Event manager Marion Beazley

TOURISM on the Sunshine Coast may have plummeted due to the strong Australian dollar in recent times but the Queensland Garden Expo is among the big-name events helping to draw visitors to the region.

Sunshine Coast Council event and tourism manager David Hopper said the global recession had put a weight on the tourism industry on the Sunshine Coast because the region did not have natural resources to rely on.

“If you take away the mining resource, then a lot of Australia relies on tourism,” he said.

“With the uncertainty of world economy generally, the Australian economy is under pressure for a lot of areas.”

Mr Hopper said the strong Australian dollar was deterring many possible visitors to the region.

“The strengthening of the Australian dollar is beginning to hurt the economic side of tourism,” he said.

Sunshine Coast councillor Tim Dwyer said events such as the Queensland Garden Expo were important in building the Coast tourism industry. The expo is on next weekend, July 7, 8 and 9.

“Events play a vital role in the economy of the Coast and we need more of them,” he said.

“The garden expo has grown in strength and reputation, and continues to bring money into the region.

“As with all events, securing overnight stays and the subsequent spend into our local businesses is important.”

The Queensland Garden Expo is a home-grown event that has attracted thousands of visitors to the region for the past 28 years.

Event manager Marion Beazley said the expo’s dedicated visitor base continued to return every year.

“There are about 30,000 (visitors) and they come from all over Queensland, interstate and some New Zealanders,” she said.

“The economic impact is conservatively about $9-11million to the region.

“The impact of those people staying, eating and visiting other attractions during that period is huge.”

Ms Beazley said the event had grown 6-8% in numbers over the years.

“(It is) now considered to be the biggest gardening event in Queensland and the third biggest in Australia,” she said.

“Our big drawcard is that we’re in July and we’re in Queensland.

“Feedback from visitors is as good or better than it has been in past years.”

Cr Dwyer (pictured right) said events continued to support the Coast in many ways other than tourism.

“Our accommodation, retail and hospitality business sectors in particular, depend on events to supplement their day-to-day local business and take the seasonality out of the regional economy,” he said.

Mr Hopper said events created the “knock-on effect” as visitors fuelled other areas of the economy such as retail and business.

“Events not only bring people into the region but they use our accommodation and boost the retail sector,” he said.

“One of the greatest attributes is events around the Sunshine Coast.”

Mr Hopper said prominent Coast events over the year included the Noosa and Mooloolaba triathlons and the Australian PGA golf tournament at Palmer Coolum Resort which attracted many international visitors.

“One of our successes is keeping our visitors and participants coming,” he said.

 

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The lack of rain this spring in some parts of the state has caused lawns and landscapes to look more like mid-August than July 1.

In the absence of wet stuff from the heavens, the emphasis on water quantity, quality and availability becomes more of an issue. Studies have shown that as much as 50 percent of residential water is used to maintain landscape.

So, what is the answer? How can you achieve a green, lush-looking landscape with less water?

The answer is Xeriscaping.

Pronounced “zer-i-scape,” not “zer-o-scape,” the word implies using plants with low water requirements in a natural setting. Oftentimes, Xeriscaping conjures up images of desert plants in a dry, brown landscape, but it is gaining acceptance in other areas as climate patterns shift.

“There are three reasons to have a Xeriscape,” said Bobbie Schwartz, owner of Bobbie’s Green Thumb Landscaping in Shaker Heights, a certified landscape designer and past president of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. “Number one, the weather is unpredictable, the cost of water keeps going up and people want to save money. And with a Xeriscape, you can grow plants, like lavender, that would otherwise die in our normal garden soils.”

She designs landscapes that use plants whose natural requirements are appropriate to the local climate, while emphasizing ways to avoid losing water to evaporation and run-off.

To be successful with Xeriscape, preparing and modifying the soil to enhance drainage is a must. Schwartz recommended using an enlarged shale inorganic product called Turface, which doesn’t decay and creates spaces in heavy soil for water percolation.

“It (Turface) is just amazing,” she added. “You can’t do a Xeriscape unless you amend the soil. That is crucial.”

For the first year, as with any new garden, regular watering is recommended.

“After that, a Xeriscape garden can do pretty well on its own,” Schwartz said. “Once established, Xeriscapes can cope without rain. But regular watering the first year is an absolute.”

