gentle gardener: green

Gentle Gardener @ Stonefire Station: Orange Wedding Tour 2011

Despite the rain, sun and wind, peonies reign.  At home here in Barboursville, our farm-based design studio collaborates with hosts Carl and Tori Tremaglio of Stonefire Station to create an afternoon rich in the sweet sights and tastes
of the best the Piedmont of Virginia has to offer. 

via web.me.com

green design at home here in Barboursville with locally grown peonies and other flowers, composed for Stonefire Station penultimate dessert toward the conclusion of the #OrangeWeddingTour 2011. Thanks to Meghan McSweeney Photography, Ann Reid, and Stonefire Station & Kitchen. Enjoy!

Buy Local Virginia

via www.buylocalvirginia.org

we are proud to be part of the 'Buy Fresh, Buy Local' movement. It's been a part of our philosophy since day one......for a Garden as Pleasing to Nature as to the Eye..........
for Weddings and Events as Pleasing to Nature as to the Eye.

Despite the rain, in May, peonies REIGN!

Thirty Orange County Virginia hospitality and event professionals host 40 wedding and event planners, photographers and media for two days of ‘speed weddings’:  showering food, flowers, wine, music, and gifts upon our guests.  Mother Nature showered 4.5 inches of rain on us in 36 hours, helping answer the perennial question from nervous brides to be:   “What if it RAINS?!” 

via web.me.com

All flowers and plants composed by Gentle Gardener Green Design are locally and sustainably grown. Thanks to my very able and generous growers for helping us showcase their talents and Nature's bounty for our guests at the Inn at Mayhurst, 22960. Next post: flowers and food at Stonefire Station 22923.

'YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION...." ASLA residential landscape design survey: What y'all say you want now - 2011

LAND Article.

Residential Design Survey Respondents Look Ahead

Despite a down economy, landscape architects anticipate strong interest in outdoor living and designed residential landscapes, according to ASLA’s 2011 Residential Trends Survey. The survey asked 245 residential landscape architecture professionals questions on the relative popularity of a variety of design features and elements for the year.  The most popular outdoor living features this year include lighting, with 96.2 percent indicating the feature as somewhat or very popular for 2011. Rounding out the top five are fire pits (94.2 percent), seating/dining areas (94.1 percent), grills (93.8 percent) and installed seating (89.5 percent). At the other end, only one in ten (10.4 percent) rated outdoor bedrooms and sleeping areas as a popular amenity for 2011. Among landscape and garden elements, interest continues to focus on low maintenance landscapes (94.2 percent), native plants (87.2 percent) water features (81.0 percent), and food/vegetable gardens (80.3 percent). Respondents also indicated wide interest in several sustainable design features, such as water-efficient irrigation (83.1 percent) permeable paving (77.0 percent) and reduced lawn (72.6 percent). Outdoor Living Features (Percent rating somewhat or very popular for 2011) Lighting – 96.2% Fire pits/fireplace – 94.2% Seating/dining areas – 94.1% Grills – 93.8% Installed seating (benches, seat walls, ledges, steps, boulders) – 89.5% Weatherized outdoor furniture – 83.6% Counter space – 74.2% Utility storage – 61.3% Stereo systems – 58.3% Sinks – 54.7% Refrigerators – 50.2% Wireless/Internet connectivity – 46.3% Televisions/projection screens – 45.4% Outdoor heaters – 44.4% Showers/bathing – 42.1% Outdoor cooling systems (including fans) – 36.7% Bedrooms/sleeping spaces – 10.4% Outdoor Recreation Amenities Decorative water elements such as ornamental pools, splash pools, waterfalls, grottos, water runnels or bubblers – 84.7% Spa (hot tub, Jacuzzi, whirlpool, indoor/outdoor sauna) – 75.9% Swimming Pools – 69.4% Sports/recreational spaces (tennis courts, bocce ball, etc.) – 47.7% Landscape/Garden Elements Low maintenance landscapes – 94.2% Native plants – 87.2% Fountains/ornamental water features – 81.0% Food/Vegetable gardens (including orchards/vineyards etc.) – 80.3% Organic gardens – 65.5% Ponds/streams – 62.5% Rain gardens – 56.6% Xeriscaping or dry gardens – 56.3% Sustainable Design Elements Native/adapted drought-tolerant plants – 88.8% Drip/water-efficient irrigation – 83.1% Permeable paving – 77.0% Reduced lawn – 72.6% Recycled materials – 64.5% Rainwater/graywater harvesting – 63.6% Compost bins – 49.4% Solar-powered lights – 48.8% Geothermal-heated pools – 23.2% Structures Fencing (includes gates) – 85.1% Arbors – 83.8% Pergolas – 82.6% Steps – 79.3% Ornamental water features such as fountains or splash pools – 77.5% Decks – 74.4% Porches – 72.3% Art (sculpture etc.) – 60.7% Utility shed (tool shed, garden shed etc.) – 59.3% Play structures (tree house, swing set, etc.) – 58.9% Pavilions – 52.9% Awnings, including retractable – 49.6% Gazebos – 49.6% Columns – 40.9% ADA-accessible structures (ramps, bars, accessible shelving etc.) – 23.5% Here are the results in graph form:

