The Landscape Contractor magazine JUL.20 Digital Edition by Association Publishing Partners

Stormwater Management for Residential Clients

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July 2020

CONTENTS

Excellence In Landscape Awards Project

FOCUS: Stormwater Management Techniques Landscape Awash? 10 Your company should employ rain gardens Stormwater Management for Residential Clients 20 An Interview with Vallari Talapatra Seasonal Weather Forecast 32 Weather Command forecasts summer 2020

EN ESPAÑOL

¿Jardines inundados? 34 Su compañía debe emplear jardines de lluvia Landscapes Awash? Try rain gardens

Lurie Garden 40 Maintaining a naturalistic garden in a public space

Manage or Maintain? 48 Thinking Differently about landscapes Diseases & Pests 56 Boxwood leafminer and Anthracnose Hidden Landscape Gems 62 Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

On the cover... Bruss Landscaping, Inc. received a Gold award for this Residential Landscape Construction project titled A Family Retreat.

48 The Landscape Contractor July 2020

CONTENTS

DEPARTMENTS ILCA Calendar From Where I Stand President’s Message Classified Ads Advertisers Index Photo Credits

ILCA Awards Committee Nina Koziol and Pizzo Native Plant Vallari Tallapatra Lurie Garden Kelly Norris Lincoln Park Conservancy

A Note about COVID-19

4 5 7 58 61

Readers of this magazine should not think we are trying to avoid dicussion of the COVID-19 pandemic. That information has been extraordinarily presented with the COVID-19 daily email from Scott Grams and the dedicated COVID-19, ILCA Facebook page. The Landscape Contractor magazine will continue to focus on its normal landscape design/construction/maintenance/ and general buiness content. We hope this approach provides a brief respite from the stresses of the day.

Calendar

1, 8-9 10-19, 34-38 20-30 40-47 48-54 62

AUGUST

The official publication of the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association (ILCA), The Landscape Contractor is dedicated to educating, advising and informing members of this industry and furthering the goals of the Association. The Landscape Contractor carries news and features relating to landscape contracting, maintenance, design and allied interests. Publisher is not responsible for unsolicited material and reserves the right to edit any article or advertisement submitted for publication. Publication reserves right to refuse advertising not in keeping with goals of Association. WWW.ilca.net

August 27, 2020 Turf Education Day

Volume 61, Number 7. The Landscape Contractor (ISSN # 0194-7257, USPS # 476-490) is published monthly for $75.00 per year by the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association, 2625 Butterfield Road, Ste. 104S, Oak Brook, IL 60523. Periodicals postage paid at Oak Brook, IL and additional mailing offices. Printed in USA.

SEPTEMBER

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Landscape Contractor, 2625 Butterfield Road, Ste 104S, Oak Brook, IL 60523. DISPLAY ADVERTISING SALES: Association Publishing Partners, Inc., Ph. (630) 637-8632 Fax (630) 637-8629 email: rmgi@comcast.net CLASSIFIED ADS, CIRCULATION AND SUBSCRIPTION: ILCA (630) 472-2851 Fax (630) 472-3150 PUBLISHER/EDITORIAL OFFICE: Rick Reuland, rmgi@comcast.net, Naperville, IL 60540 Ph. (630) 637-8632

September 10, 2020 Golf Outing

PRODUCT DISCLAIMER: The Illinois Landscape Contractors Association, its Board of Directors, the Magazine Committee, ILCA Staff, The Landscape Contractor and its staff, neither endorse any products nor attest to the validity of any statements made about products

ILCA Staff

Magazine Staff

Executive Director Scott Grams (630) 472-2851 sgrams@ilca.net

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Education Manager AnneMarie Drufke adrufke@ilca.net

Debbie Rauen Advertising Sales (817-501-2403) debbie.landscapecontractor@ yahoo.com

Events Manager Terre Houte thoute@ilca.net Office Manager Alycia Nagy anagy@ilca.net Membership & Marketing Manager Marissa Stubler mstubler@ilca.net

OCTOBER October 20, 2020 The Impact Conference

Meta Levin

Feature Writer

at dotynu rseries.co m to recei ve our

meta.levin@comcast.net Nina Koziol n.koziol@att.net

Feature Writer

dotynurseries.com

Heather Prince

Shade TreeS • OrnamenTalS • evergreenS • ShrubS

ILCA

princeht@sbcglobal.net

2625 Butterfield Road Ste. 104S Oak Brook, IL 60523 (630) 472-2851 • Fax (630) 472-3150

Patrice Peltier

Feature Writer

Feature Writer patpeltier@charter.net

Ryan Doty sales@dotynurseries.com

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From Where I Stand — School’s out for summer. School’s out forever. School’s been blown to pieces.

-Alice Cooper

School ended this year on a whimper.

Normally, the last few days of school are filled with finals, field days, locker clean-ups, and graduation parties. Wound-up kids count down the final moments before they burst out of the school doors to freedom, glorious freedom. Yearbooks are signed. Tearful hugs are given. Kids promise to stay in touch. The next three months are all about free time, lazy summer jobs, air conditioning, and having no particular place to go. This year begged the question, “Can school be out if it was never really in?” For any parent forced into “e-learning” this year, it was normal to have five family meltdowns even before breakfast. On its face, e-learning seemed simple enough. I have a 2nd grade son and a 5th grade daughter. We were not talking about advanced physics and trigonometry. My son had simple spelling sheets and multiplication tables, my daughter had social studies and basic geometry. No problem. In my mind, the kids would plow through their assignments while I banged away at my computer in my non-essential home office. We’d all meet for lunch and they’d fill me in on the educational journey they went on that morning. Yeah, that never happened. If you were lucky, it would only take 45 minutes to get past the “E” in e-learning. My kids’ assignments were buried in a patchwork of 3rd party apps, many of which I am convinced have already stolen my kids identities. A friend posted a meme after another brutal day of e-learning. It showed a frustrated parent with the instructions from the teacher, “Just log into Zablezoot, scroll down to the Zorki app and have the kids work through the assignments sent through Kracklezam or check the link posted in Drumblekick.” That was every morning. My son would helplessly hand me his tablet and I’d spend 40 minutes screaming at the screen like I was trying to diffuse a time bomb. E-learning combined all the fun of school with the joy of remembering log-ins and passwords. I just wanted to touch a physical text book again. Feel its weight and riffle its pages. I wanted to see pages and pages of charts and graphs and horrible stock photos from the 1970s where every math problem seemed to involve dividing up a pizza. The morning Zoom calls with our kids’ teachers turned into full scale parental mutinies. You’d hear parents off-screen trying to whisper to their kids, “Ask her how you print assignments from DoobleBob” and the kid would translate, “My Mommy wants to know how you squint at breath mints in BobbleDoop.” The first month was an unmitigated disaster. My goals for my kids dropped from “use technology to excel in a flexible home school environment” to “hold the line” to “knowing the alphabet is overrated, anyway.” Lo and behold, we eventually got through it. My son’s teacher gave up and finally mailed everyone a paper packet. My daughter was sharp enough to figure out her apps just like she teaches Grammy how to use the Comcast remote when she comes over to babysit. We eventually built daily schedules and didn’t hide the fact we were total-

ly googling how to figure out corresponding angles of a trapezoid. Almost every school across the entire country pivoted to an e-learning curriculum. Was it ideal? No. Was it perfect? No. Was it frustrating and maddening at times? Yes. Does my kid know how to determine corresponding angles of a trapezoid without Googling? Yes, well, maybe. The State of Illinois has an extremely science and data-based, methodical 5-Phase plan to reopen Illinois called Restore Illinois. As I write this, we are currently in phase 3 and inching closer and closer to Phase 4. Then, there is a big jump to Phase 5 where basically life returns to normal. COVID-19 may not be entirely gone, but we either have a vaccine, effective treatment that decreases its lethality, or have case counts near zero with adequate testing and contact tracing to stamp out hotspots. Most of ILCA’s most popular education and networking events lie in Phase 5. For us, it cannot come fast enough. Yet, the first 3 months of COVID-19 showed us that ILCA is not just the producer of education and networking events. We kept this industry working with our advocacy. We kept our industry well-funded with our immediate embrace of the PPP. We kept our industry safe through passing along safety guidelines, testing information, and training modules. Like so many primary and secondary schools, we didn’t just wave goodbye and say, “See ya in Phase 5!” We spent hours on webinars and reading dense CDC guidelines and federal regulations so we could extract the small nuggets that would be valuable to busy landscape professionals. We became information brokers and gatekeepers knowing our members could only handle so much at a time. As weeks bled off the calendar, ILCA braced itself for what will be a wild year. ILCA staff attended a number of webinars on virtual event strategies and platforms. One of the best told us that immediately researching platforms was the absolute worst way to proceed. You will simply recreate the e-learning nightmare of Zablezoot, Zorki, Kracklezam, Drumblkick, and Doodlebob. We will get lost in the “how” and never ask ourselves the “who” or the “why.” Instead, the advice was for smart organizations to do a self-assessment on what its members want and need from virtual events before ever considering a platform. We knew this exercise would add weeks to our RFP process, but it would leverage ILCA’s greatest asset - our organizational structure. ILCA has over 20 standing committees that are overseen by a Board of Directors. Further, a special subcommittee called the Professional Oversight Committee performs a metric-based process to determine if our committees are hitting their objectives. This bottomup structure is why ILCA succeeds. It relies on 200+ volunteers a year, but is the reason this association can do so much with a staff of 5 and a reasonable budget. The Board authorized the staff to work with our committees to determine each of their audiences’ needs and if meeting those needs would work in a virtual environment. All had to complete a detailed questionnaire and that data was fed into an RFP spearheaded by staff. For some events, it was a no-brainer. Clearly, the Golf Outing is not going to work in a virtual environment and is being rescheduled for next spring. Other committees have programs where their audience is used to online learning and will transition more readily. Further, they have had speakers they have not been able to attract

