One Man's Vision of Creating Award-Winning Gardens

Understated elegance and simplistic serenity were some of the comments expressed by the expert panel of judges who selected Brandon Jones as the 2012 International Landscape Designer of the Year.

Visions of creating a relaxing retreat for family and friends during hot, humid summer days influenced Jones’ winning design.

A principal designer and director of design at Glen Gate Company, in Wilton, Connecticut, Jones’ award-winning project was selected out of sixty-five entries in the Association of Professional Landscape Designers’ (APLD) international juried competition.

“When I first saw the turn of the century site I was instantly inspired by the space, which already had a pool and gardening shed, and I attempted to keep that history alive,” Jones explained.

To achieve a summertime oasis, Jones knew integrating shade would be vital, so he let the shade pavilion become the focal point. His vision was to create a cozy get-away, saturated in modern simplicity and vintage nostalgia.

When choosing plants for this design, local climate and zone drove his choices.

“Native plants are more likely to succeed because they’ve already adapted to the region’s climate and soil,” Jones explains. “By pairing a few, choice plants with strong architecture, the space became balanced and eloquent.”

His finished product was a hit with both his client and the APLD judges, and Jones was equally “honored and thrilled” when he found out he won the prestigious title.

Jones, who has been working in landscape design for nearly two decades, muses, “Being honored for your work by such renowned professionals is a thrilling acknowledgment, but it also marks the beginnings of an exciting new stage for me: one that comes with a responsibility to contribute back and help foster new design talent.”

Let us know what you think of the award-winning designs. Send us your photos and tell us why you chose the landscape and garden design for your home!
  ~Lynne, Garden Media Group Photo credits: Brandon Jones: Small Garden, Reiner Residence

Tips for Creating a Lasting Winter Container

Have you picked up the Nov/Dec issue of Horticulture magazine yet?  The cover features a stunning photo of Lantana Luscious Berry Blend that is a bright spot in this dreary weather.

Especially exciting is the story on Winter Containers on pg 80.  Experts from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers and Garden Media offer tips on creating a lasting and stunning winter container mix.  The secret: It's all about the right plants in the right pots in the right spots!

Tips for Picking the Right Plants:

• Chose plants that are hardy to at least two zones colder than your USDA Zone
• Combine conifers, evergreens and grasses for a lasting look

Photos by The Personal Garden Coach, Christina Salwitz

Tips for Choosing the Right Containers:

• The larger the better
• Pick a non-porous material such as fiberglass, metal or stone
• Make sure you have drainage holes

Tips for Placing Containers in the Right Spot:

• Pick a sunny, wind free spot
• The north facing side of your home is an ideal location

Pick up the latest issue of Horticulture to read more, and if you have a beautiful winter container photo to share- post it to our facebook page!

Thanks to Christina Salwitz for her beautiful winter container photos. 

2012 ASLA Survey Shows Top Outdoor Living Trends for 2012

Design by Dan Maffei, APLD

The American love affair with the back yard shows no signs of slowing, according to the 2012 Residential Landscape Architecture Trends survey conducted by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

The results show a preference for a low maintenance outdoor space for lots of entertaining.

American Beauties Native Plant Garden

Landscape architects with a specialization in residential design across the country were asked to rate the expected popularity of a variety of residential outdoor design elements. The category of gardens and landscape spaces, with 94.9 percent rating somewhat or very popular, was followed closely by outdoor livings spaces at 91.5 percent, which were defined as kitchen and entertainment spaces.

Across all categories, here's how respondents rated things:

• 97.4% rated grills as somewhat or very in-demand for 2012
• 96.6% rated low-maintenance landscapes
• 95.8% rated fireplaces/fire pits (95.8 percent)
• 95.7% rated seating & dining areas (95.7 percent)
• 93.1% rated lighting features
• 89.9% rated decorative water elements

Garden trends are on the top of our minds. Be sure to sign up for our 2013-14 Garden Trends Report.

Suzi
Garden Media Group

Another Garden Media Client Hits It Big in The Wall Street Journal

When Margie Grace of Grace Design Associates first told us about the Victoria Garden Mews, we knew instinctively this was a BIG story.

Anne-Marie Chaker of the Wall Street Journal loved the story and so did her editors. They took a closer look at the larger story and focused on the yard sharing from as simple as sharing a common garden to sharing living spaces, as in the Victoria Garden Mews. Read her full Wall Street Journal report here.

Or watch the WSJ Lunch Break video with Anne-Marie and Gwendolyn Bounds.

Yard sharing is really nothing new. People have been doing it for years. We'd identified it in our 2010 Garden Trends Report and talked about it again last year.  But the four couples who built this Santa Barbara, CA compound have taken the concept to a whole new level.