The Tennessee Valley Chapter of the Wild Ones is bringing nationally-renowned documentary filmmaker and organic landscaper Catherine Zimmerman to Chattanooga on Monday, July 9, to present  “Meadowscaping: A Recipe for Healthy Urban and Suburban Landscapes” at Chattanooga State Community College’s Humanities Auditorium at 7 p.m.  

Ms. Zimmerman is an award-winning director of photography with over 35 years of experience as a documentary filmmaker with an emphasis in education and environmental issues.  She is also an author, certified horticulturist and landscape designer based in Washington, DC who is helping urban and suburban landowners take a more natural approach to landscaping.  

Using a practice called “meadowscaping,” Ms. Zimmerman inspires her clients, readers, audiences and viewers to do away with pesticides, reduce lawn and return their land to a beautiful, natural habitat for native plants and wildlife.   

While many have not heard the term “meadowscaping,” it describes a landscaping movement that reintroduces the beauty and biodiversity of the meadow.  Meadows help support the intricate connections between wildlife and native plant communities that serve as both food source and habitat.   

The presentation will cover why meadow and prairie habitats are so beneficial both economically and environmentally, and provide a step-by-step primer on reducing lawn size and organically installing a beautiful meadow or prairie in your own yard.  As Ms. Zimmerman points out in her books and films and will describe in this presentation, no space is too small for a nature area.  

Ms. Zimmerman’s route to meadowscaping began in her childhood, growing up on an organic vegetable farm in Ohio where she developed a passion for flowers and launched herself as a lifelong gardener. In her professional career as a documentary filmmaker and videographer she often photographed gardens, including her own DC garden, but without attention to what she was doing to her land and environment by her use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. When she bought her home in DC the summer nights were filled with fireflies, but after her pesticide applications she found that she had killed them off — she had been gardening thinking only about what she wanted – the perfect lawn, her choice plants – not what the soil and site conditions wanted, not what was natural to her piece of land.  

In the course of her studies in the USDA certificate program in Horticulture and Landscape Design Ms. Zimmerman was introduced to the environmental costs of her gardening practices and vowed to find alternatives to her toxic turf.  She traveled the country, interviewing meadow experts, researching and documenting meadows on film, educating herself about all aspects of meadows.  Her book, Urban and Suburban Meadows: Bringing Meadowscaping to Big and Small Spaces (Matrix Media Press, 2010) is the result of her journey.  After its publication she was interviewed by Jane Pauley on the NBC Today Show where she recounted her journey to meadows. 

Why plant a meadow instead of a lawn? The simple answer to this question is that traditional lawns cost too much from an environmental and monetary standpoint. Annually, tons of fertilizers and pesticides used on lawns are carried by stormwater into our waterways and eventually into the Tennessee River, contributing along with other pollutants to destruction of aquatic life. Monetarily the cost of lawns is also very high.  For example, Ms. Zimmerman compared the costs of two sites in the Chesapeake Bay area, each 1/3 acre: one was a lawn treated with chemicals and the other was a meadow, with no chemical treatment. The initial cost of the meadow was higher than the lawn, but the longer-term costs were considerably lower. 

Ms.  Zimmerman’s published work includes “Urban and Suburban Meadows: Bringing Meadowscaping to Big and Small Spaces” and her recent film “The Meadow Project” available on DVD.  Her past documentary work includes global warming documentaries for CNN Presents and New York Times Television; Save Rainforests/Save Lives, Freshfarm Markets, Wildlife Without Borders: Connecting People and Nature in the Americas, and America’s Sustainable Garden: United States Botanic Garden. She is also a certified horticulturist and landscape designer based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and an Honorary National Director of the Wild Ones.  Catherine is accredited in organic land care through the Northeast Organic Farmers Association and has designed and taught a course in organic landscaping for the USDA Graduate School Horticulture program. 

The cost for the program is free to Wild Ones members and $10 (cash or check only) for the public, $5 for students and seniors.  Advanced registration is not required.  Wild Ones memberships will be taken at the registration desk or persons interested in joining may go to www.wildones.org/joining.html for more information and to become a member.  The Chattanooga State Community College Humanities auditorium is at 4501 Amnicola Highway. 

