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

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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

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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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