NOVEMBER 2009 LANDCAPE RECOMMENDATIONS

These recommendations represent the thoughtful views of almost 100 residents, The Friends of Original PC Landscaping.












We are concerned with the long range consequences of continuing certain landscaping practices.

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Those practices are:

1. HAPHAZARD REPLACEMENT OF AGING TREES

2. LANDSCAPING WITHOUT A SKILLED LANDSCAPE DESIGNER

3. INTRODUCTION OF OVER 700 LARGE, COLORED SHRUBS

We believe if action is not taken NOW to stop them and institute a system of checks and balances, our landscaping will become a hodge-podge within 10 years and there will be no way to recover.

OUR PROJECTIONS
Our projections of what will happen to the landscape AT THE END OF 10 YEARS are as follows:
A) 100 aging trees will have been cut down before their time, depriving us of a canopy that will take generations to re-grow.
B) Over 2000 more oversized, luridly-colored shrubs will have been planted, ruining the beauty, harmony and symmetry of our existing shrubbery.
C) 20 large areas will have been re-landscaped in a manner not in harmony with the original landscaping design. These new areas will represent about 25% of the total landscape. Our beautiful, irreplaceable landscape will have become a hodge-podge.

THE LUSH ORIGINAL LANDSCAPING

These estimates are projections based on what has actually taken place over the past 3 years:
1. Attempted removal of 10 aging trees from Boathouse Circle that. were in excellent condition during the last 2 years.
2. The planting of over 700 large, colored shrubs throughout the shrubbery of PC during the last 3 years.
3. The landscaping of two large areas (Brookhouse Circle/Vamo and Butterfly garden) without the aid of a skilled landscape designer over the past 2 years.

OUR RECOMENDATIONS

We respectfully submit the following recommendations, which we believe will correct the situation. We welcome any comments or additional suggestions from the committee.

1. REPLACEMENT OF AGING TREES

The Problem: HAPHAZARD REPLACEMENT OF AGING TREES.
Our most precious resource is our trees. They are irreplaceable. A tree removed before its time will take 35-75 years to reach its former height. Old trees should only be removed when they are truly old to the eye, and not merely because they have been tagged as “old.”
Once a 75 foot tree has been cut down, it will take 75 years for the new one to reach that height again.
In replacing old trees, there has been a continued tendency to remove large numbers of trees before they actually have to be removed. Many are still in good shape with 5, 10, 15 years worth of life in them despite their “old tree silver” tags.
A CASE IN POINT: The unannounced, planned removal of almost half the trees on Boathouse Circle in Nov 2008 was one recent example of a plan that would have completely destroyed the look of Boathouse Circle with its majestic 75-90’ trees.
The rationale was it would look better with all the trees being the same 25 foot height.
Fortunately this was blocked by Boathouse Circle homeowners. Only 5 of the proposed 15 trees were removed.
A good landscape designer would tell you exactly the opposite: that it would look far worse with all 15 trees removed and that both shade and the high loft beauty would be lost for years to come.

OUR TREE REMOVAL RECOMMENDATIONS
A BEAUTIFUL ORIGINAL GROUPING OF TREES
FEATURING DIFFERENT SPECIMENS
1. As far as we know, and as evidenced by the continued confusion at the recent February 19, 2009 Harbor Club meeting on TREE REMOVAL, no concrete plan for sensible removal of aging trees exists at this time.
We suggest the Grounds Committee recommend the one we are proposing and that the General Manager sees it is enforced.
2. The Tree Replacement Method That Should be Adopted
A. Any tree proposed for removal should be wrapped with a red ribbon for 3 months so the residents can examine them.
That plan should include the General Manager setting up a neighborhood meeting to allow the homeowners enough time to attend, discuss and vote on the proposed tree removal.
We suggest that an initial neighborhood meeting be set up be set up by the General Manager (using bulletin boards and email) no later than 2 weeks after red ribbons are placed on trees, and that the meetings be continued until there is a satisfactory agreement as to which trees are to be removed
B. We should also budget a small amount of money each year to plant saplings to replace middle-aged trees that have not yet been tagged. Currently this is not being done. This is the accepted landscaping practice, where new saplings are planted 10-35 years ahead of time so as to provide replacement trees down the road.
This practice should also be undertaken here now. It is not only smarter but cheaper. A sapling at $100 is a fraction of the cost of a $3000 20’ tree.

