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A ‘playful’ gold win for Skipton-based garden designers

A ‘playful’ gold win for Skipton-based garden designers

Harrogate Flower Show students Lewis Williams, Alison Crawford, tutor Richard Easton and Suzi Irwin

A group of Skipton-based garden designers have won a gold at Harrogate flower show with their “playful” entry.

Students at the Northern School of Garden Design, hosted by Craven College in Skipton, entered ‘Secret Garden’ in the annual competition. They were in competition with professional designers, colleges and universities, and so are delighted with their gold.

“The garden includes a water feature and, clipped hedges, and was included in the ‘show garden’ category.

Course Tutor Richard Easton said: “The students have done an amazing job and are bringing to life a playful, modern garden, passing from formal entertaining areas to a wild, forgotten corner with a rill starting in a golden bowl of water, passing between stone pillars to the secret area where the ‘Quill’ sculpture rises amongst trees.

“It will be a real visual feast and inspiration for visitors to the show.”

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Garden designer Jan Johnsen’s new book, ‘Heaven is a Garden,’ is a total winner

From 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29 garden designer Jan Johnsen will be giving a free talk at the Croton Free Library based on her excellent new book, “Heaven is a Garden: Designing Serene Spaces for Inspiration and Reflection” (St. Lynn’s Press, April 2014).

The book is a delight — smart and well written, not too long, and full of practical I-didn’t-know-that tips for home gardeners. It’s beautifully illustrated, too, with her own photos of landscapes she has designed and installed, most of which are in Westchester. If you’ve got a gardener on your gift list, keep this book in mind.

A gravel path through a Chappaqua garden designed by Jan Johnsen. Photos by Johnsen.

If you can’t make it Tuesday, Johnsen is also speaking and signing books at noon on Saturday, May 3 at the Hudson Valley Garden Fair in Montgomery Place in Dutchess County. Admission, plus lecture is $24 in advance, $30 day of event.

A bench catches the early morning light in a Chappaqua garden designed by Johnsen. The white blooms behind the bench are foamflower (Tiarella ‘Neon Lights’).

Johnson, who has more than 40 years of experience as a landscape designer, says that she has been working on the book for six years, getting up every day at 5 a.m. to write before going to work. “It was a true labor of love,” she says. “I wrote it and took the photos and then found a publisher — not easy these days.”

“The design ideas I present are not standard-issue design rules, so I worked hard to make the text easy to grasp,” she adds.

Jan Johnsen, photo by Laura McKillop

With her husband, Rafael Algarin, she is the proprietor of Mount Kisco-based Johnsen Landscapes and Pools, which oversees about 20 projects a year. They live in Croton-on-Hudson.

They founded the firm in 1986 in Greenwich, and then moved it to Westchester a few years later to be more centrally located and because that was where most of their work was. They have lots of well-known clients, including the Chappaqua garden they designed for Hillary and Bill Clinton.

“We started out as design and build, but now we provide maintenance services to projects we have installed and offer project management of large landscape and pool projects as well,” she says. “Rafael runs the firm and oversees the crews.”

The Croton Free Library is at 171 Cleveland Drive; 914-271-6612. Montgomery Place is at 26 Gardner Way in Redhook, N.Y.; 845-758-5461, www.hvgardenfair.com/lectures.

Twitter: BillCaryNY

Grand design: City’s goal to increase rose garden visitation

schematicscm7yk Rose Garden 2 042314_Rose_Garden_03webphoto by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph Roses begin to color the gardens at the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden, pictured here Wednesday. Tyler City Council approved a master plan for the garden which includes increased visibility, new programs and other improvements. 042314_Rose_Garden_01webphoto by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph
Roses begin to color the gardens at the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden, pictured here Wednesday. Tyler City Council approved a master plan for the garden which includes increased visibility, new programs and other improvements.
Rose Garden 042314_Rose_Garden_04webphoto by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph Roses begin to color the gardens at the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden, pictured here Wednesday. Tyler City Council approved a master plan for the garden which includes increased visibility, new programs and other improvements. 042314_Rose_Garden_02webphoto by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph Roses begin to color the gardens at the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden, pictured here Wednesday. Tyler City Council approved a master plan for the garden which includes increased visibility, new programs and other improvements. Prev  1 of 7  Next

Future plans for the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden include more programming, a building/pavilion for events, new specialty gardens and various aesthetic improvements.

