Tag Archives: planning

Itasca Retreat

ILCA 2020 Gold Award Winter: Entertainment Retreat

Mature trees, water issues and outdated landscaping, were the issues that started this project. Our master planning took several different directions which started with us confronting a front yard that had no structure, extremely small entertainment spaces, and standing water around the entire 2.5 acre property that were causing issue around, and inside, the house.

Design work started by solving the water issues while keeping in mind the hundreds of mature oaks, hickories and maples on the property.  We worked closely with our civil engineer to come up with a plan of various rain gardens, berms, drain inlets and discharge piping, which in some cases were 18” in diameter, to move water across the property. Extreme care was taken to protect the trees which included such measures as protection fencing, heavy construction mulching, root pruning, air spading directional boring, hand digging, when needed, and other means to insure that trees would not be harmed.  Directing, moving, and storing water across 2.5 acres while avoiding mature trees took the understanding of the entire team about the sensitivity of the work they were performing.

In tangent with the drainage the hardscape plans took shape. The rear yard entertainment spaces had to allow not only for smaller gatherings, but also had to be substantial enough to host large parties. The views to the sprawling rear yard could also not be obstructed. Multiple rooms were created which were outlined by a continuous stone bench. The bench, opposed to a solid wall, allowed an open feel around the patios while still providing plenty of overflow seating. A custom stone fireplace was requested that needed to be, in the words of the customer “Unique, different and charming” No less than fifty variants of this fireplace were drawn.

Construction of the rear yard patios were difficult due to the tight spaces to get machinery and supplies into the rear yard, again, tree care was of the upmost concern. Precision was given to the seamless detailing between the concrete patios with the stone inlays. This went as far as planning the location and positioned of all of the control joints. This was all made possible by working side by side with our concrete sub to help insure the patios turned out as envisioned.

The front yard had to take on the same mantra, small feel but large spaces. A horseshoe driveway was installed along with a stone accent wall to provide a courtyard feel. In several cases this wall was only several feet away from mature hickory trees. Metal grade beams along with strategically placed concrete support foundations were used throughout to help insure the safety of the trees. Granite curbing, paver inlays and refreshed plantings finished the look.

With the water issues solved, woodland plantings finally were able to thrive. Care was given to smoothly transition between the ornamental and rain garden plantings to prevent any visual gaps.  The last touch, a putting green that the homeowner had been dreaming about for years.

The patio spaces are split into four distinct rooms. Each one having its own size, charm and intended use. The largest space, and the heart of the patios, is the dinning and fireplace patio. During this process various conceived additions to the house were executed by a long term subcontractor that we have always been able to work with flawlessly.

The quaint sunning patio was intended to be a place to take in the sun and relax.  Smaller in size than the main patio this patio can easily be cozy enough for two or also become overflow space during larger parties. The entire team worked tirelessly to insure that the concrete borders would work flawlessly with the intended natural bluestone inlays.

 

Morning Coffee is perfect in the breakfast nook. Intended for the two clients to spend time together without the feel of floating within a much larger space. The pergola and the climbing vines gives the space a very intimate feel and also allows a gracious transition from the house to the main patio space during larger gatherings.

The firepit and BBQ patio was the answer to the issue of how to address the “drop in” of one of the neighbors. Dinner for two or drinks for four is its intended use. Although difficult, given the age of the house, care was taken to insure the BBQ stone, as with all the vertical stone elements, matched the existing house stone impeccably.

The fireplace was a “must have” on the wish list from the client. Hard lines, from the angular stone, had to be broken up and softened by round boulders to provide the required look. The specific boulders that were used were carefully chosen, at the quarry, to provide the exact scale, shape and color needed.

The stone benches not only give a visual separation between the patios and the surrounding plantings, but also provide overflow sitting for parties. A solid seat wall would have given too much visual mass around the edges of the patio where the stone benches offer a much needed open feel.

The new horseshoe driveway provided the needed room for guest parking. Drainage was added to help relieve the issue of pooling water and icing. To provide structure a curved stone wall, granite curbing and paver inlays were added. Those elements are complemented by formal foundation plantings and loose woodland plantings under the mature trees.

Great caution was exhibited to protect the trees during wall construction. To span tree roots, metal beams on concrete post foundations took the place of traditional construction methods. A 12” thick mulch matting “pathway” was used along the wall as the stone was being installed to help insure ground compaction was kept to a minimum.

Many measures were used during construction, especially the drainage portion, to help insure long-term tree health. After construction, tree care continued. Systemic insecticides were used to help with two-lined chestnut borers, fertilizers with humates were applied in the roots zones and plat growth regulators were used to help stimulate new root growth.