Allee at Rothesay: Gillette Garden Goes Green

Sustainable garden revamp of this 75 year old Charles Gillette design showcases green practices:  sustainable container gardens featuring native and drought-tolerant plants, bench fragment re-upholstered with LiveRoof panels, living wall demonstration panels on locally made wrought iron arch, careful organic care to revive boxwoods and crape myrtles.  Garden and house open through 11 October 2010 to benefit Richmond Symphony Orchestra League.  All container gardens and garden ornament for sale through Boutique on site.

via web.me.com

enjoy pictures before, after, during revamp of 75 year old Gillette garden!

Green Matters @ Charlottesville Community Design Center Tuesday 12 October

SUSTAINABILITY NEWS


GREEN MATTERS: PANEL DISCUSSION IN CHARLOTTESVILLE ON
SUSTAINABLE LIVING OUTDOORS
AT CHARLOTTESVILLE COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER
Tuesday 12 October 5-7PM

Want to know why green matters? Join us October 12th for "Sustainable Living Outdoors" at the CCDC, from 5pm - 7pm for the return of the Green Matters lecture series. A special thanks to our sponsors: Blue Ridge Home Builders Association, Airflow Systems, Inc. Dominion Power, and Latitude 38. Sustainable Living Outdoors Expand your living space into the outdoors, create healthy habitats for butterflies and birds, grow your own food, and protect the environment. Join us for a discussion of how to design your yard and landscaping to require less water, lawn maintenance, while incorporating edible landscaping and native plantings.

Moderator: Charles Hendricks, AIA, CSI, CDT, LEED AP The Gaines Group, Architecture and Design Experts: Karl Shank, The Natural Garden Virginia Rockwell, VSLD, VCH, LEED Green Associate, Gentle Gardener This event is free and open to the public. For more information: www.greenmatters.info facebook link to more information

via www.gentlegardener.com

join us to talk about establishing sustainable gardens/landscapes this autumn, the BEST time of the year to plan and establish your garden.

Rothesay on the James, 2010 Richmond Symphony Orchestra League Designer House

Rothesay, as the 10,000-square-foot house is called, is this year's Richmond Symphony Orchestra League Designer House. The property has been redecorated by 46 designers and artisans including Washington's Mary Douglas Drysdale, who did the living room.

via www.washingtonpost.com

Even more impressive are the over 7 acres of gardens surrounding Rothesay, including several rooms designed by Charles Gillette and renovated by landscape designers certified by the #VSLD, the Virginia Society of Landscape Designers, the oldest professional landscape design certifying body in the Commonwealth. Check out the Allee renovated using sustainable garden methods by #Gentle Gardener Green Design.

Allee: 75-Year-Old Gillette Design Goes ‘Green’ : now open through 11 October 2010

Richmond Symphony Designer House & Garden Tour

Design:  Virginia R. Rockwell, VSLD, VCH, LEED Green Associate

Green Projects Management:  Scotty Guinn Dilworth

 

The Allee is:

    A Charles Gillette-designed garden, serene yet playful, with a bit of mystery, and a surprise:  You may just learn something new…just as the children of The Secret Garden (1911) did! 

