
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991                   TAG: 9103190204
SECTION: LAWN & GARDEN                    PAGE: LG-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY/ HOMES EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LATEST TREND IS TOWARD ENVIRONMENTAL GARDENING

There are few new trends in gardening, says landscape architect Barry Johnson, but a trend that started several years ago is really beginning to catch on. This is the desire by homeowners to create an "environment" instead of just a garden, to think of attracting birds and other creatures and even providing housing for wildlife such as fish.

"There are more perennials, ornamental grasses, more naturalizing," said Johnson, a member of the staff of Laurel Creek Nursery in Christiansburg. "People want an area where they can congregate . . . they want to create a sense of space and comfort through landscaping."

Meg Cook, owner of Belle Air Garden Shop in Roanoke, said people are creating "whole ecosystems" in their gardens with ponds, statuary and their choices of plants and flowers.

Cook is so persuaded that the trend is growing that she has doubled her supply of statuary.

The first movement of the homeowner outdoors was to build decks on houses, Johnson said. Now the deck has become an extension of the interior quarters and a bridge to outdoor "rooms."

The cost of landscaping, of course, depends upon what's being done, but sometimes there's a snowball effect to a project, Johnson said. Even if only costs $250 to put a fish pond in, there's still fish to buy, plantings to buy. It's a lot like buying running shoes to go jogging, he said. After shoes, you need a jogging suit, and so on.

Johnson said fish ponds are becoming more popular. They aren't a lot of work once they are established, but they aren't "idiot proof or foolproof either," he said. Sometimes fish die because the water isn't just right.

The important thing to keep in mind when deciding on landscape work is that the outdoor environment needs to be compatible with its owner, said Johnson and co-worker John Wampler, also a Tech grad and landscape architect.

If a person hates to work outside, then that person doesn't need a high-maintenance garden, Johnson said.

Garden plans also have to consider the habits of wildlife, Johnson has learned from experience. He said deer eat the plants in the flower pots on the patio at his home in the woods.

Even the family dog's favorite pathway can become an issue in where to put plantings in the landscape, Cook said.

Cook said that when she talks to customers about their landscaping plans, she asks them to consider where they dump their trash, where the children play and even at what angle the garden will be viewed from inside the house.

"Certain trees look prettier when you look down on them instead of when you look up at them," she said.

by CNB