2. LANDSCAPING DESIGN PRACTICES

RECOMMENDATIONS ON LANDSCAPING DESIGN PRACTICES
The Problem.
Over the past 3-4 years massive re-landscaping has occurred in PC without the advice and guidance of a skilled landscape architect. The PC landscape is an irreplaceable jewel.
If this continues, our magnificent landscaping will become a hodge-podge. This degradation of the landscape can currently be seen in three areas:
1) The newly landscaped areas at the Vamo end of Brookhouse Circle and the Entrance to PC (The Butterfly garden). Any trained eye will immediately see they are not up to the standards of the original landscaping.
2) The massive introduction of over 700 large colored shrubs throughout PC that clash violently with the existing shrubbery.
3) The premature cutting down of aging trees before their time.

Our Recommendations:
Establish a landscape sub-committee of 3-6 members skilled in design and /or gardening to advise the Ground Committee on the suitability of any re-landscaping plans submitted by:
a) an outside landscape architect; b) the grounds manager c) any resident wishing to re-landscape their unit d) any other PC committee

3. COLORED SHRUBS

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS ON COLORED SHRUBS
The problem: The massive introduction of over 700 colored shrubs (Purple Thai plants and various red and orange Crotons) over the past three years has severely degraded the color scheme, proportions and harmony of the original PC shrubbery.

SOME OF THE NEW SOME COLORED SHRUBS (CROTONS)

There are currently 742 of these new colored shrubs:
Harbor/ Bay houses 182, Grove houses 141, Tree Houses 105, Glen houses 182, Brook houses 132

Here are some hard facts:
1. These new colored shrubs will grow to a height of 8 t0 10 feet or more. Their size will eventually destroy the harmony of the surrounding shrubbery, whose normal height is 3 to 6 feet.

2. There are simply too many of them. 742 colored shrubs is ten times the TOTAL COMBINED COUNT of all the naturally flowering hibiscus, bougainvillea, alamanda, and oleander shrubs currently in PC.


The original PC landscape design used naturally flowering green shrubs (like hibiscus) for color because they elevated the emotions.
THE BEAUTIFUL, ELEVATING COLOR OF BOUGANVILLEA


3. The new colored shrubs do not elevate the emotions. Use this simple test: take a small cutting from any Thai plant or Croton and hold it directly against any of the hibiscus or oleander or bougainvillea plants in PC. Then ask yourself the following question: which of these would I bring to a friend as a gift?
Your emotions will immediately choose the hibiscus or oleander or bougainvillea because their colors elevate the emotions while the Crotons and Thai shrubs don’t.
This emotional depression is very subtle but it is repeated every time you look at one of these colored shrubs. It is an unconscious emotional reaction.
When these new colored shrubs mature in 2-3 years to 8-10 feet and overwhelm the surrounding shrubs, this unconscious reaction will be multiplied.
You can see what the future will look like right now in the shrubbery leading to the Brookhouse pool. (1677 Brookhouse Circle).
In two more years, the rest of PC will look like this. Judge for yourself if this is the look you want in PC.
This is what happens when changes are made to the landscaping without the advice of a skilled landscape architect.

Our Recommendations:
1. STOP any further planting of these colored shrubs. 700 is ten times too many.
2. TRIM all of these colored plants down to the height of the surrounding shrubs.
3. Introduce future color in accordance with the original PC landscaping plan by planting naturally flowering green shrubs and vines such as tropical hibiscus, alamanda, bougainvillea and oleander.



THE ELEVATING COLOR OF TROPICAL BOUGANVILLEA
IS SUPERIOR

END of recommendations

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Assumptions behind 10 year PROJECTIONS

Our projections of the landscape AT THE END OF 10 MORE YEARS are as follows:

A) 100 aging trees will have been cut down before their time, depriving us of a canopy that will take generations to re-grow.