Rain gardens were accented with appropriate natives and then were surrounded with more “traditional” plantings. What occurred were these wonderful pockets of colorful, lush plantings that could be seen and enjoyed from almost anywhere around the property.

The putting green was added to the rear part of the property and was positioned close to the refurbished tennis court. As with most elements around the property, several revisions of the shape, layout and positioning of the green were considered before the final layout was approved.

For more on this extensive ILCA award winning renovation, check out the video on our you tube page!

 

North Shore English Garden

ILCA 2020 Gold Award Winner: The English Garden

It is not often a client of many years’ states that it is time to start over.  A needed house addition forced a rethink of a visually stunning mature landscape. However, a silver lining was present. Although the client loved his yard, water issues had plagued it for many years putting stress on the existing plantings. This was the opportunity that was needed to solve the water issue while providing new elements to the yard. Change, in this case, was good.

Irregular bluestone on the old patio was saved for reuse on the new pool deck. It was considered that aged bluestone and new bluestone coping might not visually mesh. To make this work we meticulously detailed the pool coping giving one side a bullnose finish and the other an irregular edge. This permitted a seamless transition between the pool deck and pool coping.  A 5’ tall privacy wall was added along the property line, which paralleled the pool. For the wall, the house brick was matched as closely as possible, which also included mimicking the weeping mortar joints. Plantings and a water feature were added and accented by small details in the new walls.

A new large formal lawn panel was added which served three roles. First, it became a place to drain and collect the water through the addition of an underground gravel collection system. Second, it helped counterbalance the heavily planted gardens along its perimeter. Lastly, the lawn could become a usable space for a large tent during parties.

Bordering the lawn is an irregular bluestone walkway which is adjacent to raised garden beds. These raised beds help further keep the plantings dry and allow for a spectacular garden to flourish. The perimeter walkway not only allows for strolls through the garden, but also provides a pathway to other elements around the yard.

An elevated sitting patio, opposite the house, was a way to meet the demand by the client for a sitting area to read the morning paper while sitting in the solitude of the garden. A small meandering brook and pond where added to help drown out any exterior noise. This was accented by a bluestone slab bridge which allows a way to get over the brook to a woodland garden walk.

A formal dining and cocktail patio finishes off the opposite side of the lawn panel.  This patio is flanked by an herb garden and a formal planting of hybrid tea roses. These roses are prized plantings of the client and had to be transplanted, cared for off-site in greenhouses, and then replanted so that they would all survive. Similar to all the new gardens, specialty amended soils were used to help insure the roses would thrive.

Mature trees were either present or brought in, at a very full size, to finish the overall look of the garden. These created a gorgeous back drop and also afforded the opportunity to create a woodland garden walk. The perimeter of the property was finished with a custom wood fence that helps keep out deer and other critters that might disrupt the garden. In the end a once lush garden became a better version of itself.

A new pool and spa were added and surrounded with repurposed Irregular bluestone for the pool deck. The far ends of the pool were expanded to allow informal sitting and dinning spaces.

A new brick wall provides privacy and allows a backdrop for a hedge of pear trees. Vines and groundcovers complete the look. The bluestone coping became complimentary to the bluestone decking by taking on irregular shapes of their own.

The once arched windows on the house transformed to doors that lead to a bluestone landing complete with brick pillars and wood pergola which provide a smooth transition from the house to the pool deck.  Formal plantings along with planting containers soften the hardscapes.

A formal lawn panel provides structure and visual relief from the surround plantings. Under the entire lawn is a large gravel ‘cistern’ that collects all the water in the rear yard. Without this solution many of the other plantings would not have been possible.

A bluestone walkway and raised beds run the perimeter of the entire lawn panel. The raised beds help keep the beds dry while providing formality. Hundreds of cubic yards of specialty soil were imported to help insure the perennials, and other plantings, would have the best growing medium possible.

A long stone staircase leads the way into the sitting area of the garden. While a few large trees existed, several very large trees were installed to create a breathtaking backdrop to this patio and the garden.

A brook and pond added to the serene look and feel of the garden. The customer took some time finding the perfect statuary, which lead to us working with them finding the ideal positioning. A stone bridge connects the sitting area to the loose woodland walkway beyond.

It cannot be stressed enough the love of plants the clients have. Months and months of detailing out every single plant and its positioning in the garden still sees constant changes with weekly on-site meetings. These meetings help insure nothing is ever out of place.

Steppers lead the way around a woodland garden under mature and larger trees on the property. The same level of detailing of the plant material was expected, and was given, for this garden. Plants had to be positioned so the walk would bring new interest during every step and turn.

The formal dining and sitting patio extends off the new house addition. A seat wall encloses the space and gives is a subtle separation from the gardens. These walls match the house brick along with the weeping mortar joints. The patio had to be large enough to handle gatherings, but not too large to eat up any garden space.

