Design Charette at The Pennsylvania State University

On April 12, Eric Groft and Stacilyn Feldman joined Graham Gund, Laura Cabo and Eric Svahn of Gund Partnership for a design charette at The Pennsylvania State University.  The focus of the charette was to develop a distinct entry sequence for the forthcoming phase of the University Arboretum, and existing Dickinson School of Law, as well as to site the forthcoming structures at the Arboretum, which will include a Planetarium, Education Center and Conservatory.

Nearly twenty members of the Penn State faculty, facilities management and campus design staff attended the meeting, and contributed to the design process.

Laura Cabo directed the afternoon’s discussion and presented several program options and entrance sequences.

Laura Cabo

Everyone attending actively participated in the siting of the project components and worked together meet the program needs.

OvS is delighted to be part of this project team and looks forward to the coming months of collaboration.

During our visit to Penn State, Eliza Pennypacker, professor of Landscape Architecture at The Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, invited OvS Principal Eric Groft to visit the second-year design studios on Friday, April 13^th.   The students’ work for the Spring semester focused on complete site design, from site analysis to siting structures, organizing site circulation, and responding to existing environmental constraints and opportunities.

L-R: Eric Groft and Ben Sereda

Eric spent a morning in the Stuckeman Family Building studios, discussing each student’s project with them, reviewing their concepts, and discussing appropriate plants and species for the intended experience.

L-R: Eric Groft, Eliza Pennypacker and Emma Pritchett

It was a wonderful morning for both the students and Eric – sharing open dialogue about site design and the importance of great plants in the landscape.  Thank you to Professor Pennypacker for the invitation!

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Monroe Street Market Groundbreaking Ceremony

Architects Rendering of Monroe Street Market

Last Wednesday, November 10, OvS designers Marisa Scalera and Sara Fiore attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Monroe Street Market in Brookland, Washington DC. The project, developed by Bozzuto Group, Abdo Development and Pritzker Realty Group, is a $200 million mixed use, multiphase development adjacent to the Brookland-CUA Metrorail station. Monroe Street Market project will transform the Catholic University of America’s South Campus by creating a college-town-style Main Street. It will include 720 multifamily residential units and 45 townhomes, 80,000 square feet of street-level retail, 15,000 square feet of artist studio space, and a 3,000-square-foot community arts center. There will also be an 8,500 square-foot public square, a 15,000 square-foot Arts Plaza, and a17,000 square-foot residential courtyard with pool.

OvS is the landscape architect for the project. Approved plans include design of the plazas, courtyard, streetscape and hardscape improvements, which will improve walkability, creating a lively, pedestrian-friendly atmosphere and significantly improving traffic patterns and pedestrian crossings along Michigan Avenue and Monroe Street.

The Ground Breaking

Participating in the groundbreaking ceremony were Catholic University President John Garvey, Bozzuto Group Chairman and CEO Tom Bozzuto, Abdo Development President and CEO Jim Abdo, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, D.C. Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr., and other D.C. government officials. Mayor Gray said the planning and cooperation that went into creating the development should serve as a “prototype” for “how to craft constructive relationships between universities and the communities within which they live and the communities that they serve.”

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OvS hits the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene in Idaho!

In August 2011, Oehme, van Sweden (OvS) Principal Eric Groft was on site to bring the New American Garden to the shores of Carlin Bay on Lake Coeur d’Alene near Harrison, Idaho. Assisted by Jim Fink of StyleBuilt Construction for grading and hardscape and Aspen Nursery for landscape, the garden was laid out and installed. The hardscape included new decks and verandahs, stone terraces and paths using the local Cabinet Gorge paving stone, re-alignment of the driveway paved with a rainbow gravel, enormous slabs of the Cabinet Gorge stone placed along the shore, and the placement of “basking rocks” for sunbathing. The steep slope is traversed with a new 10% gravel path that will allow gator traffic as well as a Porters Rope to negotiate the steepest slopes from the house to the water’s edge.

The Lake Shore features the remants of enormous Cedar stumps up to 12’ in diameter, as well as a greensward of lawn for passive recreation. A new rustic outdoor shower, boathouse and tent platform are organized around a Cowboy Cauldron for outdoor fires and cooking.

