by Christie Dustman I couldn’t help but notice what plants did well this summer during and after the horrendous drought. You named it – conifers! If you looked around while…
Landscape Design
Designing with the Ecosystem: Don’t Reinvent the Wheel, Catch a Ride on It
by Emily Davis I recently presented to permaculture practitioners about complex ecological characteristics, their implications for design work, and why they’re important to study. What was interesting to me was…
Community Design: How a New Pocket Park Came to the Near Northside
by Katherine Sargent Cairoli, MA, LEED An earlier version of this article originally appeared on OffCite, a blog published by the Rice Design Alliance, a community engagement organization based at…
Natural Play and Sustainability in a Maryland City Park
by Nancy Striniste As a landscape designer and former teacher, my specialty and passion is creating sustainable natural play and learning spaces. I’ve worked with dozens of schools and early…
Effectively Intermingled Perennials
by Dr. Noel Kingsbury I remember, back in 1996, showing the late James van Sweden around a public garden project I was working on at the time, over here in…
In the Shade: Gardening with Native Plants from the Woodland Understory
article by Heather McCargo photos by Heather McCargo and Lisa Looke Reprinted with permission from The Wild Seed Project. There are many beautiful and resilient plants from the woodland understory…
Namcook: A Breezy, Coastal, Summer “Cottage”
by Shawn Mayers While the property at Namcook is more than 10 acres in total, the landscaped area for the home (which groundSwell Designs was asked to focus on) is…
The Compelling Case for Coreopsis
by George Coombs With new cultivars arriving on the market each year, it’s hard to deny the incredible popularity of coreopsis. Their colorful, daisy-like blooms are a coveted addition to…
Tasteful Outdoor Lighting, Responsibly
by Jennifer Nichols I was recently asked if GreenWeaver installs outdoor lighting. Any good business person would immediately jump on this opportunity to sell additional services to a client, but…
Mixing It Up – Can Edibles and Ornamentals Get Along in a Designed Garden?
by Ellen Sousa Many people love the idea of including functional plants (edibles and herbs) in ornamental plantings, but in reality it’s not always easy to achieve an acceptable aesthetic…
Light Gives Form to Landscape Architecture
by Lukas Sturm As a trained Landscape Architect, I decided to change my career 15 years ago, not because I found the profession unfulfilling, but because I wanted to enhance…
Book Review: Planting in Post-Wild World
Written by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West Published by Timber Press, 2015 Reviewed by Penny Lewis Few books have the power to inspire your design sense, ignite your plant passion,…