The Wild Ones is a national non-profit organization with over 50 chapters in 12 states that promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities.  The Tennessee Valley Chapter was recently formed from the Native Plant and Wildflower Group formerly with the Master Gardeners of Hamilton County and is the first chapter in Tennessee and southward.  For more information about the Wild Ones, go to www.wildones.org.  For more information about the Tennessee Valley Chapter or Ms. Zimmerman’s presentation email chattanooganatives@gmail.com or call Sally Wencel at 313-3620.

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Hampton Nursery Landscapes has been serving the Hamptons since 1985. Our highly skilled and award winning staff have a full range of capabilities, expertise and experience at every level of design to dramatically enhance your outdoor environment.

Now is the perfect time to boost your property value with a fresh new look and feel! Nothing can lift your spirits like spring blooms and a perfect lawn.

Visit our Nursery for all your gardening and landscaping needs. Our friendly and helpful staff can guide you through our vast array of top name products to ensure that you get exactly the items and results you’re looking for.

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Bill Hardy and Renata Triveri are smiling, but in reality they picked one of the worst years to get into the garden centre business.

They bought Trice Farms, a four-acre nursery specializing mainly in ponds, fish and aquatic plants on the Dewdney Trunk Road in Maple Ridge, and this spring decided to turn it into a full-service garden centre with a new name, Gather and Grow.

It had always been Renata’s dream to own her own garden centre. When the opportunity came along, Bill jumped at the chance to make her dream come true.

The weather, on the other hand, was less than co-operative, producing a relentless stretch of cold, rainy, miserable days from March to June, putting a damper on the business and gardening in general.

Regardless, looking out from their garden gazebo at their nursery on to a beautiful pond stocked with giant koi, Bill and Renata are still smiling because the reason they bought the place was as much a lifestyle choice as it was a calculated business decision.

Renata had her dream, one she has nursed from her years as a teenager, and Bill had a dream, an idea that he could recapture the happy feelings he had as a kid growing up in Welland, Ont., when he raced off on his bike, straight after school to do gardening work for neighbours.

“When my teacher asked if there was anyone interested in doing it, I literally ran up to him and said, ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do it,� he recalls.

“I loved gardening then. I really loved it. I could have gone into landscaping. I had a scholarship to go to horticultural college, but I went a different route.�

The path he chose brought him to B.C. at 18 with his Grade 12 certificate still warm in his back pocket.

He started out as a gardener at the B.C. Penitentiary in New Westminster, taking care of the grounds — outside the prison.

From there, it has been a long and winding road along the highways and byways of B.C.’s garden industry for Hardy.

Few people buying packs of pansies and petunias from him at Gather and Grow probably realize the extent and depth of his involvement in B.C. horticulture and the knowledge and unique overview he has of the gardening scene.

Today, his regular, full-time job is as general manager at Northwest Landscape and Stone Supply in Burnaby – one of the top suppliers of natural landscape stone and a popular destination for gardeners looking for landscape materials.

This brings Hardy into contact with pretty much everybody in professional landscaping and garden design.

His years of involvement with the B.C. Landscape and Nursery Association, where he helped introduce a set of professional standards, has put him in touch with all the top growers and garden centre owners.

Now, as the co-owner of his own little garden centre, he is putting all those years of experience and knowledge to work for customers, who are not only looking for great plants, but tips on where to find reliable people to do quality garden work.

As for the challenge of running a successful garden centre, it’s nothing new to Hardy. He’s been doing it all his life.

A GARDENING company set up in the property once owned by a leading horticulturalist has celebrated the first anniversary of a new arm of the business.

Family-run Bosbigal Garden Services and Landscape Supplies in Carnon Downs and Devoran was set up by Malcolm Read, building on his family’s interest in gardening.

1. ​

   The Bosbigal Garden Services and Landscape Supplies team based in Carnon Downs and Devoran.

Living in the Bosbigal bungalow once owned by Fred Shepherd, a leading horticulturalist and former director of Rosewarne Experimental Station, now Duchy College at Rosewarne, was an added inspiration.

Mr Shepherd wrote books for the Royal Horticultural Society and, with Falmouth grower Ron Scamp, produced a daffodil along which was named Bosbigal.

Mr Read said: “When we set up the business there was little doubt that we had to name it after the house we were now living in and in the design of our logo we incorporated the colours of the Bosbigal daffodil, orange and yellow.”

