We find ourselves in mid February having one of the mildest winters on record. Global warming?? By all means, No Way! We will be only lulled into the fact that it is going to be a mild winter but we will retract that statement as soon as we get one of our famous late winter storms. Brace yourselves for that I feel like it’s coming soon.

On the design side, we are fortunate to have won (2) Wisconsin state awards. We won a Silver award for the President’s Circle annual meeting at a client’s home in Whitefish Bay. We spent extensive hours returning the dilapidated gardens to their original colorful grandeur of 10 years ago and provided a wonderful experience to the over 250 guests that arrived for that party. We also received a Gold Award, for our Art in Bloom 2011 display which showcased an ornamental 30ft iron column that was filled with over 7000 flowers. The tower stood in the center of Windover Hall in the internationally known Calatrava Art Museum. Accolades to my staff and those subcontractors that assisted me with this successful undertaking.

In other news I had the great experience of attending my first ever Smart Growth Conference out in San Diego, CA where I had the opportunity to obtain more than 16 credits towards my CEU accreditation for the state of Wisconsin Landscape Architectural Continuing Education. It was a most interesting conference that was sponsored by the EPA, HUD, DOT and USDA. There were over 1400 participants there and I felt somewhat alone, being the only private practitioner there, or so I felt. Who knows how many actual private practitioners were there but I can tell you there was a plethora of local, county, state and federal governmental employees discussing Smart Growth, in both urban and rural environments. My focus was based on the rural environment with my sites on getting involved with the overall development and sustainability of Washington Island. The Island has become a retreat that I have been returning to seasonally for over 15 years. It has become very near and dear to me. I’ve gotten to know the island architect and a few of the key players and do plan on getting intimately involved in providing not only landscape architectural services but sustainable land management, master planning, and so on. I am looking forward to turning the Island into a fantastic retreat for not only me and my family but for others as well.

On another note, I spent some time recently exploring a project down in Williams Bay, it is going to be a wonderful private residence. I had an opportunity to take along my assistant, a new landscape architect graduate from the University of Iowa. We were reading the latest issue of landscape architect magazine and we found one article very interesting. The person who was writing the article stated that Fredrick Law Olmstead is holding our profession back. It turned into a great discussion on the way to our destination.  This concept allowed my assistant to bring up the fact that Fredrick Law Olmstead was iconic. He created the iconic Central Park which, I feel, is timeless. Yet not many other landscape architects discussed like Fredrick Law Olmstead therefore he is holding the profession back in that we have not evolved like other professions. After all, in architecture, there are certainly Wright, Pye, Gehry, and Calatrava. All are incredibly talented, all are visionaries, and all are iconic. Yet in the field of Landscape Architecture we only have Fredrick Law Olmstead. That is debatable, after all there was Dan Kiley and a recent article on the news about the Miller house. All they could do is talk about the “architect” and only in closing just briefly mentioned Dan Kiley as the “landscape architect.” In our discussion, we thought that, by far that is an iconic piece of landscape architecture and it is representative of Dan Kiley and his lifelong works. I would be open to discussion as far as the profession of landscape architecture and who else out there is iconic. Of course, there is Peter Walker, Martha Schwartz, and Ken Smith, There is also Michael Van Valkenburgh but do any of these truly have iconic projects. I would say yes in one form or another. Then why are they not more spoken of in the world. My assistant and I also briefly touched upon the timeless feel. Central Park has a timeless feel, and I would say the Miller house has a timeless feel, certainly the Parthenon in Athens Greece, Pompai, Rome but as far as landscape architecture….what’s out there?

We will talk soon. Take care….off to the architects office to discuss Landscape Architecture. …Good Day!

Greetings to all! As we slowly wrap up the month of November one can only wonder where the summer went. For me, it was extremely busy. I am grateful that my business has grown and I am looking to expand it. It was challenging in that the growth within the company was unexpectedly high and therefore causing some challenges. However, based on the people that we recently hired and the people that we are expecting to hire in the near future we are excited about our new additional scope of services for Garland Alliance.

On another note, we recently wrapped up a design completion of the International Garden Festival located in Quebec, Canada. With my staff of Jim and Caitlin we spent a grueling but enjoyable two weeks brainstorming a concept for a garden to be located in the royal gardens in Quebec . If we are selected, the gardens will be set up in early June and will be in place with approximately 14 other gardens until the end of October. This year there was no theme to the garden but we were asked to answer the question “How our garden would be relevant to the renewal of the art of garden” with that said we provided this answer:

Our design will facilitate the renewal of garden creation by allowing viewers to reflect upon human interaction with nature throughout time. Our goal is to encourage visitors to see the garden through the eyes of time and perceive the consequences, both positive and negative, of human use of gardens to create a more controlled environment.

We chose to take an overview look at the gardens and the impact of man and nature upon it and we have included the narrative that was submitted for the completion for your interest for your reading pleasure. The following is what we submitted.

The garden is a response that looks abstractly at the timelessness, sustainability, and abstract visceral emotions that are achieved with artfully designed gardens.