The Tyler City Council on Wednesday approved a Rose Garden Master Plan that, according to City Council communication, addresses things such as programming, ADA access, restroom locations, furniture and lights.

The master plan includes reconstructing the Queen’s Court to offer a venue for a community concert series, art shows, theater or grand weddings and the Rose Festival Queen’s Tea and constructing a garden building/pavilion to host events, parties wedding receptions, etc., according to MHS Planning Design LLC documents.

Also, constructing a shrub maze, open lawn and interactive water play for children; adding restrooms in the garden; reconstructing the Heritage garden; and constructing a new pedestrian entry into the rose garden building.

It also includes adding a trial garden for roses, as well as adding updated and comfortable furniture, among other things.

“The Tyler Rose Garden — the largest municipal rose garden in the United States — is a wonderful facility,” a document from MHS Planning Design reads. “The master plan for the garden is intended to make the space even better. With the physical modifications proposed, and the programming outlined, many more can enjoy the splendor of the gardens.”

Mark Spencer, with MHS Planning Design LLC, said the process of creating the master plan began about a year ago and involved focus groups, as well as receiving feedback from city staff and the park board.

Throughout the process, a primary goal was developed “to increase visitation at the rose garden,” Spencer said.

He said development of the 14-acre garden began about 1940. Construction was interrupted by World War II but was completed in 1952.

According to MHS Planning Design, the garden “resembled the original design, but placed a much higher emphasis on roses,” and there are now between 30,000 and 32,000 rose bushes and about 600 types of roses in the garden.

Times have changed since 1952, Spencer said, and people now lead more scheduled and programmed lives, so the goal was to see what could be done to increase visitation.

And he said it was determined that creating social gathering areas, increased programming, developing specialty gardens, improving ADA access and signage and providing a restroom facility in the garden should be part of that effort.

Concerts in the park, plays, art exhibits, art classes, date nights, hands-on educational events for children, wedding packages, Christmas events and civic theatre camps are among the additional proposed programming events in the master plan, according to a news release.

Landscape architect Oliver Windham said it’s been a fun experience to work on the master plan and realize this “gem” that is in Tyler.

The master plan will be implemented in nine phases as funding is available, Tyler Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Rollings said. Funding sources could be public private partnerships, hotel/motel occupancy tax and half cent sales tax.

Phase 1 of the master plan — with a preliminary budget of $575,000 — would include patios at the Queen’s Court and new walkways with ADA accessible routes, according to MHS Planning Design. The total master plan preliminary cost is $2.9 million.

Also Wednesday, the Tyler City Council approved a construction contract with Longview Bridge and Road, Ltd. for the West Cumberland Road extension project and the Cherryhill Drive extension.

City Engineer Carter Delleney said the Cumberland Road project — about 2.4 miles from South Broadway Avenue to Old Jacksonville Highway — involves four traffic lanes, raised landscaped medians and sidewalks. There also are plans for a bridge over West Mud Creek, along with “connectivity for a future hike and bike trail,” according to a news release.

“This is wonderful project to increase the east-west connection in southern Tyler,” Mayor Barbara Bass said in a statement. “This will give citizens better access to schools, retail, parks and new development. It will also enhance emergency response times and help ease traffic congestion.”

Construction on the Cumberland Road project is expected to begin this summer.

 

Turning gardens into healing sanctuaries: Walnut Creek to host landscape …

WALNUT CREEK — Sarah Sutton’s no stranger to the relationship between healing and nature. Growing up on the Peninsula, Sutton and her sisters appreciated the wonders of nature — forests, landscapes, beaches and gardens. Then and now, Sutton had always regarded the earth’s treasures as a natural art form that helped to calm the mind, body and spirit.

“Our Dad would take us out to be immersed in nature, whether it was hiking in the forest, walking in Huddart Park, the beaches along Half Moon Bay,” said Sutton. “We were three little girls tidepooling.”

