Maps that are rich in detail help us communicate the complexity and evolution of our dynamic garden. Lurie Garden is intended to be an ever-changing, dynamic planting. The evolving relationships between plant groups and their role in the overall design requires constant monitoring as well as deep historical and horticultural knowledge unique to this place. […]
Can we as designers, horticulturalists and gardeners feasibly and successfully recreate park design and modern design features in our own gardens? My visit to Lurie Garden was all about looking at ideas, features and combinations and reinterpreting them to work on a home garden scale. In 2015 the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) announced that one […]
We can analyze the composition of a garden’s design like we study a painting. This allows us to understand how a garden is put together, and from that comes the ability to make educated design decisions in our own gardens. I recently heard a well-respected garden writer comment on Dan Pearson’s naturalistic garden at Chelsea 2015, saying that “Real works […]
When one enters Chicago’s Lurie Garden or New York’s High Line, it is clear these are not traditionally cultivated gardens, nor are they prairies, woodlands, or meadows, where composition is left to the whims of natural forces. Rather, they are composed and curated landscapes that evoke a site’s ecological past, celebrate the best attributes of […]
The element of garden design referred to as ‘plant size’ includes many facets, height being just one. Plant spread, density, and footprint are other factors of plant size that gardeners consider when selecting plants and designing their garden spaces. Giving consideration to the whole concept of plant size is critical when selecting plants and planning […]