Natural Playgrounds, Hummingbirds & Moonlight

Natural Playgrounds, Hummingbirds & Moonlight

Madison District Garden Club Tour at the Ziegler Home
June 23 & 24, 2012

Ziegler-Home

On June 23 and 24, Steve and Joan Ziegler invite you to take a tour of their garden and experience the beauty of their landscape for yourself. The Ziegler’s 27 years of design and planning has transformed this once barren farmstead into their personal sanctuary, arboretum and design studio for their landscape architecture business.

An 1890 clapboard farmhouse sits among bur oaks and ample gardens. Wisconsin limestone paths and walls lead you up the hill-framing specialty evergreens, a kitchen garden, and perennial gardens. Container gardens accent the entrances, and provide easy access to fresh herbs. Hummingbirds visiting the garden can be seen from the kitchen and flowers glow in the moonlight in the all white garden outside their bedroom window. Tickets are $10. To reserve your chance to view the gardens at their peak, contact Cindy at cfillingame@sbcglobal.net.

ZDA Receives 2012 Merit Award2012-Merit-Award

For the Gardens at Lombardino’s Italian Restaurant

The Perennial Plant Association chose ZDA and Lombardino’s Italian Restaurant for a 2012 Merit Award in Landscape Design for the Terrace Garden along Highland Avenue. One of the highlights of this terrace garden is the bloom succession and all season display.

The award will be presented at the Perennial Plant Association’s Annual Symposium in Boston, July 6, 2012, and the project will be published in an upcoming issue ofPerennial Plants Journal. Congratulations to Garden Designer, Joan Ziegler, and the ZDA team!

Outdoor-SanctuaryHammer with a Heart 2012

ZDA Team Creates Accessible Outdoor Sanctuary

This spring ZDA participated in one of Project Home’s eight Hammer with a Heart projects, in which local businesses work with Madison families in need to improve the comfort and functionality of their homes.

ZDA worked with a homeowner living with Multiple Sclerosis, to design a plan for outdoor improvements that would make her daily life more enjoyable. The design focused on creating a quiet, wheelchair accessible space for relaxing outdoors that would also provide beautiful views from inside the home. The plan created a new entry courtyard with an accessible gravel patio under a large shade tree. The patio is surrounded by lush low-maintenance plantings, and is bordered by decorative boulders and a dry stream bed that ‘flows’ under the improved accessible stoop that leads to the front door.

On May 5th, ZDA worked with volunteers to implement the plan-a transformation that has brought life back into the overgrown front yard, and created a beautiful and accessible respite for the homeowner. Thanks to Olson-Toon Landscaping for donating hardscape materials, Avant Gardening & Landscaping for donating plant materials, and Ganshert Nursery & Landscapes for providing tools.

For more information about the project please visit Hammer with a Heart’s website. You can check out photos of the remodeling process at HWAH’s Flickr page.

Natural Playgrounds for Healthy Kidsnatural-playground-sketch
Kennedy Heights Community Center

Natural playgrounds create playful, educational spaces with natural elements. ZDA integrates natural play spaces into many of our projects, from private residential landscapes to public parks like Madison’s Troy Gardens. ZDA has worked with St. James Preschool in Verona, and will be working with Madison Community Montessori School to develop a plan for a natural playground and outdoor classroom.

Currently, ZDA is finalizing plans for the natural playground at Kennedy Heights Community Center. The collaboration began this spring, when ZDA lead  a community design charrette to explore the concept with residents. Over 100 community members attended the charrette to contribute their input and discuss opportunities. A community build day will be held in August 2012.

For more information and pictures, visit Kennedy Heights Community Center’s Facebook page. Call us to learn how a natural playground could be incorporated into your yard.

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