Category Archives: Landscape Design

Random Post – Instagram, Garden Design and Monty Don

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Central Ohio, Garden Design Magazine, Landscape Design
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This weekend was amazing in Central Ohio, with sun and temps in the 60s you can tell spring is right around the corner. I spent the majority of the weekend on my in-law’s new property cutting down dead ash trees and and cleaning up brush (more on that in another post). Since I spent my weekend mainly with a chainsaw in hand I did not plan much for a blog post so this will be random.

 

Wasting time with: Instagram – I am about two years late to joining this platform and am still getting ramped up. You can follow me at Nickmccland. Please give me great folks to follow -

 

Not Reading: Garden Design Folding – I am sure everyone has heard by now that Garden Design Magazine has folded with April being the last issue. I wonder if the folding is due to the lack of embracing the digital medias or aligning the content with the correct target audience (never fully satisfying the hobbyists or professionals). It could just be that a larger audience does not care about the typically more modern ascetic they magazine often showcased. With only 185,741 subscribers there is some reason that is beyond it being an expensive magazine to publish. I will miss the magazine and am excited to see how the garden design industry responds with filling the void (and what Bonnier will send instead to fulfill my subscription). For fellow design magazine junkies, I strongly suggestion you fill your gardening/landscape desire with Gardens Illustrated Magazine out of the UK. You can get a year subscription for $75 from Amazon and hands down this is the best gardening magazine for gardens both large and small, modern and classical and veggie or perennial focused. Even those digital reader folks can order a digital version on Zinio.

 

Watching: Around the World in 80 Gardens. I found the Youtube series from back in 2008 that features Monty Don visiting 80 influential gardens from around the world.  Some are famous public gardens while others are often unseen private gardens. The episode from the United States includes both Monticello and Jack Lenor Larsen’s Home LongHouse in the Hamptons. What is great about videos turning the garden is you get to see the how items relate to each other beyond just the great focal point shot. I have a few more episodes to finish watching but so far have been really enjoying the show and going to keep my eyes open for the accompanying book.  You can find the series uploaded here via Youtube.

Our trip to Nashville

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Landscape Design, Uncategorized
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This past weekend I made the 6 hour drive to Nashville with the family to visit the Nashville Antique & Garden Show. The show was one reason for going the others were to get out of Ohio for a bit and to explore Nashville. Here is a recap of the trip:

 

Nashville Antique & Garden Show

We just visited the show portion and did not make it to any of the speakers. I was disappointed in the show garden portion. There were really only four displays and some were better than others. The vendors with the garden antiques had some very interesting and unique items, but the majority of the show was focused on the antiques with some amazing items. We had a great time, but I would not go for the display gardens. Nashville antique and garden show

These items were from Thistle. which was located right when you walked into the show. She had a great interpretation of some common items like the wire hay feeders and the sheets of aged zinc. She will also be at the Chicago Antique & Garden Fair so if you are attending look for her booth.

I did not catch the name of this vendor, but they had a great selection of weathered garden items. Note the lichens on the faux bois benches.

I also did not get the name on this vendor but had a great presentation of the zinc tubs and dolly pots. The over sized lanterns were also amazing.

This was the display garden designed by Page | Duke (forgot the installer). Each garden was a tribute to a fabric by Albert Hadley. It was a great design, but I wanted to meet the designers and installer teams.

This display garden was designed by Anne Daigh and was an amazing interpretation of the Hadley pattern inspiration.

This was an interesting paving example from the garden by Kathi Medlin Gilleland, Brian Gilleland and Alfredo Varela.

 

Cheekwood Botanical Gardens

Even though it is February, we took an afternoon to explore Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. The weather was perfect and from the house you could see far across the valleys. We had a great time and were even able to find some Hellebores blooming.

 

Landscape Design in Nashville

Question for anyone that lives in Nashville. While driving around Belle Meade and the surrounding area we were expecting to see some amazing landscapes with the grand homes. There were lots of large old boxwoods but very few perennial beds. The climate is perfect for perennials, but they just did not exist. We even drove down to Brentwood to the newer homes and no really amazing landscape designs. Are there any amazing gardens we were missing? We found these two below in Belle Meade, but they were the exception.

 

We had a wonderful time, we even extended our trip an extra day so we could see more. We had great food including Burger Up, popsicles from Las Paletas, and even tried HOT Chicken.  We will be going back another time, either in the spring or fall.

WSJ Magazine – Gil Schafer & Deborah Nevins

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Inspiration, Landscape Design
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Image above from WSJ Magazine article, features low field stone walls and low clipped hedges.