The site is covered with towering Logpole Pine, Spruce and Fir trees. Perennials, grasses, sedges, ferns and ground covers were installed in large swaths to provide a lush backdrop to the rustic garden features as well as sustainable erosion control for the steep slopes that exceed 30% in some areas. In addition to the OvS regulars of Panicum North Wind, Senecio aureus, Pynanthem muticum, Rudbeckia maxima and ‘Herbsonne’, we also used the native Andropogon/Big Blue Grass, Boutelua/Blue Gamma Grass, Bergenia and Mahonia to naturalize the site.

Lake Couer d’Alene, just 30 minutes from Spokane Washington, tranlates in French as ‘Heart of the Owl’ and is an ancient glacial Lake stretching 25 miles and covering 30,000 acres, with a depth that is not documented! Please take a look at OvS in the Rocky Mountians in this remote and enchanting Northern Idaho panhandle location…

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Revisiting South Franklin Circle

The Group from OvS, South Franklin Circle, and Judson Services

In 2005, Oehme, van Sweden (OvS) began a collaboration with GUND Partnership on an 80-acre planned community for adults over age 50. The property, in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, was to be known as South Franklin Circle. Today, the community is thriving – with residents, activities and plant life. On September 20th, OvS Principal Eric Groft was the keynote speaker for the kick-off to the 2011-2012 South Franklin Circle Dialogue Series. Created as a forum to inform and inspire the community, this segment of the dialogue series offered residents of South Franklin Circle insight to the inspiration, design and plant selection of the neighborhood in which they live from the designer himself. Following the presentation, Eric fielded questions from the audience and signed copies of The Artful Garden: Creative Inspiration for Landscape Design. Eric was also able to walk the grounds of South Franklin Circle with Bill Fehrenbach, the Vice President of Project Development at South Franklin Circle and Cynthia Dunn, CEO of Judson Services. All were impressed the growth that the plants experienced since their installation in 2009.

The South Franklin Circle Community

 

A South Franklin Circle Residence

Eric Groft of OvS

Eric Groft & Bill Fehrenbach

Eric Groft at the book signing

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Honest Point

With osprey circling overhead, a redwing blackbird’s bright foliage punctuating the tidal grasses beyond, and the summer sun sweltering down, OvS enjoyed a plant installation last week at a residential estate on the Northern Neck of Virginia.  Over the last three years, OvSg has been involved with this 12-acre peninsular property at the point of the Potomac River’s confluence with the Chesapeake Bay.  Newly installed beds of salt and wind tolerant plantings frame the modern house and garages (by Dale Overmeyer Architects), and spill into long, loose sweeps of native meadows and a restored loblolly pine forest beyond.  Several native meadows were designed in conjunction with meadow designer Larry Weaner Landscape Associates.

Planting last fall 2010

The same field this spring, featuring Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Rehbrahn’), White Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum ‘Bartered Bride’), and Plum Swamp Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Plum Crazy’)

The first phase seeded meadow with Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) blooming prolifically (photo by Larry Weaner Landscape Associates)

Sweetbay Magnolias (Magnolia virginiana) frame views to the restored barn beyond

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Seasonal Planting at Americana Manhasset

On the longest day of the year, Oehme, van Sweden had the pleasure of welcoming summer by laying out annual plantings at Americana Manhasset. Eric D. Groft and Hilary Oat-Judge of OvS laid out a vast array of colorful and textural plants from the Otto Keil Nursery with Steven Dubner Landscaping’s masterfully assisting in this ambitious annual ritual celebrating Summer.

Oehme, van Sweden’s 30-year collaboration with the visionary staff at Americana Manhasset has provided visitors to Long Island’s premier haute couture shopping destination with dramatic seasonal plantings to complement Peter Marino’s architecture. Here’s a quick look at this season’s combinations.

Laying out the plants at the Coach boutique

Eric Groft laying out plants at the Chanel boutique

Plantings at Chanel: Colocasia fontanesii 'Black Stem,' Strobilanthes dyerianus, Coleus 'Flirtin Skirts'

The fuchsia stems of the Iresine 'Blazin Lime' interplanted with Gomphrena 'Fireworks' and Strobilanthes dyerianus play off the bright blooms of the Dianthus 'Bouquet Purple' at the Louis Vuitton Boutique

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Garden Conservancy Society of Fellows Visits the Schupf Home

On Friday, June 10th the Garden Conservancy Society of Fellows Tour of the Hudson Valley stopped by the home and garden of Axel and Sara Schupf. It was a crystalline day, clear and in the 70’s, a thunderstorm the night before had cleared out all the humidity and the garden just glistened. The visibility was so clear you could see Bear Mountain beyond the Hudson River from the Library Terrace.