From her father, Sutton learned the art of de-stressing in nature — something she’s cultivated as a landscape architect, ecologist and artist.

The author of “The New American Front Yard: Kiss Your Grass Goodbye” will be presenting “Healing Places, Restorative Spaces: Creating Landscapes and Gardens that Sustain Ourselves and the Planet.” The book received a Silver Nautilus Award for Green Living/Sustainability and an Honorable Mention Award at the 2013 SF Green Book Festival).

At the April 30 event at The Gardens at Heather Farm, Sutton will show people how to regard home gardens and landscapes as much more than window dressing — they can be sustainable, restorative healing places.

Sutton admits that while she grew up reading Sunset Magazine, which first instilled in her a love for gardens, she initially wasn’t an avid gardener at the time. She thought about becoming a commercial artist but a college counselor pointed her toward pursuing a degree in landscape architecture. Suddenly, it all made sense–this career integrated her childhood love for nature with her love of art.

Sutton, who is also a Certified Natural Health professional, will discuss how garden designs and what you plant in your garden can help you create a healing sanctuary in suburbia. Topics will include how to holistically manage your garden, front yard foraging, regenerative landscape design and using Feng Shui principles in your garden.

While Sutton has painted oil and watercolor pieces, she considers the healing design projects she’s helped create to be a different kind of art medium. She’s applied holistic garden design principles to park plazas and gardens for family and friends.

Suzanne R. Schrift, a longtime colleague and a friend, said Sutton has a broad understanding of ecologically sound landscape principles and cutting edge practices, and is committed to teaching people how to think and act sustainably in the landscape.

“Her new book is an easy to read yet extensive guide that will change the way people see the landscape around them,” Schrift said.

Gail Donaldson, who’s known Sutton for nearly 20 years as a colleague and friend, said Sutton’s work has always combined her passion for the natural environment with her love of art and design. Sutton’s book, Donaldson said, is a guide “to restoring the planet one yard at a time.”

“The book contains a wealth of information on sustainable design, clearly presented in a lively and engaging way,” Donaldson said. It is chock full of ideas, images, references and information, valuable to novices and experts alike. Presenting a step-by-step approach to transforming a front yard, I find that I can open this book to just about any page and find an inspiring idea or image.”

At first, trying to apply her knowledge to her own home garden was a challenge, said Sutton, who lives in Berkeley.

Eventually, she learned to design a healing garden tailored to her own needs. She’s also learned how to make tinctures and healing salves made from herbs from her own garden.

When she experienced some health issues, Sutton gravitated toward natural remedies that included using herbs and plants from the garden.

“The realization was that I learned about propagating, harvesting and growing my own plants to use for healing,” said Sutton, who obtained a certificate in Therapeutic Healing Garden Design from the Chicago Botanical Garden. “I could dig up dandelion and make my own tea. It was a real epiphany.”

State landscape panel honors Clarence firm for Lockport community garden …

LOCKPORT – Richard M. Tedeschi, owner of Jacrist Gardening Services, the Clarence firm that helped design the community garden on Washburn Street in Lockport last year, said last week that the firm’s efforts have brought it a statewide award.

Tedeschi said the New York State Nursery and Landscape Association has awarded Jacrist its Environmental Beautification Award for 2014 in the category of commercial properties under $25,000 for the Washburn Street garden.

Tedeschi also is the executive director of Imagine Community Gardens, a not-for-profit organization that converted three vacant lots into a vegetable garden.

The 25 gardening plots each produced at least $300 worth of produce.

“What an absolute honor it is to have had a part in transforming these city lots into a site residents can be proud of and that has had such a positive impact in their lives and the surrounding neighborhood,” Tedeschi said.

The city has approved a second garden for this year at Ontario and Hawley streets.

Oswestry Garden Designer prepares for top RHS Show

One of Oswestry’s top garden designers is hoping for an RHS Gold medal this year with her garden creation for this year’s show.

Teresa Rham

Teresa Rham from Groundesigns

The countdown has begun for Teresa Rham, from Groundesigns in Shropshire, who next month will be displaying a wow-factor Show Garden at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival.

