenberg won.  Presenter Chris Packham, who made a joke about lawns having sex and about his  Stihl chainsaw, was surprised that (my story on) BQ had put peat in their topsoil. That’s the point. The story is surprising. No one’s surprised Monty won’t list products in Gardener’s World.
8. MR and The Garden news hack Anisa Gress (both ex HW so I thought I’d be in here) judged trade hack of the year won by James Armitage in Garden Design Journal for
Land of the giants
Return of the natives
Get to grips with grasses
Even other GDJ writers had not read these pieces.
a. I entered No Joe Swift for BBC coverage (biggest CFS story, BBC changed policy etc)
b. Ash disease hits Britain (There have been 13,675 ash dieback stories – counted them- published in world media since then, And none before).
c. Beekeepers stung! EU orders a pollen warning on honey jars
But the judges must have thought they were not much cop. I can understand the bee one – Gavin McEwan actually wrote it – not that the judges knew that).
9. Many of the usual suspects won, for typing many of the usual things.
10. Jekka McVicar appeared by Super 8 video link to accept lifetime achievement. She was doing a talk that evening so couldn’t attend.
11. Wrote some more in ‘Maze’ and then went to the Audley or Alderley pub or something and had a few beers with Kris Collins and other hacks. KC was in wedding attire. Martyn Cox, who usually gets hog-whimperingly drunk at these events, and once arm wrestled Carol Klein, left at 6 because he needed to go shopping because retail in his new Southsea home is just Aldi and that.
12. Most drunk were CY and Christopher Woodward. And by the end, me. I walked home via Winter Wonderland feeling like George Bone from Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton.

Today went to 10 Downing St to see xmas tree erected. They couldn’t get the wrapper off.

 

Filed Under: garden design

Home and Garden Calendar

by Leave a Comment

EVENTS

Rain gardens and floral design: The Oak Harbor Garden Club program, from 9 a.m. to noon, Dec. 11, features natural resource planner Rob Hallbauer on installing a rain garden, and florist Audrey Butler on arranging holiday centerpieces. The meeting is at First United Methodist Church, 1050 Ireland St., Oak Harbor. Call Helene Valdez at 360-675-0392.

Festival of Poinsettias: Molbak’s holiday tradition runs now through Dec. 24 and features more than 25 varieties of Molbak’s grown poinsettias. The 14-foot-high poinsettia tree is a great place for family Christmas card photos. On weekends, through Dec. 23, there will be live music, free slices of Danish kringle and hot beverages, and Santa will be there for photo ops from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Check out molbaks.com for details on dates, times and a full list of holiday performers. Molbak’s is at 13625 NE 175th St., Woodinville.

Growing Groceries training: The WSU Extension classes teach mentors how to grow productive food gardens in an an environmentally friendly way. The trained volunteers then share their knowledge. The application deadline is Jan. 18. Classes start Feb. 9 and continue for four Saturdays at the Snohomish County Extension building at 600 128th St., McCollum Park, Everett. Tuition is $135 for those who volunteer 35 hours as mentors after certification, or $185 for nonvolunteers. Contact: Karie Christensen, 425-357-6039, or Christensen4@wsu.edu for more information.

Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens 2012 lectures: Noon to 1 p.m. select Saturdays, at the arboretum, 145 Alverson Blvd., Everett, either in the indoor classroom or, when appropriate, outside on the arboretum grounds. All the classes are free. Seating is limited. Call 425-257-8597 for reservations. See www.evergreenarboretum.com for more about the arboretum.

Dec. 8: “Winter Blooming Plants” with Trevor Cameron of Sunnyside Nursery, Marysville.

Interior design classes: Kelly DuByne of Distinctive Interior Designs and Monika Krisofferson of Efficient Oranization NW offer the following classes. Check www.distinctiveinteriordesigns.net, 425-238-3678, or www.EfficientOrganizationNW.com, 425-220-8905.

Free community events:

First Saturday of each month: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ask a Designer color consultations at Lynnwood Miller Paint, 18021 Alderwood Mall Parkway, Ste. 103. Register at 425-248-4950.

Everett Parks Recreation: Register at 425-257-8300, ext. 2, or www.everettwa.org. Classes taught at VanValey house, 2130 Colby Ave., Everett; 6 to 7:30 p.m., $25 (unless otherwise noted):

Dec. 13: Furniture University: Quality, Placement and Styles to Make Your Home Wow.

Marysville Parks Recreation: register 360-363-8400, www.marysvillewa.gov. Classes taught at Marysville Library, 6120 Grove St. Classes from 6 to 7:30pm, $22 (unless otherwise noted):

Dec. 20: The Significance of Color.

NURSERY CLASSES

These local nurseries feature gardening classes, guest speakers and special events throughout the year, often for no charge. Check their websites or call for details.

Christianson’s Nursery and Greenhouse: 15806 Best Road, Mount Vernon; 360-466-3821; www.christiansonsnursery.com.

