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Beckenham Place Park, Autumn Glow.
theo harpik, youtu.be Situated off Beckenham Hill Road, London Borough of Lewisham. This open parkland is a public golf course with extensive woodland walks along the boundary. The grounds are open to the public and free parking is provided, it is a great place for a walk. The park was acquired by John Cator in 1773 and he quickly restored the mansion to it #39;s former glory. His father in law, Peter Collinson, an early landscape architect and botanist, introduced to the grounds many exotic trees and a lake (now drained). The Cator family became one of the largest landholders in the area, and at one time the Cator estate spread from Shortlands to Sydenham Hill. In the late 19th Century the house was used as a boys school and it then became a sanatorium. Beckenham Place Park is now the home of one of England #39;s largest and busiest public golf courses. The 18 hole golf course meanders through the ancient woodland of the park.From:theo harpikViews:1 0ratingsTime:01:12More inTravel Events

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By JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) - A 15-acre park at the upcoming George W. Bush Presidential Center will recreate a Texas prairie, complete with a wildflower meadow, a new blend of native grasses and even trees transplanted from the former president's ranch.

"I'm really excited about it. I think it's so pretty, so beautiful," said former first lady Laura Bush, who said she envisions people strolling along the park's paths and picnicking there once the center opens at the end of April.

The park's landscaping, which was just completed this month, recreates the kind of prairie landscape that would have existed in the area before the city was here, said Mark Langdale, president of the George W. Bush Foundation.

The wildflower meadow should include Indian paintbrush, evening primrose, and, of course, Texas' beloved state flower, the bluebonnet, when it blooms next year.

"This spring I'm feeling pretty good we'll have some bluebonnets," said the center's landscape project manager Herb Sweeney IV, a senior associate with the landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Inc.

The presidential center on the campus of Southern Methodist University will feature a library including archives and a museum. The approximately 227,000-square-foot, three-story center, will also house Bush's policy institute.

The museum will feature a Texas interpretation of the White House Rose Garden, which Laura Bush said museum-goers will come to about halfway through their visit. She said the garden, lined with trees and roses and featuring benches and a replica of the West Wing Colonnade, will be a peaceful spot for reflection after going through exhibits covering the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"They'll be able at that point to step out, and they say if you can get out in the sunshine and outside, you'll feel refreshed and then you can go back and do the second half of the museum," Bush said.

From the rose garden, visitors will be able to see a view of downtown Dallas and also look out over the park, which will spread out to the south behind the building.

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Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois & Missouri News, SportsBush library to feature park recreating prairie

By Carol Stocker Landscape architects and historians from around the country converged on the Boston Athenaeum Saturday night to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Library of American Landscape History, the foremost publisher in the genre, which is headquartered in Amherst. The non-profit has published a cannon of 26 books on the history of landscape design in this country, working with the University of Massachusetts Press. They include the award winning "A Genius for Place: American Landscapes of the Country Place Era," by Robin Karson, LALH's founder and executive director, who briefly addressed the gathering.

Also in attendance were Iris Gestram, executive director of the National Association for Olmsted Parks in Washington, director Mark Zelonis of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Bob Cook, former director of the Arnold Arboretum, Meg Winslow, archivist for the Mount Auburn Cemetery, and Lee Farrow Cook of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic National Park Service site, named Fairsted.

Nancy Turner, the LALH's founding president, was honored. "I met Robin when she came to write about my Fletcher Steele garden," recalled Turner in an interview. The famous Boston landscape designer had had an office on Louisburg Square, but had retired to Pittsford, N.Y., near her estate, and created his last garden there for her. Karson documented it in her great book, "Fletcher Steele, Landscape Architect." Written shortly after Steele's death in 1971, the book documented many of his gardens before they were lost. Steele gardens were generally high maintenance and seldom survived their owners, "but Mabel Choate preserved her Naumkeag," said Turner. She referred to the The Trustees of Reservations' Steele garden in Stockbridge, famed for its series of white Art Deco staircases and waterfalls framed by birch trees..

Turner now lives in Connecticut. Does her own Pittsford garden still exist? "I don't know. I never went back to look. There has been a tremendous increase in the cost of maintenance." She smiled. "Gardens are like sand castles. It survives in Robin's book," she said as she flipped though the book's pages, which featured photos of her well planted granite staircase, orchard, and a series of terraces that led to a round reflecting pool. "It's very quiet, a placid place that reflected the final year of Fletcher Steele's life."