B) Over 2000 more oversized, luridly-colored shrubs will have been planted, ruining the beauty, harmony and symmetry of our existing shrubbery.

C) 20 large areas will have been re-landscaped in a manner not in harmony with the original landscaping design. These new areas represent about 25% of the total landscape. Our beautiful, irreplaceable landscape will have become a hodge-podge. “

Explanation

A) AGING TREES

I based my estimate of 100 aging trees being cut down before their time on the fact that 10 aging trees that had 5-15 years of remaining life in them were scheduled to be cut down in Boathouse Circle in 2009 because no adequate aging tree removal process is in place.

Unless a foolproof process is put in place that involves red ribbons and approval by the residents, I project that an additional unnecessary trees will be cut down each year.

10 trees/year x 10 years = 100 trees cut down unnecessarily.

B) .COLORED SHRUBS

Despite the Grounds Manager’s claim that he had only ordered 600+ crotons and thai plants, I counted 700+. Either way it is an extraordinarily high number to plant. I suggest the Chair get in his car as I did and count them as I did. Two other explanations are as follows: the count on the bill was per pot and not per plant and that some pots contained two or more main stalks. There is no way to tell if it is one or two plants once planted.

My estimate of 2000 more crotons and thai shrubs being planted over the next 10 years were based on the fact that 700 were planted over the past 3 years.

700 shrubs/every 3 years = 700 x 3. = 2100 new shrubs over 10 years.

C) NEW LANDSCAPING

Clarificatiion: I based my landscaping projections on the potential target land area that could be re-landscaped.

I excluded harbor and docks, all roads, sidewalks, nature walks, the mangroves, the wild areas between the Brookhouses and those that border the brooks and harbors. I also excluded the entire Wilbanks Complex ( land and buildings) as they are landmarks and would never be targets for re-landscaping. I also excluded all pools, tennis courts, and recreation centers. What remains is the target land area upon which my projections were based.

Here is a summary of the re-landscaping that has occurred over the past 3 years. IT is a good indication that after 27 years of no change, Pelican Cove is going to be in constant change. :

2007 Clower Creek Swales behind Grove houses

2008 Vamo Rd /Brookhouse re-landscaping ( invasive plant)

Brookhouse pond re-landscaping

2009 interior Glenhouse area re-landscaping

Phase 1 Boathouse Circle re-landscaping

Phase 3 Boathouse Circle re-landscaping

Butterfly Garden re-landscaping ( invasive plant)

South end Pelican Cove fence re-landscaping

In coming up with an average I omitted year 2007 as not being representative of the full forces for change being exerted by invasive plant removal.

Invasive plant removal is a major force behind re-landscaping and is likely to continue to request that new areas to be re-landscaped and thus 2008 and 2009 were better sample years.

An example of this force can be seen in the two areas currently being targeted as containing invasive plants (that I am aware of) :the entrance area adjacent and just west of the Butterfly garden and the interior area between some of the the Brookhhouses.

My estimate of the total 2008-2009 re-landscaping area is that it was 4-5 % of the target land area, thus giving an annual rate of 2-2.5% annually., which I conservatively downgraded to 2%

I did my estimates based on a visually mapping the re-landscaped areas onto the target land area.

Thus my projection:

2%/year x 10 years = 20% new additional Landscape area.

Note: I had based my 25% projection based on initial estimate the 2008-9 average land area change being 2.5% (of the target land area). I decided on a more conservative estimate of 2%, but forgot to change the projection( 25%). A clerical error.

THE USE OF COLOR IN CLASSIC GREEN LANDSCAPES

To go to section on
PRESERVING THE ORIGINAL PELICAN COVE LANDSCAPING
click here



THE INCORRECT INTRODUCTION of RED and MAMEY CROTONS and PURPLE THAI Plants) in Pelican Cove

In 1979 and for 26 years afterward, the Pelican Cove landscape was clearly the equal of the gardens of the great English estates, the magnificent estates of the Hudson Valley, Fairchild Gardens in Miami, Bok Towers Garden in Central Florida and our own Selby Gardens.