McAuliffe’s Valley Nursery: 11910 Springhetti Road, Snohomish; 360-862-1323; www.mcauliffesvalleynursery.com.

Molbak’s Garden Home: 13625 NE 175th St., Woodinville; 425-483-5000; www.molbaks.com.

My Garden: 17414 Bothell-Everett Highway, Mill Creek; 425-402-1842; www.mygardennursery.com.

Pine Creek Nursery: 23225 Sofie Road, Monroe; 360-863-8866; pinecreeknursery.com.

Sky Nursery: 18528 Aurora Ave. N., Shoreline; 206-546-4851; www.skynursery.com.

Sunnyside Nursery: 3915 Sunnyside Blvd., Marysville; 425-334-2002; www.sunnysidenursery.net.

The Plant Farm at Smokey Point: 15022 Twin Lakes Ave., Marysville; 360-652-3351; www.theplantfarm.com.

Wight’s Home Garden: 5026 196th St. SW, Lynnwood; 425-775-3636; www.wights.com.

PLANT CLINICS

Got a gardening question? You can call the master gardener hotline from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 425-357-6010 or visit the Home Garden section at snohomish.wsu.edu.

To submit an item for the Home Garden calendar, e-mail features@heraldnet.com.

Filed Under: garden design

Winter gardens don’t have to mean a frosty reception

by Leave a Comment

November 29, 2012

A well-designed space should be able to tempt clients out even on days like this, says landscaping guru and new PrimeResi columnist Barry Burrows.

The fashion for high specification garden design is growing as informed clients begin to understand the importance of the exterior space to their wellbeing and to the value of their property. With space for living at a premium in the city, the advent of new technologies and innovative design solutions are making a huge impact on the higher end of the housing market.

The prime requirement is the desire for space that can be utilised across the whole year, with the added benefits of all the amenities that exist inside the house. A well designed garden should be able to tempt you outside on any day of the year, protect you from the elements and excite and stimulate the senses to give the ‘feel good factor’.

In small spaces, the illusion of depth can be created by artificially extending the focal point of a view, either by use of clever proportions, mirrors, or by colour theory, whilst in the larger gardens subtle design variations will allow the perception of greater width and complexity.

Sensitive lighting will enhance the experience, with different lighting settings created to produce changeable ‘moods’, as lighting requirements vary between seasons. Summer lighting may be focused on a seating area for evening entertainment, whilst winter lighting will create a tableau of textures to be viewed from the house.

Roof terraces provide the most striking opportunities to make a difference to a lifestyle

Within the external space, there is often a desire for all requirements to be met, and to this end we have installed kitchens, wine storage units, heating, television, multimedia, remote operated sliding roofs and any number of seats, sculptures and lights. Roof terraces provide the most striking opportunities to make a difference to a lifestyle as the roof is nearly always unused prior to conversion. The ultimate benefit is that the space opens up a huge number of possibilities that provide so much in space, light, privacy and the mental well being of simply having an area that provides escape from the indoors. When creating a roof garden several factors need to be kept in mind and planning can be an issue, but once that bridge has been crossed, the possibilities can be endless. We find many clients wishing for their transformation to be complete and mature from the start; so the ability to source and install mature plants in all sorts of locations, from roof tops to rolling acres is a great resource. In these technically advanced days the repositioning of even quite large trees is feasible, which is a huge advantage with the current concern for space.

In Knightsbridge, we created a sumptuous external entertainment space from very inauspicious beginnings. The refurbishment of small house in an exclusive gated mews gave us the opportunity to add layers of light and planting as the addition of a basement provided light wells which accentuated the three dimensional aspects of the garden. The garden doubled the area available for entertainment in the main reception room in all weathers as a sliding roof and concealed heaters extended the living space outdoors. The wall treatments of climbers and water features, combined with the awning, provided perfect privacy on every day of the year. The use of mirror surfaces and lighting also doubled and redoubled the space, making the garden feel much larger than reality. This garden has won two national awards, one for design and one for the innovative use of technology.

the necessity to have the quality of finish in the external space reflecting that of indoors

A grey and uninspiring terrace in Chelsea was transformed from a cold, windblown tunnel into a lavish green space, with the planting of mature shrubs to protect from the wind, heaters, a wine fridge and serving area. A perfect example of the necessity to have the quality of finish in the external space reflecting that of indoors. Crisp edges, high end material and plant specification combined with beautifully placed lighting make this an award winning green room that would enhance any property.

bartholomewlandscaping.com


jQuery(‘.nrelate_default’).removeClass(‘nrelate_default’);

Filed Under: garden design

The Most Important Garden Designer You’ve Never Heard Of

by Leave a Comment

By MARIAN MCEVOY

Enlarge Image

imageimage

Photograph by Oberto Gili

A cedar and terra-cotta pavilion alongside the square pond at Marella Agnelli’s property in Marrakech exemplifies Cox’s simultaneously grand and plain gardens. The late Bill Willis designed the structure on a newly created pond filled with several varieties of papyrus and water lilies and lined with crinum, polyanthus, jasmine, amaryllis, agapanthus, liane de floride, climbing roses and pomegranate trees.

