The Yards Park, Errata

I can't write about The Yards, without commenting on the planting plan and a few other items I would have liked to have seen different.  First up, the plant list -- I can't understand why the palette would be azaleas and barberries.  They're just very...suburban.  I would have loved to see a palette similar to Hudson River Park -- grasses and native plants that will thrive in full sun.   I can only imagine how quickly the azaleas will get lacebug  in this site.

Equally odd, the placement of Yucca beneath river birches.  Eventually they will be shaded out.

I loved the steel trellis work on the concrete walls.  It was interesting to see how Clematis twines on it beautifully...

Whereas trumpet creeper has ignored the trellis altogether.

Of course I'm baffled as to what will grow on the trellis here, as there is no planting bed beneath it.

Finally, a good example of poor coordination between lighting design and planting design...

Peach Update

In late March, I posted on Prunus persica or the peach tree as I began watching the orchard I pass on my way to the beach develop fruit.  By early May, the peaches had begun to form, though they were very small. 

This weekend I passed the plants again and the peaches have been developing steadily. 

It's fun to track a specific plant in "real time" and truly appreciate what goes into getting a simple piece of fruit.  More so, you can appreciate the financial risks involved for the farmers.

The Yards Park, Water Feature

The water feature at the Yards Park is one of the site's highlights.  It's a large pool recirculated by a waterfall that appears to feed the Anacostia River. 

The waterfall spills from a weir that doubles as a fountain. 

Walking behind the fall is lovely -- I can imagine how crowded this space will be in the summer.

 Below, the view of the weir. 

 

 The fountain is on a timed display -- a few minutes later the jets were quite tall.

The Yards Park, Furnishings

I thought I'd spend today's post sharing some photos of the furnishings at the Yards.  There was a fair amount of variety in benches and chairs in the park -- I'm not convinced there was a need for *so* much variety, but they are creative designs.

First up, this large wood disc with stone supports.  I would have liked to see some element of the wood or stone frame this seat a bit more --perhaps in an edge or back wall detail for the surrounding plantings -- but imagine that people are drawn to this unconventional seat.

These chaises were my favorites of all the furnishings.  Streamlined, facing south for sunning and broad enough that they can double as benches.

These wavy seat wall benches above are a nice twist on benches with armrests (when the armrests are obviously used to prevent sleeping).  They were also fairly comfy.  That said, there are long long runs of these benches with no interruptions.  I think people like to select a seat that is more "anchored." I would have probably would have wanted to break up the lines into shorter segments...?

There are also large runs of this smooth, curvy bench.  The wood is bent beautifully, though I can't figure out if there's a purpose to the slot in the concrete.

Finally, the individual bistro seats and tables are lovely.  It's almost like a more contemporary interpretation of the bistro seats that I bought for my balcony, so it's not a surprise I liked them.  The color does disappear into the paving a bit, but I'm not sure what color would be an improvement, perhaps just a darker stone color.

The Yards Park

Last week the US Green Building Council hosted an industry happy hour at the Yards Park in SE DC.  I had heard about the park -- it opened to the public last year after being an abandoned Navy shipyard that was last truly active during World War II.

Development on the site will continue for a few more years.  For example, the structure above -- an old lumber warehouse -- will eventually house restaurants and shops.

M. Paul Friedberg and Partners designed the site. I'll post a few more photos of details in the days to come.

Library of Congress

Last Tuesday, the Institute of Classical Architecture hosted a wonderful tour of the Library of Congress building in DC.   Shamefully, I had never been in the building before, despite having lived in the DC area from 85-88 and 91-93, and my folks having been here since 91. 

 

 

It's a beautiful ornate structure, designed to honor our country's "secular saints" -- great thinkers, scientists and poets.  

It was also one of the first public buildings to employ electric light, though the architecture still captured and maximized available sunlight.

The marble is a mix of North American, Italian and North African stone.  This scalloped paving pattern in the main hall was particularly beautiful to me.

As was this smaller braided band detail.

Those who know me know I have a soft spot for owl imagery so I had to share a pic of this guy, tucked away in the corner of a glass tile mosaic.

More Bird Stuff

A few weeks ago, I saw this bird while running along the Potomac.  I was fairly sure it was a great blue heron (Ardea herodias), but couldn't be sure that the beak was yellow, which is one of the tell-tale ways to positively ID the bird.  

That's about as close as I got to it, before the bird took off.

 

Last week I was running near through the Constitution Gardens and saw the same species of bird.  This time, I could spot the beak.   

 

I was able to get much closer to him, too, as he (or she) was transfixed by something below the water's surface.

 

Not sure how much longer the bird would stay in that spot though, since a fleet of ducklings were quickly making their way over for a visit. 

 

Balcony Landscape - This time with furniture!

Last April, I posted on my new landscape installation at my very own balcony.  I signed off saying I still needed to track down furniture.  Well, I'm delighted to share some pics of what I finally decided on.

I knew I wanted a table that I could work on with my laptop and also that could function as a dining table.  But with the narrow dimensions of the balcony, I didn't want to get something bloated and oversized.  I also wanted to have a pop of color, as I largely plan to landscape the balcony with herbs and houseplants during the summer, all of which are mostly green and the forsythia is green from mid-May forward.

