Rain Gardens: A Story of Before and After in 6 Pictures

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Noah

It’s a rainy day in the Twin Cities. We decided it would only be right to highlight a recent rain garden that EnergyScapes designed and installed a few weeks ago in a neighborhood just North of St. Paul. The before and after pictures tell the story.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rain gardens benefit your lawn and the ecosystem as a whole. They’re designed to capture runoff and prevent urban stormwater (often contaminated with pesticides, fertilizers, oil from cars, and other miscellaneous pollutants) from flowing directly into rivers, streams, and other local water sources. Native plants make good use of the wet conditions and water has a chance to filter through the soil and regenerate the local watershed. The natural habitat created by native plants will bring birds, butterflies and other pollinators to your yard. It’s good to know that special grants and rebates are usually available for homeowners interested in installing a rain garden!

 

What’s Blooming Now?

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Noah

Smooth Penstemon (Penstemon Digitalis) is a native perennial with clusters of 1 inch tubular white flowers that have a soft look. Hummingbirds are attracted to the flowers that bloom in May and June. The perennial also has a decorative seed capsule that adds interest in the fall and winter. It grows in dense attractive clumps that are two to four feet high. Smooth Penstemon likes average to moist soil and is a good choice for moist meadows and raingardens.

Smooth Penstemon Outside the Office

What’s Blooming Now?

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Noah

I confess, the species we’re highlighting today isn’t native to Minnesota. It comes from Southern Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee and Arkansas and has been cultivated since 1754.  The species in question is the Catalpa Speciosa and it’s the gorgeous tree you’ve probably seen that’s full of white blossoms this time of year. One of them is blooming just down the street from our office and the tree is so unavoidable that, well, we can’t avoid talking about it. Pick up one of its flowers on your next walk and stay long enough to enjoy the shade the large, heart-shaped leaves provide.

Catalpa in Bloom on Selby Avenue

Catalpa Flowers

What’s Blooming Now?

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Noah

Welcome back from a long Memorial Day weekend! Here’s an update on some of the native plants you can find in bloom this week in the upper Midwest. Let us know if you see others!

 

Red Columbine

Columbine (Aquilegia Canadensis): This is a red Columbine that is native to Minnesota. The plant grows in anything from sun to shade and can often be found in rocky woods and on slopes. Columbine blooms in May and June and can grow to be about 1 to 3 feet high. The flowers are 1 to 2 inches, bell shaped, and downward hanging. Their color is generally red with yellow tips and the fruit pods are a 1/2″ to 1″ long that split open and release shiny, round seeds.

 

 

 

 

Mayapple

 

Mayapple (Podophyllum Peltatum): A native species in Minnesota, Mayapple likes woodland soils and part shade. It grows to be about 18 inches tall and only puts out 2 large leaves and 1 flower. The leaves are large, multi-lobed, and umbrella like. The flower blooms in the middle of the two leaves and strongly resembles an apple blossom. Eventually the Mayapple develops a yellow, crab apple size fruit. The fruit is edible ( it has a lemon-like flavor) and can be used to make excellent jellies!

 

 

 

Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium reptans): Jacob’s ladder is a Minnesota native wildflower that is often found in rich, moist woods and along streams throughout the southeast part of the state. You can grow it in full sun with enough moisture but it prefers shady spots. It will bloom in April or May and be the plant will be covered in bell like blooms that range from shades of pink to blue. The flowers are attractive to honey bees. Jacobs Ladder is rather floppy but does grow 1 to 1 1/2 feet tall. It is a Deer resistant plant, so it is a good choice if you have deer visiting your garden.

What’s Blooming Now

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Noah

It’s a rainy afternoon here in Saint Paul and, judging by the the weather reports, most of Minnesota as well. But, when the sun does finally come out again, don’t forget to look for all the native plants that are in bloom this last week of May. Keep an eye out especially for Prairie Smoke and Pennsylvania Sedge!

 

Prairie Smoke in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN.

 

 

Prairie Smoke is one of the first native prairie flowers to bloom in the spring. It is a perennial that likes lots of sun and a dry landscape. The nodding pink flower that appears in May eventually gives way to some of the feathery, smokey-pink seed heads you see in this picture. Prairie smoke is a relatively small plant rising only 6 to 18 inches.

 

Pennsylvania Sedge

 

 

 

 

Pennsylvania Sedge is a native perennial grass with pale-green arching leaves that is one of the earliest blooming sedges in spring. The sedge grows in colonies and spreads through the roots which are a reddish brown color. The base of the stems are also a reddish brown. In the fall and winter months the sedge turns a sandy-tan.

 

 

 

Don’t forget to check back on a weekly basis to see what’s in bloom next!

 

Reduce Water Use with Ecologically Sound Lawn Alternatives

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Leslie

Would you like to reduce your irrigation expenses, as well as the amount of time required to maintain your lawn?  In his recent The Designer article, EnergyScapes owner Douglas Owens-Pike highlights four lawn alternatives that will benefit your environment and your pocketbook by cutting down on irrigation waste.  As an added bonus, making the

No Mow grass installed by EnergyScapes, 1997.

switch to one of these alternatives will result in a beautiful lawn and some extra time to enjoy it!