This LEED Platinum Certified living cluster proves green can be gorgeous. The four separate homes were conceived, designed and built by the families involved and their hand-selected team including Grace Design, Allen Associates and Santa Barbara Design and Build, in full compliance with Santa Barbara historic district’s demanding guidelines.

Where once stood a rundown Victorian house located in the historic district of Santa Barbara, now stands four separate gorgeous, high tech homes. One is the rebuild of the historic Victorian house. The other three homes are designed in southwest style architecture.

They are tied together with an integrated landscape, communal veggie garden, shared dining area and “art walk” designed by Margie, who is a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) and a past recipient of the APLD International Designer of the Year
All with the latest technology and green design, including a 14,000 gallon water bladder, car lifts for double-decker parking to maximize land use, and solar panels on the roof.

All within walking distance of town.

It is one of only 155 projects worldwide selected by SITES (Sustainable Sites Initiative) to demonstrate pioneering approaches to using land wisely. This urban infill trend is being supported by urban and residential planners around the country. Apparently Urban mayors like Corey Booker, Newark, NJ, are behind projects like this to solve local land use and quality of life challenges.

One of the owner's son and daughter-in-law now live in one of the units with their new baby. Dennis Allen gets to spend lots of quality time with his new granddaughter.

Life couldn't get much better.

Please visit our Flicker slideshow to see some awesome pictures.

Suzi
Garden Media Group

Who is Blue? You?

With winter in hiding this December, I am missing the beautiful blues of icicles, frozen ponds and even cold blue lips! Blue is one of my favorite colors.  Getting true blue in the garden is easy with some lovely ideas like those pictured below from our APLD members.

http://www.apld.org/



What a lovely statement for the garden. What is your favorite color?

A Beautiful Season for Pinning!

I have recently started using Pinterest to keep track of things that inspire me.   What is Pinterest you ask?  It is a web pinboard.    When you see cool things on the web, or while you are out and about you can snap a photo and pin them on your board to share them with the world.   I do stumble on a lot of decor ideas in my travels and I have pinned a bunch of photos.   Below you can see the Garden Media Group's real pinboard on the second floor of our office! 

There are some fantastic plant, gardening and landscape design pin boards.  Are you following any cool ones?  Check out my boards and give me your thoughts.

Garden Media Group's Wall of Inspiration

Spotted this fab table!

I like birds on just about anything!

Great Gate

GMG is spreading the word about the artistic skills of professional landscape designers.  Garden writer Marty Ross highlighted garden gates in a recent Kansas City Star feature.  When clients want a special look or custom fence and gate, APLD designers have the artistry and know-how. 

Debra Phillips,  a landscape designer and vice president of the Midwest region chapter of APLD is an expert in the story about garden gates.   I snapped these pictures at the APLD Conference in Cleveland (along with about 400 other photos! thank goodness for digital cameras!) 

“I love garden gates,” says Debra Phillips, a landscape designer in the Chicago area and vice president of the Midwest Regional chapter of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. “Traditionally, we think of gates at the very entrance to a garden, but there are so many other opportunities. There doesn’t even have to be a fence.”

Great gates make me smile. If you want to see some fantastic ideas check out Walpole Woodworkers. Do you have a spectacular gate?  Tell me! :) Kathleen

Five Fall Garden Tips from Landscape Design Pros

It’s finally feels like fall here in Kennett Square. It was a gorgeous weekend, and as I walked around my yard cleaning up the last of my plants and bringing my houseplants indoors, I remembered what some of our good friends at the Association of landscape Designers suggested to do this fall for a fabulous garden next year.

And since that is what we all want, I wanted to share these tips from the landscape designers:

1. Plan now, bloom later. Judy Nauseef, APLD, to take stock of your garden now to see what worked and what didn’t, where you have holes and what needs to be replaced or moved.

I like to take a photograph from the second floor window to get a bird’s eye view of the yard.

2. Give your containers a fall facelift.
Give your tired containers a fresh look by adding bright fall annuals and colorful foliage in bold fall colors of red, orange, deep purple and gold. Peter Cilio at Campania fills birdbaths with apples and gourds for a festive look.

3. Plant in the fall.

Fall is an excellent time for planting and giving plants a jump start on spring. Plus the weather and soil conditions are better in the fall, as opposed to spring when it tends to be cold, muddy and wet. This new Solidago 'Golden Cascades' from American Beauties Native Plants is an excellent fall bloomer that the bees just love.