The hybrid tea rose garden is the most cherished by the client. We worked with suppliers to come up with a soil mix that would be perfectly balanced for these roses. Unbelievable care had to be given to moving, storing and replanting the roses during construction. A new wood gate and lattice fence welcome guests into the rear yard.

It was imperative that the spaces flowed together and were visually connected. This helped bring the garden spaces together into one thematic crescendo.

Check out our stunning video of this project here on our YouTube Page

 

 

 

 

Before and After

Plantings can make a huge difference for the feel of a front of a house.

Plantings make it feel warm

Plantings make it feel inviting

Plantings make it feel like home.

 This planting did all of that and more. This was the next phase for a wonderful customer we have worked with for a few years now. We love being part of slowly transforming people’s dreams into realities. It is one of the things we love most about this profession.

ILT Vignocchi Fire Pit

Firepits

Firepits:

 Don’t need to be in a secluded part of the yard.

 Don’t have to be strictly for s’mores.

 Don’t have to be boring.

 Firepits DO help create ambiance, a wonderful cozy feel and dramatic scenes so incorporate them into seat walls and your dinning spaces and have them create a WOW factor. We love doing just that for our clients.

ILT Vignocchi Fire Pit

Front Gate Goals

For those that want a bold alternative to their front entrance, add some drama.  This climbing vine makes this peek a boo entrance sing!

Memories of rain and trains

This morning one of my two favorite moments happened simultaneously…laying in bed while it is still dark out listening to the rain and hearing the distant sound of a train’s horn.  It might seem like a simple thing, but simple things can transport us back to simpler times.

The sound of a train blowing it’s horn in the early moments before daybreak bring me back to time spent at my mother’s family farm in Indiana.  It conjures a picture in my mind of crisp red and white, an apple orchard, and my grandfather sitting alone in the kitchen before dawn with a cup of coffee, his profile illuminated by the small light on the kitchenstove.

My family is very proud of our small farm and their father, mother, brothers and sisters, who worked so hard to provide the necessities.  You see, they were tied to the land.  Growing to feed their families.  They were prey to the same things we are prey to in our business…the weather, pests, disease, and ah yes…little critters.

I remember my grandfather had a book that outlined how and what he would plant each year, and how he intended to rotate those crops annually to get a better yield.  Thinking back I wished I had had more interest, asked more questions.  Maybe he had some secrets I could have used, not scientific research like we have abound today, but something he knew in his gut.

I was fortunate to have both sets of grandparents come from a place and time that held enormous respect for the land’s ability to provide beauty and sustenance.  They only bought what they could not grow and they worked painstakingly hard for what they had to buy.

When my husband and I started a family, one of the first things we did was create a vegetable garden.  I would constantly seek my mother and my grandmother’s advice.  I would create a book, like my grandfather and make certain to rotate my crops.  I made certain it was pretty as well.  We also battled bunnies, pests, weather and disease.  Although that garden fills me with immense satisfaction, joy and pride, it pales in comparison to the gardens of both of my grandparents and my mother’s.

But I do it, not just because it makes me think of my family, but because it reminds me and teaches my daughter…or as my mother says, “the land will always provide.”

Donna Vignocchi Zych

vegetable gardening

Donna’s Garden

Benefits of Fall Planting

Most of us love fall, but plants love it even MORE!
 

Most people think of fall as the end of the growing season and the beginning glimpse of another Chicago winter.  Well try to look at it as an ideal time to plant!

Fall is a perfect time for planting shrubs, trees, grass seed, and even perennials if they have a developed root system. Fall planting gives plants time to develop roots before winter’s blustery conditions.  The conditions are also less stressful and there may be more reliable precipitation.

What happens during fall conditions is a plant’s leaf and flower production is usually slowing down and approaching dormancy. Therefore, a plant can focus on root production.  Roots continue to grow when other parts of the plant are not. Generally speaking, root systems will keep growing as long as the soil temperature is at least 50 degrees.

Although we generally get more rain in fall, the good news is that plants use less water then.  Because days are increasingly shorter and cooler in the fall, plants are going to be photosynthesizing less and using less water.

Fall is also when depleted nurseries can begin to dig plants again, so varieties that were either unavailable or just downright unsightly in July and August, may become available.

Finally, don’t forget about BULBS!  Its often surprising why more people don’t take advantage of this relatively inexpensive way to welcome in Spring.  To achieve a gorgeous Spring show bulbs are planted in late fall.

Spring Tulips

If you’d like to start planning a fall project, it is right around the corner, so call us now and we will be happy to assist you!

Perfect Pansies

I have a deep love of pansies.  I adore that they come in every color of the rainbow, which is unusual for an annual flower.  It is wonderful that they can be pure, or blotched or multicolored all on the same plant.  Have you ever looked at pansies when it is about to storm?  Try it, they absolutely glow.

