Lisa Delplace at Toledo Botanical Garden

Customers shop the annual plant sale at Toledo Botanical Garden (Photo by the Toledo Blade)

The horticulturally hungry descended upon The Toledo Botanical Garden in Toledo, OH on a Saturday in May for the annual spring plant sale. Oehme, van Sweden CEO Lisa Delplace was among the many to browse the over 10,000 perennials on sale, and also serve as the day’s keynote speaker. Some of the most popular items for sale were of the sustainable variety. For those looking to capitalize on the rain as a way to water their gardens, stormwater management barrels were on sale. For those looking to capitalize on breakfast, chicken coops – which included three hens – were available. It goes to show that no matter where you live – urban or rural – you can enjoy farming and dabble in raising livestock.

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Scott Arboretum Visits Danieli Garden

This September, Oehme van Sweden principal, Eric Groft, will lead members of the Scott Arboretum on a tour of the lush East Hampton garden in The Springs on September 22^nd of 2011.

The Scott Arboretum is the campus of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. The members of the group are avid gardeners and many are regular volunteers at the Scott Arboretum.

The Arboretum has invited several members to join them on a four-day, three-night excursion to travel the Gardens of Long Island from September 20-23, 2011. Jeff Jabco and Julie Jenney will guide each member to experience the beauty of various public and private gardens spanning from the Oyster Bay area to the east end of the North and South Forks.

Here’s a glimpse of some of our work that will be featured during the tour.

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Snowfall Blankets OvS Plantings at Tanger Outlets

Oehme van Sweden has always paid particular attention to the subtle beauty and strong forms that emerge from the winter garden. After one of the many recent snowfalls that has blanketed the region, the plantings we designed for the Tanger Outlets at the Arches in Deer Park, New York looked beautiful against the thick layer of snow.  We hope that the shoppers taking advantage of the post-holiday bargains appreciated the sculptural forms of the plantings as much as we did!

The muted wheat color of the Hakonechloa macra and Pennisetum alopecuroides glowed against the drifts piled in the planting beds, with the dancing and waving forms of the grasses frozen in place by the weight of the snow.   

Hakonechloa macra (Hakone grass) with Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snow Queen’ behind

 

Pennisetum alopecuroides (Fountain grass)

The multi-stemmed trunk of the Magnolia virginiana emerged from its blanket of snow. Partially protected by a glass canopy, it still held many of its leaves.

Magnolia Virginiana (with Rohdea Japonica)

At one of the main entries, the dark seed heads of the Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’ punctuated the bed of Perovskia atriplicifolia.  The Japanese tree lilac was silhouetted against the swiftly-moving clouds, bringing attention to the beauty of its form.

Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage) in the foreground with Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’ (Black-Eyed Susans) and Syringa reticulate (Japanese Tree Lilac) behind

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Landscaping Coastal Properties

Oehme van Sweden has a long history of work in the coastal areas of the United States. From the rugged Maine coast, to charming Nantucket, to the beaches of Sagaponack, to the coastal areas of North Carolina, we have designed gardens that are not only beautiful, but withstand the tests of time, weather and use.

In this short video, OvS Principal Sheila Brady talks about why she loves working on coastal properties. View the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LucjVLGTGg

For more information on our work, including our projects in coastal areas, please see our website at www.ovsla.com.

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An Eastern Long Island Garden

Recently, Oehme, van Sweden Principal Eric Groft had the pleasure of revisiting the garden of John and Regina Scully, a project he completed a few years ago. The Scully garden is located high on a Louse Point bluff looking over Gardiners Bay in Amagansett. John and Regina Scully were home having come from their native San Francisco to enjoy the fall color of eastern Long Island.

The Scully Home

The View Over Gardiners Bay

The Terrace

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A Visit to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

On Wednesday, October 27th Oehme, van Sweden Principal Eric Groft and long standing client Barbara Slifka were hosted to a lunch and tour of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden by President Scot Medbury and Dr. Gerry Moore, Director of Science. From its humble beginnings as an ash dump in the late 1800s, Brooklyn Botanic Garden has come to represent today the very best in urban gardening and horticultural display, attracting more than 700,000 visitors and serves over 150,000 school children each year.

Scot has been with with the Garden five years and has initiated some ambitious projects including a new herb garden, visitor center and expansion of the local plant collection.

