Tag Archives: shrubs

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Mature trees, water issues and outdated landscaping, were the issues that started this project.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!

 

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

This new rose is a ‘Top Gun’

One of the invaluable advantages of our sister company Montale Gardens is they introduce us to new plants.  Particularly plants that replace other plants that have developed issues.

‘Top Gun’ Rose is one of those.  Last year they brought this gem in as an alternative to ‘Knock Out,’ which when it came on the scene, was all the rage.  We couldn’t keep them in stock!  We have found their long term performance waning.  They are very susceptible to black spot disease, which if left untreated can devastate the plant.

This new rose has us impressed.  It delivers enhanced disease resistance.  Not only that, the flowers start our as a deep red and fade to cherry.  The bloom production is outstanding over dark green glossy leaves.

Give this baby a try!

Rosa ‘Top Gun’
SKU 70301

Donna Vignocchi Zych

Benefits of Dormant Pruning

As landscape architects and arborists we often find that plant material on our new residential, commercial and HOA sites have been left to get overgrown and mismanaged. The key to getting the plant material looking healthy, vibrant and growing properly again is of course dormant pruning.

Dormant pruning takes place during the winter months and this is valuable for many reasons. With the leaves absent precision pruning is much easier. Cutting the plant in the right spot helps the plant heal better and faster in the growing season. It also allows us to see the shape of the plant better and see limbs and stems that are either damaged, diseased or crossing. The colder months also mean less airborne diseases that could affect the fresh wounds of plants.

A sure sign that dormant pruning needs to be done is the evidence of witches broom which is a dense mass of shoots growing from a single point. This happens when the plant is perpetually pruned or sheared on the top and never in the middle or base of the plant. This type of pruning leads to a plant that is top heavy with leaves, but looks bare and leggy on the stems and base.

Dormant pruning removes the witches broom, allows us to remove overgrown stems at the base of the plant and makes it easier to remove unwanted growth. These fixes allow sunlight and air to get to the entire plant and not only to the top sections. Heights of plants are also much more easily controlled during dormant pruning allowing the plant to take on a natural shape during the growing season without blocking windows or doors.

-Aaron Zych

Landscape Architect  & Certified Arborist

Morton Arboretum Troll Hunt

This past weekend, on a particular hot sunny Chicago day, our family thought it would be an adventure to visit Chicago’s Morton Arboretum to see the Troll Hunt Exhibit…with our 9 year old daughter.  Did I mention it was very hot, very sunny, AND that the trolls in some places are 3/4 of a mile from parking areas?  It was really fun for the first half hour, let me tell you.

But although nature became a bit of a bore to our darling daughter, the Arboretum is a marvel to me.  It is nothing like a Botanic Garden, it is more like an organized forest for one.  Another shocking revaluation?   There are weeds, lots of them, which I found mind blowing but very refreshing.

The Arboretum was founded in 1922 buy the son of the man who founded Arbor Day.  It spans a tremendous 1,700 acres holding more than 222,000 live plants representing nearly 4,300 taxa from around the world.  What is so wonderful is that it made me feel so small, so unimportant, yet so at peace.

The Trolls, although fantastic, were such a secondary draw to all of the different species, elegant groves, and meandering walkways.  One thing I did appreciate about the Trolls is they were fashioned to completely meld into nature…as if they lived there in harmony in what felt like the most peaceful place on Earth.

During these times when tensions always seem to run high and meaningful personal interaction is on the decline, I encourage you.  Take your family, take a friend, go with a neighbor.  Walk around and take in the splendor.  Talk to one another.  It’s good for your soul.