FOR THE PAST 25 YEARS, he has created hundreds of acres of enchanting gardens for dozens of clients in 10 countries, but his public profile is next to zero: no Google

trove of press mentions; no Wikipedia entry; no Twitter trail; no Facebook

friends. On the Madison Cox Design Web site, you’ll find a street address, an e-mail address and a single image of an understated formal garden. No bio, no client list, no florid prose.

This 54-year-old American garden designer is a legend in the making—often compared to the late, great British landscapist Russell Page—but you won’t hear that from him. Unlike most high-end architects, decorators and garden designers, Cox would rather be shipwrecked than become a household name. He is known for creating rarely seen, never-photographed landscapes for some of the most publicity-averse clients in the world. (Convincing Cox to participate in this article took three years of persistent persuasion on the part of this magazine—and by me, a close friend for more than 30 years.)

Photos: The Green Party

View Slideshow

[SB10001424127887324735104578121501039943028]

Photography by Oberto Gili

Click to view slideshow

What differentiates Cox within the highly competitive world of landscaping is his individual approach to individual sites. He does not apply a single theme or a homogeneous look to his various projects. From rigorously sculpted grounds to profusely flowering rustic settings, he bends his personal tastes to those of his clients. He might not choose flamboyant roses or cube-shaped metal pots for his own gardens, but if a client has a strong preference for such embellishments, he’ll find a graceful way to make them work. “I’m in the service industry,” he says. “People come to me for a whole slew of reasons— they all have a goal in mind; my goal is help them achieve it.”

Cox is discreet and modest, and he’s also extremely disciplined and nonconformist: He owns 5,000 books but no TV; orders the same Anderson Sheppard jacket every year; prefers living in small houses and apartments; and he’s never in the same city or countryside for more than five consecutive days. The man whom Marella Agnelli and Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis have chosen to design their outdoor spaces is a gifted maverick who spent his formative years engaged in unorthodox pursuits until he found his calling.

“Cox dislikes plantings that are too clever or too obvious—elements that call attention to a style rather than a place. He believes that gardens should look “inevitable.””

Cox grew up in San Francisco and Marin County, nurtured by what he calls a “bohemian patrician” family, surrounded by the redwood forest, the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay. His father was a sea captain, an imposing character who had, according to Cox, “an enormous influence on me. He is responsible for my travel-lust—for my desire to explore and discover the world.” Various other culturally curious family members steered the young Cox toward literature and art. When he was 12, a godmother introduced him to some of the cultural wonders of Southern California, like the Getty Museum, the Huntington Library and the jewelry and set designer Tony Duquette.

In 1976, Cox’s uncle, the late artist David Ireland, mentioned a job was available helping Christo install the 24-mile-long Running Fence across the hills of Sonoma and Marin Counties. Christo wrote Cox a letter of recommendation to the Parsons School of Design in New York, where he enrolled in 1977. A year later, he transferred to Parsons’s Paris branch and met one of the most celebrated fashion designers of the time, Yves Saint Laurent, and his business partner, Pierre Bergé (who eventually became Cox’s lover). The two introduced Cox to their circle of worldly, creative friends, including Loulou and Maxime de la Falaise, Gabrielle Van Zuylen, Paloma Picasso, Catherine Deneuve, the Lalannes and Andy Warhol. The charming, handsome design student from California made a sparkling first impression; his proclivities for art, classical music and French cuisine endeared him further to this multi-cultured jet set.

During the 12 years he lived in Paris, he accompanied the peripatetic YSL clan—and the likes of Betty and Francois Catroux, Jacques Grange, Robert Wilson and Mattia Bonetti—to the finest museums, auction houses, private islands, villas, gardens and costume balls, a lifestyle that helped shape Cox’s burgeoning aesthetic. His was the ultimate postgraduate experience, with a startlingly diverse, privi- leged curriculum.

In 1984, armed with a BFA in environmental design and some hands-on experience assisting a French gardener, Cox was asked to create a spring garden for the Franco-American Museum at the 17th-century Château de Blérancourt. (The institution celebrates and promotes Franco-American arts collaborations.) During his Paris years, he also designed sets and costumes for a production of Rigoletto in Spoleto, in Italy, and was the first American to design a garden for the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show in London.

In 1989, Cox moved back to New York to work on his first major private commission in the U.S.: artist Jennifer Bartlett’s three-level roof garden in Greenwich Village. Forty-two tons of soil were carried up three flights of stairs to create Bartlett’s 2,500-square-foot “country in the city,” planted with a lawn, an evergreen maze, a grape arbor, an apple orchard and a rose garden. The project seemed impossibly complicated on paper, but it evolved into a peaceful roof-scape that looked as though it had been there for decades. Like many of Cox’s exteriors—even the newest ones—the space was laboriously planned but looked seasoned and natural.

