Last week our Plants class visited Grassroots Garden, a local non-profit here in Eugene that grows food for the needy. We did some volunteer work that morning planting carrots in the morning sunshine and learning some interesting things about soil amendments. The garden itself is humming right now, making my own backyard look a little sleepy. They are situated on a couple acres of land
My New Gig
I have been a dedicated volunteer over the University of Oregon’s Urban Farm since moving to Eugene in June. This term I became an actual “employee” at the farm. The whole class has about 80 students who then get split up into smaller groups. My job is guiding about 10 of them in their journey of learning about food production. It has been easier than
Natural Woodland Cemetery
Last week my Plants class took a field trip to the local Eugene Masonic Cemetery to study some native plants and a little landscape history. The cemetery was built in the mid-1850’s by the local Masonic league, back when the fraternal organization of the Freemasons were at the height of popularity. They undertook several community projects including building and maintaining this cemetery for area residents.
Early Flowering Plants: Part II
Last week I wrote the first part of this post on early flowering plants here in the Pacific Northwest. There were too many for one post though, so I had to break it up. There are some great ideas for trees, shrubs and ground covers that show early signs of spring life. Some are even evergreen! Listed in order of blooming, we begin with Fragrant
Lents Town Center Design
As I mentioned last week, I recently wrapped up another term in my Masters in Landscape Architecture studio. This term we were allowed to choose a site that personally interests us. The site had to originally be focused on a “line” in Oregon somewhere. My “line” was Foster Blvd in Southeast Portland, in the Lents neighborhood. Foster Blvd was originally the route that local farms
Early Flowering Plants: Part I
Another term of tromping around in the rain for my Plants class has passed, and sadly so. The Plants sequence in my landscape architecture program lasts three terms, which is a total of nine months, and it is really fantastic – my favorite class by far. Rain or shine, (mostly rain) we walk all around Eugene looking at different trees, shrubs and ground covers. We
Problem Solver: Evergreen Huckleberry
Planning and planting typically keeps my mind on the garden even in winter. As I have learned, it can take years and years for a garden to really come into it’s own. The process I chose for my home garden was drawing out a planting plan for the trees, large shrubs and structures. As time went on, I have begun to fill in little bare
Problem Solver: Salal
Salal is one of those Northwest natives that I have often heard people talk, but have never been familiar with it myself. In my Plants class this term, we are studying evergreen trees, shrubs and ground covers. We learned all about Salal this week and it is really a fantastic problem-solver in the garden. The botanical name for this plant is Gaultheria shallon, which is
The Highline
If you are into cool, modern garden design, check out this new park in New York City: The Highline. What used to be an old railway line raised above the city streets has now been converted it into a public park in West Chelsea and Meatpacking District on the city’s west side. The rail lines used to bring in loads to the formerly industrial neighborhood,
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