In our house we get a lot of magazines because you never know where you will find a great article that opens you to a new designer/product etc. That can totally be said for the WSJ Magazine which is printed ten times a year in the Wall Street Journal Weekend edition the first weekend of every month. The July/August issue included the landscape of architect Gil Schafer (a new resource for classical architecture and restoration) by his friend and famous landscape designer Deborah Nevins (amazing work portfolio I have admired).  WSJ.com includes the majority of the article and amazing photos so please read and if you don’t already, plan on checking the newsstands monthly for the WSJ Magazine (the tracked section alone is with the purchase).

Images above from the WSJ Magazine Article of Gil Schafer’s home in New York, which include a walled garden and tightly clipped privet hedges. 

 

Here are some more details of the work of both Designer and Architect featured in the article.

Deborah Nevins is a Landscape Designer (website here) that works across the globe designing landscapes which highlight the existing location’s beauty with classical, yet modern features and an particular emphasis on forms created by the plants and planting design. The images I pulled below really show how they create forms within the landscape, but there are a few examples of plant selection to highlight the region of landscape and environment.

Gil Schafer is an architect with a focus on the classicdetails of design creating and restoring homes that have and will stand the test of time (firm website). I am surprised how often I have seen his work in magazines and blogs without noting it was done by Gil. I really appreciate an architect that brings in a landscape designer before the home construction is started to ensure the best features of the land are included at the very beginning. Gil has a new book coming out in October (preview on his site here) called The Great American House, Tradition for the way we live now and it looks like a great reference for interpreting classic design for our modern lives. Below are selections of his work, I focused on the exteriors since it reflects the landscape more so than interiors and I tend to like classic exteriors with more minimal interior features.

Images above from Gil Schafer’s website feature a New York townhouse facade I have loved for years.

Images above from Gil Schafer’s website feature a center hall design house I have pinned for a design for my dream home.

Garden in Belgium by Daniel Ost

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Landscape Design
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I have about 10 years worth of past issues of Garden Design, Gardens Illustrated and many more magazines that while watching tv at night I like to flip through. I always find something interesting that I flag for follow up or an inspiring garden I forgot about.

Last night I was reading a Garden Design from Jan/Feb 2008 and came across an article on Daniel Ost’s personal garden in Belgium. Daniel Ost is known as an extreme floral artist and has done an amazing job crossing over into garden design with a garden that is a study in boxwoods and hornbeams which are two of my favorite plants. (All images are from Garden Design, Photographer Nicola Browne or from Daniel Ost)

 Since Daniel is a floral artist, the clipped boxwoods are a nod to his profession. There are sixteen “petals” of clipped boxwoods which are planted with alpine strawberries in the center. Hornbeams are clipped as pillars surrounding the flowers.

 You can get a slight peek at the ivy covered well in the previous photo, but here you can see it in relation to the field beyond. What is interesting on this image is the quote from Ost. I totally agree about designing thinking about how it will look in the winter, but from previous experience not everyone feels the same way about grass.

 Blue bells are planted under mature trees with more boxwoods.

So I have saved my favorite image for last. Hornbeams again are clipped into pillars (far right) and a crushed stone path follows a long reflection pool. Even though the clipped Hornbeams and rigid lines of the pathway and beds are formal, this spaces feels more relaxed compared to the other areas.

The following two photos are from Daniel’s website of the same group of boxwood. The first image of boxwood covered in a beautiful frost is an example of garden design with beauty in winter.

Landscape Lighting – Greg Yale

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Landscape Design
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Landscape lighting can dramatically change the appearance of a house and landscape and is so much more than lighting a walkway or carriage lamps. Up/down lighting on a house can highlight wonderful details and shapes typically lost in the dark (and even daylight). While lighting landscape elements can make artwork out of trees, walls and structures for you to enjoy from outside as well as in your home. Greg Yale is a master at landscape lighting and has done some wonderful installations. If you are on the fence about the impact of landscape lighting, just look at these images of his work and you will be converted.

Up lighting trees down a driveway. 
Greg designed these outdoor floor lamps which make a great bridge from indoors to out. 
The stairs are lit, as well elements in the background. I also love the stonework and chopped wood wall. 
Up lighting on a stone wall (ledge stone in retaining wall cages), plus the focal point and pathway are also lit. 
Same wall, with additional “twinkle” lights. 
Example of lighting an architectural element can transform the shape in the evening. 
showcasing a tree as a sculpture that would normally be missed even in the daylight.