After training at Duchy College in garden design Mr Read started the business in February 2005, later expanding into landscaping.

Last June the business expanded further into landscape supplies, based at North Grange Industrial Estate, Devoran.

Mr Read said: “The first year has gone well in a difficult climate and the real issue is knowing exactly where we are located.”

After starting with the help of funding, the business now employs seven people, four of whom are family members. Two staff were taken on as apprentices.

And when not working on other people’s gardens the family turn their attention to their own, hoping to restore Mr Shepherd’s former home to its 1970s glory and eventually re-open the gardens as part of the National Garden Scheme.

Today’s Deal is good for:
– $25 for $50 for Plants, Gifts and Pottery at Baxter Gardens of Chesterfield!
– Valid only for nursery items on-site.
– No warranty on plants purchased with voucher.
– Voucher expires September 29, 2012.

*Due to summer construction, please use the following directions:
If headed east on 64/40:
    Take Chesterfield Parkway exit to the “T” stoplight at Wildhorse Creek Road.
    Turn Right onto Wildhorse Creek Road, go approx. 5 miles, Baxter Gardens on the Right
If heading West on 64/40:
    Take the Chesterfield Parkway West exit to stoplight
    Turn left at stoplight and cross the interstate
    Take a Right at the next stoplight, Wildhorse Creek Rd.
    Go approx. 5.5 miles and Baxter Gardens on the Right


Create an environment that you will appreciate for years to come.
Baxter Gardens has over five acres of trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals to help bring your landscape alive.
 
A family owned business established in 1971 and located in West St. Louis County, Baxter Gardens is recognized as one of the premier landscape companies in the Metro area. The full-service firm offers a wide range of products and services. Their design and installation services include landscaping, irrigation systems, patio design, retaining walls, waterfalls and fountains, low voltage outdoor lighting and maintenance.
 
Baxter Gardens provides custom landscape design and installation of planting as well as design and installation of patios, retaining walls, water features, irrigation systems, and low voltage lighting.
The Garden Center is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Bill Hardy and Renata Triveri are smiling, but in reality they picked one of the worst years to get into the garden centre business.

They bought Trice Farms, a four-acre nursery specializing mainly in ponds, fish and aquatic plants on the Dewdney Trunk Road in Maple Ridge, and this spring decided to turn it into a full-service garden centre with a new name, Gather and Grow.

It had always been Renata’s dream to own her own garden centre. When the opportunity came along, Bill jumped at the chance to make her dream come true.

The weather, on the other hand, was less than co-operative, producing a relentless stretch of cold, rainy, miserable days from March to June, putting a damper on the business and gardening in general.

Regardless, looking out from their garden gazebo at their nursery on to a beautiful pond stocked with giant koi, Bill and Renata, who live together, are still smiling because the reason they bought the place was as much a lifestyle choice as it was a calculated business decision.

Renata had her dream, one she has nursed from her years as a teenager, and Bill had a dream, an idea that he could recapture the happy feelings he had as a kid growing up in Welland, Ont., when he raced off on his bike, straight after school to do gardening work for neighbours.

“When my teacher asked if there was anyone interested in doing it, I literally ran up to him and said, ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do it,� he recalls.

“I loved gardening then. I really loved it. I could have gone into landscaping. I had a scholarship to go to horticultural college, but I went a different route.�

The path he chose brought him to B.C. at 18 with his Grade 12 certificate still warm in his back pocket.

He started out as a gardener at the B.C. Penitentiary in New Westminster, taking care of the grounds — outside the prison.

From there, it has been a long and winding road along the highways and byways of B.C.’s garden industry for Hardy.

Few people buying packs of pansies and petunias from him at Gather and Grow probably realize the extent and depth of his involvement in B.C. horticulture and the knowledge and unique overview he has of the gardening scene.

Today, his regular, full-time job is as general manager at Northwest Landscape and Stone Supply in Burnaby – one of the top suppliers of natural landscape stone and a popular destination for gardeners looking for landscape materials.

This brings Hardy into contact with pretty much everybody in professional landscaping and garden design.

His years of involvement with the B.C. Landscape and Nursery Association, where he helped introduce a set of professional standards, has put him in touch with all the top growers and garden centre owners.