Click here to read Douglas Owens-Pike’s article “Lawn Alternatives” in The Designer‘s 2012 Garden Trends Report.

Garden Designers’ Roundtable: Zen and Meditative Gardens

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Laura

Written by: Douglas Owens-Pike

Every garden should offer a visitor opportunities to escape the frenzy of the world outside its gates. Imagine the Classical Chinese Garden in the midst of bustling downtown Portland, Oregon. Entering feels like stepping back in time, as well as leaving the urgency of the street behind. Here, there are a collection of a dozen buildings, occupying a full city block. The structures were lovingly crafted by artisans, who left their homes in China for more than a full year to create this garden. Visitors find waterfalls splashing into calming pools with sacred lotus flowers.

Classical Chinese Garden, Portland , OR

Perhaps your own city has a garden inspired by Japanese traditions.  There are several in our area including the Japanese Garden at Como park, just a few miles from our office.

Each of these special public gardens has traditional elements that you may find appropriate in your own home landscape.  This could simply be the right bench, placed where you can see it while sheltered inside, yet, be able travel there in your mind, even when you are too busy to go and sit there to unwind.

Above, Japanese Garden at Como Park, St Paul, MN Photos by Douglas Owens-Pike

 

Meditation Fire Ring, New Auburn, WI; Designed & Installed by EnergyScapes, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

The art of garden design includes finding just the proper place.  It may be a place you are drawn to, even if the view is not correct today.  Once you have found your sacred spot, you will be able to add trees, prune out branches and continue to enhance the feeling of loving enclosure as your landscape matures.  This can become a place of regular sitting meditation.  This may become a place you always feel comfortable, no matter the weather, or whatever challenges might distract you from feeling centered.

Then there is the skill of walking meditation.  Perhaps you have done this in a group, where you simply follow close behind the person in front of you.  You are removed from any responsibility of knowing which way to turn.  All you have to do is follow.  It is safe.  You know you can relax and just enjoy the journey.  This is also true with a labyrinth.  While their path is always seemingly complex, it is never hard to follow when you are willing to travel down the path.  It will always take you to the center, unlike a maze, where you must decide between options.  All you have to do it trust, walk the path, and you will find yourself at the center.

The Rose, St Paul, MN; Designed and Installed by EnergyScapes, 1998

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rose, St Paul, MN

 

 

These three photos are of a labyrinth that was built in St Paul, Minnesota in 1998.

 

 

 

The Rose, St Paul, MN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Labyrinth at Otter Creek, Wheeler, WI; Designed by Marilyn Larson, installed by EnergyScapes, 2011

 

 

 

 

Labyrinth in Snow at Otter Creek, Wheeler, WI

The primary purpose of meditative gardens is reducing stress.  Therefore, we do not advocate trying to replicate the flora of a traditional Japanese garden.  Here in the Upper Midwest, you ask for trouble planting those delicate Japanese maple with the finely dissected foliage.  Of course, that will change if climate change continues to grace us with winters as mild as this past year.  Better to go with those species we know to be hardy here: pagoda dogwood is a wonderful substitute and so many native options for deep shade ground cover including wild lily of the valley.

Chalice Room Labyrinth, Minneapolis, MN; Designed by Marilyn Larson, installed by EnergyScapes, 2002

 

 

 

 

Plymouth Millennium Garden, Plymouth, MN; Designed by EnergyScapes, installed by Sentenced to Serve Offenders and City of Plymouth Parks Staff, 2000

Simplify, breathe deeply and relax.  Those are the principles when designing or visiting these gardens focused on slowing down, finding your center and connecting more deeply with natural forces with the power to heal.  We welcome your feedback.

See what others on the Garden Designers’ Roundtable have posted on this subject:

Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK

Genevieve Schmidt : North Coast Gardening : Arcata, CA

Jenny Peterson : J Petersen Garden Design : Austin, TX

 

Want a butterfly garden in your backyard?

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Laura

Monarch butterfly on button blazingstar.

If you have ever traveled to see a garden planted specifically for butterflies and other pollinators, you know how jaw-dropping flowers covered with Monarch butterflies can be and the sense of wonder you get from hummingbirds whirring above your head. Have you considered a space in your own landscape like this? You can do it! Get some ideas for which plants and features will draw butterflies and hummingbirds to your own landscape with this class offered by St Louis Park Community Education and taught by EnergyScapes’ Laura Domyancich.

Register here!

Your landscape can be easy on your eyes and easy on the planet.

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Laura

Douglas Owens-Pike will share his expertise on how native plants can supply energy and water to the environment, provide year-round natural beauty, and help preserve Minnesota’s biodiversity. Come learn how to grow a garden that requires less energy, less water, benefits the environment, and is beautiful to look at during two classes on Sustainable Landscape Design.

These classes still have openings, and we would love to have you join us! Come with your questions about how to make your own landscape shine with less maintenance, money, and time!

Minnetonka Community Education: Thursday, February 16, 2012 7 to 9 pm

Register at Minnetonka Community Education or call 952-401-6800

OR

Hopkins Community Education: Thursday, March 8, 2012 6:30 to 8 pm

Register at Hopkins Community Education or call 952-988-4070