The Allee showcases sustainability with aesthetics in keeping with the character of the home.  As specialists in sustainable landscapes, container gardens, and event/floral design, we showcase the best of 'green' methods in one outdoor 'room’. 

We discovered this ‘Secret Garden’ under layers of deciduous leaves and vines covering Gillette’s 1930’s design for herringbone brick walk, steps and walls, the leaves slowly composting beneath the boxwoods and thus feeding them.

Your journey ends with a private view of the James framed by Magnolia grandiflora ‘Kay Parris’ and a wrought iron Arch featuring living wall panels and one of Rothesay's own bench fragments 'reupholstered' with living roof panels of drought-tolerant and heat-reducing plants.  The existing buxus sempervirens (American Boxwood) in the Allee we believe were used as ‘nursery’ stock to keep the boxwood plantings around the grounds at Rothesay supplied sustainably.  The existing lagerstroemia indica  (crape myrtles) lift and direct the eye to the views.

Q:  What Makes this garden ‘green’?

A:  Existing, Native, Repurposed, Local, Reusable, Organic,

Drought-tolerant, Heat-reducing 

• Locally made wrought iron arch by blacksmith Paul McGill, McGill Metalsmithing, Keswick, VA

• Re-purposed fisheye mirror suspended in peak of Arch

• Living wall panels and LiveRoof 'upholstery' on bench fragments by SGDesigns, Richmond, VA

• Pairs of brick red pots atop the wall plinths demonstrate 'sustainable container gardens' :  how to use native and drought-tolerant shrubs, perennials, grasses in containers for a period, then transplant out into the garden, accented by only small numbers of drought-tolerant annuals. 

• Existing charming Rothesay tennis footwear signs  as garden ornament (found under a bench).

•Existing Rothesay benches and wrought iron chairs, sycamore limbs as pedestals

• Only ONE brick had to be replaced at the top step after 75 years!

• Existing crape myrtles were fed and watered and pruned of dead wood and vines, NOT TOPPED

• Existing American boxwood were cared for organically this year:  fed with slow release organics and calcitic lime per soil test, watered, and sprayed with horticultural oil spray and insecticidal soap.  Dead, diseased and stems with leafminer were removed.  Spring pruning took no more than 1/3 of the foliage, opening up light and air circulation.

•NO IRRIGATION was installed.

For More Information, Contact:

Virginia R. Rockwell, VSLD, VCH, LEED GREEN ASSOCIATE

virginia@gentlegardener.com

For Tickets, go to www.rsol.org

75 year old Gillette garden goes 'green': update by Gentle Gardener Green Design

Rothesay..., the 2010 Richmond Symphony Orchestra League Designer House, is situated on a spectacular site overlooking the James River. This year, for the first time, the Designer House will not only feature the work of interior designers but also the work of 10 landscape designers, a few of whom are featured in the videos below.

via www.richmondmagazine.com

check out the video of Scotty Guinn Dilworth, Project Manager for Gentle Gardener Green Design, at http://vimeo.com/12752764...on our green approach to this Charles Gillette garden design..and visit the house and garden, open NOW through midOctober.  tickets at www.rsol.org 

To stop lawn fertilizer from polluting, do we have to kill off the organic fertilizer industry?

the checkered local/state phosphorus bans are just DUMB. If you want to garden sustainably, you need good root development, particularly as plants are being established in low organic matter % soils (pretty much everywhere in VA except for the forest floor). Phosphorus from organic sources gives you that to get started; healthy soil life keeps it going. Demonizing one element just confuses the public.

Cleaning up the dirt? The Dirt on Potting Media (aka soil)

via www.gardenrant.com

Gentle Gardener makes its own sustainable container garden potting mix. 15 years ago in Great Britain gardeners started picketing/boycotting DIY stores and garden centers over peat based potting soil; I was at Findhorn and Kew and sat up and took notice. Took 10 years to develop supply chain of alternatives here in the clueless, cheap transport US.