4. Deer proof your garden
Deer used to be so cute, until they started eating the fruits of my labor. Winter months are some of the deadliest times for deer destruction in the garden. I’m checking out some new high tech deer repellent “machines” from Havahart. One sprays water and the other gives them a static electricity shock on the nose to train them to go to your neighbors for dinner. Watch this very funny video for more information.

5. Winterize your accessories
I love my Campania containers and they have withstood some harsh winters here in Pennsylvania. I just raise my cast stone planters and statuary up on blocks of wood to let them drain and keep them from absorbing any moisture from the ground that tends to freeze and thaw. Terra cotta planters, which can absorb moisture and are subject to winter freeze-thaw cycles, should be stored indoors for winter.

For more fall garden tips, click here. Remember, fall is for more than watching football games and raking leaves. It’s the best time to protect your investment to ensure a glorious spring garden.

Suzi

Garden Media Group

Chinese Garden Inspiration

Gardens can be dramatic, as these pictures clearly state. But dramatic in a small space is not easy to achieve. This Chinese garden that was part of the APLD tour in Cleveland was breath taking. I had to jump online to see how difficult it is to get a beautiful structure like this (it's hard, so if you know of a source tell me! )

What do you think? Leave me a comment below!

Stay cool - it is super hot outside here in PA... my poor garden is really feeling the heat this year! And my window box is totally fried! Kathleen at the Garden Media Group

Wordless Wednesday- or not quite!

OK, it's hard for me (as everyone here knows) to remain "wordless." So here's my version of "slightly-less-words for Wednesday." These images of gardens designed by landscape designer, Susan Cohan, a member of APLD (Association of Professional Landscape Designers ) do leave me rather speechless. Great ideas, lovely shots and what can I say... let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy.

For more information for help designing a garden that's perfect for your home, check out
http://www.apld.org/ and click on "find a designer."
~Lynne GMG

8 Things Customers Want - Lawn & Landscape Report 2011

I read an interesting special report from Lawn & Landscape magazine. The editors came up with a list of the top eight things consumers want in 2011. During a period of 18 months, the team surveyed a group of 450 people – property managers, building owners, investors, facility managers, apartment owners and homeowners – to find out what was important to them about their landscape and the company they hired to maintain it.

Many of these trends match what we at the Garden Media Group have been saying for years in our GMG Garden Trends Report. Here’s a little taste of the broad trends and and how you can take advantage of them in 2011.

1. Someone to help them out: The Generosity Generation wants to do business with companies that care, that do right by their communities. So support a local cause, donate to a local charity, plant a NWF Certified Native Habitat with American Beauties.


2. A low risk: Make your business a low risk decision. Show you care not just about price but that your products and services will last and you back up your work with credentials.


3. Clear lines of communication: Ask your customers if they want e-mails, text messages, or snail mail from you. And honor it.


4. Transparency: Many homeowners have been burned in the past by fly-by-night contractors. Be clear and professional about pricing, contracts and information on your company. Show you will be around until the job is finished and on their own schedule. Someone they know


5. Be a good neighbor: Sponsor a local farmers market or sports team. Offer to install and tend backyard veggie gardens.


6. Someone to be green: Green is still the big buzzword and clients want to protest their water supply, pets or children . We talked about Save our Society – SOS – almost eight years ago. Think LEED and the Sustainable Sites Initiative. Green project revenue is up 16.8% compared to a 12% drop in traditional projects.


7. To feel at home: People are still staying home. They want calm, green spaces either at home or work. The Association of Perofessional Landscape Designers has lots of great ideas to help with eco-scaping.


8. A good price: Let’s face it, for some, the only thing that matters is the bottom line price. Know your numbers and be clear about why you charge what you do.

For a walk through the survey with editor Chuck Bowen, click on Lawn & Landscape.

Suzi, Garden Media Group

Hello Hellebore! You Shade Lover you!

Shade gardens have a bad reputation. Shade gardens do not have to be boring! Thanks to the hellebore - you can have early, dramatic color early in the season when even the earliest bulbs are getting their act together. I attended a class at Carolyn's Shade Gardens in Bryn Mawr, a micro-hellebore nursery. What was most striking is that they are easy and not prone to problems or pests! If you want to impress your friends and neighbors these are the flowers for you. Carolyn also showed the class how to divide a hellebore - which I love because it is economical and even looked easy! More on that in another blog post. Do you have a favorite hellebore? Does it bug you that many have their heads bowed? Or do you love the drama?

Dream On!

A cup of coffee, a plant catalog and a quiet morning -- I can usually get two of these three.... I just love looking at gardening catalogs - from bulbs to shrubs and trees I love them all. A catalog from Annie's Annuals just arrived in my mailbox - and it is a pleasure to leaf through. Last year I won some plants from Annie's and I am excited to see how they held up. More on that in a few months!