Virtual Reality

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

From Where I Stand — because of budget or travel constraints who can now participate in their programs. Turf Education Day and the Impact Conference will press forward with virtual events this fall. Other committees are looking at alternative ways to bring content whether through a webinar series, standalone webinars, specialty publications, or additional resources. All of our committees have been spending hours deliberating the pros and cons so the ILCA can continue to bring value to our members until we reenter Phase 5. I will be the first to admit that associations are slow to react. We are methodical and have multiple layers of oversight designed to protect us from going down rabbit holes. Further, we have an obligation to the silent majority of the membership who vote with their dues. I have never seen the Association react so quickly to a crisis and also to the commitment to evolve along with our members’ needs. I now need to ask for three things from the membership. First, I need to ask for your trust. ILCA is still committed to advancing our mission and exposing the membership to the best educators, speakers, and minds our industry has to offer. We will use alternative formats until it is safe to return to in-person gatherings. We will work around the schedules and constraints of busy professionals who are already dealing with Zoom and webinar fatigue. We will not rush forward with junk content or clutter that merely allows us to check a box. We want to deliver the same value you have come to expect from 61 years of ILCA programming and education. Second, I ask for your patience. As we explore this new space, we will make mistakes. There will be technical glitches. There will be formats that worked well on paper that don’t work well in action. We will learn from these missteps and provide programs that respect your time and your dollars. Third, I ask for your support. The ILCA is in uncharted waters. We have a diversified budget based on dues, sponsorships, advertising, and, yes, event registrations. We are not eligible for the PPP. We are not going to double the price of membership. We are going to head out into the darkness with a budget, a Strategic Plan, a dedicated staff, and 200 of the sharpest and most selfless volunteers in the landscape industry. We are relearning our association and business model in real-time. I ask that we close the circuit and our members are there to guide and shepherd us like ILCA has done for the industry since March. In a few weeks, we will pass July 15th. That date serves as the first lull in the landscape season (well, “lull-ish”). That is when school for the ILCA is back in session. Our e-learning will begin. It will look and feel different. Out of the gate it may cause frustration and confusion. Please have trust and patience in our ability to make things right. ILCA will approach the virtual space like we do the physical space. Our Board, staff, and army of volunteers will work tirelessly to make sure you and your teams are educated, connected, inspired, and ready to face the challenges of your jobs. We will make you proud, so don’t be late for class.

Regards,

A L L TO G E T H E R B E T T E R 6

Scott Grams Executive Director, ILCA June 18, 2020

The Landscape Contractor W W W. M A R I A N I P L A N T S .COM

866-627-4264

July 2020

President’s Message — In full disclosure,

it wasn’t my choice to become President when they offered me the opportunity. As someone who runs a company, I thought, how could I possibly handle the responsibility and do it to the best of my ability? I consulted two people who help me navigate my professional life… my husband and landscape architect Aaron Zych and Melisa Bell, the general manager of our nursery. They both told me it was an honor, but more so a responsibility. They called me out and I accepted. I think everyone can identify with the reality of taking on responsibilities that are unknown to them. We have been through a recession, where your job descriptions and responsibilities changed out of sheer necessity. We are currently enduring a labor shortage. I’m certain some of you are pushing wheelbarrows that you haven’t touched in years. Now we are in the midst of a pandemic and protests. We all are taking on more and more in times of great uncertainty and unrest. I don’t know about you, but I consistently say in private, “When will this all stop?” The answer is probably not soon. Is that gloomy? Maybe. But what we need to learn from our current situation is that we all need to be prepared. More than prepared, we need to be educated. And that is where ILCA has been trying to help. ILCA, meaning Scott and his amazing staff, have been tirelessly trying to educate us on what we should be doing in our organizations to protect ourselves and, most important our people. Their tireless commitment is something we should put in the forefront of our minds. They support us; therefore we support them. Period. I will say I am proud to take the reins. It is a time of change. And we all can be a part of it. But remember to be part of change in the most positive way possible. We represent an industry. Let’s make it proud.

President

Donna Vignocchi Zych ILT Vignocchi, Inc. (847) 487-5200 dvignocchi@iltvignocchi.com

Vice-President

Scott McAdam, Jr. McAdam Landscaping, Inc. (708) 771-2299 Scottjr@mcadamlandscape.com

Secretary-Treasurer

Jeff Kramer Kramer Tree Specialists, Inc, (630) 293-5444 jwkramer@kramertree.com

Immediate Past President

Jose Garcia Natural Creations Landscaping, Inc. (815) 724-0991 info@naturalcreationslandscaping.com

Directors

Eric Adams Russo Power Equipment (847) 233-7811 eadams@russopower.com Jennifer Fick Wilson Nurseries and Landscape Supply (847) 683-3700 jennf@wilsonnurseries.com Allan Jeziorski Hartman Landscape (708) 403-8433 allanj@hartmanlandscape.net

Sincerely,

Dean MacMorris Night Light, Inc. (630) 627-1111 dean@nightlightinc.net Kevin Manning K & D Enterprise Landscape Management, Inc. (815) 725-0758 kmanning@kdlandscapeinc.com

Donna Vignocchi Zych President Illinois Landscape Contractors Association

Ashley Marrin Bret-Mar Landscape Management Group, Inc. (708) 301-8160 ashley@bretmarlandscape.com Mark Utendorf Emerald Lawn Care, Inc. (847) 392-7097 marku@emeraldlawncare.com

www.ilca.net

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Northwestern Medicine

Moore Landscapes â&#x20AC;˘ Northbrook Northwestern Medicine

is a nationally ranked academic medical center located in the Streeterville neighbor-

hood of Chicago. It is the flagship campus for Northwestern Medicine and the primary teaching hospital for Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. There are 12 buildings and two native prairie lots where landscaping is maintained. Northwestern Memorial Hospital provides a total of 894 inpatient beds and encompasses more than three million square feet of medical buildings within the Chicago campus. Performing landscape maintenance on the 24-hour hospital campus with its very high vehicle and pedestrian traffic requires that crews be vigilant and aware of their surroundings, pedestrians, and vehicular traffic at all times. Ongoing safety training is done to ensure that crews recognize and mitigate trip hazards and safely operate equipment in the densely populated campus. As the flagship of Northwestern Medicine and located in the downtown area adjacent to prominent residential condominium towers, maintaining exceptional curb appeal at all times is a very important focus of day-to-day operations. It is important to hospital administrators to provide as much green space as possible within the buildings, so five green roofs with sustainable plantings are maintained with weekly hand-weeding. The park-like setting along the city streets includes many types of trees and shrubs that are routinely pruned to maintain sight lines for pedestrians, bicyclists

and vehicles. Trees are wrapped with 2,000 sets of white lights during the holidays. The hospitalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal is to have a more sustainable landscape, so annual plantings are limited to small areas near entrances and seating, either in planting beds or containers. All seasonal color installation and watering tasks are performed during off-peak hours with crews typically starting at 4:00 am. Spring mulch is applied to landscape beds during the weekend when there is less traffic on the campus. The parkway areas between the sidewalk and street are the largest areas of landscaping and require constant maintenance. These areas are subjected to significant stress from the winter weather, de-icing applications, and urban conditions. Shrubs and perennials are evaluated in spring after the winter protective fabric is removed and supplemental plantings are added if needed. Fertilization is completed in spring and mid-season. Turf is fertilized three times during the season with two weed control applications. In the spring, turf is over-seeded to promote growth in the areas damaged by salt and snow removal during the winter months. Purple is a signature color of the hospital, so at the clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s request, purple color annuals are incorporated into spring and summer flower rotations. Fall displays consist of pink chrysanthemums to honor breast cancer awareness month. Containers dotted throughout the campus are handwatered three times per week, with the schedule adjusted for weather.

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Focus — Stormwater Management

Landscapes Awash? Your company should employ rain gardens.

By Nina Koziol

The record rainfall this past May left many homes and streets with standing water. Designing a rain garden is often an effective way to capture some of the excess water on a residential client’s site. Flooding is a problem not only in the Chicago metro area, but in places throughout the state. “Potential clients are everywhere,” says Carol Becker, owner of Sage Advice Landscape Design and Consulting in Park Ridge, Illinois. “Clients may live close to rivers or where housing has been built where there was no consideration for drainage. They can be in communities where they allow houses to be built almost to the lot lines.” And, that means less permeable space for water to enter the ground. A one-inch rainfall on an acre produces about 27,000 10

gallons of water. Some of it runs off onto beds, borders and grass, but that’s problematic, too. “Lawn really is impervious because the roots are only 3 to 4 inches deep,” said Grace Koehler, sales manager at Pizzo Native Plant Nursery. “It will eventually permeate the soil, but when it’s dry, the water runs right off the lawn.” In its most basic form, a rain garden is a depression in the ground that’s filled with sand, topsoil and compost and planted with native perennials, non-natives and grasses with deep roots that let water slowly permeate the ground. Besides addressing flooding, putting water back into the soil helps to recharge underground aquifers and reduces (continued on page 12)

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

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Focus — Stormwater Management basin where rainwater runoff can gently seep back into the earth instead of into a basement, garage, or sewer—is noble, but a common complaint is that rain gardens seem untidy. “If they look weedy or messy, the right plants haven’t been chosen for the site,” Koehler said. “You don’t have to use all natives but you should give consideration to the type of plants. Some are rhizomatous and form large mats and should only be used in large landscapes.” Marcus de la Fleur acknowledged the challenge in his presentation at ILCA’s 2018 Impact Conference. “Rain gardens are notoriously difficult to design—they can be a little too dry or too wet and the plants don’t (continued on page 14)

(continued from page 10) surface runoff (and pollutants) to streams and rivers. The rain garden concept is sometimes misunderstood. “A rain garden is kind of a low spot in the ground where water can gather and infiltrate,” said Trish Beckjord, Fox River Initiative program manager at The Conservation Foundation. “Typically, it’s water collected off a portion of the roof that will soak into the ground within 24 hours—it’s not a place that’s always moist. If that was the case, instead of a rain garden, we’d be looking at a garden of moisture-loving native plants.”