““Good gardens demand a lot of research and patience. Along the way there will be amendments, detours and, sometimes, reversals. There’s no such thing as a beautiful ‘instant’ garden.””

Today, as he works across continents, with offices in New York and Morocco, his clients include arts patrons, industrialists and philanthropists, including Sting and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. More than half of Cox’s clients are knowledgeable, confident gardeners themselves, who understand that high-end garden design entails a lifetime commitment. They don’t want a landscape that looks anything like anyone else’s. Cox maintains that each fine garden “involves a particular point of view. All good gardens demand a lot of research and patience. Along the way, there will be amendments, detours and, sometimes, reversals. There is no such thing as a beautiful ‘instant’ garden. The best ones come together when there is real communication between a designer and a client. It’s about trust, and it builds over time. I’ve collaborated with many of my clients for more than 15 years: One can develop a wonderful complicity getting to know each other season after season after season.”

Marella Agnelli, the widow of former Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli, is one of the complicit. Some consider her Marrakech property, Ain Kassimou, the world’s finest private garden of recent vintage. The nearly 30-acre property was formerly a horse farm and polo grounds belonging to the Hermès family. When Agnelli bought it in 2007, it was in shambles, an underwhelming expanse of parched grass and tattered palm and olive trees. Now, her poetic grounds are geometrically organized. The two devised a logical, fluid network of trellised paths, lawns, flower and vegetable beds, allées, pools, ponds and cutting gardens. There’s not a false or out-of-place note in this symphony of climbing vines, gurgling rills, fragrant blossoms and swirling, chirping birds.

On a grander scale, Anne Bass’s compound in Connecticut is an example of what Cox can do with a thousand-acre property. Bass is an accomplished gardener herself who can identify all 140 varieties in the rose garden Cox created for her by their Latin names, along with every other plant in her gardens. She had previously worked with two icons of the gardening world—Russell Page on her Texas property and the late modernist Dan Kiley on the initial layout of her Connecticut property—before turning to Cox. “Madison and I traveled together looking at gardens in Provence and Normandy,” Bass says. “We were on the same page almost always. Madison is a plants- man as well as a designer—something rather rare. We spent hours going over plant catalogs.”

The philanthropist Kravis has worked with Cox for more than 10 years on gardens in New York and Europe. “Madison has exquisite taste,” she says. “But it’s not just his sense of aesthetics that I appreciate. He knows about botany. He knows about the life of plants. He does research. He’s practical and open to ideas. I have never once seen him flustered or panicked. Beyond this, he’s a delightful person to be with. He has a good sense of humor.”

““I’ve learned many things from my friends and clients,” says Cox. “But the most important is to slow down, watch and wait.””

Majestic gardens that embrace inventive simplicity are rare in America—the land of trophy lawns, gargantuan swimming pools and paths and beds crammed with easy-care shrubs and flowers. Because Cox favors techniques and plantings gleaned from many epochs, cultures and movements, he has a bigger, more flexible design vocabulary than garden designers known specifically for their modernist, French-formal or romantic English leanings—Cox likes it all. But he dislikes plans and plantings that, he says, “are too clever or too obvious”—elements that call attention to a style, rather than a place. Like Page, he believes a garden should look “inevitable.”

Cox prefers generous stone platforms and terraces loaded with lushly planted, overscaled pots in traditional shapes and materials. He chooses plants and trees that are appropriate to their regions, but sites and groups them in surprising, abundant patterns. For a small project in New York’s Hudson Valley, he camouflaged a house’s exterior by installing a grove of 32 quaking aspen trees in a sort of random, scattered pattern—a few here, a few more there, five or six on either side of the structure. At his bungalow in Marrakech, Cox interspersed a thicket of spiky bamboo with a big curvy-leafed fig tree. He loves plain, natural elements, and he doesn’t do the manicured-to-death look. He likes neat but not tortured clip jobs. He’s fond of square pools and ponds and trellised walkways leading from one garden area to another. He goes for color, but not a riot of color all at once.

Even the green spaces he’s designed for leading boutique hoteliers—Ian Schrager’s Delano in Miami, Gramercy Park in New York, the Mondrian in Los Angeles and London’s St. Martins Lane and the Sanderson; and André Balazs’s Standard in Miami—emphasize rigorous, graceful scale, precise color schemes and edited plantings over flash-in-the-pan effects.

There’s no truer evidence of talent and style than a designer’s own residence. It’s where designers get to experiment and do exactly as they please. Cox’s Moroccan cliff-top house and garden, located in a quiet rural area of Tangier, is a surprising combination of modest and spectacular. The two-bedroom house is small, but the garden unfurls like an endless, meandering ribbon. A half-mile in length, it follows the rocky, deserted cliffs that descend dramatically to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. Like most of his commissioned landscapes, his own garden reveals itself in stages, and on many elevations. It’s not a plant collector’s paradise, but a place of simple lines and generous plantings. It’s simultaneously disciplined and romantic.