Like those great gardens, our landscaping was planted along the same rules that have governed the creation of serious landscaped gardens for hundreds of years. These same basic rules apply whether the garden is Temperate ( Hudson Vally) or Tropical/Semi tropical ( Bok Towers, Fairchild, Selby)

The rules are known to all trained landscape designers:

1) Beauty is achieved by the creating a collage of differing shades and shapes of green foliage. This rule is critical because green is the color that we subconsciously react to in the most positive way. We feel renewed, reborn, refreshed simply by looking at green foliage. It is in our genes.

2) Additional color is introduced by the natural flowers belonging to that green foliage, e.g., roses, hibiscus, oleander, penta, alamanda, Mexican petunia, orchid trees, jacaranda tree, and magnolia tree to name just a few. The beautiful colors and shapes of these flowers reflects centuries of natural and human selection.

Green, naturally flowering bouganvillia and azeleas
with their delicate , refreshing colors.

There was no good reason for these classic rules to have been ignored by planting the red and orange colored crotons and the tall muddy purple thai plants that have overwhelmed our original landscape.

They contain no healing green and their dark colors are inferior to those of naturally flowering shrubs.


I am sure it seemed a good idea: why not supply color by using colored shrubs. Many of these colored shrubs require less maintenance and water, which also makes them financially attractive.

Unfortunately the color combinations of their leaves are not the simple, bright colors of naturally flowering shrubs


But more importantly, when planted in large numbers, these luridly colored shrubs block our ability to see the green. They are like too much makeup on a well dressed woman. We no longer see the dress, only the make up.

In some sections of PC, the ratio of these plants to the green foliage is already 30% or more. At this point, the ability of these dark colored shrubs to visually block out the surrounding green is more than evident.

This is why these colored shrubs are not used in any distinguished botanical garden except as specimen plants.

They are represented as specimens in botanical gardens because it is the duty of botanical gardens to reflect all flora.

Thus at our own Selby, you will see small specimen plantings of things like orchids and bromeliads and crotons and thai plants, but you won’t see the crotons and thai plants in huge numbers saturating and obscuring the green landscape as at Pelican Cove.

No trained landscape architect would ever do that, because in classic gardens such as Pelican Cove and Selby, color is introduced into the green landscape through naturally flowering shrubs and trees.

There is a good reason why: the ability of these lurid colors to blot out the eye's ability to absorb the healing, refreshing effect of green foliage is a fact and is known to all experienced landscape architects.

Here are some examples of the lurid, colored shrubs that have been massively introduced throughout the Cove. They don't fit in, will grow to ten feet in height ,and seem like plants from an alien planet.

These shrubs contain no green leaves, and no flowers.

Examples of the lurid, colored shrubs that have been introduced throughout the Cove. These shrubs contain no green leaves, and no flowers.

Compare their lurid colors to the delicate flowers on the green leaved shrubs (below) that were a part of the original classic landscaping.

The photos below show the soft beautiful flowers of azaela shrubs and Impatiens.

Examples of beautiful colors of the naturally flowering green shrubs used by the original designers.

PRESERVING THE ORIGINAL, LUSH PELICAN COVE LANDSCAPE

" By way of this report we are requesting that this matter of creating a Landscape Committee be placed on the agenda of the next Pelican Cove Grounds Committee "

Steering Committee: Friends of PC Original Landscaping

Examples of the original, lush, free-flowing, green Pelican Cove landscaping



THIS IS A SHORT, CONDENSED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL REPORT.IF YOU WISH MORE DETAIL AND PICTURES , CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL, LONGER REPORT

More examples of the original, lush, free-flowing, green Pelican Cove landscaping

Examples of the original, green, lush, free-flowing, natural looking Pelican Cove landscaping



A PLAN FOR PRESERVING PELICAN COVE’S
UNIQUE, ORIGINAL LANDSCAPING

We are a group of long-time residents of Pelican Cove (Friends of PC Original Landscaping) who believe that the unique semi-tropical beauty of the landscaping is being severely diminished due to several landscaping decisions made by the Grounds Committee and Grounds Manager over the past 2-3 years.

We also believe that most of these problems would have never occurred if a qualified landscape designer had been called in.

This is one of the changes we think is necessary: the separation of landscape design activities from landscape maintenance.