-Donna Vignocchi Zych

The Mysteries of Fall Color

In case you were wondering…
Every autumn in Illinois brings with it a breathtaking change of color in the leaves of our trees, but although it’s late September, temperatures have been steadily topping out in the nineties every day.  Not a traditional sign of Fall, yet the trees are changing color and dropping leaves as if they were not aware of the hot and humid weather.
Aren’t the leaves supposed to change when it gets cooler and we see some frosts overnight?
Do the trees know what time of year it is despite the unusually warm temperatures?
One explanation, according to Native American myth, is that the hunters in the Heavens killed the Great Bear in autumn and its blood dripped over Earth’s forests coloring some of the leaves red.  As the hunters cooked the meat, fat dripped from the Heavens and colored some of the leaves yellow.
Not scientific enough for you? Need a more botanical answer?
In case you were wondering what actually initiates the changing color of the leaves and their eventual fall to the ground, read on…
Most people think that cool weather or frost causes the leaves to change color. It is true that there is usually a correlation between the cooler air and the onset of the autumn show.  However, while temperature may impact the color intensity, it has less impact on the timing of the color transitions we see in the Fall than do other factors.
A quick trip back to high school Botany 101.  During the spring and summer most of the foods necessary for the tree’s growth are manufactured in the leaves.  This food-making process takes place in the numerous cells containing chlorophyll, which gives the leaf its green color. This extraordinary chemical absorbs the energy from sunlight that is used in photosynthesis, the transformation of carbon dioxide and water to carbohydrates, such as sugars and starch.
In late summer or early autumn, the days begin to get shorter, and consequently, the nights are longer. Like most plants, deciduous trees and shrubs are rather sensitive to the length of the dark period each 24-hour cycle. When nights get long enough, the cells of the leaves begin to block transport of materials such as carbohydrates from the leaf to the branch. They also block the flow of minerals from the roots into the leaves. Because the starting time of the whole process is dependent on night length, fall colors appear at about the same time each year in a given location, whether temperatures are cooler or warmer than normal.
The fact is, the vivid yellow and orange colors have actually been there throughout the spring and summer, but we haven’t been able to see them. The deep green color of the chlorophyll, which helps plants absorb life-giving sunlight, hides the other colors.  In the fall, fewer hours and less intense daylight prompt the leaves to stop the food-making process. The chlorophyll breaks down, the green color disappears, and the yellow and orange colors already in the leaf become visible again to the human eye.  As the trees break down the green pigments and nutrients stored in the leaves they are shuttled into the roots for reuse in the spring.
Along with the green pigment of chlorophyll are carotenoids, yellow to orange pigments, which, for example, give the orange color to a carrot. At the same time other chemical changes may occur which produce red anthocyanin pigments resulting in even more variation in the Fall color scheme.  Some mixtures give rise to the reddish and purplish fall colors of trees such as dogwoods and sumacs, while others give the sugar maple its brilliant orange. For most of the growing season these colors are masked by the great amounts of green coloring.
The variations in Fall color are due to the mixing of varying amounts of chlorophyll residue and the other pigments in the leaf combined with a varied response to weather conditions. For instance, as the nights become cooler, the sugars trapped in the leaves of some oaks and maples will often form a red pigment.  The degree of color will also vary from tree to tree.  Leaves directly exposed to the sun may turn red, while those on the shady side of the same tree or other trees may be yellow.
As the fall colors appear, other changes are taking place. At the point where the stem of the leaf is attached to the tree, a special layer of cells develops and gradually severs the tissues that support the leaf. At the same time, the tree seals the cut, so that when the leaf is finally blown off by the wind or falls from its own weight, it leaves behind a leaf scar. Most of the broad-leaved trees in Illinois shed their leaves in the fall. However, the dead brown leaves of the oaks and a few other species may stay on the tree until growth starts again in the spring.
In general, autumn weather conditions favoring the most brilliant colors are warm sunny days and cool, but not freezing, nights. When there is mainly warm, cloudy and rainy weather in the fall, the leaves may have less red coloration.  A few hard frosts can cause the leaves to wither more quickly and drop to the ground.
So, in case you were wondering, with all due respect to the Native American myths, it is a combination of temperature, light, and water supply that have an influence on the onset, the degree, and the duration of fall color.
Enjoy it while you can, because it doesn’t last long!

Montale Gardens

About 20 years ago we sold our facility in Prairie View, IL and relocated to two new facilities, one in Wauconda and one in Island Lake.  Our facility in Island Lake is home to our production teams, mechanics and outside material storage.  Our facility in Wauconda started as a corporate headquarters and evolved, thanks to our very entrepreneurial founder, into an impressive shrub, perennial and groundcover wholesale nursery…Montale Gardens.

To those in the industry, the evolution from landscape professional to nurseryman is a natural one.  Most of the companies I know who have done it do so for a myriad of reasons…cutting cost, controlling quality, and revenue growth.