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Focus — Stormwater Management (continued from page 12) want to grow,” he said. Determining where and how the water flows on the property and the quality of soil are the first steps. Design a rain garden as you would any other perennial border. Select plants based on their ornamental qualities—flower and foliage color, form, texture and seasonal interest—and plant them in drifts. It has to look intentionally designed—it’s not necessarily meant to look like a natural area, unless that’s what your client wants. In many cases, clients have traditional landscaping, but with a drainage problem. Unless they are expecting something wild and informal, you’ll want to create a design that works with the rest of their property. Edging a rain garden with boulders, permeable pavers or gravel will help define the space and neatly separate it from the lawn.

the downspout,” she said. “From July through September it’s very dry if there’s no rain. The best plants are probably mesic-prairie plants. It’s a native plant that can take some inundation for 24 hours and a broad spectrum of natives can take that.” Mesic soils are medium moist and comparable to average garden soil while wet-mesic soils are medium moist to soggy most of the year. Herbaceous native plants that can handle moist sites in sun include swamp milkweed, common tussock sedge, blue flag iris, rosin weed, spiderwort, switch grass, Joe Pye weed and cup plant. A big mistake, Koehler said, is choosing wetland plants for all rain gardens. “Each site is different and every soil is different and that’s why we don’t give plant lists.” (See the online resource list below for more information on designs, plants and suppliers.)

Plant Selection

Shady Sites

Rain gardens can be placed just about anywhere—sun or shade—as long as you choose the appropriate plants. “The garden can be any size,” Koehler said. “When you think about detention or retention areas, they’re really just large rain gardens.” Beckjord’s home rain garden is a low area that receives water from the roof. “I have a channel that’s paver-lined from

Many of Becker’s projects in flood-prone Park Ridge are in shade. “I’ve used native shrubs, like bottlebrush buckeye, and native sedges,” Becker said. “There are many sedges that are beautiful but not very showy. It depends on the client.” Sedges can form the matrix of the planting or they can be used on the edges or in groupings. (continued on page 16)

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Focus — Stormwater Management (continued from page 14) Designing a rain garden for full or part shade is a matter of picking the right plants. “Common mountain mint is in a light-shade rain garden at Midwest Ground Covers,” Beckjord said. Longbeaked sedge (Carex sprengelii), pretty sedge (C. woodii) and brown fox sedge (C. vulpinoidea) are some of the native sedges that perform in moist woodlands. Canadian anemone, green dragon, jackin-the-pulpit, Virginia bluebells, false and smooth Solomon’s seal and marsh marigolds are some native woodland perennials that can handle wet-mesic soil. Other native shrubs that tolerate shady floodplain conditions include paw paw, smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens), red-twig dowood, button bush, spicebush and nannyberry (Viburnum lentago).

Training

Maintenance is just as critical with rain gardens as it is with perennial borders. “Mulch is not needed and you plant the plants closer together, which minimizes weeding,” Beckjord said. She recommends cutting plants back in spring and

leaving some stems standing six inches tall for native bees that will lay their eggs in them. “You can leave the debris on site. The way to do that is to chop it up so fine that it breaks down.” “In the client’s defense, most garden crews don’t know how to take care of rain gardens,” Becker said. “They’re used to using mulch to cover empty spaces.” When Becker designs a rain garden, she placed plants closely together. “We do over-plant by traditional standards. In a native garden, there are so many plants there are few weeds.” She recommends using a triangular Dutch hoe to quickly remove weeds from between the plants as they establish the first season. Beckjord says there’s an opportunity for landscape companies that offer maintenance. “We need to provide the expertise—how to manage a garden with native plants. It’s a market niche that’s begging to be filled.”

Managing Client Expectations

A picture (or drawing) is worth a thousand words. Rain gardens don’t look like the typical sunny perennial border or

The begining of a large rain garden project in Blue Island 16

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

shade gardens. “People see rain gardens in pictures, but the plantings are often three to five years old,” Becker said. One client who asked for natives contacted her this spring to say that two-thirds of the plants didn’t make it, but they were likely warm-season species. “The plants weren’t up yet. I got her to be patient and they came up, but they are small.” Over-planting with plugs, or if the budget permits, one-gallon pots, will speed up the garden’s progress. Explaining what the garden will look like in year two can help avoid disappointment. While many clients want carefree gardens, Koehler has a word of caution. “There’s no such thing as a maintenancefree landscape. It’s like any other perennial garden—it still needs maintenance and you need to manage invasive species.” Propose spring and fall maintenance in the bid.

Marketing Rain Gardens

There’s a value in offering rain gardens to homeowners, especially those interested in butterflies, bees, birds and sustainability. “Rain gardens are really important solutions that landscapers can (continued on page 18)

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Stormwater Management (continued from page 16) offer their client especially in dense, highly populated areas,” Koehler said. “Many native herbaceous perennials provide a lot of pollen and they’re also very specific host plants for moths and native bees.” “We’re successful at selling rain gardens because they manage the water that comes into the yard,” Becker said. “But they’re also supporting nature— plants that filter water and return it to ground water and not an overloaded sewer system.” “It’s a design tool, but it’s an important way to bring sustainable practices to our landscapes,” Beckjord said. “Being more sustainable includes using more native plants that are not only adapted to our region but that don’t require a lot of supplemental irrigation or fertilization to keep them looking good. Rainwater is a resource, not a waste product.”

Photo Right: The Blue Island Green Infrastructure Project created parkway plantings for stormwater management.

Photo Bottom: One of Blue Island’s parkway rain gardens. See more at https://www.nativelc.com/mwrd-blue-island

The completed rain garden project in Blue Island 18

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

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Online Rain Garden Resources ILCAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sustainable Landscape Resources: https://www.ilca.net/ sustainable-landscaping/ Illinois Department of Natural Resources: Rain Garden Requirements and Plant Lists https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/education/pages/plantlistraingarden.aspx Chicago Botanic Garden: Rain Gardensâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Eco-Friendly Storm Absorbers https://www.chicagobotanic.org/conservation/rain_garden Midwest Groundcovers: Rain Garden Plant List https://www.midwestgroundcovers.com/page/Rain-Garden-List University of Illinois: Rain Gardens: Designs, Plant Lists & Suppliers https://guides.library.illinois.edu/c.php?g=347854&p=2345331 Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS Data) https://cocorahs.org http://www.raingardennetwork.com/ http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Stormwater/raingarden/ http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/sustainability/sustainability/sustainable-living/at-home/rainscaping-guide/ The Pizzo Group Native Plants. https://pizzogroup.com

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Focus — Stormwater Management

Stormwater Management for Residential Clients: An Interview with Vallari Talapatra Nina Koziol

Flash flooding on May 14th this year was report-

ed throughout northern Illinois, according to the National Weather Service. Four inches of rain in Chicago set a new record as multiple storm systems moved through the area. Elsewhere in the state, creeks and rivers overflowed onto roadways. The state climatologist’s office reported that May was wetter than the 30-year normal and the 25th wettest May on record. It wasn’t a surprise to Landscape Architect Vallari Talapatra of Eco Scapes in Wheaton. “It’s not a new concern, but a rapidly growing one,” Talapatra said. “Every year we seem to hit a new record for rainfall. That, coupled with more hardscape, larger patios, bigger garages and larger homes, increases the run-off amount and that’s what’s leading to a huge storm-water management problem in residential properties.”

Talapatra’s presentation on Stormwater Management at iLandscape this year was filled to overflow capacity. “I’ve been doing landscape design for 24 years now. In the first decade, water runoff was not an issue. During the second decade, there were a few problems and now I’m seeing problems that I’ve never seen before.” We talked to her recently to find out more about what landscape designers and contractors can do to help mitigate the problem.

With the record May rainfalls, what type of problems have you seen?

Almost every phone call this year involved a need to manage water runoff. Landscaping has become secondary to fixing drainage issues. Many of my clients are in DuPage County since I’m based out of Wheaton and teach at the Arboretum, but I have north shore clients as well. (continued on page 22)

Before 20

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

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The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Focus — Stormwater Management (continued from page 20) When there’s a home addition, it can create a big problem for the neighboring yard. Detached or really big garages that are two-stories tall also contribute to runoff. Driveways are a classic example of a contributing problem. The homeowner may go from a one-car garage to a three-car garage and bigger driveway. If I can, I try to persuade them to use permeable pavers or decomposed granite for the driveway. That may be one of the options, but it’s also about budget: It’s not always possible to do it all at once. For example, in one project, we did permeable pavers in a small section of their long driveway. They loved it so much that they allocated the money to the entire driveway in a few years. You can also line a driveway with permeable pavers and leave the center in asphalt. My point is that it does not have to be all or nothing. If a particular client doesn’t have the resources to pave the entire surface, I try to persuade them to do at least some of it.

Are there areas that are more prone to flooding?