To keep me from going astray in the garden (as in buying everything I see and having a hodge podge landscape) I have invested in a landscape plan from a landscape designer in my area. But I do have a soft spot for bulbs. What is your favorite bulb catalog? Do tell...

Kathleen at GMG.

Let's Set a Date!

We are having some seriously cold days here in Pennsylvania. But I don't let the cold weather get me down!

Now is a great time to dream and plan your garden. Look through magazines and check out garden websites for ideas and inspiration.

One of my favorite blogs is Carolyn's Shade Gardens.

Located in Bryn Mawr, PA - Carolyn's Shade Gardens has some very special plants. If you fall in the category of "Plant Collector" or just love unique plants you should get to know Carolyn.

I will be attending her first open house -- a Hellebore Extravaganza - on March 26. I will be sure to take pictures and video - if I can stop myself from trying to buy everything. Can't make the sale? She takes appointments too - so why not plan to visit Longwood, Chanticleer and Carolyn's Shade Gardens on the same jaunt to Philly! Do you love hellebores as much as I do? Leave me a comment with your favorites!

Kathleen @ GMG

Have a Seat!

Banquettes are a hot trend for the kitchen, and I have been spotting more and more outside. I spotted this Moroccan inspired bench in Dallas at the www.apld.org conference. Notice that the bench is neutral, and let the pillows and plants take center stage!

The blue cushion bench is the work of Margie Grace in CA. (visit gracedesignassociates.com to see more images of her work, photo here is by Nanette Lepere photography)

Built in benches make so much sense because they can seat more than a gaggle of chairs can - and they always look neat and put together! What do you think? Would this work for your landscape? Leave a comment below- is this an upcoming trend??? Kathleen @GMG

APLD Heads to Big D

Off to Dallas -- again!

But this time for the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) Annual International Design Conference Sept. 27- Oct. 2.

Dan Maffei and the APLD local team have planned a spectacular conference highlighting the hottest trends in landscape design. We'll see and hear first hand how Dallas landscape designers' dramatic approaches to incorporate sustainable initiatives, art and horticulture in their gardens.

I always learn something new at the workshops and lectures. Cutting-edge landscape designers share their secrets on such topics as creating sustainable designs, using new and different plants and smart water-wise practices.

We're staying at the Fairmont Hotel in the heart of Dallas’s Arts District, and the opening reception is being held at the Nasher Sculpture Center and catered by none other than the famous Wolfgang Puck. Yum!



Plus there will be a TweetUp Wednesday night at Pyramid Lounge from 5-7:30. Stay tuned for lots more to come.

See y'all in Dallas!

Suzi

Garden Media Group

Over the Top! And Don't Stop!

At GMG we love color. In your garden you can paint a picture with color, and don't forget to pot up colorful containers to add height to your space. I just love this fountain from Campania - because it creates an atmosphere of relaxation through bubbles and trickles. Keep in mind color, sound and height when you are garden planning.

Next week I am attending the APLD (http://www.apld.org/) conference in Dallas, and I will take a ton of pictures - and video too!

Kathleen :) GMG

From Dog Shows to Trade Shows, GMG is Buzzing

It's been a buzzy February. I started out the month speaking about Social Media at the ANLA Management Clinic in Louisville. If you are on the fence about having a Facebook Fan page or Tweeting, take a look at the presentation "Social Media: Do I do or do I don't?".

After ANLA, I flew to Boston to present the Garden Media Group's 2010 Trends Report at New England Grows. It's a huge show. The night I arrived, I went to a Tweetup of garden writers and landscape designers. It was fun to put names to faces.

And last week was another whirlwind. I spent a fabulous three days in New York visiting media with Margie Grace, APLD 2009 International Landscape Designer of the Year. We're pictured here with the publishing group from Tauton Press, going up to visit editors at the Hearst Building and at dinner with the folks from Martha Stewart Living.

Margie's partner, Dawn Close, took us all to the finals of the Westminster Dog Show! It was fabulous. That's Fred and Katie with me looking out on the show ring.

I got home, change suit cases and flew to Berkely CA for the Association of Professional Landscaper's strategic planning meeting and annual APLD Chapter Leadership Symposium. About 70 landscape designers from around the country gathered to share and learn how to grow a stronger organization. The new APLD tag line: We define landscape design. I presented something on branding and Susan Cohan talked about social media as we all tweeted. That's Kathy Rudnyk from Monrovia, one of the sponsors of the event.

This week is The Philadelphia Flower Show and two TV gardening segments on NBC 10, so look for more on that later.

Happy Gardening,

Suzi

Garden Media Group