My father and I are very proud of our little sister nursery…she has the same culture and values as her big brother landscape company.  Those of service, fun, integrity and quality.

This winter, under the new leadership of Melisa Bell, Montale got a brand facelift.  When it comes to our image (we are Italian so the vanity runs quite deep) we are emotional and opinionated.  So the process was argumentative yet fun, painful yet invigorating.

When all was said and done, we are all so proud of the end result.  Here is a peak at the evolution, starting with my father’s original ILT logo, it’s next incarnation, Montale’s new logo, and their new look on display at the very popular industry trade show, ilandscape.

Harry Vignocchi’s original tree logo as seen to the left.

We call it the “V” tree which is our logo atop our original logo

Montale’s new logo

Melisa Bell talks to a customer at our ilandscape booth

 

Aesculus parviflora Bottlebrush Buckeye

If you’ve ever seen Bottlebrush Buckeye in bloom, you’ll agree it’s aptly named. This dense, multi-stemmed shrub with picturesque, ascending, candelabra-like branching typically grows 6-12’ tall. It features palmate dark green leaves (5-7 leaflets) turning to yellow-green in fall. In late June-early July, this plant “wows” me with its gorgeous white bottlebrush-like flower spikes that grow 8-12” long. Its showy flower spikes burst onto the scene just around the fourth of July, I deem them as Mother Nature’s 4th of July celebration! This broad-spreading, shade tolerant shrub appears to flow across the landscape. It can be used to great effect for massing, clumping or placing in shrub borders. It also performs well under shade trees and other shady areas. It prefers moist, well-drained soil and will grow in full sun to partial shade. It’s also very deer resistant.

Mature massing

Mature massing

Light: Full sun to part shade

Soil: Well-Drained

Height: 8-12’

Spread: 6-12’

Growth Habit: Clumps, Spreads (at a rate of a foot a year)

Uses: Excellent specimen, group or mass in shrub borders or woodland areas.

Problems: No serious insect or disease problems.

Fall color

Fall color

 

 

Watering Guidelines – new trees and shrubs

During the spring we generally receive a sufficient amount of moisture.  Spring to summer is probably the most critical transitional period because moisture levels can drop quickly and soil moisture availability rapidly declines.  This situation can be exacerbated by overly hot and windy conditions.

When plants start to show signs of stress by wilting permanent damage to the vascular system may have already occurred.  Prevention is the key; therefore we have prepared the following guidelines on the basics of proper watering procedures.

Time of Day to Water

The BEST time to water is about 3 a.m. to 10 a.m.  At this time the air is cool and very little evaporation loss occurs before the water reaches the ground.  When the sun rises and the air warms, the liquid quickly evaporates from the leaves.  Watering early in the evening encourages fungal infection (fungal infections thrive in cool wet conditions); watering in the heat of day is bad because much of the water evaporates before reaching the ground.  This accelerates buildup of soluble minerals in the soil that over along time can be ruinous to soil health.

Accurate Measuring

When you water, water deeply.  This means water for a long time, allowing the water to soak into the ground.  Ideally, you should provide one inch of water with every soaking, but not more than once per week.

Remember to take rainfall into consideration when monitoring your watering. Use a rain gauge to monitor the amount of water your landscape receives from rainfall and your irrigation system (if applicable).

Be careful…you can over water your plants!  Roots need both water and oxygen to thrive.  Over watering can kill plants because constant moisture suffocates the roots, thereby causing them to die and rot.  Inspect the area BEFORE watering by tunneling with a deep root feeder or stake.  If the soil is dry on top, it might still be moist underground and not need water.

Newly Planted Trees

When watering newly planted trees, remove the nozzle from your hose, wrap the hose in an old bath towel  (so it will disperse the energy of the spray) and set the hose at the base of the tree.  Water the area at a low pressure every other day (45 to 60 minutes) for 3 to 4 weeks, based on your soil conditions.  Make certain to change the position of the hose to water evenly.

Newly Planted Shrubs

Shrubs can be watered similarly to trees except the time frame drops to 10 to 15 minutes each.  Avoid watering foliage, most plants DO NOT like being watered from above because moisture build up on leaves encourages fungal problems.

For more information there is a great article by the University of Illinois Extension.