A highlight of our visit to the Garden was the beautiful fall color in the Native Flora Garden, and the emerging colors in the maples located in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden. To view photos of the beautiful fall foliage, check out the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Flickr photosharing page.

What a delight to revisit this gem of a garden located right in the heart of Brooklyn!

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A Visit to Nantucket

I was recently on Nantucket installing a beautiful hillside garden overlooking Polpis Harbor in Quaise. The hillside is planted with waves of native grasses and the garden features a lower, private enclosed garden with classic Nantucket privet hedges aligned with colorful perennial boarders.

I also had fun visiting former clients in Squam and was delighted to see this mature OvS garden planted nearly ten years ago, a wonderful example of how our gardens thrive in the Nantucket landscape. Alot of the credit goes to our clients, who are so engaged with their garden. They have added wonderful new areas including an elegant barn beautifully sited in open native fields and a walled-in fruit orchard.

While on Island, I also enjoyed a walk off Polpis road through the “Moors” as they are called locally. These special land preserves protected by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and are filled with rare and endangered plants as well as beautiful windswept costal heathlands, diverse grasslands, cranberry bogs, and ground covers like huckleberry, low bush blueberry, and beach plumb.

Walking towards Gibbs Pond was magical and absorbing … grassland walking paths lead to narrow scrub oak woodland paths that are filled with a ground plane of ferns, and wonderful narrow paths encircle the pond with quiet views across the pond textured with rushes.

The pond ,wetlands and plant communities were capturing my attention as we are in the final stages of design for the Native Plant Garden at the New York Botatical Garden. The garden features a re-circulating central water feature with innovative water retention, wetlands that will filter and cleanse the pond, and an entire spectrum of plants that grow in conditions from wet sun to dry shade, upland forest to dry meadows.

It was such an enjoyable visit to Nantucket and I look forward to returning soon!

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OvS Goes Back to School

It’s that time of year again … students all over the country are returning to colleges and universities and school is once again in session. This year, Oehme van Sweden will also be going back to school – only in our case, we’re revisiting our alma maters in our capacity as landscape architects!

Lisa Delplace and Bob Hruby of Oehme van Sweden recently visited the University of Maryland for the kick-off meeting, marking the beginning of the firm’s work on the 2011 facilities master plan update. OvS’ talented team of consultants are eager to dive into this exciting project, and Bob in particular is looking forward to making contributions to his alma mater!

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Revisiting the Fed

August’s stifling heat has some advantages – many plants have been lured by the sun into their full summer exuberance. Oehme, van Sweden staff members spent a recent lunch break basking in the sun ourselves and enjoying lush plantings at the Federal Reserve campus in Washington, DC.

The Federal Reserve was one of OvS’ earliest “big breaks” – our first large government project, designed and planted in the late 1970’s. Bold sweeps of perennials and grasses marked a striking departure from the formal style of the surrounding federal landscapes. Over the decades, Oehme, van Sweden has maintained a close relationship with the Federal Reserve and recently designed improvements for integrated perimeter site security (including custom bronze bollards, raised planters that incorporate benches and walls, pedestrian and vehicular access and circulation, and kiosk locations).

During our lunchtime tour, OvS Principal Eric Groft pointed out ways in which the new design is integrated into the original and how the integrity of the original design (including now mature canopy trees, sweeps of ornamental grasses, and robust perennials) is honored. Eric was joined by OvS Associate Marisa Scalera (who has been involved in the Federal Reserve designs since 2003) and members of the OvS design staff including Christie Ciabotti, Lisa Cutshaw, John Knowlton, Nick Ries, and Liz Stetson.

See our website for photos of our work at the Federal Reserve.

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A Visit to the Gund Partnership

Earlier this week, Eric Groft traveled to Boston, Massachussetts to meet with Graham Gund and the Gund Partnership architectural team. Gund Partnership is a nationally recognized architecture and planning firm working with leading institutions across the country to design transformative buildings. Since the firm’s founding in 1971, Gund Partnership has earned more than 100 national and regional awards for design excellence.

The purpose of Eric’s visit to Gund Partnership was to present three schemes for the corporate campus of the Services Credit Union in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. One scheme was preferred and will be developed to be presented later in August to the client.

As part of his visit to Gund Partnership, Eric was invited for a meet and greet with the firm’s marketing team and others on staff to familiarize them with the work of Oehme van Sweden and the philosophy behind our New American Garden style.

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