I stopped by this project a couple of days ago. We installed this last summer and it’s sure looking nice. It was a great transformation of a small space in the Lowry Hill area. We got rid of all the grass and created a Bluestone patio. The focal point of this space is the Lumaform fountain set in the center of a Carpinus bosque with a ground cover of sedum. Lunaform is located in coastal Maine where they hand-make planters and urns. Each is custom made with a wide range of color and finish choices. And as you see here most can be made into a fountain. We enjoy incorporating them into our spaces.

We got Brasa II all planted up. It’s sure going to be fun to watch these gardens mature. Be sure to stop by to see the gardens and grab some food, of course.

It’s fun to do commercial projects once in a while but this one is especially cool. Alex Roberts is set to open a new Brasa on Grand Ave in St Paul. If you haven’t been to his Minneapolis location you are missing out. The food is amazing and Alex is a great guy.

We are in the process of getting the beds around the parking lot ready for plantings. This involves removing compacted gravel, old concrete post footings and loosening compacted soil. This is a critial part of the installation process and will determine the success of the planting. Real. Beautiful. Spaces or parking lots start with good soil prep. Stay tuned for finished photos in the next week and be sure to go get some great food at Brasa.

Another great design and install project. We’ve been working on this project over the last several years. It’s one of our favorites. Here’s a little taste to show how the gardens are coming along in the front yard. Notice how the steps we designed shift gracefully through the gardens. The gardens are really taking shape. They were planted about a year ago. Keep posted. We’ll get photos of the back soon.

We have really enjoyed working on this project. You may remember a couple of posts from last summer and fall showing some of the installation process and materials. The transformation of this space is beautiful. It demonstrates what good design and detailed execution can do especially when working in a small space.

We are officially out making Real. Beautiful. Spaces again. Here are some progress photos of  our first project of the 2009 season. It’s located on charming Nicollet Island in Minneapolis. It’s not often you get a project on Nicollet Island so it’s been a pleasure to work on this. This is actually phase two. Last season we worked on the front gardens. For this project it was important to acknowledge the classic Greek Revival style of architecture of the home especially with the historical context of the island.  We increased their outdoor living space by using a dry stacked Fond du Lac wall to terrace a cut and pattern Bluestone patio. The raised beds will not only soften the patio but provide extra soil depth since the island has very shallow soil on top of the native bedrock. The soil condition has always been a limiting factor for the homeowner in their gardening. Beautiful and functional. Enjoy the photos and let us know what you think. We’ll post more as we finish the garden planting.

We are all familiar with those plastic containers that plants are sold in. You know, plant your garden and you’re left with a pile of plastic containers. What do you do with them? In the past huge amounts of plastic plant containers have ended up in our landfills. At Phillips Garden we have done our best to reuse those containers ourselves or give them back to growers so they could reuse them. Fortunately, a couple years ago a recycling program was started by the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association. Now all of our plastic containers and trays are recycled.

While the recycling program was a good first step, at Phillips Garden we are always looking for better choices when it comes to a more sustainable and responsible way of doing things. That’s why we were excited when our friends at Rush Creek Growers started using a new biodegradable container  for all of their annuals and herbs. They are pretty nice looking containers (see photo above). The pots are made from mostly rice hulls as well as bamboo and straw. Everything is bound together by a water soluble starch based binder (say that 3 times fast). They are made to last 18 months for growing purposes and then can be thrown into the compost pile. Pretty cool. We applaud Rush Creek Growers for their commitment to this.

Rush Creek Growers

MNLA Recycling Program

For anyone interested in pursuing a green roof, now may be the time. Soon there may be an additional financial incentive to install a green roof on your new or existing structure. This is on top of all the other wonderful benefits of a green roof.

[January 30, 2009] Senator Maria Cantwell from Washington State introduced the Clean Energy Stimulus and Investment Assurance Act of 2009 (S.320) legislation on Monday January 26 that, if adopted, would provide financial incentives for commercial and residential green roof installation. Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and the American Society of Landscape Architects worked together to help draft the section of the bill that is focused on the green roof incentive.

For more info see: American Society of Landscape Architects or Green Roofs for Healthy Cities or contact us at Phillips Garden

One Year in 40 Seconds, by Eirik Solheim.  It’s lovely isn’t it!…

Phillips Garden is the proud recipient of 2 ‘Grand Honor’ MNLA awards for Excellence in Landscape Design.  The MNLA is the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association.  The awards we were given were frontyard design and backyard design.  This post shows our two winning projects.  Beginning with the backyard:

This first project is our backyard design.  The challenge of this project was working in a small space with great change in elevation.  The success of this site was in turning a challenge into an opportunity.  Playing with different elevations and materials was the main focus of this backyard.

Before (above)

after ( 3 above)

This next project was our front yard design winner.  This site, also in St. Paul , was completely redesigned from the stairs, to to the walkway… fences and of course the garden planting.

before (above)

after (3 above)