Insisting reflection upon the garden, and its collaboration with man and nature, the garden and elements contained within are a critical review of where we have been, where we are going, and the impact of man and nature on the art of garden.

Berms of grass remind us of the waves of time through man and nature.

Doors provide frames of view and are a metaphor for the opening of new ideas and the departure of old.

Plants are present in the dead, newborn, and mature stage. The Dawn Redwood has been around for 50 million years.

Structure of man is abstract and skeletal in nature signifying nature and the gardens reign over man’s built environment.

Portholes of water are reflective in nature and echo the essence of the sustainable landscape and provide a view to nature’s soul.

The shroud is mankind’s view of nature without the art of gardens.

A reflective journey is our goal.

We will be finding out December 5^th whether or not we were selected. However, the experience was very enjoyable, and we are excited about doing future proposals for gardens internationally.

One final note regarding the art of garden and gardens in general. I recently attended a lecture on some very famous gardens in the Milwaukee area. The lecturer was introduced and one of the credentials was that they had taken a course on healing gardens through the Chicago Botanical Gardens and had  certification in it. I do have to query the concept of healing gardens and ask the rhetorical question “what garden is NOT a healing garden” in my 30 years of designing gardens I can’t help but think that my gardens are designed with the intent of being enjoyed and experienced, therefore, providing healing quality in one form or another. When I prepare garden designs for my clients I consider all of my gardens to be healing gardens.

Thank you for your time and interest. Happy holidays!

Sincerely,

Tim

I hope you had a fabulous spring and summer season this year. I know it was difficult on my end. Horticulturally speaking the weather was not good. Design commissions were down, however, things look to be picking up. Speaking of design, one has to wonder if we get stuck in a rut with the same old designs. So many firms out there have developed cookie cutter solutions to design rather than creative design evolving out of each project and client. With that said, it’s interesting; over 20 years ago I had my first opportunity to do a landscape design for a commercial project. It was a medical office building located in Madison, WI. I was extremely proud of the end product. The graphics were outstanding, and I thought the massing was wonderful. The design was very natural and organic, something I learned at college.

(A quick side note. Looking back I just wish that college design classes would have taught a wider variety of design rather than focus in on only natural design for, after all, there are many, many design themes and approaches out there.)

Back to my project in Madison, having recently completed it and having it installed I was anxious to see the end result. I had done some construction management with the landscape company, a well recognized firm in the Madison area, which did the installation. The plant materials were fabulous and the details were wonderful. However, when I stepped back to look at my first commercial design installation, it truly was a train wreck. The scale was totally inappropriate for the building and the site as it was presented. I sheepishly walked around the site and unfortunately my immediate boss was present as well because he was there reviewing the finished building product. He didn’t have much to comment on other than saying, “Garland, what the hell were you thinking of.” as he walked away. That day has stuck with me through my career. Because of this, as I design and I have my projects built I am constantly reviewing and critiquing myself in order to become a more proficient, sound, and energized designer. As designers we have to continually circle back to review what we have done in the past. We need to not only focus on how the design looks immediately upon planting, but how it will continue to look over the next  5, 10 or even 20 years into the future. Too often designers get stuck in a rut with the same sausage-like design solutions. I encourage you as Landscape Architects to continually monitor your designs and have associates review and critique. Constructive criticism is so vital in this industry and I think has been lost.

Enjoy the fall season!

Sincerely,

Tim R.S. Garland, RLA

Greetings Bloggers! I have finally taken the plunge into creating and starting my blog. My name is Tim R.S. Garland, I am a board certified Landscape Architect and the owner of Garland Alliance. I started my business September 7, 2001 right before 9/11 so there are deeply rooted emotional thoughts that come along with my business. I have over 30 years experience in the field of Landscape Architecture. The scope of my services and my business are wide. With the ability to team up with architects, engineers, and interior designers we can provide comprehensive turn-key design build for any of your needed projects. We can also provide design services, consulting, sustainable management and event planning. Garland Alliance also provides large scale land management planning for property owners that involves: GPS mapping, soil mapping, topography mapping and additional design/development in the field of timber management, wildlife management, wildlife restoration, woodland/wetland restoration, and recreational management. We not only provide a 40,000ft aerial view but we can actually get on the ground to coordinate and manage the overall implementation of any of the above services.

I look for long-term relationships with my clients. Some of my clients and I have been doing business for over 20 years. With this blog I will be looking forward to giving you interesting and candid thoughts, comments, and opinions in the field of Landscape Architecture; where our profession has been and where we are going in the years to come. I have spent 30 years evaluating and re-evaluating my skills as a Landscape Architect.  After all, if a person does not continue to evaluate and re-evaluate what they have done, how will they know what works well and what doesn’t work well. If we do not continually improve ourselves we will only become deeply embedded in a rut.  I look forward to informing all of you about the environment of the residential, urban, and rural landscape.

Feel free to send me a note and I look forward to talking with you in the near future.

Sincerely,

Tim R.S. Garland, RLA