Sited precariously on the edge of a 650-foot vertical drop, some of the property’s retaining walls, which were installed when Cox bought the house nine years ago, are crumbling. He loses a big, old eucalyptus or pine tree every couple of years, and the library—which looks ancient but was built from scratch five years ago—has a long crack down the middle of the floor. Paradise has its price.

As you descend the stone paths and steps that lead down from a wide stone terrace, you discover hundreds of large, plain terra-cotta pots packed with acanthus, fuchsia and scented geraniums; a small lawn wreathed in agapanthus, Echium and wild delphinium; an allée of ancient cyprus, plateaus with fig and apricot trees, rose and hydrangea; several levels of vegetables; irrigation ponds; a tiny guest house; and, at the farthest end, a mini farm with chickens and turkeys. From every angle the Strait is in full view—nothing but turquoise and navy-blue water and raw cliffs. On a clear day, you can see the coast of Spain.

Cliff House has been Cox’s primary residence and refuge for the last eight years—a quiet place to sleep, read, draw, listen to music and watch nature. Over the course of 20 years of biweekly trips to Morocco, he has embraced the country’s natural beauty, turbulent history and rich, sensual culture. He first came to North Africa with Saint Laurent and Bergé in the 1979 and has worked for more than 15 years restoring and maintaining their public and private gardens.

Cox settled on Tangier as his home base because he loves the city’s jagged coastline; the rolling hills that remind him of San Francisco; the medieval medina; and the mix of eccentric, international residents, including antiques expert Christopher Gibbs, artist Yto Barrada and Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, who owns a huge spread across the street. However stunning and gracious the setting, Cliff House is more suited to long, intimate lunches than to dinners for a dozen guests. “I dislike outdoor lighting,” Cox says, “and you can’t have people outside stumbling around in the dark.”

Three years ago, Cox became the vice president of the nonprofit Foundation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, and its subsidiary, the Fondation Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech; it oversees the six-acre public and private Majorelle compound, where Bergé still resides. Cox directs 75 employees who work in the gardens, a café, a wonderfully stocked gift boutique, a bookshop and, as of last year, Morocco’s first Berber Museum. Cox also serves on the board of the American School in Marrakech and started a program for the Aangan Trust in Mumbai, India, that teaches at-risk children how to garden. Because of his whiplash schedule, with regular meetings in Paris, Marrakech, New York and Mumbai, Tangier is, alas, the place he spends the least amount of time.

“I’m fine with that for now,” he says. “Cliff House has grounded me; it’s given me a spiritual base, even if I am only here for just a day or a weekend. I’ve learned many things from my friends and clients, but the most important is to slow down, watch and wait. This is the place for the rest of my life. It’s my forever house that won’t last forever.”

Explore More

Filed Under: garden design

Lighting Science and Atlanta Botanical Garden Partner Again for "Garden Lights …

by Leave a Comment


<!– end javascript to email the article

–>


Garden’s 2012 Lighting Exhibit Grows by 45% With LED Efficiency From Lighting Science

Marketwire

SATELLITE BEACH, FL — (Marketwire) — 11/28/12 —
Lighting Science Group (OTCBB: LSCG), one of the world’s leading LED lighting technology manufacturers, is proud to partner again with the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s seasonal lighting exhibit, “Garden Lights, Holiday Nights,” which features green both as a primary festival color and as an operating energy principle.

Over 1.5 million lights have transformed the garden grounds into an illuminated wonderland including a Lighting Science LED original installation on the Great Lawn, which serves as the display’s finale. Dazzling topiary forms of differentiating sizes and changing hues are choreographed as spectacular dancing lights to timeless holiday music. Visitors, designers, and artists alike will be impressed to discover that the displays are ultra-efficient and entirely recyclable.

According to Gail Wood, Atlanta Botanical Garden Exhibition Manager, “Since this was our second year, the creativity bar was raised even higher. The teams worked for months in close collaboration with Lighting Science on top-secret designs to make this year’s Great Lawn’s “Orchestral Orbs” even more spectacular than the original 2011 debut. Lighting gurus from Lighting Science combined their world-renowned products and innovative technologies to illuminate a 50-foot-tall landmark Dawn Redwood tree. Additional Lighting Science innovations wash the front conservatory with multi-colored hues.

“As a non-profit dedicated to cultivating and sharing organic beauty with the community, we were resolute that our holiday exhibition be a joyful expression of the season, but not at the expense of our mission to further environmental sustainability efforts and awareness,” said Wood. “Lighting Science’s brilliant LED fixtures transformed the Gardens into a breath-taking holiday landscape that will again delight thousands, all while preserving the environmental integrity that does justice to the natural magnificence of the Garden’s living collections.”

Designed in collaboration with Tres Fromme, Landscape Designer, each of the LED luminaires uses a mere 10 watts of energy while boasting the capacity to cast over 16 million distinctive color shades. The LED fixtures also include integrated sound sensitivity capabilities which sync the bulbs’ with a musical soundtrack to create a sensation of a “choreographed” dance routine.