We also believe the creation of a Landscape Design Committee is necessary in order to insure that new designs conform to the original natural-looking landscape design.

This is critical because we expect that the ongoing removal of invasive plants will make additional re-landscaping necessary in many areas of Pelican Cove.

We believe if immediate action on our landscaping problem is not taken by the Board and the Grounds Committee, the unique beauty of our landscape will eventually be replaced by an inferior design.

We will not only lose the unique beauty and restorative energy of our landscaping but our property values will suffer as well.

Those of you who have lived here for longer than 3 years know how dismal many of the changes have been to our tree canopy and our beautiful, lush landscaping.

We are circulating this report among all residents of PC in order to gain the support necessary to petition the Grounds Committee to stop this degradation of our original, magnificent landscape.

The original lush, natural-looking landscaping

Over the past years, we (and many others) have tried to make our views known to the Grounds Manager but have been completely ignored.

Instead, the Grounds Manager has continued to implement a mechanical landscape design of his own that clashes violently with the lush, semi-tropical landscaping we inherited. In addition, he has continued to act on his own without notifying residents of the changes to their neighborhoods.

The Grounds Manager was hired to maintain our grounds and trees and he has done a good job.

That does not mean he is free to ignore the original design and implement his own so as to forever change our once magnificent landscape.

The Grounds Manager has made the claim that the new landscaping is the result of water-saving recommendations made by the Board, but that is a half-truth. There are plenty of native, hardy, drought-resistant shrubs that complement the original landscaping that he has chosen not to use.

The kinds of hardy, native plants available (above)

The truth of the matter is that the small shrub, mechanical landscaping implemented by the Grounds Manager is the result of his own design preference, which is completely at odds with the original landscaping design.

An example of the mechanical, small shrub landscaping
introduced by the Grounds Manager.

The fact of the matter is the Grounds Manager's eye for design and color is not as good as it should be. The clear evidence of that can be seen in the areas he has redesigned, which are examined in detail later in this report.

An experienced landscape designer should have been called in.


We want to make it clear we are not talking about the maintenance of the grounds, which has been by and large a good effort.

In addition, the Grounds Committee and Manager are to be commended for bringing homeowners attention to the critical need for a massive tree planting program for replacing our aging stock.

What remains, however, is much larger problem. It is not as dramatic as the tree replacement/canopy problem, but it is equally important.

That problem is the unwarranted introduction of a mechanical landscaping scheme completely at odds with the original design.

The new, inferior, mechanical landscaping design

It has already affected the look of large areas of Pelican Cove and is SEVERELY DEGRADING OUR ONCE MAGNIFICENT LANDSCAPING.

As of March 2009, The major damaged areas are:

1. the Entrance to PC at the Bird Sanctuary,

2.the entire parking area of Boathouse Circle

3.the general Brookhouse area (but in particular in front of unit 1687 along Vamo Road)

4. the Grovehouse area behind unit 1628.

Some background on our original landscaping design to fill you in.

Examples of the original, lush, semi-tropical Pelican Cove landscape

The original semi-tropical landscaping created by Robert Morris and a skilled landscape designer from The Cornell School of Landscape Architecture has long been recognized (in Sarasota and elsewhere) as the equal of many renowned botanical gardens, including our own Selby Gardens.

Anyone who came here from 1978 thru 2004 can attest to the spectacular beauty of the original PC landscaping, which remained virtually unchanged until 4 years ago.

Some Questions and Answers You need to Know

Personal Observations by the Chairman of Steering Committee, Justin Spring

What is happening to the Landscape?

The magnificent landscape we acquired in 1978 remained essentially undisturbed for 26 years except for replacement of plants and trees damaged by age, disease or storms.

For his own reasons, Mike O'Byrne, our Current Grounds Manager, whose job is to maintain and preserve the landscape, re-interpreted preserve to mean CHANGE.

I believe this was done with the best of intentions on the Grounds Manager's part, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We are living with the unintended consequences.

More to the point, the Grounds Manager has ignored complaints as to the new designs and has since gone on to implement that same inferior landscaping in several other areas of Pelican Cove, much to the outrage of knowledgeable residents.

