Dargan Landscape Architects

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Mary's Events

Starting on Tricky Places : Gardens that Fit Your Lifestyle like a Glove.

rice-14-blogWhew. Its taken a summer like 2016 when friends and family had calamities, passed away or got really sick to make me appreciate my garden and health even more… and then the specter of scary local fires burning thousands of acres in our treasured Smoky Mountains which made me appreciate our fragile ecosystem.

This blog is a personal note is to myself to review everything in Dargan Landscape Architects book of work to help my friends, their home environments and interface with nature. Like holding hands with fragile yet resilient gloves that fit perfectly.

Hugh and I have been in practice as landscape architects for over four decades. Our client’s now lovely landscapes were tricky places to make behave: with thin soils, complicated topography, owners large wish list, zoning issues, too much or too little shade, too much or too little water, not enough space, too vast a canvas, weird parking, insufficient walkways…the list goes on!  We are blessed with the honor to coax, bend and collaborate with the owners to get the best designs built, and we thank them for sharing their private worlds.

My goal is to inspire homeowners to get the best out of their precious home environment. Design it to yield healthy wellbeing, inspire you to be your best and to provide nurturing spaces. Once we finish this work together, your garden will function like a well-oiled machine, which in itself is a stress-reducing factor.

Photographer, Sarah Valentine of Highlands NC,  shot beautiful dawn shots and late summer portraits of many of our local gardens.

Stay tuned as the book progresses!

Researching Heirloom Gardens in Western NC : The American Kitchen Garden

hodges-apple-closeup-blogThe prospect of saying yes…not a decision taken lightly.

The invitation extended to chair the Jan Wyatt Symposium 2017 for the Cashiers Historical Society, by Ann McKee Austin ( from whom it is impossible to decline a volunteer invitation) and president, Connie Haire, was a surprise.

Do I shoot myself after saying yes?  NO.  I’d promised my family not to take on more projects. But the tantalizing nudge to dust off a topic thoroughly covered in my first draft masters thesis is 1977 is impossible to resist. Rafts of info laying fallow in the storage unit, mildewed and unloved, has been slowly maturing…waiting for airtime.

One does not lightly throw something together that could impact a visitors perspective of history.

On the suggestion of Macon County Librarian,Karen Hawks, a spin and TRX buddy, I hired the wonderful librarian, Emily Crowell, to type, type, type.  YIKES! The old manuscript was a dot matrix printed, accordian-paged, non-digital manuscript. Emily DOVE IN with glee on her day off from work and is quickly modernizing the document.

WE HAVE A TITLE: The 2017 Jan Wyatt Symposium The Heirloom Gardener hosted by The Cashiers Historical Society.

WE HAVE A LOCATION: The Zachary Tolbert House Grounds c 1850.

WE SET A DATE: June 21 2017.

SPEAKERS SAID YES:

Eric Jackson of Old Salem to talk about historic plant materials

Ila Hatter, wildcrafter supreme, to demonstrate cooking methods of our forefathers

And me, to demonstrate what a garden might have looked like in 1850 when Alexander Zachary built the house in Cashiers, NC.

WE HAVE A STORYLINE and I meet with the tent man next week.

DIGITAL COPIES OF ALEXANDER ZACHARY’s journal appeared (primarily apple notes, but useful nonetheless!)

Whew…stay tuned for schedule and logo next!

jpegzachary_000

Fear not the SEED! Simple Seed Starting for Successful Spring Planting

Fear Not The SEED!

Until I get my hands in the dirt each spring, I’m not living. This year spring fever hit early. I wanted inexpensive, sturdy, beautiful vegetables and flowers that would hit the ground running. What was the best technique?

soil blocking 3Enter soil-blocking.

This 100 year English technique that was just up my alley. I love gadgets of all types and this one rocks! It is a little press that ejects the 3/4″ blocks into sets of cakes that resemble chocolate brownies.

I can put 120 on a garden flat ( those long trays nurseries use) and set up a light.

 

Now, we’re cookin’! Lights, action…fire. Well, maybe not fire…how about, WATER!

soil blocking 2How old is too old in the life of a seed packet?  Well, my workshop participants asked this on Saturday.