Yes, some neighborhoods are more prone to flooding, including those that don’t have good stormwater management planning or border communities that don’t have it. Sometimes, historic districts can have more issues than a new development, where hydrology calculations were part of the site planning. It’s not an issue where cities have incorporated runoff volume calculations and they are mitigating problems with retention or detention ponds. Some neighborhoods are encouraging infiltration basins or rain gardens for

home owners that are building larger homes. These are the communities that have the least number of stormwater issues. Prairie Crossing ( http://prairiecrossing.com) in Grayslake comes to mind. You can see how the whole community has been designed in a way that each house drains into a retention/detention basin and each lot also has swale along the curbside. It’s a systematic way of solving the larger issue of stormwater management.

Why is flooding worse now?

It’s worse now because natural areas are not protected or conserved as they should be. It’s not just about the small scale proble — expanding patio sizes from 200 square feet to 450 square feet—you have to zoom out and look at the larger context. One of the effects of urbanization is taking over wetlands, which are sponges, and putting in paved surfaces, roads and houses over them. Coupled with that is everyone’s desire to have larger outdoor spaces and you can see how the water doesn’t have a place to soak into the ground. The entire Chicago area was a swamp/watershed area and we tend to forget that. I have learned that one has to understand and respect the hydrology of a place. At the start of every project, I try to find a hydrology plan of the larger area to investigate the water flow and water table, but there’s often nothing available or updated because there’s been so much development. You have to construct your own watershed plan to figure out the lay of the surrounding land. (continued on page 24)

After

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Focus — Stormwater Management What are some of the methods used to manage stormwater on site?

Before A dry creek bed captures water that might otherwise affect the home’s foundation before and after (continued from page 22)

The most common way to mitigate water issues is to design French drains and dry creek beds. Sometimes they are tied to dry wells, too. Often, they may also be a part of a rain garden or a bioswale. I recommend the use of rain barrels but usually we leave it to the homeowners to install them. Reducing lawn surfaces and giving my clients more garden area is another technique that helps with infiltration. A young family with little kids wants maximum lawn space and would not want large beds or rain gardens, so I have to come up with something else, like permeable pavers. I did about five large installations this year and the first one had huge water issues. When we started the project we had to regrade the entire yard. Sometimes it’s as simple as fixing the grading. But on one site, we had to put in an underground storage system. We’re storing the water and releasing it much more gently and slowly. We’re starting another project (continued on page 26)

Where do you start on a residential site with flooding problems?

One of my guiding principles is that a good design will only happen if you are able to “read the land.” With so much development there’s usually no existing benchmark. What’s the water table? There’s no way to know. I’m talking about the Landscape Architect or designer who is trying to find the documents. You need to look at drainage patterns, zoom out and look at the grading, the contouring for the entire subdivision. Having that knowledge helps, but I don’t go to the village hall for that information. I look at Google Maps. Try to track the flow of water not just on your client’s property but around it. You have to inspect the entire block to see where the flow is coming from and record it. I sometimes ask my client to take photos or videos to see how much water is coming into the property.

After A creek bed captures water that might otherwise affect the home’s foundation

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Focus — Stormwater Management (continued from page 24) using big storage tanks. We never ever had to do that before. Previously, we were able to solve those problems with French drains that were dug 18 to 24 inches deep. About 10 years ago, the Arboretum contacted me to teach a workshop on rain gardens. I have noticed that every spring we have had more participants, which corroborates the idea that the need for stormwater management for homeowners is growing. The philosophy behind any landscape design solution to solve drainage issues will have to incorporate these three things: Slow, Soak and Cleanse. For me the “cleanse” part is critical. All the runoff is so highly polluted—and that’s the issue—it’s not a visible impact to clients, but you have to have a way to explain to them why it’s necessary. Why is it important that the migratory birds and water fowls downstream need the protection?

and they shouldn’t be. In Holland, they do it very successfully. I would love to see more suburban homes embracing roof gardens. Some municipalities look at a brand new house and determine the amount of paved surface on the lot. They have a table for how much permeable surface, rain garden or infiltration basin is needed. Rain gardens can sometimes occupy more than half the backyard. You find a way to have creative solutions—not just doing a rain garden but using a bioswale or a group of trees, rain barrels, and so on—use different methods. There is so much paved surface and so much roof on some sites, you’d need a large infiltration basin, which is like a rain garden. This is why you may have to combine a few different methods so that the rain garden area is not overwhelming the landscape.

What other types of mitigation efforts might help?

“Reading the land” and “reading the client” are the two prongs in my landscape designs. I’m passionate about balancing the wishes of my clients and the right thing to do. I try to do this in a very gentle way so that it’s almost like it’s their (continued on page 28)

Dry creek beds, bioswales and planting more trees, can soak up gallons of water, like 6000 gallons a day. And roof gardens—they’re huge. Roof gardens are very rare in homes

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Water-capturing borders designed with four-season interest 26

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

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The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Focus — Stormwater Management (continued from page 26) solution, not mine. The gentle nudging to using the more environmentally friendly solution continues with sending them pictures of something I’ve done or something on Pinterest. A lot of people use the idea books on my Houzz account. All of my solutions are based on a more holistic design. My undergrad was in architecture and my whole approach is very heavy on design. I create a bold, cohesive plan, and try to convince clients in a very gentle way. One of the best ways to persuade clients is to actually have them visit something that I have installed. Since my clients are mostly through word of mouth, sometimes they may have seen one of their friend’s gardens that I did and that helps.

The EPA mantra for stormwater runoff management is “slow it down, spread it out, soak it in.” What are some suggestions you have for doing those three things?

For slowing the water—gravel, rain barrels, storage tanks, even plants. I encourage landscapers to do a shade garden— if the yard isn’t big, do a smaller tree like a vernal witch hazel or a Hawthorn. Woodland grounds are sponges and you need woodland plants—ferns, sedges, ginger. That’s

one of the ways you can maximize your capacity and reduce lawns. If the client doesn’t have young children, one of the ways would be to use larger beds, like a layered border, sometimes even 8 to 10 feet wide. Homeowners can be scared of that, but it can be really attractive. Sell it as a layered landscape with textures. Show them pictures. You have to sell the look first. You have to make sure they like it. You’re actually creating groundwater recharge. I try to convert each of my clients into feeling good about this. I go through my whole spiel with them that by doing this, you’re impacting everyone down stream. Rain gardens and dry creek beds are amazing—I love doing them. Some landscapers do underground systems, but I like to expose my systems. I like to study nature, see how water flows and do something with it—make it part of my design.

What resources would you recommend to landscapers?

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has really good guidelines for residential properties at https://www2.illinois. gov/dnr/cmp/Documents/StormwaterManagement.pdf. You can see Talapatra’s work at https://eco-scapesinc.com.

Rain garden surrounding a lawn panel for children’s activities 28

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

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The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Seasonal Weather Forecast â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Summer 2020 by Steve Mirsky

Temperatures over the state of Illinois

this summer are expected to average above normal (figure 1). Broken down for each month, June is forecast to average slightly above normal statewide, but the warmest temperatures are relative to normal is expected to be in the northeast corner of the state (figure 2). During July, readings are forecast to average near normal across the northern and west central portions, but slightly cooler than normal

over the southern and east central sections (figure 3). Relative to normal, July looks to be the coolest month of the summer months. It appears it will heat up again in August with above normal temperatures across the entire state. Relative to normal, August is projected to be the hottest month for this summer. Generally, rainfall this summer is expected to be near/ above normal in the north and below normal in the south.

GEFS Mean 2m Temperature Anomoly

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Steve Mirsky is a degreed meteorologist and has been with Weather Command since 1988. Although Steve is interested in almost every aspect of weather, his specialties include consulting for energy companies, winter storms, severe weather and long range forecasting.

This forecast is that of the author and does not necessarily represent Murray and Trettel, Inc./Weather Command.

Disclaimer: This forecast is subject to the inherent limitations of the science of meteorology. While every attempt was made to provide the most accurate forecast possible, it should not be construed as definitive fact. There is a margin of error in all weather forecasting that must be acknowledged and accounted for.

CFSv2. 2-meter Temperature Anomoly based on 1984-2009 climataology

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

¿Jardines inundados?

Su compañía debe emplear jardines de lluvia

Por Nina Koziol

Los niveles de lluvia récord en mayo dejaron muchos hogares y calles con agua estancada. Diseñar un jardín de lluvia eficaz es con frecuencia una manera eficaz de recoger parte del exceso de agua en el sitio de un cliente residencial. Las inundaciones son un problema no solo en el área metropolitana de Chicago, sino también en lugares por todo el estado. “Los clientes potenciales están en todas partes”, dice Carol Becker, dueña de Sage Advice Landscape Design and Consulting en Park Ridge, Illinois. “Los clientes pueden vivir cerca de ríos o en lugares donde se construyeron casas sin ninguna consideración para el drenaje. Pueden estar en comunidades donde permiten construir casas casi hasta las líneas del lote”. Y eso significa menos espacio permeable para que el agua entre en la tierra. 34

Una lluvia de una pulgada en un acre produce aproximadamente 27,000 galones de agua. Parte de esa lluvia se desliza hacia cauces, bordes y el césped, pero eso también es problemático. “El césped realmente es impermeable porque las raíces solo tienen de 3 a 4 pulgadas de profundidad”, afirma Grace Koehler, gerente de ventas de Pizzo Native Plant Nursery. “El agua eventualmente permeará el suelo, pero cuando está seco, se desliza fuera del césped”. En su forma más básica, un jardín de lluvia es una depresión en la tierra llena de arena, tierra mantillosa y compost y plantada con plantas perennes nativas, no nativas y hierbas con raíces profundas que permiten que el agua lentamente permee el

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

suelo. Además de resolver el problema de las inundaciones, poner el agua de nuevo en la tierra ayuda a recargar los acuíferos subterráneos y reduce el deslizamiento de escorrentías (y contaminantes) en la superficie hacia arroyos y ríos. El concepto del jardín de lluvia algunas veces no se comprende bien. “Un jardín de lluvia es un tipo de sitio bajo en el suelo donde el agua se puede acumular e infiltrar”, aseguró Trish Beckjord, gerente de programas de Fox River Initiative en The Conservation Foundation. “Usualmente, es agua recolectada de una parte del techo que empapará el suelo en un término de 24 horas—no es un lugar que está siempre húmedo. Si fuera así, en lugar de un jardín de lluvia, estaríamos hablando de un jardín de plantas ideales para lugares húmedos”.