Why did the Grounds Manager re-interpret his job description?

The Grounds Manager is a good landscape MAINTENANCE manager with many good ideas. He is ambitious and wants to promote these ideas. That’s all to the good for Pelican Cove.

Unfortunately, some of his ideas have caused critical problems and he has refused to modify them in any way. They are detailed in this report, because they are affecting the quality of our once magnificent landscape.

One of the major problems is the new, mechanical landscape designs introduced by the by the Grounds Manager.

The Grounds Manager is not an experienced, accomplished landscape designer of the level required by Pelican Cove.

His mechanical designs clash violently with the original, lush, natural-looking designs that made Pelican Cove a treasure. Even a cursory examination of the areas he had redone will bear this out.

An experienced landscape designer should have been called in.

The Grounds Manager's landscaping

One has only to look at the redesigned areas to see the exhibit limited sense of color and a very limited sense of good spatial design.

It is also clear that the designer either ignored or was unaware of the classic design principles that guided the original, lush, semi-tropical design. An experienced designer would have complemented the original beautiful design.

The Grounds Manager has since attempted to explain his designs by saying that the new low water /low maintenance/ native landscaping rules determined the design, implying that the original plants weren’t indigenous naturally occurring plants.

This is complete nonsense: the major original plants were green ferns, shade tolerant shrubs, grasses, and various shade tolerant palms. All occur naturally, have low maintenance and water needs, and are perfect for shady Pelican Cove.

The real problem is that the Grounds Manager prefers his own idea of landscaping over the original, lush design, despite the fact that his designs are completely at odds with the original design, which was a masterpiece.

One of the mechanical, redesigned landscapes at the entrance to PC

The disastrous landscaping on Boathouse Circle

The original lush Pelican Cove landscaping

What are the factors involved in this sudden spurt of re-landscaping?

1. One factor was a change in General Manager. When Kevin Richards took over 3 years ago as the new GM, Kevin gave Mike a free hand. I believe this was probably due to the fact he was faced with pressing financial matters and perhaps also because he lacked the landscape experience of the previous General Manager, Bob Malan, who was a horticulturist.

I believe that Kevin Richards, the General Manager, currently has a much clearer picture of the effect of the Grounds Manager's designs on the landscaping.

However, Boathouse Circle and several additional large areas have already been completely and disastrously re-landscaped. They are the subject of this report and are evidence for our claims. The pictures speak for themselves.

2. The second factor is the Grounds Manager 's mistaken belief that he has the kind of sophisticated eye and training required to create a landscape that will blend with the original sophisticated design of PC. A glance at the Appendix explains why the colored shrubbery introduced by the Ground Manager (red crotons, cordelyne purple star) will eventually severely diminish the healing, invigorating effects of our once completely green landscape.

3. The third factor is the introduction of grants which gave the PC Grounds staff monies to remove invasive plants. Because the Grounds Manager has chosen to remove everything, not just the invasive plants, a complete re-landscaping has been required, such as the Bird Sanctuary at the entrance to PC, and the Vamo end of Brookhouse Circle. More are surely to come.

What can we do about this mess?

It is our feeling that Kevin Richards, the Grounds Committee have to act NOW to stop all landscape redesign activities until the various boards resume in the fall and can make an informed decision.

The only exception we would make to this general stoppage would be the various tree replacement and vaccination programs that have been approved by the various boards, committees and, most importantly, the residents involved.

For a lasting solution, I feel the following has to be implemented by management and the board as soon as they reconvene in the fall:

1. Create a Landscape Design Committee to pass on any new landscaping design. This capability is completely lacking in the current Grounds Committee.

