Circling Back

I'm working on a complete re-design for Macalester Plymouth United Church in St. Paul. They originally asked us to design an empty lot next to their building, and now we're looking at the entire landscape. A house used to stand on the lot, but was demolished last year, leaving a footprint of coarse fill and exotic invasive weeds.

The project is a unique one for me, because it's so close to my Alma mater - Macalester College. The place where I put down my roots in Minnesota is just across the street.  I spent countless hours in the painting studio overlooking the very site on which I'm now working with EnergyScapes. I painted this same view from my studio space, working late at night because I enjoyed the hues that emerged from the darkness. One of my paintings is a portrait of the big white house that formerly stood on the lot next to the church. The painting is dark - a faint horizon line of tree tops against the night sky, and a roof line emerging pale against the dark background. That image, which I painted in 2002, hangs on my wall at home, a snapshot of the peaceful evenings when all I did was observe and paint.

The image I'm looking at now is bare, where the house once stood. I'm imagining swaths of colorful prairie species moving around the site. There is a patio where people will congregate and curving paths guiding them to and fro. Fragrant flowers are within arm's reach of the seating benches and new trees will grow up into their majestic canopies. The space welcomes you in and guides you about.  In spring there will be bursting buds of serviceberries and crabapples, nodding heads of Virginia bluebells and humble Uvularia. Summer will bring buzzing bees to the warm prairie flowers and grasses. Seed heads and berries will persist from fall into winter and the birds will be happy. Stormwater will stay on site with a series of rain gardens that will solve the current drainage concerns.

How could I not be excited about this project? It's my opportunity to be part of something transformative and full of energy. I feel like I've come full circle from my Macalester education to this project - finding new challenges and delights, and growing throughout the wonderful process.

An Internship

I began a design internship last fall with EnergyScapes, Inc., a native landscape design/build firm in South Minneapolis. I learned about EnergyScapes through my best friend who grew up next door. I started working with them in the fall of 2008 as part of the maintenance crew, and continued in 2009 on both the maintenance and installation crews. As my internship came to a close in January, I transitioned into a design position, and am now the Ecological Designer. My coworkers and boss have taught me valuable lessons along the way, and I continue to learn from them everyday. I love my job for that and the challenges that come with it.

Garden Tours - and I'm on one!

 the backyard with the client's sculpture

My garden design for a St. Paul residence was included on the Minneapolis-St. Paul Home Tour this past weekend. The home was one of 18 homes on tour in St. Paul, and the backyard featured the redesign I completed last summer. I can't take credit for the installation, which was contracted out by APL Landscape Solutions, but I did design the graceful curves and intimate spaces that define the garden.

The Home Tour was an exciting opportunity for me, because it was my first chance to represent myself and network with people. I arrived on Day 2 of the two day tour with a stack of business cards, looking forward to discussing the garden with people. It was a welcome challenge for me, because self-promotion is something with which I regularly struggle. The experience was even more challenging being that most of the tour goers are do-it-yourselfers who don't necessary want or need the help. I hesitantly offered my card to a couple people, but I still had a sizable stack of cards left after three hours. It was a learning experience for me, and I do feel that I'm slowly coming out of my shell. One networking day at a time.

Though I didn't shake everyone's hand or make myself particularly well known, the tour was really encouraging for me. Most everyone complimented some aspect of the garden. One of the lines I overheard over the course of the afternoon, and which particularly touched me was, "Oh, what a peaceful space!" I'm glad I conveyed some things clearly through all of this!

Awards!

 One of the images of our winning project

We won a merit award! Way back in February, we applied to the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) 2010 International Design Awards. Well, we received a merit award for the project we submitted! We put a lot of time into the application, culling through hundreds of images from the past five years for the project site and selecting our best fifteen to submit. I never thought we'd make the cut, because of the project's "natural" aesthetic. The imagery really told the story, however, and thankfully we had enough "before and after" shots to show the transformation of the landscape.