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La filosofía del jardín de lluvia—crear 866-627-4264 / marianiplants.com una cuenca ajardinada en la cual las escorrentías pueden filtrarse en la tierra TODOS JUNTOS MEJOR. en lugar de en un sótano, garaje o alcantarilla—es noble, pero una queja frecuente es que los jardines de lluvia parecen desaliñados. “Si se ven enmalezados o desordenados, no se han seleccionado las plantas correctas para el sitio”, aseguró Koehler. dades ornamentales—el color de las flores y el follaje, la “No tiene que usar solo plantas nativas pero debe tener en forma, la textura y el interés estacional—y plante menos cuenta el tipo de las plantas. Algunas son rizomatosas y forvariedades en los bordes. Tiene que parecer diseñado intenman matas grandes y únicamente se deben usar en jardines cionalmente—no tiene que parecer un área natural, excepto si grandes”. eso es lo que desea su cliente. En muchos casos, los clientes Marcus de la Fleur reconoció el desafío en su presentación tienen jardines tradicionales, pero con un problema de dreen la Conferencia de Impacto en ILCA 2018. “Los jardines naje. Excepto si están esperando algo silvestre e informal, de lluvia son difíciles de diseñar—pueden resultar un poco usted querrá crear un diseño que armonice con el resto de la muy secos o muy húmedos y las plantas no quieren crecer”, propiedad. Bordear un jardín de lluvia con rocas, adoquines aseguró. Determinar dónde y cómo el agua fluye en la propiepermeables o grava ayudará a definir el espacio y lo separará dad y la calidad del suelo son los primeros pasos. nítidamente del resto del jardín. Diseñe un jardín de lluvia como diseñaría cualquier otro borde herbáceo. Seleccione las plantas en base a sus cualiSelección de las plantas

35 The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Los jardines de lluvia se pueden instalar casi en cualquier parte—sol o sombra—siempre que usted seleccione las plantas adecuadas. “El jardín puede tener cualquier tamaño”, afirmó Koehler. “Cuando usted piensa en áreas de detención o retención, son realmente solo jardines de lluvia grandes”. El jardín de lluvia de la casa de Beckjord es un área baja que recibe agua del techo. “Tengo un canal bordeado de adoquines desde la línea de desagüe”, dijo. “De julio a septiembre es muy seco si no llueve. Las mejores plantas son quizá plantas de pradera seca-semiseca. Es una planta nativa que puede resistir cierto nivel de inundación durante 24 horas y un amplio espectro de plantas nativas pueden resistir eso”. Los suelos mesohabitarios son medianamente húmedos y comparables a suelos de jardín promedio mientras que los suelos mesohabitarios húmedos son de medianamente húmedos a mojados la mayor parte del año. Las plantas herbáceas nativas que puedes soportar sitios húmedos en el sol, incluyen pantanos de algodoncillo, juncia común, iris de bandera azul, hierba rosín, araña, zacate, eupatoria púrpura y planta de copa. Un gran error, aseguró Koehler, es seleccionar plantas de humedal para todos los jardines de lluvia. “Cada sitio es diferente y cada suelo es diferente y por eso no proporcionamos listas de plantas“. (Consulte la lista de recursos en línea más adelante para obtener más información sobre diseños, plantas y proveedores.)

Sitos sombreados

Muchos de los proyectos de Becker en Park Ridge, propenso a las inundaciones, son en sombra. “He utilizado arbustos nativos como aesculus parviflora y juncias nativas”, dijo Becker. “Hay muchas juncias que son hermosas pero no muy vistosas. Depende del cliente”. Las juncias pueden formar la matriz de la plantación o se pueden utilizar en los bordes o en grupos. Diseñar un jardín de lluvia para sombra completa o parcial es cuestión de seleccionar las plantas adecuadas. “La menta de montaña común es un jardín de lluvia de sombra ligera en Midwest Ground Covers”, dijo Beckjord. La juncia con pico largo (Carex sprengelii), la juncia bonita (C. woodii) y la juncia de zorro (C. vulpinoidea) son algunas de las juncias nativas que se desarrollan en zonas boscosas húmedas. La anémona canadiense, el dragón verde, jack en el púlpito, campanas azules de Virginia, sello de Salomón falso y liso y maravilla de pantano son algunas plantas perennes de zonas boscosas que pueden soportar suelos mesohabitarios húmedos. Otros arbustos nativos que toleran condiciones de llanuras de sombra incluyen paw paw (asimina), hortensia lisa (Hydrangea arborescens), cornejo de ramita roja, aroma de laguna, raíz de benjuí y nannyberry (Viburnum lentago).

Capacitación

El mantenimiento es tan esencial en los jardines de lluvia como en los bordes herbáceos. “El pajote no se necesita y usted planta las plantas más juntas, lo que minimiza el deshierbe”, aseguró Beckjord. Ella recomienda cortar de nuevo las plantas en la primavera y dejar algunos tallos a seis pulgadas de altura para las abejas nativas que pondrán sus huevos en ellos. “Puede dejar los escombros en el sitio. La manera de hacerlo es cortar en trozos tan finos que se quiebren”. “En defensa de los clientes, la mayoría de los equipos de trabajo de jardines no saben cómo atender los jardines de lluvia”, afirmó Becker. “Están acostumbrados a utilizar pajote para cubrir los espacios vacíos”. Cuando Becker diseña un jardín de lluvia, pone las plantas juntas. “Plantamos densamente de acuerdo con estándares tradicionales. En un jardín nativo, hay tantas plantas hay pocas malas hierbas”. Recomienda utilizar un azadón holandés triangular para remover rápidamente las malas hierbas entre las plantas, al establecer la primera temporada.

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

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Beckjord asegura que hay una oportunidad para las compañías de paisajismo que ofrecen mantenimiento. “Necesitamos proporcionar la experiencia y el profesionalismo—cómo manejar un jardín con plantas nativas. Es un nicho del mercado que demanda ser ocupado”.

Cómo gestionar las expectativas de los clientes

Una foto (o ilustración) vale por mil palabras. Los jardines

de lluvia no tienen la apariencia del típico borde herbáceo o los jardines de sombra. “Las personas ven jardines de lluvia en fotografías, pero las plantaciones tienen con frecuencia de tres a cinco años”, aseguró Becker. Un cliente que pidió plantas nativas, la contactó esta primavera para decirle que dos tercios de las plantas no se desarrollaron, pero que probablemente eran especies de temporada cálida. “Las plantas no se habían desarrollado todavía. Logré que tuviera paciente y las plantas se desarrollaron, pero eran pequeñas”. Plantar densamente con plantones o, si el presupuesto lo

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

permite, macetas de un galón, acelerará el progreso del jardín. Explicar cómo se verá el jardín en el segundo año puede ayudar a evitar decepciones. Si bien muchos clientes desean jardines que no requieran de mantenimiento, Koehler tiene una advertencia. “No existe tal cosa como un jardín que no necesita mantenimiento. Es como cualquier otro jardín de perennes—siempre necesita mantenimiento y usted tiene que controlar las especies invasivas”. Proponga mantenimiento en la primavera y en el otoño en la oferta.

Cómo comerciar los jardines de lluvia

Hay una ventaja en ofrecer jardines de lluvia a los dueños de casas, especialmente a los interesados en mariposas, abejas, aves y sostenibilidad. “Los jardines de lluvia son realmente soluciones importantes que los paisajistas pueden ofrecer a sus clientes, especialmente en áreas densas, altamente pobladas”, dijo Koehler. “Muchas plantas perennes herbáceas nativas proporcionan mucho polen y también son plantas hospedantes muy específicas para mariposas nocturnas y abejas nativas”. “Tenemos éxito en la venta de jardines de lluvia porque controlan el agua que llega al patio”, afirmó Becker. “Pero también apoyan la naturaleza—son plantas que filtran el agua y la devuelven al agua del suelo y no un sistema de desagüe sobrecargado”. “Es una herramienta de diseño, pero es una manera importante de llevar prácticas sostenibles a nuestros jardines”, afirmó Beckjord. “Ser más sostenible incluye utilizar más plantas nativas que no solo están adaptadas a nuestra región, sino también no requieren de mucha irrigación o fertilización suplementarias para conservar su atractivo. El agua de lluvia es un recurso, no un producto de desecho”.

Recursos para jardines de lluvia en línea Recursos sostenibles para paisajismo de ILCA:

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

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Special Feature

Lurie Garden: Maintaining A Naturalistic by Heather Prince

Lurie Garden is a beloved garden space within Millennium Park that has served as an inspiration for visitors since it opened in 2004. It has showcased the naturalistic style of its designer, Piet Oudolf, and enchanted guests with its rich four-season palette of plants. When you go, notice that it is tucked behind the Shoulder Hedge of deciduous and evergreen trees to shield it from heavy pedestrian traffic moving through the exceptionally popular Millennium Park. The Seam is the pedestrian path that bisects the garden into the Light Plate to the west and the Dark Plate to the east and provides a strolling experience. The Light Plate is designed to be bold, dry, and bright and allow for an experience of vistas and views. The plantings are an ever-shifting palette of perennials and bulbs that offer dramatic sweeps of blooms and intertwined textures. The Dark Plate is filled with trees underplanted in

shrubs and perennials to evoke a feeling of lush coolness and soft, filtered light.