“This holiday season, Lighting Science is proud to provide the lighting technology behind the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s interactive exhibition,” said Keith Scott, chief commercial officer of Lighting Science. “By fusing LED technology and an unmatched eye for design, our Advanced Projects Group has turned architectural and artistic dreams into a brilliant winter wonderland. We are very proud to be a part of this wonderful exhibit once again.”

About the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Show
The show will blanket the Garden’s 30 acres in every shimmering color under the rainbow from November 17 – January 5. New sparkling attractions include spectacular lighting effects casting an icy cool vibe on the “Liquid Lights” in the Cascades Garden, while the “Starry Night Walk,” inspired by Van Gogh’s famous painting, features dozens of swirling stars twinkling along the walkway through the camellias. The Great Lawn will once again be transformed into “Orchestral Orbs” — a one-of-a-kind topiary light show choreographed to holiday music.

Visitors can now meet Lumina in person — the mysteriously beautiful sprite who flitters about the Garden spreading holiday magic to children. Find enchanting frog elves (frelves) hidden along the paths and look for a bejeweled dragonfly, dozens more lighted trees and shrubs in gorgeous colors palettes and plenty of high tech wows throughout the conservatories For ticket information go to: https://tickets.atlantabotanicalgarden.org/

About Lighting Science Group
Lighting Science Group Corporation (OTCBB: LSCG) designs, develops, manufactures and markets LED lighting solutions that are environmentally friendlier and more energy efficient than traditional lighting products. Lighting Science Group offers retrofit LED lamps in form factors that match those of traditional lamps or bulbs and LED luminaires designed for a range of applications including public and private infrastructure for both indoor and outdoor use. Lighting Science Group’s Advanced Projects Group business unit designs, develops and manufactures custom LED lighting solutions for architectural and artistic projects. Lighting Science Group is headquartered in Satellite Beach, Florida; the Company’s European operations are based in Middelburg, The Netherlands; and the Company has a sales office in Sydney, Australia. Lighting Science Group employs approximately 800 workers building lighting products from domestic and imported parts. Lighting Science Group is a Pegasus Capital Advisors portfolio company. More information about Lighting Science Group is available at www.lsgc.com.

Forward Looking Statement. Certain statements in this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements” made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the performance of Lighting Science Group and its products and/or use terminology such as “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “goal,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “seek,” “target,” “soon,” “will,” “first of many” and variations of such words and similar expressions. Such statements reflect the current view of Lighting Science Group with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. In evaluating these statements, you should carefully review the risk factors detailed under “Risk Factors” in our most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that may cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements.

Documents and/or Photos available for this release:

Lighting Science LED lights display at the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Great Lawn
Lighting Science LED lights display at the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Great Lawn

To view supporting documents and/or photos, go to www.enr-corp.com/pressroom and enter Release ID: 342498

Contact:
Samantha Wood McLarty
Director of Marketing
Lighting Science Group
Phone: (321) 610-9608
E-Mail: Samantha.McLarty@lsgc.com

Nancy M. Valent
Public Relations
NMV Strategies
Phone: (216) 513-8740
E-Mail: nancy@NMVstrategies.com

Source: Lighting Science Group

<!–

Print

Email
–>

Filed Under: garden design

Harmonious garden design pleases senses

by Leave a Comment

? Lifelong Landscape Design by Mary Palmer Dargan (Gibbs Smith Publishers, 207 pages) $35

A garden can be a reflection of the health and well-being of the people who nurture it.

Author Mary Palmer Dargan views garden design as an ongoing exploration and the opportunity to create a harmonious outdoor space that can reduce stress and uplift the body and soul.

Following the principles she lays out for a lifelong approach to landscape design, Dargan structures the chapters based upon her nine essential components of healthy living. She titles the chapters: The Web of Life, Social Places, Be Active, Passive Places, Freedom of Access Choice, Activate Your Senses to Reduce Stress, Gardening is Therapy, The Healthy House Living Communities, and The Master Plan. Within each chapter she offers suggestions for how to achieve that component, such as creating depressions in the earth to plant a rain garden for a more sustainable approach.

Beautiful colour photographs appear throughout the book showing stunning examples from Dargan’s own garden and projects she has worked on.

Filed Under: garden design

Hatfield Heath gardener reaps the rewards

by Leave a Comment

A GARDEN designer from Hatfield Heath has said she is “stunned and thrilled” to have reaped a prestigious award.

Patricia Fox MSGD scooped the Society of Garden Designers accolade for the best small residential garden at a glittering ceremony in London earlier this month. The inaugural event was a great success and one of the highlights of this year’s horticultural calendar.

Ms Fox was one of only 16 winners in the awards which were open to the society’s membership of over 1,100.

She has been working in the Herts/Essex region for eight years and has built a reputation for offering professional garden design and build service to private individuals, on projects ranging from tiny courtyard gardens – such as Maltese Road in Chelmsford for which she won the award – through to country estates set within several acres.

