Posts from — November 2008

Wolfgang Oehme parts the sea of Panicum (switchgrass) under the careful watch of the red berries of winterberry holly and the dead heads of Rudbeckia maxima. As a founding principal of Oehme van Sweden Associates in Washington DC, he and James van Sweden have brought perennials and grasses into the conversation of landscape architecture and helped define an American garden style. While the “New American Garden” proposes a melting pot of appropriate plants from all corners, I find the style most intrepid when it remains bold, simple, and largely native.

Realizing that the native/exotic plant conversation is fraught with slippery slopes I am nonetheless attracted to a native set of plants as the structure for the most successful gardens. Amidst a backdrop of natural environments which are increasingly difficult to decode I propose a recombination of native plants. Although our native landscapes are largely gone, native plants can still play an important role in the designed landscape. The regeneration of native landscapes can be achieved using a palette consistent with the cultural past while providing the ecological links necessary for a healthy web.

But it can look different. The action of regeneration provides the opportunity to make bold statements with planted form. Color, scale, and texture can be used in artificial combination to bring the disappearing background forward and ultimately replace the monoculture of green grass and imported exotics so prevalent in our suburban landscape.  Plants like switchgrass, winterberry holly, and black eyed susan create a chorus of 4 season interest while still providing ecological symbiosis for critters and creatures.  This combination is one of many that deserve a place in the Americas next landscapes.