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Facing the challenge

As a naturalistic planting, Lurie Garden presents both rewards and challenges for the horticulturists, volunteers, and staff who care for it. We spoke with Director & Head Horticulturist Laura Ekasetya about the different strategies they employ. Perhaps the biggest challenge is anticipating and managing the expectations of visitors, city officials, and park district staff. The Lurie Garden staff is in a unique position. Instead of being subject to changing out plantings, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The expectation is to fulfill Oudolfâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vision for the garden; how to have a wild garden without pushing the envelope too far. (continued on page 42)

Garden in a Public Space

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Special Feature (continued from page 40)

They grew accustomed to our face

“The first couple of years people didn’t like it. It takes time for perennial plants to fill in. By the third year, everyone loved it,” recalled Ekasetya. Lurie is fortunate in that the garden designer, Piet Oudolf, is still living and taking an active interest in the gardens. City officials have respected the goals of his design and allowed staff to keep Oudolf’s characteristic vision thriving. “We are fortunate that the designer of the garden is living. We follow the original

designs and constantly ask if any changes or edits fit into that original design intent,” she commented. Oudolf is regularly consulted as the garden evolves and plants create their own communities. “For example, Astrantia is in the garden and it wants to be wetter. So, we let it grow where it thrives, which may not be the original location in the design,” observed Ekasetya. A unique challenge to Lurie Garden is that it’s open late. With that in mind, “Because the garden is open until late at night, we have a lot of plants that bloom white, including white coneflower and culver’s root. There’s also a whole different group of pollinators out at night,” reported Ekasetya. As an evening garden, it opens new vistas and textures for the visitor experience.

Engaging visitors is a key component in Lurie Garden’s strategies to connect the millions of people who visit to the plants and wildlife. In a typical year, “We have docents

outside three days a week. They have information to pass out on the plants, stickers about the pollinators, and offer free tours. We have 75 free nature programs to engage families. We do workshops. We do whatever we can to engage people, be it in person or through social media.” With a robust social media presence and an active email newsletter, Lurie is constantly sharing what’s happening in the gardens. One of the major efforts was to accurately map the plantings as guests constantly ask for the location of specific plants or try to identify species. “Our former apprentice, Peter Slothower, updated our mapping. The map is attractive to look at and we post where you can find highlighted plants in the garden. It’s been really fun,” enthused Ekasetya.

People can also be a hazard to the gardens. A popular spot for wedding and event photography, “We have a security guard to keep people from entering the plantings for photos,” stated Ekasetya. The docents also provide gentle (continued on page 44 42

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Special Feature (continued from page 42) reminders to prevent visitors from straying into planting areas for that perfect social media post.

Fostering wildlife in the City

With a naturalistic garden heavily planted in natives and native cultivars, Lurie Gardens is filled with all kinds of wildlife. This is another challenge for its caretakers — balancing visitor interactions with the visitors. “The wildlife mostly takes care of itself,” observed Ekasetya. “Ducks can be a problem. We have had to relocate a duck family now and then. They are too cute and people will love them too much. It can create a hazard with the water features. We have Cooper’s hawks perching on the hedge and peregrine falcons overhead. Occasionally, the red wing blackbirds are a problem, but mostly they divebomb me,” she chuckled. “Without people this spring, we now have a fox and we’ve spotted the possums, which normally are quite shy.” Thousands of pollinators call the garden home. “Some people are scared of bees. There is a lot of mountain mint, which is always loaded with pollinators when in bloom. We need a sign in that spot, but we did make a sticker depicting the solitary wasps and bees and hand it out frequently.” In a refreshing change, Ekasetya noted, “We follow Oudolf’s vision. We don’t move plants to accommodate people—we try for PR.” Each plant has been carefully chosen, but some are

more aggressive than others. It’s a balance between allowing plants to showcase their four-season interest, while making sure a single species doesn’t take over. “The mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) can be an aggressive spreader. We dig a trench around it in spring every year to keep it in check,” reported Ekasetya. “Northern sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) was originally in three locations, but we’ve reduced it to one. We’ve kept it in a spot that doesn’t get a lot of wind, so the seeds don’t blow through the other garden areas. We also deadhead about one-third to one-half of the seeds. It maintains the airy look with all that wonderful movement but reduces the seed population. Penstemon is another free seeder, but the seedheads are so dramatic. We just thin out seedlings in the spring and pot them up for the plant sale. Compass plant (Silphium laciniatum) is on the south end, and we have it every 10 to 15 feet as it is an incredible architectural plant. We try to transplant some and give away some with good success.” Some plants are managed for their season of unattractiveness since it is a high-traffic garden. “We might cut back the Virginia bluebells because as they fade, they are unattractive,” commented Ekasetya. One of the signature features of the garden is the salvia river that wends its way through the space, turning it into a sea of purple in June. “The salvia river is another challenge. The faded seedheads aren’t looking great by August, so we have other things that come up through it.” (continued on page 46)

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Special Feature (continued from page 44) Some seedheads may also get clipped, depending on the year. Lurie Garden is a garden that must look spectacular almost year-round. Oudolf made deliberate plant choices so that even at season’s end, the gardens have a subtle beauty in their interwoven textures. “Most of the plants look good even when they are dormant or dried. Plants were chosen for looks when dormant as well as in bloom,” reported Ekasetya. “Multiseason interest is really key in this garden. Blue star (Amsonia sp.) is lovely in bloom in June, a beautiful texture in the summer as the plants grow and double in size, and then turns golden to orange in the fall. Oudolf thinks about the plant’s entire life cycle in his designs. In his latest book, he calls them ‘plants that keep you up at night’.” The plantings are left up all winter, creating new interplays between dried leaves, remnant seedheads, and airy grasses. In about March, crews cut back most of the plant material, rotating between areas to leave some stems and leaf litter for overwintering wildlife, particularly insects. “It is a totally different style of maintenance. We are trying to make a home for wildlife, so material remains over the winter and we employ strategies to keep it on site. Our only real downtime is when we cut the garden back and you can really see the planting zones and bones of the design,” said Ekasetya. Brush cutters as well as hand tools are employed, and plant material is either allowed to compost in situ or spread out on site. Although spring bulbs have been a part of the garden displays since 2006, in 2019 more were planted and the designs updated. Jacqueline van der Kloet, garden designer, bulb expert, and colleague of Piet 46

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Oudolf, created the original bulb scheme utilizing more than 60,000 bulbs. Over the years, another 100,000 have been added. Last fall, van der Kloet returned to update the designs and add 65,000 more thanks to a donation by C.J. Weijers and planted with volunteers and community partners. These plantings have created waves of blooms over many weeks before the perennials appear on the scene. Purple, blue, and white colors prevail in swathes and eddies of color. Many minor bulbs were chosen so that their fleeting foliage is already dormant in time for summer flowers. “The early bulbs are more subtle. We hired a drone from Ten12 Productions and generously supported by Future Plants, to show the gardens this spring and posted to social media. It’s been really fun to give people a new perspective,” observed Ekasetya. You can also find a virtual video walk through van der Kloet’s home gardens as she describes her design philosophies on Lurie Garden’s website. “Over the years, Lurie Garden has only increased in popularity. As more and more people experience the gardens, folks are taking home new ideas for their personal landscapes. As they have learned how to maintain the balance between naturalistic plantings, public and wildlife interactions, and managing it all sustainably, Lurie Garden has played a role in quietly revolutionizing Midwestern landscape design. “People want this now. It’s important to learn how to do this type of gardening. There are more and more people wanting this,” emphasized Ekasetya.

Sustainability in Practice —

Manage or Maintain? Thinking Differently About Landscapes by Heather Prince

As clients increasingly discover

and demand new styles or aesthetics in their landscapes, contractors, designers, and architects are having to adapt. Be it the New Perennial Movement, meadow gardens, or prairie-style yards, these plant-dense styles of landscape design are increasing in popularity in public and private spaces. We talked to Kelly Norris, Director of Horticulture at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, about these new directions and what it might mean for our clients and the companies that create and work with these sites. “I think we need a semantic shift. We’re still engaging with land, we’re

just changing the rules of the game. Instead of the agronomic point of view where the goal at the end of a season is to win and harvest something, landscaping and gardening is now a game without an end, it just keeps going forward,” commented Norris. Gardening as an offshoot of farming in many ways has underlying roots in the production of something tangible. However, as we learn about and employ plants’ complex relationships, there aren’t necessarily literal fruits of our labor. Instead, we build communities for ourselves and our sites where the ebb and flow of life brings pleasure and perhaps contentment. Plant communities like a meadow with a mix of perennials and grasses

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

require management. Weeds are managed, but plants are allowed to intermingle and reseed or spread to their best situations. In essence, you plant or seed it, weed it, and see what happens. This is a very different approach than a more traditional design where plants are treated as static forms to be kept to a particular aesthetic that often involves a high degree of care or maintenance. Examples of maintenance might be shearing, deadheading, heading back, or cleaning up. “The mindset becomes different. It’s management, not maintenance. When we manage we contribute to growth. When we maintain, it’s a static achievement, we’re keeping something at a fixed point (continued on page 50)

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Sustainability in Practice — (continued from page 48) in time,” observed Norris. The idea of management “is a fundamentally different way to approach the work we do.” What if it could be different? “Plants must be controlled is the prevalent way of thinking. What if we encouraged plants to take control and we adapt to where they thrive?” asked Norris. “I dislike ‘right plant, right place’ as a dictate. If we delve into the site and really get to know the place, we’ll also discover which plants will thrive and adapt there. The place dictates the plants. If you think about architecture, if you walk into an architect for plans for a new house, they don’t start with the color of the walls. We think about plants as pieces of furniture that have a specific color or texture. We tend to go directly to the smallest detail and then force life to conform to the smallest context .” As we talk to clients and walk spaces, “We quickly get into colors, but what if that’s not the starting line?