Attendees included Lee Auchincloss of New York City, Susan Burke of New York City, Colin Cabot of Loudon, NH, Page Dickey of North Salem, Ben and Cindy Lenhardt of Winnetka, Il., Joseph Marek of Santa Monica, Ken and Polly Mattox of La Grange, Georgia, Mary Ann Tucker of Greenwich Ct, and Ceasar and Dorothy of Knoxville, TN.

Oehme, van Sweden Principal Eric D. Groft led the tour and later signed copies of the latest Oehme, van Sweden book, The Artful Garden: Creative Inspiration for Landscape Design for each member on the tour.

Axel Schupf with Chapin and Cynthia Nolen of Santa Barbara, CA

 

The group enjoyed fresh strawberries and pastries on the Library Terrace

 

The group descending the Roxybury Granite Steps from the Entry Garden to Forecourt

 

Sara Schupf addresses questions from the group

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The ARF Hamptons Garden Tour – 25th Anniversary

The Animal Rescue Fund of The Hamptons is offering a self-guided visit to six delightful gardens in Bridgehampton and Sagaponack, including an Oehme, van Sweden garden on Ocean Road. The tour, this Saturday, lasts from 10am – 4pm. A cocktail party immediately follows in East Hampton. Tickets are $75 for the tour and $175 for the tour and cocktail party. If you would like to attend this year’s garden tour, click here.

The OvS garden featured on the tour highlights a series of garden rooms, all with a distinct carpet of brick and stone. To the rear of the house are a living room terrace, dining terrace, pool terrace and secret garden off the master bedroom. A magnificent lily pool sits adjacent to the living room french doors, providing spectacular refractions of light from the setting sun on the ceiling.

Specimen trees on the property include Mimosa, Weeping Beech, Chinese Sumac, Caucasian Wingnut, Amur corktree, and Katsura Trees.

OvS Principal Eric D. Groft will be on-hand to fully illustrate the splendor of this garden and sign your copy of the new book THE ARTFUL GARDEN: Creative Inspriation for Landscape Design.

Photography by Richard Felber and James van Sweden

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An Update on the Green Roof at United Therapeutics

OvS paid a visit to the United Therapeutics Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland on May 25th to complete a Final Plant Warranty Inspection for the site. The purpose of the visit was to inspect all plant material and determine if any replacements were required. We completed a walkthrough of the site and were pleasantly surprised to find that there were very few replacements required. We were also shocked at just how much the plants had grown in a two-year period.

The roof terraces in particular were fantastic. The Achillea tomentosa was a full bloom bright yellow, the Salvia ‘Tesquicola’ was just starting to pop blue and the multiple different colored Sedums had spread as intended. Stainless steel planters, the 6th floor arbor, and beautiful site furnishings, together with the plantings, have created pleasant outdoor rooms to be enjoyed by the employees of United Therapeutics.

 

 

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A Visit to Treesearch Farms

On Tuesday and Wednesday, May 24 and 25, OvS Principal Eric Groft was in Houston, Texas for the Chung Mei Buddhist Temple Park Project presenting to the Temple and design team of Catherine Chao and Greg Yang, architects.

While in the area he visited TreeSearch Farms, which turned out to be a treasure trove of plants. Not just your ordinary nursery and not a collection of the rare and bizarre either, it is just the type of place those here at OvS love. Eric had asked his tour guide Erik Hansen of McDugald Steele (potential installer for the garden and park) to show him a nursery owned by someone that is passionate about horticulture. Well … Treesearch Farm Owner Heidi Sheesley was the right pick – she knows her plants! Eric and Heidi were off and running sharing plant knowledge and stories of J.C. Raulston, Michael Dirr and Tony Avent. The perfect plantsmen afternoon!

L-R: Lucky (Heidi's toy rat terrier), Heidi Sheesley, Eric Groft and Erik Hansen

Heidi is a sensitive and sensible plants person. She collects and propogates plants that will do well in her region, always pushing the limits but not trying to reinvent the wheel either. She loves ornamental grasses and the natural look, but does not go to the extremes of the native purists. All very much simpatico with the OvS philosophy. Eric looks forward to a long and fruitful collaboration with TreeSearch and Heidi.

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