Olbrich gravel gardens jeff epping - ppa - baltimore - 2-2017 - final

Designs & Plants for Greener
Landscapes - Left Screen
1
Olbrich Botanical Gardens
Jeff Epping
Sustainable Gardens:
Creating & Maintaining
Gravel Gardens

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The Idea
• Beth Chatto at The Beth Chatto Gardens
Essex, England
• Cassian Schmidt at Hermanshoff
Weinheim, Germany
• Roy Diblik at Northwind Perennial Farm
Burlington, Wisconsin

Beth Chatto The Beth Chatto Gardens Essex, England

Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg (S.W. Germany)
Cassian Schmidt
Director & Head Gardener
The Hermannshof Garden
“The New German Style”
combination of nature, art and ecology into a
concept of “enhanced nature”

Cassian Schmidt Hermanshoff Garden Weinheim, Germany

Roy Diblik Northwind Perennial Farm Burlington, Wisconsin

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The Benefits
Sustainable
• beauty in every season
• long lasting
• environmentally sound
• less water
• no fertilizer
• less pesticide
• lower maintenance cost
• straight forward instructions
• reduced time maintaining
• little watering
• little weeding
• no annual mulching
• no dividing
• little replanting

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Plant Selection Criteria:
“right plant for the right place”
• drought tolerant species
• seasonal interest - flowers, foliage,
seed, stems, etc.
• creating a plant community - mix of
grasses, forbs, bulbs and shrubs

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Design & Layout
• 6”+ tall border
• 4 - 5” gravel depth
• 7/16” washed gravel – quartzite
• plant spacing – tight – 10-12” o.c.
• plant design
• random/naturalistic
• more formal

Borders Olbrich Botanical Gardens

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limestone cobbles

walks, foundation, boulder wall

site preparation – existing soil, strip 6” of soil on edges

3/16” quartzite
chip
washed gravel
or similar

top-dress with 4 -5” of washed gravel

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Planting

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water, water, water…

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Maintenance - watering
• watering - critical to establishment
• years 2 & 3 – during drought
• years 4 & beyond – maybe during severe drought

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Maintenance - weeding
• weeding – highest upon establishment

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Maintenance – clean-up
• annual spring clean-up – no organic matter build-up
in gravel !

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11:45

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• salt
• wear and tear
• vandalism / kids
• voles, rabbits, deer
• fall cut-back – winter injury
Potential Problems

37
dirty gravel
voles or meadow mice
salt

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Olbrich’s First
Gravel Garden
est. Fall 2009
• 730 sq ft -- 1000 sq ft. minus 270 for path & seating areas
• planted 10” on center -- need 1025 plants
• $3.00 per plant (2 ½”, 3 ½” & 4” pots) - total $3075
• edging stones – salvaged
• quartzite ( 7/16” screened chips) – 4-5” deep – ~18 tons @
$16.00/ton = $288 (Michel’s Materials, Waterloo, WI)
• $95.00/hour shipping (semi) – holds 25 tons = $380
• Total Material Cost (minus edging) = $3743
(Based on 2016 prices)

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site prep – grading – good drainage, irrigation, landscape lighting

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stone and boulder border, gravel in place

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walking path and seating area placement

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layout and planting

43two months after planting

44summer – one year after planting

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Eryngium yuccifolium
Perovskia atriplicifolia

fall – one year after planting

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Schizachyrium scoparium
‘Little Luke’

48summer – two years after planting

49fall – two years after planting

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late spring – three years after planting

52fall – three years after planting

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Symphyotrichum (Aster) oblongifolius

54summer – 6 years after planting

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Limonium latifolium

summer – 7 years after planting

Allium angulosum ‘Summer Beauty’ Echinacea tennesseensis

Allium cernuum Ruellia humilis

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Narcissus ‘Las Vegas’ Narcissus ‘Quail’, N. ‘Scarlett O’Hara’,
Tulipa ‘Red Hunter’

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65Tulipa linifolia T. clusiana var. chrysantha T. batalinii ‘Bright Gem’

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Olbrich’s Visitor Center
Gravel Garden
est.. August 2014
(based on 2016 prices)
* 4354 sq ft. – beds & two parking lot islands
* plant 12” on center (multiply sq. ft. by 1.44 = # of plants)
* need ~4380 plants
* average price is $3.00 per plant (mix of 2 ½”, 3 ½”, 4” & 1 gal
pots) - total $13,140
* quartzite ( 7/16” screened chips) – 4-5” deep – ~100 tons @
$16.00/ton = $1600 (Michel’s Materials, Waterloo, WI)
* $95.00/hour shipping (semi) – holds 25 tons = $1520
* Total Material Cost = $16,260

67summer – one year after planting

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summer – one year after planting 12:00

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Penstemon digitalis ‘Pocahontas’

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Achillea ‘Feuerland’ Asclepias tuberosa

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Parthenium integrifolium wild quinine

82Schizachyrium scoparium ‘The Blues’

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Schizachyrium scoparium ‘The Blues’ Echinacea ‘Cleopatra’

84Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta

85Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta

87Sesleria autumnalis Liatris cylindracea

89
Amorpha canescens
July 26, 2016

90Baptisia leucantha white wild indigo

95Sporobolus heterolepis

Panicum virgatum
‘Shenandoah’

Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’

98Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blonde Ambition’

Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blonde Ambition’

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more examples:
small
&
large

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Goodman Pool
Parking Lot Islands
City of Madison
Parks
12:15

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Greater Des Moines Botanic Garden Kelly Norris

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Prairie Meadow - Prof. James Hitchmough
University of Sheffield Wisley Garden, UK

Prairie Meadow Wisley Garden, UK

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Green Roof Gravel Garden Epic Systems, Verona, WI

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Green Roof Gravel Garden Epic Systems

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Green Roof Gravel Garden Epic Systems, Verona, WI

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136Thank You!

Olbrich gravel gardens jeff epping - ppa - baltimore - 2-2017 - final

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