Pansy Delta Premium Pure Lemon

What really sets them apart though is how charming cheerful they are.

Pansy Matrix Clear Mix

What can be seen as a drawback?  They are a cool season plant and in the Midwest we only get to enjoy them in spring and fall.  Oh I’ve done the experiments…transplanting them to the coolest shadiest parts of my yard to no avail.  They just peter out.  I actually like that they only shine twice a year.  It makes them all the more special.

It is thought that pansies are a close cousins to the viola, which has roots in Greece in the 4th century B.C.  However, they believe the first pansies were first found in France, because the word pansy is traced back to the French word pensee, meaning thought or remembrance.

Pansy Delta Lavender Blue

In the early 1800’s an inquisitive Lord Gambier and his gardener William Thompson began experimenting with crossing different varieties of pansies.  It is William Thompson who is accredited with removing long lines and created large blocks of color on the lower petals, created what is now known as “the face.”

Today popularity booms and most innovations are being made in Germany, Japan and the United States.

Pansy Matrix Midnight Glow

What is interesting is the amount of passion to innovate in this area.  It isn’t to create a drought free plant, or even one that is resistant to diseases or animals (which they are NOT).  The innovation, is to take something that was beautiful to begin with and make it even more so.

I for one am glad they are.

Donna Vignocchi Zych

President

Old Concepts, New Technology, Sustainable Results

Growing plants on rooftops is not a new concept. Centuries ago northern Scandinavians harvested sod from their surrounding landscape and placed it upon structures to create effective insulating and water resistant roof systems.  The Vikings who explored the upper Atlantic built grass-covered homes where they settled and in Iceland sod roofs and walls have been used for hundreds of years.

Although the living roof or green roof has been in use for a long time, modern green roof technology has helped to elevate this building method from a crudely effective construction element to an aesthetically pleasing, ecologically responsible building solution for age-old building problems and current environmental concerns.

green roof or living roof is a roof of a building or other structure that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems.

Green roofs can be very basic, known as extensive green roofs that incorporate drought-tolerant, self-seeding native ground covers such as sedums, grasses, mosses and prairie flowers that require little or no irrigation, fertilization or maintenance. These green roofs are lightweight, inexpensive, and can be retrofitted onto existing buildings, often without significant alterations or additional structural support.

Intensive green roofs are more elaborate roof gardens designed for human interaction. They generally have a relatively flat roof surface or mild slope and allow for a larger selection of plants, including shrubs and trees and require specific engineering to be able to conform to the weight load requirements.

Today, the green roof is gaining in popularity as an environmentally conscious architectural expression that is a viable element of any sustainable landscape management plan; and here is why:

  • Storm-water runoff will be greatly decreased with the utilization of a living roof. The growing medium and the vegetation of a green roof retain large amounts of storm water and release it back into the environment. A typical green roof can absorb 30% of the rainwater that falls on it, reducing the amount of water that goes through our waste water systems.
  • It is a common misassumption that a green roof system will have a deleterious effect on the integrity of the roof system. Quite the opposite.  A well designed, correctly installed green roof will protect the waterproof membrane that lies beneath it and, in turn, will extend the overall life of a roof.  Recent studies indicate an increase in life span of almost double.
  • Green roofs absorb carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming; and the slow transpiration of water back into the air creates a cooling effect that helps reduce the heat retention and emanation in and around your building.
  • In addition to the energy saving features described above, the actual mass and density of a living roof will provide excellent sound insulation for a building as well.
  • And let’s not forget the aesthetic benefits of the rooftop garden. The roof garden intermingles the pre-construction environment with the built environment creating a sustainable cooperation between development and nature.  People love to interact in the relative secluded natural setting created by the intensive garden on a rooftop space.  Additionally, they benefit emotionally and psychologically from the ability to even look upon the greenery of an intensive or an extensive roof top garden.

Green roof technology was re-invented in Germany in the mid-20th century and quickly spread throughout Europe mainly due to its restorative environmental impact.

Today, Chicago has been a leader in green roof installations with up to 7 million square feet on approximately 500 rooftops; the most of any city in the United States.  The benefits of the green roof have not been ignored by suburban businesses and multi-family residential buildings either.

Green roofs add beauty, sustainability and longevity to buildings

Corporations, commercial building owners, and homeowners associations are looking for solutions to increase employee well-being, decrease their carbon footprints, increase their LEEDS scores, and differentiate their properties from their competition.  The rooftop garden has proven to be just such a solution.

Reach out to ILT Vignocchi today to inquire about the potential for your headquarters, office building, clubhouse, or other structure to benefit from a green roof installation.