Teresa’s creation has been entitled “Ooooh…..It Makes Me Wonder.” It will sit alongside eight other show gardens at the highly anticipated four-day event that takes place from May 8 until May 11 at the Three Counties Showground, in Malvern, Worcestershire. Organisers of the RHS Malvern Spring Festival promise a horticultural banquet like never before with visitors being treated to an abundance of beautifully designed spaces and perfect planting schemes.

Nina Acton, Show Development Officer for RHS Malvern, said:

“We are really excited about the Show Gardens this year.  With a record number, we will be awash with beautiful plants and inspirational designs.”

The Groundesigns show garden will represent a physical manifestation of Teresa’s thoughts on what we might experience as our consciousness moves to a more ethereal state when our physical existence ends.

Describing her inspiration, she said:

“The garden is inspired by the title of the classic Led Zeppelin song Stairway to Heaven and the Giant’s Causeway rock formation.

“The hard landscaping features four gently inclined pathways that take the traveller on towards their next destination, with seats along the way to pause and reflect. The planting scheme includes dark flowers and foliage in the corners of the garden and becomes brighter and lighter as the traveller continues on their journey. References to accepted religious symbolism and beliefs are not featured in order for the garden to be inclusive.

“All beings on Earth have two things in common – the biological fact of our birth and death. With political, religious, racial and territorial conflict occurring across the world, perhaps by acknowledging these shared experiences we can become less concerned with our differences.”

There are three show garden categories this year at RHS Malvern.  These include the professional Show Gardens plus The Festival Gardens and The School Gardens.

The Festival Gardens is a new category for 2014.  RHS Malvern, in conjunction with The Cotswold Gardening School, offered up-and-coming amateur garden designers the chance to build their first show garden.  Similar to The Fresh Gardens category at RHS Chelsea, this competition seeks to bring cutting edge design and innovation to the show.  Four designs have been selected and the winning designers all received a £3,000 bursary and expert tuition from horticultural and design professionals.

The School Gardens Challenge, supported by BAM Construct UK and BBC Blue Peter Gardener Chris Collins, has seen a record number of applications with 21 educational establishments taking part.  The entrants range from play groups to home schooled groups to 6th form colleges and in age from pre-schoolers to school leavers.

RHS Malvern is the first major gardening show of the season and over the past few years has become renowned for showcasing the hottest new trends in garden design and planting.  Many big names in the garden design world took their first steps at RHS Malvern, including Chris Beardshaw, Paul Hervey-Brookes and Diarmuid Gavin to name but a few.

Posted on April 22nd, 2014 by shropshirelive.com

Garden Design finalist Ryan is ‘blooming’ great!

Garden Show Ireland has revealed that Ryan McGee from Garden Design and Build in Ballycastle is one of the four finalists for UTV’s The Magazine Show Garden Designer Competition who will now bring his design to life in time for the 2014 Garden Show Ireland event which runs from Friday 9th – Sunday 11th May at Antrim Castle Gardens.

In addition, it has been announced that FREE garden design consultations will be available for visitors throughout the whole weekend in association with the Garden and Landscape Designers Association (GLDA) at the brand new GLDA Design Pavilion.

The UTV Garden Designer Competition tasked existing and budding garden designers to present a small garden which was fun, useful and easy to maintain.

The initial designs were judged by a panel comprising of Ireland’s world renowned plantswoman Helen Dillon, gardening guru Geoff Stebbings and Reg Maxwell – former Head of Botanic Gardens and winner of Best in Show at the first Garden Show Ireland event 10 years ago.

Hailing from all over Ireland the four finalists are; Ryan McGee from Garden Design and Build in Ballycastle with a Family focussed garden, Micheal O’Reilly from the Garden Design Shop in Belfast in partnership with Maurice Maxwell from Omagh with his “Room for All Seasons” design, James Sheridan from Golden Homes Landscapes in Carnmoney with a “Garden Bath-Thyme’ concept and Chris Kinghan from Ballyhoe Nursery Gardens in Monaghan with a “Bizzy Bee Gardening and Nature Schools Garden”.

