Boston Flora

Tag: Laura Kuhn

  • Wednesday, October 27, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm – 2021 Season’s End Summit, Online Virtual Conference

    Designed landscapes evolve over time with changes that are sometimes subtle and sometimes dramatic. For optimal results, gardens require continual monitoring and maintenance. Unfortunately, few projects include ongoing engagement with the client, and in general many designers have little involvement after the first year or two.

    Have you wondered how a favorite designs has matured, or how a project has fared over the years?

    This fall four expert designers will revisit landscapes that were installed five or more years ago and will share their observations at the ELA Season’s End Summit. A fifth presenter will focus on the importance of design considerations that help to ensure successful outcomes over time including the importance of a management plan.

    Join the Ecological Landscape Alliance online on October 27 to explore what lessons can be learned by analyzing original designs and assessing the mature landscapes that resulted. Our experts’ findings will offer insights, inspiration, and a few surprises to consider for your future designs. Darrah Cole will present three examples from The Greenway, Sandra Nam Cioffi will discuss the Aga Khan Garden in Edmonton, Canada, Laura Kuhn will give the luncheon keynote on Design Meets Stewardship: Making Designs for Nature to Run With, Tom Brightman will revisit the Meadow Garden at Longwood Gardens, and Michael Nadeau will end with The Gift or Curse of Hindsight: Learning from Nature, the Master Designer. Speaker bios and complete descriptions, and registration opportunities, can be found at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/ela-summit-2021/

  • Monday, November 9, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm – A Stick in the Spokes: Meaningful Interventions in Landscape Systems Webinar

    Regenerative design depends on a feedback web of many processes for life to renew and restore. On the other hand, even ecologically-informed maintenance of private property usually involves some intervention to arrest succession, maintain access, and preserve other essential functions. How do we embrace principles of regenerative design on private land parcels where functional needs preclude true rewilding? What happens when we invite and then interrupt the feedback loop in some aspects of a place, but not in others? In this Ecological Landscape Alliance webinar on November 9, we’ll review transformations of different sized local properties and explore how we can maximize ecological benefits for our natural and social communities when our loftiest goals may be out of reach. Projects will include a small urban wild near the “Mass Pike,” a barrier beach restoration where wind dominates, the partial-rewilding of a suburban McMansion, a transformed agricultural parcel, and others.

    Laura Kuhn is a self-taught designer, who brought her experiences in theatre arts and choreography to the design of outdoor spaces in 1997. After initially working in the nursery business, she started her own business in 2000. Laura Kuhn Design Consultation creates custom artistic and wild spaces for private clients in the New England region and beyond. Ms. Kuhn offers services in landscape design strategy and restoration; project coordination and construction; oversight for urban oases, small parcels, estate gardens, and rural landscapes; edible gardens; and outdoor dining spaces. Her certifications include MCH, MCLP, and NOFA AOLCP. She currently serves on MNLA’s Government Relations Committee. In the past, she enjoyed serving as Advocacy Chair for the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD), serving on the MCLP certification committee for Massachusetts Certified Landscape Professionals, and most of all, teaching at the Landscape Institute.

    Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-a-stick-in-the-spokes-meaningful-interventions-in-landscape-systems/

  • Thursday, November 10, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm – ELA Season’s End Summit

    Join the Ecological Landscaping Association on Thursday, November 10 from 8:30 – 4:30 at the Doyle Center in Leominster for two end of season panels, a locally sourced lunch, and networking.  The morning panel of Ecological success stories is “Hits and Near Misses” with landscape designers Julie Meyer, Rebecca Lindenmeyr, and Laura Kuhn, who will share their expertise and projects that demonstrate ecological landscapes with maximum aesthetic appeal, balancing ecological ideals and meeting client expectations, and lessons learned when obstacles occur.  The afternoon panel, “Hot New Services to Grow Your Business”, will be moderated by Risa Edelstein, and will feature Trevor Smith of Land Escapes on “Expanding Landscape Options with Living Walls,” Jessie Banhazl of Green City Growers (below) on “Taking Edible Landscapes to New Heights,” and Chris Rawlings of Waterhouse Pools and Ponds on “Natural Swimming Ponds.”  $55 for ELA members, $75 for non-members.  For more information, and to register, call 617-436-5838, or email ela.info@comcast.net.

  • Wednesday, September 14, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Design Magic for a Family Farm

    Join Ecological Landscaping Association host Laura Kuhn on Wednesday, September 14 beginning at 3 pm for a unique glimpse of Bent Stone Farm, a 32-acre private property transformation in Sudbury, from a horse farm to gourmet vegetable production, in a beautifully landscaped setting.  Located in a picturesque New England setting, this tour features a major repurposing of a 200+ year old property from horse farm back to its 20th century agricultural roots, updated to gourmet vegetable farming for the high-end Boston restaurants.  This project included removal of paddocks and extensive soil management, barn renovation and expansion, greenhouse installation, new orchard and vineyard, as well as updates to many of the utility systems.  The project involved both infrastructure as well as artistic design elements and necessitated a careful balance to ensure success as both a business and residence.  The property straddles a flood plain and there are three buffer zones and a nearby vernal pool which posed additional design challenges.  Reuse of materials was a priority, including large stone slabs that became steps and landings throughout the property and hundreds of weathered paddock cedar posts and rails, which were later used in the orchard and as fencing.  The property’s sense of place as a historic farm in a rural setting served as a constant guide during design.  Maintaining the bucolic views while providing adequate privacy was accomplished in part by the installation of large ornamental gardens outside the patio.  Wide meandering paths are sized appropriately for the large property and provide access s well as a sense of mystery as they curve just out of sight.  The design includes a mixture of both native and non-native plants and includes many large drifts reminiscent of farm gardens from a century ago.  Register online at www.ecolandscaping.org, or call 617-436-5838 for more information.  $20 ELA members, $25 non-members.

    Sudbury Farm Design