It was after completing this survey of Steele's rapidly vanishing gardens that Karson decided there needed to be an organization that published books on American historical landscapes. She was able to start one with Turner's support, and has kept it going for 20 years, during which she has assembled the most important authors of books on landscape architecture in this country.

New books include "Community by Design; The Olmsted Firm and the Planning of Brookline," by Elisabeth Hope Cushing, Roger G. Reed and Boston University professor Keith N. Morgan, who was at the party. After designing Central Park, Olmsted deserted New York for Brookline, which had proudly anointed itself "the richest town in the world." Little has been previously published on the importance of Brookline as a laboratory and model for the Olmsted firm's work. This book will detail how his son and namesake saw the town as a grounds for experimenting in the new profession of city planning.

It will be followed next year by a study of another important locally based designer. "Arthur A. Shurcliff and the Making of the Colonial Williamsburg Landscape," by Elizabeth Hope Cushing, will spotlight this under-appreciated force in the Colonial Revival house and garden movement. His projects included aspects of the Charles River Esplanade, the Franklin Park Zoo, and, at the end of his life, the iconic gardens at Colonial Williamsburg.

Next year will also see the LAHL's publication of "The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System," by Francis R. Kowsky, cq writing about Buffalo, N.Y. "We try to focus the study on individual places," explained Karson. It will be the first in a series edited by Ethan Carr called "Designing the American Park." Another new series will deal with environmental design.

Interest in the history of American landscape architecture has blossomed in the last three decades, said Carr at the gathering. He linked it to the resurgence of interest in New York's Central Park and it's history. That park, which sunk to an all-time low in the 1970's, is now in the best shape of its history, thanks in part to LALH board member Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, the founder of the powerful Central Park Conservancy.

Boston's Emerald Necklace, another Olmsted masterpiece, has also enjoyed rejuvenation and scholarly attention. The Frederick Law Olmsted Papers Project will soon publish Volume Eight of Olmsted Sr's letters, dealing with the 1880's when the Emerald Necklace was created, said Carr, who is the editor.

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Library of American Landscape History turns 20

Nineteenth century landscape architect O.C. Simonds is much less famous today than many of his contemporaries. His biographer, historian Barbara Geiger, says thats kind of a shame and rather strange. Once youre familiar with Simonds work, Geiger says, you will find a shock of recognition as you walk around Chicago. You will find that all these places youve been going have been designed by this fellow.

For example, the western half of Graceland Cemetery, which runs along Clark Street between Irving Park and Montrose, was designed by Simonds, as were portions of the Morton Arboretum and Lincoln Park, and a good number of Chicago's backyards.

Simonds work is significant, Geiger says, because he was the first landscape architect to favor the use of native plants in his work. Whereas Frederick Law Olmsted (who designed New Yorks Central Park, the plan for the west suburban village of Riverside, and the grounds for the Worlds Columbian Exhibition) saw Chicago as a swamp and disdained the landscape, Simonds dug up and transplanted elm trees from local farms to use in his gardens and appreciated the regions natural topography (such as it was). And whereas other designers planted in monoculture using one kind of plant at a time Simonds was ecologically minded, clustering plants together the way they might appear in nature.

Graceland the final resting place of Chicago notables such as Marshall Field and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was Simonds Chicago masterpiece: a quiet, subtle composition of shifting vignettes, inspired by naturalistic English gardens and 19th century landscape painting.

In the audio above, Geiger explains why Graceland Cemetery is as pleasing to the eye today as it was when it was first designed.

Dynamic Rangeshowcases hidden gems unearthed from Chicago Amplifieds vast archive of public events and appears on weekends. Barbara Geiger spoke at an event presented by the Chicago Architecture Foundation in January. Clickhereto hear the event in its entirety.