Ms Fox said: “For me, I often feel that the most challenging garden spaces are those such as Maltese Road, that are tiny, and which really require the designer to work the space, both physically and emotionally.”

The SGD Awards were judged by an illustrious panel including landscape architects, university lecturers, design journalists and commentators.

Filed Under: garden design

Garden Clippings: Here’s the Dirt on Holiday Gifts

by Leave a Comment

The holidays are here. I stand at Urban Outfitters shifting my weight while perusing sweaters for my nephews. Blue? Grey? Then suddenly the music makes me think I’m in North Korea. Bah-bye.

Then there’s my mother-in-law who mostly likes cash. Cashmere, a robe, gloves—not so much!

Unable to top (and for that matter, afford) last year’s Fender guitar, I consider instead another flannel shirt for the husband. But aren’t the five plaid ones already crammed into the Mini Cooper-sized closet enough?

So for me when it comes to gardeners, they are just the easiest to shop for at the holidays. Whether a Janice Chen scissors to stuff in a stocking, Wellies to slip your decidedly non-Cinderella feet into, or a birdhouse built without sub-contractors and overrruns, I’m inspired by choices both practical and fanciful. Some ideas to tempt you.

UNDER $25

Here Comes Santa Claus: Seed packets are great for stocking stuffers for family, waitresses, teachers. Give them out to the children for the eight days of Chanukah (prices range from $1.49-$5 at Whole Foods; Armstrong Garden Center). In a basket, bundle MUD h2O great grip gloves in a variety of cool colors ($7.50 Sheridan Gardens) with the Cavallini Flora Fauna Journal ($12 Paper Source), German-made Pedag brush that scrubs away under-nail grime. ($4.57 at amazon.com) and a tube of Tokyo Milk hand cream (at Scentsabilities, $12).

Durable and no-nonsense, the Moleskin Gardening Journal is great for a male or female gardener ($20, Portrait of a Bookstore).

For someone big on ideas but has trouble executing (that would be me!), try the online garden planner. You fill in your location, yard dimensions, and plant preferences and it helps you plot out a garden design. It’s free for 30 days, then $25 a year for subscription http://gardenplanner.territorialseed.com/gardenplanner/gardenplanner.html#

$25-$50

Deck the Halls: Front door mats, garden stakes, butterfly houses, succulent planters, and the cutest garden gnomes ($25-$50 Sheridan Gardens Nursery, Burbank.)

Hang a Shining Star upon the highest bough: Glass hand-made wind chimes (Emerald Forest); a red-painted Woodshed outdoor birdhouse that combines form and function when perched on high tree limb ($49.00 at www.gardenartisans.us/). Sweet as it is nourishing, the pot de creme hummingbird feeder comes in clear or colored handblown glasss and will be used like crazy this winter by these little garden visitors. ($29.99 bestnest.com)

Hoe Hoe Hoe and more: The classic DeWit Tulip Trowel boasts sturdy design with the promise of becoming a much-handled keepsake ($39.95 at www.gardentoolcompany.com); another great tool is the katate kuwa combination hoe (33.95 Sears, Home Depot); who wouldn’t be delighted with the pretty russian flower watering can (32.99 Bed Bath and Beyond); and to keep the soil in optimum shape, try California’s own Haven Manure Tea Gift Pack, stylishly wrapped gift assortment of cow manure, horse manure, and alfalfa natural teas ($25-$50).

All I want for Christmas…or Chanukah: Three of this year’s new crop of gardening books: The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage (Timber Press, 2012) a how-to on layering a hillside with bands of color, plus expert design tips for border plants, vegetables and year-round rose beds. (Portrait of a Bookstore); The Roots of My Obsession: Thirty Great Gardeners Reveal Why They Garden (Timber Press, 2012); California Native Plants for the Garden from native plant experts Carol Bornstein, David Fross and Bart O’ Brien features more than 500 of the best California native plants for gardening in our climate with 450 color photos, available at L.A.’s Theodore Payne Nursery http://store.theodorepayne.org/product/BAC/B_CNPG.html.

OVER $50

All dance the hora! We want them! And yes we can have them in as many colors and prints as you can imagine– those fashionable, durable rubber Wellington boots. Available at Verona Shoes (4350 Tujunga) or from UK’s Evercreatures at Funky Wellington Boots (order now, you’ll get them by Christmas. http://www.funky-wellington-boots.co.uk/ ($51.00 approximate U.S. dollars; $31 shipping).

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas:
Try giving a fun challenge to your gardening nut—the 12-pouch vertical wall pocket made of felt or wool, which is perfect for sedum and baby cacti ($98 Plantsonwalls.com; for those who love the little bees, try the honeybee teak house (64.95 gardeners.com); or for significant others who prefer a little bling, you’ll find lovely vintage, one-of-a-kind flower necklaces, pins, rings and earrings at Swag. Also, (love them!) the one-of a-kind Guy Wolff hand-thrown garden pots (10” Tuscan is $90; 9” Tuscan is $56 at heavensgatehomeandgarden.com); and what cottage gardener can resist the keepsake Haws copper English garden watering can created by Englishman John Haws in 1886 ($85.99 at K-Mart and Sears).

