We recently mailed out a seasonal newsletter! Here are a few words of advice from several Father Nature representatives.

Fall Transplanting

Andrew McCurry, Birmingham AL

"If you have been thinking of moving anything in your garden, now is the time! With temperatures dropping and days getting shorter, the metabolism of your favorite plants will begin to slow, transporting carbohydrates to the root zone where nutrients are stored during the winter. Reduced metabolism means reduced stress on the plant. Keep a heavy layer of mulch around your plants to insulate, buffer temperature extremes and reduce winter desiccation by consuming moisture in the soil. Don't forget to fertilize your under nourished plants once the leaves begin to fall."

Landscape Lighting

Andrew Robinson, Mobile Bay AL

"With the days getting shorter, it is a great time to think about landscape lighting. Outdoor lighting can create an artistic element in your garden, and allows you to enjoy your outdoor spaces for a longer period of time. Low voltage lighting fixtures do not use as much energy as typical incandescent outdoor fixtures. A dusk till dawn sensor and lighting timer can be used to make sure the system will only come on when needed, optimizing energy usage, and creating a greener solution for lighting up your home."

Proper Drainage

Chris Scheer, Tacoma WA

"As you may know, water poses the greatest threat to your most expensive investment, your home. With this in mind draining water away from your home through the use of downspouts, entire house drains, French drains, and driveway drains is of highest priority. Through effectively managing water runoff you can greatly improve the ability of your home to shed water away from it, thus keeping it safe for years to come."

Home Improvement

Daniel McCurry, Birmingham AL

"Improve the value of your home through proper landscaping. To help sell a home or increase the value of your home, there are a few small ticket items that you can administer in your landscape. Top priority is cleanliness. Make sure you have clean bed lines. Your planting beds should be cleaned out of noxious weeds and debris, and your plants should be trimmed properly. Second, the front door is the central focus. Your plants should be arranged to encourage the eye to the front door. Lastly, attempt to separate property lines with groupings of plants to help convey the size and boundaries of your property."

Email us or post a comment to find out more information about any of the above topics. Also, check out the rest of our website to see our other areas of knowledge and expertise.

As a Landscape Architecture student, you learn about the so called "greats" of the field: Fredrick Law Olmsted, Thomas Church, Ian McHarg, and Lawrence Halprin just to name a few. You take notes on their design style, theory, career, and projects only to regurgitate them into A, B, C, or D on a multiple choice test. You hear about them every year,in almost every class, so much so that they become common. But we must not forget why they are "Great." Especially one, Lawrence Halprin who died on the 25 of October this year.

Halprin was the ultimate sculptor of the environment. His sphere of achievement and influence extends not only to residential works but to memorials, parks, plazas, environmental planning, and urban design. He understood the connections between environment and design, social interactions in space and environment, and creativity and ingenuity. Like the other "Greats," Halprin solved problems not by words but design in its most ingenious form.

There are countless reasons to be inspired by Lawrence Halprin and others like him. For one, he was a master at figuring and communicating with his clients. On working with clients he stated,

"One is that they will feel about you that you're going to make something wonderful for them. And they help you by expressing themselves. Not telling you how to do it but encouraging you and accepting your vision and working with you on that kind of level."

He understood this unique connection between designer and client, and how important it is to the success of the design.

His ability to process information from people combined with a talent for reading the landscape resulted in a long list of designs, books, and awards . His wife, Anna, describes his legacy perfectly:

"He believed the most important thing about designing is to generate creativity in others, and be inclusive- to include the needs and experiences of people interacting with the environment, and to let them be a part of its creation. That doesn't mean that you don't use your own artistic sensibilities to shape and contain and incorporate your own vision, but it means that vision must connect with people's feelings, experiences, and needs. That's his legacy."

This is why he is Great.

Check out a few more of his projects:

• Yosemite Falls, Yosemite National Park
• Freeway Park, Seattle WA
• Ira Keller Fountain
• Lovejoy Plaza Fountain, Portland OR
• FDR Memorial, Washington D.C.