A little seed goes on top of each soil block. Your choice of 120 different ones, or planted in blocks. Thus,  soil blocking to organize your future offspring and help get rid of those pesky plant packets you’ve been hoarding for several years.

 

So, enjoy this soil-blocking mini-course on our GTS video page !  

soil blocking video coverPlease join us LIVE at the next Garden Talk Salon to be held at The Mother Earth News Fair on April 11-12. Win 1 of 4 chance to do a quickie sustainable workshop with me LIVE at  the show. Booth 1600 in the Expo Building at the very front right side…look for the mossed planters and Dargan Landscape Architects banner!  www.dargan.com/dovecote-events

To view the full 4 Parts…click here !

 https://dargan.com/talk-salon/video-categories/garden-talk-salon-videos/organic-gardening/#soilblock

Permaculture Workshops in Cashiers, NC in April and May

Join us for two workshops as part of a series on Permaculture at Dovecote: Land. Life. Garden : LifeScapes for Your Home Environment

  • Two three-hour workshops will be offered in April and then again in May: April 24, 2015 10-1pm and May 15, 2015 10-1 pm
  • Location: Dovecote. 35 Flash Pointe Drive (a.k.a. McKinney Lane) Cashiers, NC 82717
  • Cost: $125 per person includes light lunch each day & 1 field trip.
  • Instructor: Mary Palmer Dargan,rla.
  • Pre-registration required. (see below to order tickets)
  • Includes a workbook and homework

Mary Palmer Dargan will be teaching the Nitty Gritty Fundamentals for Permaculture Newbies.  Set up Your Property as a the Ultimate Home Environment.  Join her for a workshop to empower your property as a true Land & LifeScape environment.

  1. Draw your dream garden with compost stations
  2. greenhouse huts
  3. potting areas
  4. work out the best practices for your property
  5. learn methods to preparing and plant your garden with hardy vegetables & annuals
  6. use handprint planting methods
  7. seed-blocking
  8. starting baby plants and dahlias for late spring & summer propagation

About Land-Life-Scapes : The Ultimate Home Environment:

The gentle joining of hands between your home environment, your family and nature is my passion. My professional practice as a landscape architect is defined by permaculture principles, but I never thought of it in those words. By taking time to engage with nature and observe how it functions best on your home property, you can design solutions that suit particular situation, avoiding wasting time, labor and resources. This  workshop will empower your property as the ultimate Land & LifeScape environment.

For more information, contact: [email protected]

Click here to register for the May workshop
Click here to register for the April workshop

Therapeutic Landscape Designs for Mental Well-Being

Are you bogged down with stress and looking for an outdoor escape? Gardening has long been considered an activity that can be cathartic and calming for those who enjoy working with plants and soil. The idea of nurturing plants to produce a bounty of vegetables and fruits, or creating a beautiful display of flowers and greenery, can provide a space for healing, meditation, restoration, and contemplation. 

Recently, scientists, doctors, and landscape architects have started collaborating to create therapeutic landscape designs for mental well-being.  Unlike traditional gardens, landscape planning for therapeutic gardens involves specific goals.

While a healing garden is designed to encourage overall health and encourage meditation, restoration, and contemplation, therapeutic gardens are designed to go beyond these goals to promote health and well-being. Landscape architects often work closely with the medical community to create gardens that will measurably contribute to a patient’s healing.

While this form of landscape planning is often used in long-term care facilities or rehabilitation centers, you can also opt to work with a landscape architect to develop your own therapeutic garden. Since the goals and measurable outcomes vary with the client, it’s essential to know what you want your therapeutic garden to accomplish.

For example, a garden created for a hospice may focus on quality of life and restoration for families, while a rehabilitation center’s therapeutic garden may serve as an actual component of therapy that provides respite from the hard work of physical therapy.

With 40 years in the business of landscape architecture, Dargan Landscape Architects would be happy to consult with you on a therapeutic garden design. Browse our portfolio of completed projects and contact us to learn how we can help.