Thursday, September 17, 2015

THE COLLABORATION: TEAMING WITH CLAUDIA WEST

It has been a long time since I’ve written here. I have missed it immensely. And I have missed you.

I am writing to say that I am back. I am returning to write refreshed and re-energized by a much needed sabbatical in which I wrote a book. I may not write the frequency of my earliest posts, but when I do, I’ll try my best to make it worthwhile.

I want to share a bit about the project that has absorbed me for the last two years. Several years ago, Timber Press approached me about submitting a book proposal. I said no initially (overwhelmed with a new baby and home renovation), but when they asked again, I was ready.

Claudia West
A few months prior, I had run into Claudia West at a conference in which we both spoke. She gave a talk about the color ranges of native plants that blew me away. It was wonderfully researched and rooted in science; but it was her ability to synthesize a lot of little details into a big picture that totally changed the way I thought about plants. I drove home looking at the landscape around me as if the scales had fallen off my eyes. I wanted more.

I had met Claudia many years before when I was working with Wolfgang Oehme at OvS. Claudia grew up on a family nursery in eastern Germany. Wolfgang was a family acquaintance. When Claudia was finishing school, she came to the U.S. to work at one of Wolfgang’s favorite perennial nurseries: Bluemount located outside of Baltimore (unfortunately, now closed). One of the great things about working at OvS was Wolfgang’s weekend tours. Wolfgang would invite all the young staffers (plus members of his posse—a random assortment of people who sought him out to learn from the master) up to Baltimore to look at his projects tucked all over the city. His garden tours were an odd mix of joyful discovery and grueling 10 hour forced marches (we never stopped for food or drink). But seeing plants in the landscape was a great way to learn them, and the tours bonded the participants. I got to know Claudia through these epic events.

Claudia West with the late Wolfgang Oehme. Image by Rick Darke

Many years passed. Claudia became a landscape architect in Germany and then came back to the mid-Atlantic, eventually making her way to North Creek Nurseries, one of the preeminent perennial and grass nurseries in the country. Infused with ideas from German mentors and her rich knowledge of American native plants, Claudia’s unique approach to design and mixed perennial planting developed, particularly as she experimented with real sites. Claudia’s current role at North Creek is expansive. She runs the ecological landscape division, the fastest growing branch of North Creek that grows perennial plugs for direct installation in the landscape. Most perennial plugs are sold as liners to wholesale nurseries to be potted up as quarts or gallons. But North Creek’s landscape plugs are especially long, allowing them deeper roots that can be planted directly. Claudia not only sells, but she designs and installs dozens of plantings a year. This provides her with a real world laboratory to constantly trial her ideas and designs.

Claudia West in her element laying out plants for a trial garden at North Creek Nurseries. Photo courtesy of North Creek Nurseries


While Claudia made her way back to the U.S. from Germany, I was making a transition of my own. I joined Rhodeside & Harwell in 2009 out of a longing to design more public scale parks, urban sites, streetscapes, and historic landscapes. While I loved creating gardens, I had a sort of Olmstedian itch I needed to scratch. I wanted to do more than just shrub up the estates of the uber-wealthy or the private landscapes of developers. I love plants, but I also love cities and wanted a practice that fully engaged in the issues of the urban realm. The shift from mostly private work to mostly public work was difficult, particularly when it came to planting design. No longer could I rely on trained gardeners to keep plantings perpetually maintained. Now I was dealing with sites that would be planted and minimally maintained. It required a different kind of planting. And a deeper knowledge of plants naturally interact with each other and their sites.

So when Timber Press contacted me about a book, I knew immediately that I wanted to work with Claudia. We were both dealing with the same challenges. We knew intuitively that there were plants that thrive in any site, but we both wanted to understand how to arrange plants in compositions that simulated the function and beauty of naturally occurring plant communities. We were both highly aware of the problems that many native plantings had in getting established. This was our starting point.

Next post: Writing a Book Together
The book will be released this month!