Now, as the co-owner of his own little garden centre, he is putting all those years of experience and knowledge to work for customers, who are not only looking for great plants, but tips on where to find reliable people to do quality garden work.

As for the challenge of running a successful garden centre, it’s nothing new to Hardy. He’s been doing it all his life.

Back in 1976, when he was only 19, he managed Woodward’s’ seasonal garden centre in Surrey.

“It was cool, I was just a kid, and the money was great. I think they got me to do it because I was the only person with any gardening background.�

His big moment came, he recalls, when Woodward’s sent him to the Calgary store to sort out money woes.

“They did a lot of business in a short time, but always lost money. I looked at the figures and saw they were buying $1.2 million worth of stuff to do $800,000 of business, so I cut orders in half and it worked and I looked like a hero.�

His ability to spot the obvious, along with a knack for putting and keeping a business on a positive trajectory to success, soon emerged as his core strength.

It is why Chilliwack garden guru Brian Minter hired him in the 1990s to run his splendid destination show garden, Minter Gardens, and be an executive at his cutting-edge garden centre.

It is also why Hardy was headhunted away from Minter by the SummerWinds group in 1999 when they bought Mandeville Garden Centre in Burnaby and were looking for the best guy to run their new operation.

Later, Hardy was the one who oversaw the sale of Mandeville to the GardenWorks chain in 2005, after briefly considering whether he and a few partners should buy the store.

And it is his talent as a consensus builder and diplomatic team player that made the BCLNA hire him as interim executive director and then ended up keeping him on to do various other projects for five years.

For half a dozen years, Hardy also worked for Jerry Hong, owner of Hong’s Nursery, the popular garden centre, then on Scott Road in Surrey.

“The only reason I have been successful is because I have had some very good mentors. Jerry Hong is definitely one of them. He taught me so much.�

It was after he got injured playing volleyball and was unable to walk that Hardy was forced to leave Hong’s and ended up behind a desk, stickhandling affairs for the BCLNA.

While he was with the association, he helped bring in a professional certification for landscapers — a program that not only raised landscaping standards, but also gave the industry a more professional image.

Being a modest man, Hardy is uncomfortable about taking credit for this and quickly points to colleagues, such as Don Fraser, Bruce Hunter, Bruce McTavish, who he says all played a key role in shaping the program.

Nevertheless, Hardy has spent years vigorously promoting the certification program, which has now been adopted throughout Canada, with the exception of Quebec.

Hardy continues to promote the gardening industry and its ideas and standards at home and abroad as a director of the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association.

From this point, however, his main focus will be to work alongside Triveri to make a success of their Gather and Grow garden centre.

If you go there and get served by either of them, remember, you are being helped by two people who pretty much wrote the book how to keep gardeners happy.

swhysall@vancouversun.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Michael Gonzales can’t stop smiling and can’t say enough about the garden that he sees from the fifth-floor window of his room at Seidman Cancer Center, on the main campus of University Hospitals of Cleveland.

“It’s just so beautiful,” says the 37-year-old cancer center patient, who lives in Newbury Township. “It takes your mind off of everything else.”

Gonzales is enthralled with the Mary and Al Schneider Healing Garden that abuts Seidman and is connected to the hospital at 11100 Euclid Ave. The garden is filled with well-thought-out elements that benefit the physical and emotional health of cancer patients and visiting family and friends.

The healing garden, which is about one-third of an acre, isn’t visible from the street. A wall separates the setting from hectic Euclid Avenue. But the public, whether visiting Seidman or not, is welcome inside the garden, which is accessible from the intersection of Euclid and University Hospitals Drive. The garden entrance is on the east side of the driveway that leads up to the hospital’s main doors.

“This is open to the community,” says Terryl Koeth, a registered nurse and director of community and social programs at Seidman. “We would love to have people come in and feel the peace of this garden.” It is open from 8 a.m. until dusk daily, year-round,” she says.

The garden was designed by landscape architect Virginia Burt, whose company, Visionscapes, is in Burlington, Ontario. It’s a gift from Cindy and Bob Schneider. In 2007, the couple donated $2.75 million for the garden. His parents both died of cancer. Bob Schneider is the former owner of Patio Enclosures.

Burt visited the garden recently to explain the sights, sounds, structures and textures of the setting, all of which have specific meaning.