If you’re willing to skip the gift wrap, consider the wrought-iron outdoor chandelier, life-size garden angels, or toothy gargoyle statuary available at A State of Mind or a fabulous fountain from Garden Temple (prices vary, both on Ventura Blvd.).

Have fun!

Filed Under: garden design

Garden Club Celebrates Holidays with Design Program

by Leave a Comment

Rock Spring Garden Club Celebration

Rock Spring Garden Club Celebration

The Rock Spring Garden Club’s holiday design event featured creative works like this one by club member Sheila Moore. (Photo by Mary Cottrell)


Posted: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 8:15 am
|


Updated: 8:15 am, Tue Nov 27, 2012.


Garden Club Celebrates Holidays with Design Program


0 comments

The Rock Spring Garden Club recently held its third annual Holiday Design Event, attracting a sold-out crowd of more than 200 to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) conference center.


The event highlighted floral-design techniques for the holidays, using local greens, branches, berries and flowers from area sources to create extraordinary designs.

“The emphasis this year was on nature’s gifts for the holidays,” said Garden Club member Dorinda Burroughs, who initiated the event several years ago to raise funds for the club’s community-outreach programs.

Containers and vessels of multiple shapes and sizes were used to demonstrate versatility and flexibility, and guest designer Adrienne Summers showed how to create simple, elegant designs from ordinary flowers. Works by Summers and club member Sheila Moore were auctioned off, and pumpkin arrangements by club members also were sold.

Funds raised through the event will be used in support of the club’s support for Rock Spring Park, its Garden of the Year program and education programs.

Posted in
Arts,
News

on

Tuesday, November 27, 2012 8:15 am.

Updated: 8:15 am.

Filed Under: garden design

Gardening & More: Making mini flower creations

by Leave a Comment

SPRINGVILLE — If you hunt, or know someone who does, you can utilize old bullet casings as containers for miniature flower arrangements.

That is just one of many ideas that I picked up, this spring, at an exhibit at the National Garden Clubs convention, held in Buffalo.

Carolyn Doerflein, National Garden Clubs accredited master flower show judge, created the exhibit, with lots of information about creating miniature floral designs.

Miniature flower arrangements in flower shows cannot exceed 5 inches in any direction and the rule is sometimes set at 3 inches. At home, you can make your arrangement any size you want.

Use a miniature floral arrangement in a shadow box, a small bathroom, on a breakfast tray, on a windowsill or on any small shelf. Use individual, miniature designs to coordinate with a centerpiece on the dinner table.

Be creative, when it comes to the containers you use. You can use silver or brass, dull or shiny bullets. To make the casing more stable, attach a metal washer to the bottom, using Liquid Nails® or Gorilla Glue®. Add twisted wire, for a decorative touch.

Doerflein also demonstrated miniature flower arrangements, created in a polymer clay vase. Make the vase in any size, shape and color you like. Use nail polish on the inside and outside, to seal it.

Even a small seashell can be a container. Glue a flat button on the bottom, to make it more stable.

Other container ideas include lipstick tubes, doll house and miniature house accessories, trinket boxes, plumbing and electrical connectors, jewelry pieces and findings, wooden spools, drawer pulls and knobs, salt shakers and cellars, corks, egg cups, ink wells, nuts and bolts, stiffened fabric, incense burners, toothpick holders, thimbles, beads, napkin rings, small caps and lids, small toys, perfume bottles and jam dishes.

Containers this size are also a brilliant solution to the problem of where to display children’s bouquets. Those little flower arrangements are often quite stubby, because little children don’t know, yet, that you are supposed to pick the stem along with the flower.

Other than the flowers your kids pick, what could you put in a container that tiny?

Many large plants have small parts.

A huge grapevine has tiny tendrils and a large boxwood or barberry shrub has small leaves.

A 50-foot maple tree has small seeds in a cool package. I call those helicopters, or “whirligigs.”

An allium flower might be a large ball, but you can pull the flower apart and use the individual florets.

Look at flower buds, house plants, potpourri, grasses, seed pods, pine needles, cones, sedum, succulents and plants with stunted growth or new growths.

Some of my favorite plants for miniature designs include baby’s breath, kalanchoe, pokeweed flowers and dwarf hostas.

Doerflein had encouraging words for people who think they might not be able to tackle floral design. Design principles are universal. How many of us have arranged furnishings in our homes or selected accessories for an outfit? “You are already a designer!” she said.

Connie Oswald Stofko is publisher of Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com, the online gardening magazine for Western New York. Email Connie@BuffaloNiagaraGardening.com.

Filed Under: garden design
« Previous Page
Next Page »