2. Limit the Grounds Manager's activities solely to maintenance of existing landscape.

3. Make provision for hiring a landscape design consultant when redesign is required.

4. Re-examine the rationale/ benefits of invasive plant removal .If it continues as is, large areas of PC will have to be re-landscaped

End o Q&A Section

END OF REPORT. PREPARED MARCH 24, 2009

Members of the Steering Committee

Friends of PC Original Landscaping

Justin Spring , Chairman 306 1119 springjustin@yahoo.com

Joan Adley

Irving Bennett

Alison Brown

Jackie Caplan

Jean Germain

Janet Hemond

Kim Kessler

Leonard Kessler

Karen McGrath

Sol Schwartz

Condensed Appendix To Condensed Report:

A report on the effect of Colored shrubs on the beauty of the original landscaping at PC by Justin Spring
(previously printed in PC Newsletter/ this is a condensed version)

There have been many changes to the PC landscape over the past 4 years,......of our OUR ORIGINAL LANDSCAPE and I am afraid not for the better.

We are in the process of losing the treasure we were given in 1979.

When I moved here in 1979, the PC landscape was clearly the equal of the gardens of .....our own Selby Gardens......our landscaping was planted along the same rules that have governed the creation of serious landscaped gardens for hundreds of years.

This was no accident. The creator of our landscaping (and first grounds manager) was a highly skilled woman, a graduate of the Cornell school for Landscape Architecture, the Harvard of landscaping. I believe she would be appalled by what has happened to out landscaping. Here’s why:

The rules she followed are known to all serious landscape designers:

1) Beauty is achieved by the creating a collage of differing shades and shapes of green foliage. This rule is critical because green is the color that we subconsciously react to in the most positive way. We feel renewed, reborn, refreshed simply by looking at green foliage. It is in our genes.

2) Additional color is introduced by the natural flowers belonging to that green foliage, e.g., roses, hibiscus, oleander, penta, alamanda, Mexican petunia, orchid trees, jacaranda tree, and magnolia tree to name just a few. ......

There is no good reason for these rules to have been ignored by planting an inferior form of shrub, and in particular I mean the large orange/yellow/black shrubs, the squiggly red/yellow/black shrubs, and the tall muddy red/purple shrubs that are increasingly a part of our landscape.......

Unfortunately the color combinations of their leaves have exactly the opposite effect of green foliage: they are the colors of depression, illness, irritation, dying. Their colors are not the simple, bright colors of naturally flowering shrubs.......If you have any doubt about their power, I suggest you Google the disturbing work of the great English painter Francis Bacon, who uses these same palettes.

The ability of these palettes to irritate, disturb and depress is immediately evident to the practiced color eye of those of us who are artists and painters and photographers. To others it may not be immediately apparent, but like the canary in the mine, I can assure you if these colored shrubs aren’t terminated, the botanical masterpiece we inherited 30 ears ago will no longer refresh and renew us.

In some sections of PC, where the ratio of these plants to the green foliage is already 30% or more, the ability of these unbecoming shrubs to visually block out the surrounding green and deliver their own disturbing message is more than evident.

This is the reason why you won’t see any of these horrid colored shrubs in Selby gardens.....

My estimate is that if we continue planting them at the current rate,.... our landscaping will begin to irritate and depress us on a subconscious level. We won’t like looking at it and will tend to look away. We will want to go inside."

End of condensed appendix to report

This is the end of Short, Condensed version of
Preserving Our Original Landscaping




What follows is a report on the landscaping of Boathouse Circle.

It is a separate report and has nothing to do with
the report on
Preserving our Original PC Landscaping
which ended above

The Dismal Condition of Boathouse Circle

The plantings for Boathouse Circle proposed by the Grounds Manager in 2008 are by and large not suitable. It should be redesigned to be more in line with the original landscaping of Pelican Cove.

Here are the specific objections. The details follow:


1. Ixora 'Nora Grant' is a bad choice for tips of parking islands. It is a boxy hedge that does nothing to offset the dense garages. Something flowing and luxuriant like ferns are required. Also it is not suitable for the shady Boathouse Circle area, and the flowers will not appear. Here are the gardening instructions ( in blue) backing up my observations:



“Almost all ixoras do best in full sun, acid soil, free from nematodes, a moist organic mix that is also well drained. Ixora can endure some salt spray on the wind. Planted in shady areas or with excess water on leaves, sooty mold usually sets in. ..... typical hedge pruning cuts off most of the stem tips from which flowers emerge."