We should start with place,” suggested Norris. “Placelessness is so abundant in our culture, from architecture to landscape design. We’ve lost a sense of place, or terroir, that could influence landscaping profoundly.” Think about the demand you receive for a site to resemble the neighbors or a TV show or a foreign destination. What if we create a landscape that responds to client needs and also to the site history? “I recognize the challenge. We must meet people where they are, but you can coax them off their comfortable bench of cookiecutter design. Try to find some kind of shared cultural language between the homeowner and their space. The rules can be different, if not broken,” commented Norris. “Having a context for the neighborhood and community will inform your design. Find the place’s cultural language. My home is bordered by woods and backs up to a natural area, so I can be more ‘wild’ in my plantings and have them respond to the semi-rural

feel of the neighborhood. It would be different if I were in an urban location in a small lot within a built environment. A prairie as precedent might not read well in that situation.” It will require more engagement with your client. “Try to get an understanding of place and the mechanisms of place. What is the history of the land use in that area? How does it relate to the whole?” asks Norris. As designers and installers, we know that almost every site requires flexibility. “The designer’s dot on the paper is not the end of the conversation. Any landscape design is in motion and moving forward even when installed. A lot of good design can happen in the field when you are faced with and adapt to what the site dishes out.” If we know the history of the land use, be it farm, factory, or open field, that informs how this piece of property responds when new plant life is introduced or why existing plants thrive or fail. Investigation at the beginning of

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The Landscape Contractor July 2020

the process can save time and money for everyone involved. “We have to start doing more in-depth site analysis beyond slope and sun. We should dig deeper. You’ve got a perfect square of manicured turf to change into garden spaces. Go below the sheen of that lawn. What’s underneath? If we start to investigate and understand soils, delve into how water moves in the site, it becomes alive. This land is living,” observed Norris. “Get excited about place! It doesn’t have to be just about humans. Go beyond plants as furniture. They are alive and constantly changing.” Another challenge to the naturalistic design movement is legibility. “Legibility is readability. Can I see the idea and understand it? Can I figure out what the designer or creator intended?” commented Norris. “Cohesiveness is related to legibility. Cohesiveness is what ties the whole thing. There can be legibility at a small scale, but it might not relate to what surrounds it. You can

plant the hellstrip between the sidewalk and the street with a lush meadow garden, but it will stand apart if yours is the only one on the block.” We all have our favorites in our bags of tricks, but if people don’t understand them, the effect is lost. “To paraphrase one of my photography editors during my experience at Better Homes & Gardens, if no one understands the result, it doesn’t matter. You can use all the fancy tricks, but if it doesn’t make sense to the viewer or the client, it doesn’t work. The challenge is to not keep it all in our heads, but to engage the client.” When we actively communicate the process to clients, it can connect them to their site more deeply and invest in our expertise as horticulture craftsmen. “Plants shouldn’t be the decoration of the hardscape. A patio is wonderful, but you won’t enjoy it as much without plants. Plants are the landscape. Plants should be the stars,” said Norris. (continued on page 52)

The Landscape Contracto July 2020

Sustainability in Practice — (continued from page 51) With the naturalistic garden style also comes an emphasis on creating habitat and welcoming wildlife. Those grasses and perennials not only cover the ground in romantic sweeps of color and motion, they also feed and shelter a myriad of insects, animals and birds. As you consider this aesthetic, also ask what do the plants do? How are they functioning in the landscape? Are the roots holding soil in place? Do they absorb excess water or pollutants? How can plants be part of the solution instead of merely decoration? “Plants aren’t static. They support other things. We need to build gardens from native foundations to support the greatest level of life. In some ways, we’re headed to a post-native world where we should begin to think about what plants do beyond simply an assessment of their origins,” commented Norris. “What do plants do for other creatures? We should

stop thinking superficially. If a highly competitive plant features important nectar resources and blooms beautifully, why not create a garden that leverages its colonial tendencies instead of curse it for spreading? How do we shift plant descriptions to feature the working side of plants? What does that species need to thrive? What work does it do in the landscape? What niche does it occupy?” As we welcome a new generation of homeowners to the rewards of gardening and cultivating their spaces, we also have to adapt to their needs. “I find Millennial consumers are not moved by superficiality. They want to know what else does it do? What is the nature of that plant that makes it a good choice? It’s understanding the lives of plants,” observed Norris. This is not to say we must rigidly adhere to a single style of gardening. “Absolutely include plants the client

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

knows and relates to,” agreed Norris. However, it may be beneficial to think about and talk to clients about what drives their desire to garden or have a beautiful landscape. With a naturalistic aesthetic, “the perception of the loss of control is arresting. Why do people garden? How to they come to the land?” asked Norris. “Gardening is something we do for satisfaction, to fill an inward need. Changing the game is intimidating. It’s like new math. We knew how it worked before, but now it’s a new language. It can be a sense of loss of command. For many people gardening is a therapy to give them control over their lives.” Perhaps one of the biggest hurdles to client appreciation of a wilder style of gardening is that feeling that plants are escaping their boundaries. (continued on page 55)

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

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(continued from page 52) “What happens when the competitive plant pushes our boundaries? Can you leverage that competition? I hear ‘the plant takes over’ a lot. OK. Why? Why is that a bad thing? Some plants fill gaps and voids as opportunists. And that can be a good thing,” commented Norris. As client demands and expectations evolve, “our industry should train for and develop new skills. We need to change the education as well. We need trained horticulturists who are plant craftsmen. We should observe, define, and study a site, not just apply ready-made solutions. We have a very equipment-based approach. People have such an instinct to cut or shear. Stop and ask why. Is there a reason?” observed Norris. Sometimes ‘why’ is the most powerful question you can ask both a client and your team. We are in many cases very solution-focused with land-

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scapes. We make changes to solve what are perceived to be problems. What if it becomes a conversation? “What’s the goal? A static finish line or a game in motion?” Although naturalistic gardens are gaining popularity, “There’s not an abundance of examples that show what’s possible. As much as I love Oudolf, it is one person’s work. He does a lot to support other artists and designers, because he believes in creating opportunity for the work to flourish,” commented Norris. “If you’re going to step into it, change approach. Train crews. Create capacity for perpetuation. Engage clients. Challenge them to get more out of their investments. Talk about management versus maintenance.” Norris urges careful consideration and open dialogue. “Relate plants to place and each other. Don’t rearrange the furniture. People’s hearts and intentions

are big. If we make a bigger table, maybe people can start to loosen up a bit. Start to see the features of plants we may not readily see. They are so much more than pretty flowers.”

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Diseases & Pests â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Disease of the Month: Anthracnose Pest of the Month: Boxwood Leafminer

by Heather Prince

Pest of the Month: Boxwood Leafminer

This spring weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re seeing more boxwood leafminer (Monarthropalpus buxi) as summer begins. Overwintering under the leaf surface as partially grown larvae, this insect is set up to start feeding and metamorphosizing into adults as temperatures warm. Affected Boxwood leafminer leaves will have tan blister-like spots that may shatter if probed. Larvae finish out their cycle and pupate in spring, adults emerging usually when weigela blooms. The adult flies are very tiny yellowish-orange flies about the size of the head of a pin. Female flies land on the leaf upperside and insert eggs into Anthracnose on maple the leaf tissue, causing stippling. These eggs hatch into yellowish-white larvae that feed on the soft tissue in the interior of the boxwood leaf. Up to twenty larvae can be present per leaf. They munch away slowly through the summer, initially causing raised, green blisters on the leaf upperside and small, tan blisters on the underside. After overwintering, the mature larvae cause the lower epidermis of the leaf to separate and appear whitish. If many larvae are present, this will happen to the entire leaf underside.

Treatment:

Treatment is most effective during egg-laying and early larval feeding. These include carbaryl and labeled pyrethroids for adult activity. For larvae, a systemic insecticide will penetrate leaf tissue and kill the insect as it eats. These include abamectin, acephate, and imidacloprid. Since it takes time for a systemic to move into all plant tissues, apply as soon as leafminer presence is confirmed.

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Disease of the Month: Anthracnose on Shade Trees

A cool, very wet spring has created the perfect conditions for anthracnose disease to infect a range of different types of shade trees including sycamore, ash, and maple. Anthracnose is a group of closely related pathogens that cause a variety of symptoms including leaf blight and deformation, as well as cankers on stems and branches, depending on the species of tree. On ash, symptoms are dark blotches along the margins of leaves, which cause distortion, and small purplish-brown spots located near the leaf centers. Clients will often notice the abundant leaf drop, when new green leaves fall from the tree. A single year of infection will not cause significant stress, but three or more consecutive years of heavy defoliation of ash trees can leave them more susceptible to other diseases. On maple, symptoms are similar, including purplish brown blotching along leaf veins that can span out to the leaf margin. However, it is usually not a severe disease on maples, being more cosmetic. This disease is very dramatic on sycamores, as you may experience delayed leafing on the tree and leaves and growing tips dying as they emerge. Upon closer examination of twigs, look for cankers which are sunken, dead-looking areas. Cankers on twigs can restrict water and nutrient movement to leaves, causing leaf and twig dieback, while cankers on larger branches can girdle and kill entire branches. The small black fruiting bodies of anthracnose have a pimple-like appearance. You may also see witches brooms around terminal shoots that were killed by the infection.