23 comments:

  1. Welcome back! Woot, woot! It feels like Timber must be copying these books by hand. I'M READY for it to ship already!

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    1. Hey Paul! Yes, it does feel that way. Seems like in a digital age, one could just press a button and presto: instant book. I hear they are shipping out from the warehouses on September 16, so hopefully soon . . .

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  2. Knowing that you're back is the best way to start a weekend. I look forward to reading your book.

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    1. That's very kind. Thank you for the warm words!

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  3. Great to have more posts from you, welcome back. Although the book isn't so relevant to me here in Italy I'd love to read it .I'm trying to develop native planting in my own garden, the only way to be content with it during the long hot, dry summer.

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    1. Hi Christina. We wrote the book with an international perspective, not a local one, so it may still make sense for your climate. It's available on Italian Amazon.com: http://goo.gl/3gXZW9

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  4. So glad you are back Thomas, and can't wait for your book! Since you've been "gone" I've retired to FL and joined the board of the Native Plant Society. Can't wait to share this great news!

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    1. That's great! Congrats on retirement. Sounds lovely. There is always such a wonderful mix of people in native plant societies--scientists, gardeners, teacher--best of luck with that! Thomas

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  5. This book sounds wonderful. Is it pre-orderable? Last year I ordered 7 flats or native grass from North Creek. Kinda cool to know that Claudia probably oversaw their growth.

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    1. Hi, yes, it's now available from Amazon for pre-order, but will soon be available in the next few weeks wherever books are sold. Here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Planting-Post-Wild-World-Communities-Landscapes/dp/1604695536/ref=zg_bs_5297_1

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  6. Welcome back! It was so nice to meet you in Portland in June and I got to meet Claudia when she came here next week, Now if I could just get that book in my hands...Great timing for me as I begin to plot the extreme makeover of my front yard.

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    1. Hey Amy! It was great to connect with you in Portland. Still one of my favorite trips/conferences . . . Hope you have a great fall and good luck with your upcoming book project.

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  7. I'm so glad you're back...I've missed your posts immensely...and, sadly, I missed you when you were in Portland this summer. I'm very excited to pick up your book when it's released...I've been looking forward to it! I actually got the chance to hear Claudia (I actually rode along with Amy above to the lecture) and was really impressed and fascinated by her knowledge and the ideas/philosophy she shared with the group. Good to know you are well and I look forward to your future ruminations :-)

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    1. Hey Scott! Great to hear from you. Claudia is an original thinker who balances big ideas with practical knowledge. Glad you got to hear her!

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  8. We all have to take some time off, myself included. It is a big job taking photos, posting and gardening.

    Eileen

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    1. Yes, it is hard to keep up with sometimes. I plan to be back with posts every few weeks or months. Have to keep a maintainable pace.

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  9. So pleased that your book is out, and also to read a new blog post from you again. I've just returned from the Australian Landscape Conference in Melbourne where we had James and Helen Basson from France and Thomas Doxiadis from Greece explaining their 'not quite wild but nearly' gardens so I will be very interested to read & review your book on GardenDrum.

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  10. Thomas, Congratulations on your new book and your new career direction. I'm delighted to have your voice back in the blogosphere. -Jean

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  11. Hullo Thomas, Super curious to read your new collaboration and hear more of the backstory.

    I was fortunate to catch Claudia speak at the Baltimore PPA as well as meet Cassian, Bettina, Roy Diblik and Adam and dive deep into the world of planting design.

    Claudia speaks tomorrow in Toronto and of course, I'll be there.

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  12. Thomas, I am thrilled about your book. Can't wait to get it. If it is anything like you blog or your NYBG lecture it will be groundbreaking. This is an exciting collaboration. I am also pleased to have you back in the blogoshere. I am excited to see what you will do next in public spaces. Welcome back!

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  13. Congrats, Thomas. I can't wait to sit down and get into it. All the best--

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  15. Might someone know of an online source of a transcript of Claudia's talk on Karl Foerster delivered at the 2015 in Baltimore?

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