The garden opens with a low, swinging Fractal Gate that combines openwork iron, acrylic colored glass and carved wood handles. The handles, carved by local sculptor Norbert Koehn, are stylized hearts, and the wood is meant to bring warmth to the touch as soon as you enter.

Preview

Mary and Al Schneider Healing Garden with a walking labyrinth

What: Garden outside of the Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center of Cleveland, 11100 Euclid Ave.

When: Open from 8 a.m. until dusk all year.

Walks: Self-guided labyrinth walks 365 days a year. Guided walks 7:30-8 a.m. Tuesdays and 4-4:30 p.m. Fridays. Call 216-286-4636 or email melissa.ogrady@uhhospitals.org.

Tickets: Free admission, but will have to pay for parking.

A granite labyrinth is the heart of the garden. The spiral path is the same design as the one built in Chartres, France, about 900 years ago, explains a garden brochure. Since at least 4,000 B.C., humans have walked labyrinths to find calm and peace, and connect with something larger than themselves.

The labyrinth has three focal points, says Burt, who also designed gardens for the Gathering Place in Beachwood and Community Health Partners in Elyria. Initiation is the first step. Journey represents the turns taken to reach the center. Illumination is what you reach at the center, and leave your cares there.

“It is proven that walking a labyrinth at any age lowers one’s heart rate and blood pressure,” says Burt. “You can walk the labyrinth with a prayer or a problem or with joy in your heart. Anything you wish. This is cross-cultural. It’s the belief that there is something greater than we are, and this helps you tap into that.”

A rose, the ancient symbol of enlightenment, is at the center of the labyrinth. Once walkers feel like they have resolved an issue, they retrace their steps outward.

Visitors can walk the labyrinth alone, or guided walks are available.

The path around the labyrinth has large sculptures that represent earth, air, fire and water.

“Fire” was inspired by lava Burt saw during a trip to Kauai, Hawaii.

“I wrote down an intention for the garden as a ‘place for inspiration, rejuvenation and loving,’ ” says Burt. She burned the piece of paper, leaving the edges. She traced the edges to make a 24-inch diameter template and cast that in bronze to make what look like rings of fire. Orange lighting symbolizes flames.

“Water” is a flat, shallow, dancing reflective pool that visitors can dip their toes in, and it’s wheelchair accessible. It also gives off a mist, and there’s another mister at the opening of the garden.

“Earth” is a 6-ton polished granite boulder, smooth to the touch and carved into a seat that’s about the size of a love seat.

Wind and breezes stir the “Air” structure, a tall, colorful double helix of disks.

The garden was planned with input from cancer survivors, their families, staff, physicians, caregivers, volunteers and management. Among other suggestions, survivors and families said they wanted the garden to include a symbol of strength.

“People said they wanted to feel the close strength of rock,” says Burt.

There are two granite seats, back to back, one in the sun and one in the shade. Other rocks are smooth enough on top to sit on.

Plantings, which are in the hundreds, are a blend of soft ground covers, bright flowers, ornamental grasses, shrubs and trees with unusual bark. About 75 percent of the plantings are native to this area, says Burt.

Special lighting draws the eye to landscapes and sculptures, and a rainbow of colors washes against the inside walls of the garden.

The path that wends around the labyrinth and through the garden includes bluestone slabs etched with inspirational sayings, such as, “A garden is a delight to the eye and a solace for the soul,” by Sadi, a Persian poet who died in 1291.

Robynn Knarr, a cancer patient who was a member of the UH Seidman Cancer Patient and Family Advisory Council, wrote for the brochure, “The many shapes and sounds and textures cause a mesmerizing peacefulness to wash over you as you wander round and round, to and fro, as though saying, ‘Let go, let go.’ ”

There are benches for patients and visitors and, on a lower level of the garden, table and chair groupings for friends and family who want to gather.

The garden is four-season, says Burt. A snow-melting system under the labyrinth and the garden path ensures year-round use and safety. What’s more, trees have winter interest, such as unusual bark and branch structure.

Outpatient radiation and chemotherapy patients get a different view of the garden from the inside. Outpatient chemo patients in the Gellar Terrace, while being treated, see a small hill filled with ornamental grasses, purple coneflowers and the like.

The radiation area is covered with a green roof, which is a thick, clear, waterproof roof with plants thriving on the top.