The winning garden will be announced on Friday 9th May at Garden Show Ireland when it will become the centre piece for filming for UTV’s The Magazine which airs that evening.

Sarah Travers, The Magazine host said: “We have seen a fantastic response to the Gardening Designer Competition with a variety of promising designers stepping up to the mark with their garden proposals.

“ I would like to wish the four finalists the very best of luck and I cannot wait to see the end result featured on The Magazine in May.”

Ryan McGee can be contacted via The Garden Design Compa ny at www.garden-design-company.co.uk or by telephoning 07764 225 303.

Eye of the Day Garden Design Center Sponsoring the San Francisco Flower …


Eye of the Day Garden Design Center Sponsoring the San Francisco Flower Garden Show (SFFGS)

PRWEB.COM Newswire

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) March 20, 2014

Eye of the Day Garden Design Center was recently asked to sponsor the entry display at the San Francisco Flower Garden Show (SFFGS), held at the San Mateo Event Center from March 19 to March 23. Eye of the Day is also showcasing items from its first-ever Fermob U.S. “Shop in Shop” in their booth at the show, and is hosting consumer giveaways throughout the show.

The San Francisco Flower Garden Show is a mainstream event for florists, gardeners, landscape architects, and anyone else interested in exactly that – flowers and gardens – and draws in crowds with a wide variety of backgrounds. According to the event website, the gardens at the show use more than 1,200 cubic yards of sawdust and mulch, as well as 280,000 pounds of rock for the displays. Exhibits and vendors from all over the state compose juried garden displays, and the event also hosts seminars for educational purposes.

“Eye of the Day is so excited to be sponsoring this highly respected show, especially since our containers are part of the entry area,” said owner Brent Freitas. “We are welcoming attendees with displays showcasing our European clay and terracotta pottery, and we also have a booth on the main floor as well.”

Eye of the Day, which recently updated its website, works with top manufacturers and distributors from all over the world, collecting fine pottery from Italy, Greece, and France. Collections include those of the classic and colorful Gladding McBean, as well as Greek pithari, Mediterranean oil jars, and more. Eye of the Day works with the individual residential consumer, as well as with landscape architects for commercial use, such as Ralph Lauren and Tommy Bahama — both past clients.

“If you’re in the area,” said Freitas. “Drop by and say hello to us! We’ll also be giving away items, so there’s a chance you’ll be leaving with an unexpected gift or two. Also, come by and learn how to cultivate your garden with tips of the trade, like how to deal with the regional San Francisco weather.”

About Eye of the Day Garden Design Center

Eye of the Day Garden Design Center is a retail showroom that features more than an acre of high quality garden landscape products, including Italian terracotta pottery and fountains, Greek terracotta pottery, French Anduze pottery, and garden product manufacturers from America’s premier concrete garden pottery and decoration manufacturers. Eye of the Day is a leading importer and distributor of fine European garden pottery, and caters to private consumers, as well as landscape design and architecture firms from around the world.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/03/prweb11688181.htm

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Gardening Scotland’s Artisan Garden Design Competition winners named

By Sarah Cosgrove
Thursday, 17 April 2014

The inaugural winners of the Artisan Garden Design Competition held in advance of Gardening Scotland 2014 have been named.

Design for NSPCC Scotland's 'Garden of Childhood Adventure' designed by Louise Wakeling

Design for NSPCC Scotland’s ‘Garden of Childhood Adventure’ designed by Louise Wakeling

The three winning designs are a garden which highlights the work of the Perennial charity, another that will eventually flourish at a children’s hospice and a third that will encourage visitors to support the work of the NSPCC.

The winning designs will be created at the national gardening and outdoor living show, which takes place from May 30 until June 1 at The Royal Highland Centre Edinburgh.

The teams behind the submissions have each been awarded £2,000 to help them turn their plans into flower-filled show gardens, which will be seen by more than 35,000 visitors at this year’s event.

The winners include husband-and-wife design team, Amber and Martin Crowley from Oban with the ‘Perennial Garden’, Dundee College with ‘The Retreat’ for CHAS and SRUC Ayr for NSPCC Scotland’s Garden of Childhood Adventure.’