2. The Gold Mound plants introduce more colored foliage, in this case yellow leaves. It is a small hedgy plant. We need tall, green flowing plants Also it is not suitable for the shady Boathouse Circle area. Here are the gardening instructions backing up my observation:



Ornamental Characteristics

Foliage Color Yellow
height 12-24" (Medium)

Exposure
Sun or partial sun

3. Beautyberry is a good choice because it does well in shade and it is a flowing green plant with small flowers and red berries. If the plant indicated in the Grounds managers BluePrint is the one that grows 6-8 feet it will be excellent.

Beautyberry plant

We need taller plants like this, not small, dumpy ones. Here are the gardening instructions in blue backing up my observation.

Beautyberry is a deciduous shrub noted for its brightly colored, tightly clustered berries that remain on the bush into winter. Other common names are American beautyberry and American mulberry.

About This Plant

Fast-growing deciduous shrubs, beautyberries grow 4 to 8 feet tall and wide. Plant them in a natural woodland setting under tall shade trees or as an informal hedge along the perimeter of a property. Beautyberries have small, lavender-pink, lilac-like flowers in spring, followed by vivid purple or white berries in fall. The berries attract birds, as well as provide winter color. Although the berries are edible, they aren't the most desired food of birds and often hang on the bush into late winter. The foliage turns an attractive yellow in fall.

4.Variegated Arbicola. This plant is essentially another yellow plant. Yellow is the color of distress. We need green plants. It is used everywhere in PC. We need much better variety.
the size, light and watering needs are fine but its color is offensive. The blue gardening instructions back up my observations.

Schefflera arbicola 'Gold Capella'
Variegated Hawaiian Elf Schefflera
Araliaceae

Schefflera arbicola 'Gold Capella', or Variegated Hawaiian Elf Schefflera, is a cultivar of Schefflera arbicola with shiny green with golden yellow variegation. Leaves are palmately compound with 7-9 leaflets. Plants may reach a height of 10 feet (3 m) in height with an equal spread.

5. Small viburnum, Walter's viburnum This is not a good plant. Although of a good size it will not to well in the shady Boathouse Circle area. In addition it's white blossoms are not that attractive. Like white Oleanders the flowers look like wads of toilet paper. The gardening instructions in blue back up my observations Viburnum obovatum Caprifoliaceae

Shirley Denton Shirley Denton Shirley Denton

6.. The proposed island cut back (1 ½ -2 feet) of the existing islands between garages will not allow the plants on the tips to combat the boxy rectangular garage frames. The plants will be hidden by cars. See picture below. The entire enlarged planter area would be lost:



Again, beauty is sacrificed for neatness. The plants on tips of islands are critical in drawing the eye away from the boxy, dense garages.

Also see how ferns are far superior to the boxy Ixora Nora Grant in attracting the eye away from the ugly garage frames.

How Boathouse Circle should be relandscaped.
The proposed new landscaping for Bathouse Crcle suffers from the same faults as all of the new landscaping done by the Grounds Manager. It is a hodgepodge of boxy plants, rudimentary in design and completely at odds with the original landscaping

There is no reason why the landscaping in front of the Grove Houses on Boathouse Circle can't be as lush and green and semi-tropical as thi photos above, which were taken from the back of the same houses on Boathouse Circle .




Finally no provision has been made for placing ground cover in the bare lot opposite over half the units on Boathouse Circle. This is an eyesore and contributes to the depressing look of Boathouse Circle. It should have been done years ago rather than the plum tree replacement and bird sanctuary replacements which serve no purpose.





The bare lot facing half the houses on Boathouse Circle is a disgrace. any talented landscape designer would have planted gorundcover as part of the Boathouse Circle landscaping.

Wedelia would make an excellent groundcover for the bare lot and is used in similar areas of PC ( see picture above of wedelia behind Wilbanks in similar shady area.) It is cheap and durable. Strips planted today wil cover the entire area within 2 years. The wedelia would dramatically increase the beauty of the lot and thus diminish the harsh, visual impact of the dense parking garages.

A close up of dense ground cover possible with wedelia

this report on Boathouse Circle landscaping
was prepared by Justin Spring

contact info; comments welcome:
justin spring 306-1119 1620 Boathouse Circle gr201
springjustin@yahoo.com