The Schneiders watched the garden grow from the drawing stages to the implementation. But they weren’t prepared for what the garden has become.

“It exceeded our expectations,” says Bob, adding that he and Cindy have visited the garden at least a dozen times. “In the beginning, we knew it would be nice, but now we’re thrilled with it.”

Landscape architect Virginia Burt worked with other specialists, including local talent, in areas ranging from sketching the garden to electrical and landscaping details to create the Mary Al Schneider Healing Garden. They include:

• Cawrse Associates Landscape Architects and Land Planners in Chagrin Falls, who did the working drawings.

• Art Science Lighting Design in Cleveland. This company designed the lighting for the whole garden except the fountain. Red, green and blue lights illuminate the garden wall at night, and trees also are highlighted with special lighting.

• Fredrick, Fredrick Heller, mechanical and electrical engineers in Broadview Heights.

• Hetman Engineering in North Royalton.

• MCM Co. Inc., a real estate, owner’s representative and project manager-firm in Cleveland.

• Michael Benza Associates Inc., civil engineering and surveying firm in Brecksville.

• Royal Landscape Inc. in Cleveland.

• Norbert Koehn, stone and wood sculptor who created the touchable wood hearts at the garden’s entry gate.

America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) sailors, staff, media, and volunteers planted Rhode Island native trees and shrubs at a newly constructed rain garden at Fort Adams State Park. This green infrastructure project is designed to mitigate storm water runoff from paved areas at Fort Adams State Park, enhance water quality in Brenton Cove, control invasive plant species, and enhance the park’s landscaping with native Rhode Island vegetation.  

The rain garden was constructed entirely by volunteers as part of a collaborative effort organized by the Department of Environmental Management, in conjunction with the ACWS Host Committee and Sailors for the Sea. DEM is working with Sailors for the Sea and other private sector groups including Louis Berger Group, Inc. of East Providence, GLA Division of BETA (formerly Gates, Leighton Associates) of East Providence, and the RI Nursery and Landscaping Association to improve the park through projects that will improve its environmental footprint. 

The 34th America’s Cup is committed to delivering a model sustainable sporting event and to leave a positive legacy in the local communities it visits. The 34^th America’s Cup is committed to hosting environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable events in the World Series venues, as well as the Louis Vuitton Cup and America’s Cup Finals in San Francisco. 

“The rain garden is yet another example of the America’s Cup trying to leave the environment in better condition than they found it through this volunteer project,” noted DEM Director Janet Coit.  “This project is also important because it demonstrates a best management practice that can be replicated throughout Rhode Island.” 

The 600 square-foot native rain garden is located on the left side of the main parking area at FortAdams State Park near the park entrance from Harrison Avenue. The garden will capture surface runoff from the parking lot and treat the storm water using a combination of filtering, biological activity, plant uptake, and adsorption onto soil grains. 

The Fort Adams rain garden features native Rhode Island shrubs and plantings generously donated by local nurseries including Blue Moon Farm Perennials of Wakefield, Rhode Island Nurseries of Middletown, Stewart Nursery of Wakefield, Briden Nursery of Cranston, and All Island Landscape of Portsmouth. Serviceberry trees, Witch hazel, Summersweet, and Seaside Goldenrod are among the varieties of native plants that will be installed in the garden.  As part of the rain garden construction, non-native species were removed from the site and replaced with native plants that provide many benefits – from being in tune with native wildlife, to being in tune with our region’s climate.   Landscaping with native Rhode Island shrubs and plantings also supports local nurseries. 

Rain gardens are increasingly being used as a best management practice to help avoid, reduce, and mitigate storm water runoff into nearby waterways.  Stormwater is a significant contributor of pollution sources to our state’s waters. Retrofitting old paved areas and incorporating new swales and rain gardens into design will improve water quality and can be incorporated in numerous public sites across Rhode Island.

“This rain garden project is important because it will improve conditions at Fort Adams State Park and demonstrates measures that people can take to lessen impacts from storm water. So, while the location and effect of our specific project will immediately improve water quality in the cove, the true impact will be seen when our project influences other actions at parking lots across RI,” added Director Coit. 

“DEM is encouraging greener events at its facilities, and the ACWS sets a new high water mark for sustainable events at Rhode Island state parks,” noted Director Coit.