Treatment:

In most cases, cultural controls such as raking up infected leaves and pruning out twigs with cankers is recommended. Keep trees watered and healthy so they can push out new growth. However, if anthracnose fungi have repeatedly hit a tree or a very young tree is involved, fungicides may be applied. Spray in the early spring when buds begin to swell and reapply every 7 to 14 days when it is a rainy, wet spring. Fungicides listed for anthracnose include chlorothalonil, thiophante-methyl, mancozeb, propiconazole, and copper fungicides.

Additional resources:

The Morton Arboretum http://www.mortonarb.org/Plant Clinic: http://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/ tree-and-plant-advice/ 630-719-2424 The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Chicago Botanic Garden Plant Information Service: https://www.chicagobotanic.org/ plantinfoservice 847-835-0972

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K&D Enterprise Landscape Management Inc. is a full-service design/build contractor based in the southwest suburbs servicing the suburban and Chicago markets. We are seeking an individual that is motivated to succeed working alongside a professional staff who is passionate about the landscape industry. We are currently looking to add an Architect and or Designer to our team. Our ideal candidate has a degree in landscape architecture or landscape design with a minimum of 5 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience in residential design/build. Position requires strong customer relation skills with the ability to lead projects from concept to completion. Proficiency in AutoCAD, SketchUp and Adobe Suite are ideal among other design software options. Primary Responsibilities â&#x20AC;˘ Customer intake with concept and design development. â&#x20AC;˘ Site plans and specifications with cost estimates. â&#x20AC;˘ Construction knowledge and the ability to select material. â&#x20AC;˘ Site visits supporting project team members during construction. â&#x20AC;˘ Participate in management, scheduling, marketing, and sales initiatives. â&#x20AC;˘ Establish standard presentation package. Compensation to include annual salary with medical benefits. Total compensation package will be based on experience and qualifications. Interested candidates please submit resume to kmanning@kdlandscapeinc.com

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The right person will be responsible for account management, client retention, enhancement sales, new contract sales, business development, production layout and overview, along with winter responsibilities for our snow operations team. Prefer degree in landscape management, horticulture or equivalent experience 5 years’ experience with landscape maintenance. jamesmartinassociates.com/careers/ or call (847)634-1660 Account Manager We are looking for an additional Account Manager to be the point of contact with a portfolio of clients. We are looking to hire a motivated self-starter for medium-sized south-suburban company. Experience in the position is required. Duties include client relations, quality control and up-selling. Good organization and communication a must. Bilingual is a plus. $50K-$60K, company vehicle, health and dental insurance, vacation, holiday and sick days, cell phone, bonuses. Advancement available. This position is a Monday- Friday position with an occasional Saturday. Hours are usually 8:00 am- 5:00 pm. Email resume to info@suburbanlandscaping.net

Candidate will assist in preparing landscape drawings and proposals for client presentations as well as coordinate multiple landscape projects. Candidate must be able to handle a wide range of responsibilities, have a good knowledge of plant and hardscape materials, demonstrate excellent computer skills including Dynascape or CAD software, Google sketch-up and Microsoft Office, be detail oriented, organized, self-motivated with good social skills. Please mail, fax or e-mail your resume to: NATURE’S PERSPECTIVE LANDSCAPING Attn: Paul Klitzkie 2000 Greenleaf St. Evanston, IL 60202 Fax (847) 475-7975 E-mail: pklitzkie@naturesperspective.com Visit us at: www.naturesperspective.com

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The ideal candidate would be self-motivated, organized, ambitious, and possess strong design, sales, and production skills. The candidate would oversee projects from concept to completion. Requirements: • Degree in landscape design, landscape architecture, horticulture, or related field and have a passion for the green industry. • 2+ years’ experience in residential design/sales. • General knowledge of plant and hardscape materials, as well as installation methods. • Proficiency in Dynascape/CAD software, SketchUp, and Microsoft Office. • Strong customer service skills. • Valid driver’s license and vehicle. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package. Please e-mail your resume and portfolio to pklitzkie@naturesperspective.com Visit us at www.naturesperspective.com for more information about our company.

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

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Contact Debbie Rauen for advertising information

debbie.landscapecontractor@yahoo.com

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Attention Advertisers:

1st Choice Equipment ...........................................13 ABlock Marketing .................................................25 Bartlett Tree Experts .............................................50 Breezy Hill Nursery ..............................................27

offers some extraordinary MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES.

Clesen Wholesale ..................................................55 Compost Supply.....................................................54 Doty Nurseries LLC ................................................4

Just one call opens the door to enhanced sales and marketing success.

D&S Truck Center ................................................37 Green Glen Nursery ..............................................63 Hinsdale Nurseries, Inc. ........................................12

Call Debbie to get started!

Homer Industries ...................................................15 Iron Rental .............................................................31

817-501-2403

JKS Ventures ........................................................51 Lafarge Fox River Stone ......................................43 Longshadow Planters ............................................11

Attention Landscape Contractors:

Mariani Plants .........................................................6 Mariani Plants .......................................................35 Martin Implement .................................................19

Remember to Support ILCA Supporters!

These include:

McGinty Bros. ......................................................51

Midwest Groundcovers .........................................17 Midwest Trading .....................................................2 Monroe Truck Equipment .....................................49 RentalMax .............................................................23 Spring Meadow Nursery .......................................21 The Landscape Contractor magazine ....................60 The Mulch Center .................................................29 Unilock, Inc. ..........................................................64

• Members & Advertisers who supply goods and services • Members who sponsor ILCA programs and events

Where will you find them? • ILCA Membership Directory & Buyer’s Guide • The Landscape Contractor magazine advertising • The Landscape Contractor magazine reports of events with sponsor acknowledgments • www.ilca.net member lists – Finding a Landscape Contractor & Suppliers to the Trade

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Hidden Gems Worth Visiting

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool by Heather Prince

Step away from the hustle and bustle of Lincoln Park

and go back in time to a serene Midwestern river meandering between stacked limestone filled with water lilies and echoing with birds. The Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool beckons you to stroll the meandering stone paths, linger in the Prairie Style pavilion and have a spirited debate in the council circle. Explore the sweeps of native wildflowers. Look for legions of dragonflies and slow down to soak in the peace where a prairie river meets the woodland. Originally installed in 1889 as a Victorian heated pool for the cultivation and display of tropical water lilies, by the 1930s, the nearly three-acre site had fallen into ruin. Landscape architect Alfred Caldwell was tasked with redesigning the site, completing the work in 1938. “Caldwell’s vision was that of a meandering stream where one never quite sees the end. Limestone outcroppings are inspired by Illinois and other Midwestern landscapes where the immense force of glaciation’s impacts are seen in outcroppings and moraines,” commented Doug Widener, Executive Director, Lincoln Park Conservancy. At the south end of the site, “The council ring is another key feature of Caldwell that mimics native traditions where all participants are equally engaged around a central presentation space.” It is regarded as one of the best, most complete examples of Caldwell’s design aesthetic. Designed to be a refuge from the city, it is clearly influenced by his mentors Jens Jensen and Frank Lloyd Wright with the sinuous limestone outcroppings.

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, Chicago Entry: free. Open seasonally from mid-April through midNovember. Check lincolnparkconservancy.org for current opening information

Caldwell’s designs also called for groupings of crabapple, sumac, serviceberry, and hawthorn underplanted with shrubs, native roses, and woodland perennials. Caldwell stressed the use of native plants and trees, spending his own money to purchase the needed plants as completion neared and budgets ran short. When opened, the public greeted this new oasis with enthusiasm and migrating birds soon called it an important stopover point. However, its popularity with humans exacted a price. By the 1950s, the pool had been transformed into the Rookery, an exhibit of exotic birds hosted by Lincoln Park Zoo. Between a lack of management, damage by the birds, and heavy human foot traffic, the site degraded and faded. A new initiative in the 1990s formed to rescue the Lily Pool from neglect. After significant volunteer and community input, a thorough study of Caldwell’s plans and thoughtful public engagement, the Lily Pool was restored at a cost of $2.4 million by the Lincoln Park Conservancy and Chicago Park District in 2001. Invasive plants were cleared, the pool carefully dredged, and the utmost care taken to replace and repair the stonework. The restoration earned the Lily Pool National Historic Landmark and Chicago Historical Landmark status. Today, Caldwell’s vision of a “cool, refreshing, clear place” has been realized and the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool restored to its status as a beloved refuge in the heart of the city.

The Landscape Contractor July 2020

Arcana

™

NON-SLIP SURFACE

FINE BLASTED TEXTURE Refined surface and long-lasting color

UNIQUE TEXTURE AND SPECKLED COLOR PALETTE

LARGE-FORMAT 2” HEIGHT

24x24 // 18x24 // 12x24

Granite, quartz and marble are exposed in the ﬁne blasted surface of Arcana to deliver brilliant color and a non-slip surface that is perfect for patios, pool surrounds, walkways, roof decks and overlay projects. Its silky matte appearance is further enhanced with EasyClean Stain Resistance for easier cleanup of spills. Contact 1-800-UNILOCK or visit UNILOCK.COM to connect with your local Territory Manager.

The Landscape Contractor magazine JUL.20 Digital Edition

Articles inside

Hidden Landscape Gems Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

Classified Ads

Diseases & Pests Boxwood leafminer and Anthracnose

Seasonal Weather Forecast Weather Command forecasts summer 2020

Lurie Garden Maintaining a naturalistic garden in a public space

FOCUS: Stormwater Management Techniques Landscape Awash? Your company should employ rain gardens

Manage or Maintain? Thinking Differently about landscapes

EN ESPAÑOL

Stormwater Management for Residential Clients An Interview with Vallari Talapatra

CONTENTS

From Where I Stand