Waterfalls, banana trees and giant steel arum lilies are amongst the elements that will feature in the gardens, which will be on display with 10 others in the David Wilson Homes Show Garden Avenue.

The award has been developed in order to encourage designers to create exhibits that reflect real gardens and it is being supported by The Cross Trust, a charitable body, which also administers the annual John Fife Travel Award for young horticulturists.  The Artisan Garden Design Competition is further supported by Gardening Scotland’s own Fred Last Award programme and by members of the former Lothian Horticultural Training Group.

Gardening Scotland show organiser Martin Dare said: “The feedback from our visitors has been that they want to see gardens that they could conceivably create at home and while the designs for the winning gardens are exceptional, they are all on a domestic scale and are full of features that will delight and inspire those who see them.”

In total, 12 gardens will be created in the David Wilson Homes Show Gardens Avenue at the event and, as well as show gardens, the national gardening and outdoor living show will also hosts the biggest plant fair in Scotland in the New Hopetoun Gardens Floral Hall and gardening advice from the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society and the RHS.

More than 400 exhibitors are expected.

How does your organic garden grow?

In 2009, when the Obama family planted a kitchen garden at the White House, they re-ignited a trend that had been largely dormant for the past century.

The simple act of tilling up the lawn and sowing seeds inspired thousands of families to dig up their own back yards and plant vegetable gardens.

This return to our agricultural roots resonates with what Thomas Jefferson once declared, as “the noblest pursuit,” and the Obamas set the stage for Americans to rediscover the simple pleasures of growing their own food.

For some, growing food is a welcome alternative to the high cost of packaged foods purchased in supermarkets. For others, it is a way of life that provides healthy exercise and engages all of the senses through a rich tapestry of colors, fragrance and flavors. When you cultivate a vegetable garden, you actively engage with your source of food and integrate with your natural surroundings in a way that far surpasses the experience of purchasing food at the market. Growing your own food is the next logical step beyond “local.”

When I planted my first vegetable garden, I began with the four-square system, which is one of the oldest and most practical methods — it goes back seven centuries. The system has evolved through the ages, and, in its best form, it combines classic design with the principles of organic gardening.

A four-square garden simplifies the process of figuring out where to place your plants every year, since you are grouping plants based on plant family, while naturally building the soil to improve productivity.

When plants are grown in the same location year after year, they can be weakened by soil-borne diseases. In the four square garden, you are creating a garden that will be self-sustaining, as well as self-improving, every year. You are working with nature to constantly upgrade the natural balance in your vegetable garden.

Start by dividing your garden into four equal squares, and designate each bed marked by the plant type and what they need nutritionally.

Lettuce and other leafy greens are grown in a bed marked “nitrogen.” Mark another bed “potassium” for the root crops, to sow the carrots, beets and onion family. Another bed will contain the phosphorus-loving crops, or anything that forms a fruit, such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. Finally, you will have soil builders, which represent the legume family, including beans and peas, which release nitrogen back into the soil. At the end of the season, rotate the crops, so the leafy greens will be planted where the legumes had grown, and the legumes where the root crops had grown, etc.

Growing food for family and friends is one of the best ways we can effect positive change in our communities. When we bring our families together around the table to share our love for good homegrown food, we are cultivating a healthy choice that spreads beyond our own back yard.

Teaching basic skills, such as how to build a compost pile to keep waste out of landfills, how to encourage natural pollinators like honeybees and how to cook with simple, whole foods harvested seasonally may seem like small steps, but when we learn to become responsible consumers, we also reclaim our health as a nation.

Ellen Ecker Ogden is the author of ‘The Complete Kitchen Garden’ and co-founder of ‘The Cook’s Garden seed catalog.’ She is a garden consultant and will teach a four-square garden design workshop at the Northshire Bookstore on April 17.


If you go …

What: Garden workshop in Alan Benoit’s Sustainable Living series

When: 7 p.m. Thursday, April 17

Where: Northshire Bookstore, Manchester

Admission: Free

Information: ellenogden.com