A few steps to enlightened dirt/soil:

First, make your own compost and/or worm castings (compost), and aged leafmould (what the Brits call a pile of chipped/shredded leaves left for a year to decompose). Second, get locally made municipal compost if it's not all been sold to a commercial compost company locally. Third, buy only locally made compost from a reputable supplier, and ensure it doesn't have persistent herbicides in it. We have a very good one near Charlottesville from Panorama Farms called Panorama Paydirt. There are sometimes shortages due to demand. Our local worm compost is Black Gold Organics.

Coir Bricks are portable, peat-free potting media from a quickly renewable source (peat bogs.. not so quick). We supplied Brent Heath from Brent and Becky's Bulbs with coir for a container garden bulb planting workshop and he loved how the fibres give the root hairs of bulbs something to cling to. (He too is a Fafard peat fan but that's Canadian and not very sustainable from a transport perspective, not to the midAtlantic or South).

You need warm water and TIME to expand the coir. We mix in a muck bucket with the hot water, load and by the time we are at the job site, it's done. Extra bricks are portable and take up lots less room than bags/bales of promix. Extra worm compost helps too.

Mulching the tops of pots with coir chips, stones or moss or even found objects helps with soil loss. I too want to experiment with corel stones from the hydroponics folks.

As with so many other things, you get what you pay for, BUT, the best is homemade and free. Also a very good workout turning the compost from bin to bin to tumbler. I find shoveling this particular s... much more meditative and enjoyable than the corporate kind....

Sustain & Contain your Enthusiasm! Sustainable container gardens endure through seasons

How to satisfy the urge to celebrate the change of seasons with plants in pots.....affordably.......sustainably......and extend and sustain the design palette through the garden over time? Small trees and shrubs, plus perennials and perennial herbaceous vines, can fluorish in the right containers in the right conditions.  Call a professional landscape designer or horticulturalist to help you with your 'succession plan'.  Gentle Gardeners standing by at 540 832 7031...........

Pictured:  #Clematis 'Montana Rubens' pale pink climber, fragrant, blooms spring (April in central Virginia), Picea glauca 'Fat Albert' blue spruce for a classic conical evergreen, and for foliage interest, Heuchera 'Amethyst Mist', dormant in #hardiness zone 6Bfor only a few weeks and with persistent foliage even in the bleakest winter weather.  Accent this with violas or pansies planted in autumn and persisting into spring; replace by Mother's Day with tender perennials, annuals or tropicals. Note the volunteer reseeded into the gravel nearby!

Essentials: First,  LARGE #freeze-proof pots with excellent drainage onto gravel and NO soil contact; use pot feet and NO SAUCERS, which dam up and freeze the bottom of the pot off.  #Green eco-friendly pot:  hemp, fiberglass and concrete composite ages, breathes, transpires moisture slowly through the pot wall.  Second, great drainage in the bottom of the pot: multiple holes, covered by lots of broken pot shards and or large gravel.  Third, mulch with moss for NO BARE SOIL SHOWING. Fourth:  Location, location, location of the pot is key.  This entry planting is warmed by the #hardscape of bluestone and gravel, keeping the plants blooming and the pot from freezing most nights, and blessed with natural rainfall (no roof overhang). Fifth, a sustainable potting mix:  ours is #coir with #compost in the root zone.

Next Season:  Replace seasonal colour. $ Note:  Remember that with the extensive marketing programs and licensing fees and patents for branded plants like Proven Winners, annuals can sometimes cost MORE than perennials! Planetary perspective:  That's alot of plastic, potting soil and #embedded energy to be composted every 6 months or even more often.   Divide crowns of Heuchera 'Amethyst Mist' into more pots and/or the garden.  Replenish potting soil with #organic compost, slow-release organic fertilizers like #Espoma Flower Tone, and feed/water in well with sea kelp-enriched rainwater from #cisterns or rain barrels.

After 3-4 seasons or when the roots of the plants begin to fully occupy the pot capacity and before they are stressed, #transplant out the largest plants into the garden.....the picea, the clematis, then the heuchera.

Waiting for endless construction to complete or saving for a new garden/landscape?  Plant container gardens to sustain your enthusiasm with beauty to remind you why you garden.  Call your garden coach, horticulturalist, landscape designer, and Enjoy! #in