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Chicago landscape architect O.C. Simonds used native plants – before it was cool

Charming home with classic features
For more details click here: http://www.visualtour.com 13939 Alderton Rd SIlver Spring, MD 20906 $450000, 4 bed, 3.0 bath, 2200 SF, MLS# MC7890156 A charming home with versatile features. Mature trees in the professionally landscape yard give the home a lovely front yard buffer. Numerous updates to this turn of the century treasure, including exposed beam ceilings updates to lighting, kitchen, baths, and new windows doors. Daylight Lower level #39;s bachelor suite creates a rentable space with the homes 2nd laundry room laundry room and walkout exit. Off the great room is a unique oversized screened porch complementing the master bedroom balcony, both overlook the .46 acre lot; one of the largest in the community. The homes convenient location allows for easy commuting being less than 2 miles from ICC, METRO and other major transit arteries as well as walking distance to local community recreation center and a major shopping center. Presented By: Patrick Rutledge, Llewellyn, Realtors 240-832-4460 patrickrutledge.com View My Inventory http://www.visualtour.comFrom:Patrick RutledgeViews:0 0ratingsTime:02:57More inTravel Events

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1112 Chivalry Street Sumter, South Carolina 29154 MLS# 111735
1112 Chivalry Street Sumter South Carolina 29154 MLS 111735 Immaculate home in Knights Village Sub. features 4BR 2.5BA family room dining room eat-in kitchen security system wood privacy fence sprinkler system and beautiful landscape yard with stone patio on corner lot. For more information visit era.com Contact: Gayle MilesFrom:erarealestate2Views:0 0ratingsTime:00:54More inTravel Events

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Homes for Sale - 2247 Fargo Street, Los Angeles (City), CA
Property Site: tour.circlepix.com Great opportunity for first time home buyer or investor! Possible two units in one with a basement! Main house has 3 bedroom and two full baths. Living-room and dinning room. There is a 4th bedroom and bath with a separate entrance in the back porch. Large area of basement is use for storage. Also there a small studio with a bathroom that is use for guest in the basement. Roof is under 10 years old. Copper plumbing. There is a large landscape yard for entretainment. This is a short Sale Price and terms are subject to bank approval. Bedrooms: 3 Bathrooms: 2 Square Feet: 1161 Price: $435000 For more information about this property, please contact Alba Cole at 661-305-2328 or albacole@troop.com. See More listings at: http://www.albacole.com MLS ID: F11074422 http://www.troop.com Facebook http://www.facebook.com Last modified: 10/09/2012 10:59:04 amFrom:TroopRealtorViews:0 0ratingsTime:01:03More inEntertainment

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1253 Avalon Circle
http://www.tourfactory.com ----- For more information, contact: Mike Duncan Real Estate Group, 317-888-7000, Mike Duncan Real Estate Group ----- Very well maintained move-in ready 3 bedroom home offering traditional floor plan with unique architectural designs. Vaulted ceiling in Master bedroom with private full bath featuring double sink, full shower, garden tub, extra large walk-in closet plus skylight. Kitchen includes high definition counter tops, center island, built-in microwave, range/oven, refrigerator plus a pantry. 16X12 screened-in porch overlooks fenced rear yard with storage barn well landscape yard with mature plantings.From:TourFactoryViews:0 0ratingsTime:05:08More inTravel Events

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9148 Centenary Lane
http://www.tourfactory.com ----- For more information, contact: Mike Duncan Real Estate Group, 317-888-7000, Mike Duncan Real Estate Group ----- Not all homes are the same as you will discover in this functional floor plan ideal for todays active family. Located across from green space backs up to mature tree line with a well landscape yard a golf course would envy. Interior of home is neutral move-in ready. Upper level offers laundry located between bedrooms, private master suite with full bath oversize walk-in closet, recreation room lots of windows for natural lighting. Kitchen complete with plenty of cabinet/counter space.From:TourFactoryViews:0 0ratingsTime:05:02More inTravel Events

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8309 Amarillo Dr.
http://www.tourfactory.com ----- For more information, contact: Mike Duncan Real Estate Group, 317-888-7000, Mike Duncan Real Estate Group ----- in ground pool with privacy fenced rear yard, pool includes electronic pool cover. Well landscape yard with mature plantings. Covered front porch welcomes family and friends to your semi open concept floor plan with a well appointed kitchen with a view. Surprise upper level bonus room with vaulted ceiling offers space for game room. 19 #39; master bedroom complete with cathedral ceiling private full bath and a jetted tub plus oversize walk-in closet. Newer furnace, central air and hot water heater.From:TourFactoryViews:0 0ratingsTime:03:21More inTravel Events

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