I looked for sets everywhere.  I fell in love with the Comptoir de Famille catalog and got depressed about the prices on the Gracious Home site (they had a bistro set that ran for about a total of $500 - a bit pricey for me).  Then I found this set on the Sears website, of all places!  The grand total -- with shipping -- was just around $120.  The set is made in China, which accounts partly for the low price, and there were a few spots where the powder coated paint was thin, but overall, I'm delighted with the quality.  They're solidly built and heavy and quite comfy to use.

Meridian Hill Park

So last week, I was teasing a post on Meridian Hill Park almost every day.  I kept threatening to post photos on Friday.  Sure enough, at around 7:30 Friday morning, blogger was shut down.  And by 9am that golden window for me to get a blog post done had closed.  So here, a few days later than planned, I'm finally making that post.

This shot above is the north entry of Meridian Hill Park -- at 15th and Euclid Streets.  It's a large mall space with the aforementioned Quercus macrocarpa aligning the walks.  It rises slightly uphill as one walks south.  To the right, the grade drops severely - two retaining walls, each 20'+ hold the park up.  On the left, the park is essentially at grade with 15th Street.

Evidently, this statue of Joan of Arc is the only statue of a woman on a horse.  Which is remarkable, since Washington DC could very well also be called "City of Many Equestrian Statues."  Joan looks south and beyond her the park drops in grade considerably.  One has a lovely lookout here of the main design gesture of the park -- the cascading water feature.

The park actually sits on the White House meridian line. L'Enfant planned Washington DC using triangles that connect various parts of DC.  The White House meridian is a line that connects the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, the White House and, further north, Meridian Hill Park.  The park itself is oriented almost exactly north-south.

Fountains at the head of the cascading pools fill a large upper pool then slowly descend through a series of smaller pools. 

As mentioned last week, Iris pseudacorus aligns the cascade.  Junipers are planted along the stepped walkway flanking the water.  A curious choice, though I suspect the absence of leaf litter was part of the reasoning.

The park was finished in 1936 though previously the site had been a bucolic campus for Columbian College, which was later renamed George Washington University.  At the time, the concrete aggregate forming all the structures was quite new.  Personally, I can't stand this look.  I would have much preferred all the walls to be stone, but it was pretty trendy at the moment and certainly less expensive than stone.

Paving "stones" were laid out with bluestone aggregate and larger pebble aggregate at the "joints."

The view back north at the cascade.  The park is having a series of renovations being performed -- right now the water cascade on the left is not functioning property and the large retaining walls on 16th Street are being repaired.  We were there on a Sunday morning and the park was pretty quiet, but it is a great landscape - a lovely beaux arts idyll, hidden in DC. 

Scutellaria resinosa

Last Tuesday I was giving my students a tour through Bartholdi Park and was a bit stumped by this plant.  The square stems and the bilaterally symmetrical flowers are good clues it is in the mint (or Lamiaceae) family, but what genus?

 

Luckily, I was able to email someone at the USBG and send them the shot.  A few hours later I got the answer -- Scutellaria resinosa or prairie skullcap.  Scutellaria means saucer or shield shaped and refers to the larger lower petals of the flowers.  These lower petals are designed to aid in seed dispersal, particularly during rain.  When petals are struck by rain drops, they catapult seeds off the plant. This makes beautiful sense for a plant that is native to dry prairie grasslands: the seeds only leave the plant when it rains, which is when they have the greatest chance of germinating.

There are differing explanations for the name skullcap -- some say the white markings on the petals resemble a skull (seems like a stretch to me); the other explanation attributes the saucer shape of the petals as looking like the bone we call the skullcap.

Yellow Flags

I'm sort of teasing readers this week -- I made a mention of visiting Meridian Hill Park and have yet to share photos yet.  I haven't had a chance to really read up on the history of the park, but hope to have a post for that by Friday.

 

In the meantime, here's a glimpse of the water feature that is the key part of the park's design and, flanking the goblin's face, Iris pseudacorus or yellow flag iris.  Below, note how short the standards (upright petals) are, compared to the falls (the lower petals).

Yellow flags are European plants and are quite invasive in the United States -- they are very tough plants and are even used for treatment of sewage and for removing heavy metals from contaminated sites.  That said, in a site like this, it's a shame a native aquatic iris, such as Iris versicolor (purple flag iris) couldn't have been used.

Quercus macrocarpa

I took my design students last Sunday to Meridian Hill Park for a little tour.  I had them reverse engineer various construction details and grading plans, as I think that's a great way to really "get" design.  More on the park itself in the days to come but for now, let's feature a great native oak, Quercus macrocarpa or bur oak.

Bur oak is easy to spot - its leaves are fairly irregular in shape.  At the leaf tip, the lobes are shallow and the leaf almost looks deeply scalloped.  Closer to the base, the sinuses get deeper.  Overall, the leaf is paddle-shaped.

The bark is deeply fissured and somewhat flaky.  It's closely related to white oak and has a similar shaggy texture with a stony/silvery color to it. The fall color is not as scarlet as white oak, instead it's a dingy yellow.

The specimens in Meridian Hill Park are fantastic.  They're a bit big to use in a residential setting, but what a wonderful tree to appreciate in a park or a campus!

Macrocarpa as you should probably have guessed, means big fruit or big body.  Bur is also referring to the acorn which has a fuzzy cap on it that almost looks like a bur.  Another common name is mossycup oak.