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  South Central LA is home of the “drive-throughs & drive-bys”, says Ron Finley in his TED Talk about gardening.  He believes that with more people dying from from preventable diseases, rather than shootings, Ron used the long-strip boulevard by his home to create food gardens that the community can access and be part of developing.     Check out the video below, and discover how “Planting some S***”, turned a desert green. Learn more about Ron Finley’s movement at lagreengrounds.org   Love to hear what you think!  Leave your comments below…

The Excalibur, situated within the Bjoeks Climb Center among the flatlands of Groningen, The Netherlands, is the world’s tallest climbing wall.  Towering 121 feet above grade, it stands like a monument over the surrounding landscape.  If the sheer height were not enough, a sleek curve 36 feet from the base provides an artificial overhang for advanced climbers and creates a dramatic element to the skyline.   Want to give it a shot?  Your effort promises to pay off with a great view when you make it to the top, as well as some serious bragging rights. All the aerial photos above were taken using a kite!  Learn more about KAP in my last post, Kite Aerial Photography: Site Photos from a New Perspective [HT Inthralld. + DesignTaxi] Additional photo credit: izismile 

The show gardens at Chelsea have come under some criticism this year for lacking ‘pizazz’ or show-stopping drama. At LAN we don’t believe this is true. While it could be said that many of the gardens portray a subtly that belies their depth and meaning, this year’s show gardens all demonstrate an attention to detail that marks them out as being stunning in their own right. Here we delve a little deeper to bring you the best of the best from the world’s greatest flower show. 10. Tokonoma (An Alcove) Garden Designer: Kazuyuki Ishihara Construction: Ishihara Kazuyuki Design Laboratory Awards: Gold Medal, Best Artisan Garden This rendering of a traditional Japanese tatami room garden is a traditional aesthetic that is not easy to interpret from a western viewpoint...Read More

At RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2013, Chris Beardshaw is currently exhibiting the Arthritis Research UK Garden, the Gold Medal winning entry for the charity of the same name. The garden explores the journey of someone who has been diagnosed with arthritis, and is a triumph of conceptual garden design. I was hoping to interview Chris while at Chelsea on Press Day. As if by testament to his popularity he was fully booked for the whole day! Luckily I was given just a few minutes to talk with him at the end of the interviews. Both wearing dark blue jeans and matching blue pin striped blazers, I was at first concerned we would look comical together. If he noticed he was too polite to comment. He greeted me with a warm smile. As I thanked him for his time he reassured me that it was his pleasure. Chr...Read More

“We’re Over: Breaking Up the Long Distance Relationship with Your Food,” was the title of my undergraduate thesis. My thesis was about local food and designing Urban Agriculture (UA), so I came up with this concept of “Breaking Up” that everyone would be able to relate to and understand.  Most of us are currently in a long distance relationship with our food.  We wouldn’t want our partner taking advantage of us or making us more physically or emotionally unhealthy would we? It’s the same with our food.  The average piece of food travels 2000 km (1242.75 miles) from where it is grown to where it is consumed.  The long travel time not only affects the health of the food by diminishing the nutrients in fresh produce, but most produce is sprayed with a...Read More

When you are working on landscaping, you need to think of several complications that can make your entire layout lifeless. Only few definite things can last in the landscaping desert; you need to know what actually they are. Well, here are some tips to be considered while you try to select a good landscape company. In reality, you may find several surprising things. People may forget about themselves that they live in the desert when they plan to start landscaping. They think that enough water, confidence, and hard work will do the job for them, but in actual fact, that is not true. No matter how hard you work on your garden, it resembles a rain forest. 1. After you are comfortable enough to decide with the datum that you live in desert, prepare yourself for the next step. The basic part o...Read More

Sun Salutation and The Sea Organ-Designed by a Croatian Architect, Nikola Bašić. If you happen to be at Croatia’s Zadar waterfront on a beautiful spring or summer evening, you might notice groups of people gathering around circular lit-up areas on the ground. Some of the people might point and laugh; some might try to catch the moving points of light before they vanish. Others might just stand and stare. Despite the lateness of the hour, there are probably a lot of children around, riding their bikes and scooters or simply running, following the colors and the movement of the lights. You might even spot a couple standing at the edge of the pool of light, kissing and hugging passionately. All those people are surrounded by soft, soothing music. What is this strange spectacle that attracts s...Read More

Winner of the ASLA Award of Excellence for General Design in 2010, Turenscape’s Houtan Park (后滩公园) also ranked near the top for places I wanted to visit on my trip to Shanghai. Though I arrived in the dead of winter and was greeted by a rather dry and dull color palette, my visit to Houtan Park did not fail to impress. Site Rendering. Photo: Kongjian Yu. source: asla.org With the added tagline ‘Landscape as a Living System’, Houtan Park has been universally lauded for not only its design, but also for its natural water purification system, whereby “634,000 gallons of polluted water are cleaned daily, improving the water’s quality from Grade V (unsuitable for human contact) to Grade II (suitable for landscape irrigation) using only biological processes” (LAF) i...Read More

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Chelsea Flower Show. LAN has secured an elusive press pass for this prestigious event. Here you can find highlights of the show, including what show gardens to look out for. An Early Start Visiting Chelsea on press day is a strange experience. I have been to Chelsea many times before (and have even exhibited there), but I have always viewed the show on public days. The first thing that struck me when I entered just before 8 a.m. was the strange mood of the show ground.   There were no large crowds of people creating the usual hustle and bustle, just teams of reporters and camera crews. It was only later, after the judging, that people could start to feel relaxed. The results of the judging will be revealed Tuesday for the first public day. ...Read More

Since 2008, the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) has honored student leadership through their Olmsted Scholars Program, the premier national award and recognition program for landscape architecture students.  The 2013 class, nominated by their faculty for being exceptional student leaders, join a growing community of 250 past and present Olmsted Scholars. Needless to say, it’s a BIG deal to get this award.  Being nominated for the program is an incredible honor as well and a prime opportunity for Universities across the U.S. to showcase their best talent.  It is definitely worth learning more about the nomination and selection process. With the growth of the program over the past six years, this year marks the first that LAF has offered separate awards for graduate and undergr...Read More