Practice Landscape

We are thrilled to announce the winners of the fifth annual Practice Grant. The Practice Foundation (501c3) is our environmental nonprofit that works to advance alternative land-based practices. Our mission is to champion grass-roots projects that contribute to the health and well-being of people, their communities, and the environment. More on the award winners on our website soon. #practicegrant #nonprofit #landscape #practice #grant [2026] Chickahominy on the Powhatan + Little Bluestem [Virginia] “Heritage Forest: A clearing in the woods for food and community.” The Chickahominy Environmental Department and Little Bluestem are renewing the relationship between people and the land through food. The Heritage Forest begins with the establishment of a grove of woody and herbaceous plants at Chickahominy on the Powhatan. Planting will prioritize culturally traditional fruits, nuts, dyes, and medicines that have sustained the Chickahominy people from their earliest roots in the region, with Little Bluestem growing local genotype plants for the project. A novel practice emerges in the reuse of debris on site for everything from mulch to infrastructure. The project is led by Chickahominy citizen and Tribal Environmental Director Dana Adkins in collaboration with Victoria Moyer and Ben Kessler from Little Bluestem @littlebluestemva    [2026] Jimmy Riordan, Alaska “Young Hermit Park Willow Grove” A new public space for plant experimentation created from formerly residential lots in Anchorage, Alaska. Young Hermit Park begins with a novel approach to municipal zoning that opens once private land for community use in partnership with the Alaska Bookmobile @ak_bookmobile . Collaborators include the Anchorage Park Foundation @ancparkfoundation Anchorage Museum @anchoragemuseum and Friends of Fish Creek

A landscape strategy is an actionable long-term planning document that replaces the fixity of a masterplan by providing scenarios that vary over time, acknowledging shifting plant communities and maintenance regimes and integrating the cultural and ecological landscape. It outlines the practices that contribute to the landscape’s ongoing adaptation, typically in the form of a manual or guidebook, to be used by clients and future caretakers to inform site operations. Critically, it integrates landscape history and present-day practices and experiments, while anticipating future management goals and challenges. Working over time is a cooperative endeavor between the people who care for the land and the landscape itself. This involves a conceptual shift from ownership to stewardship. Stewardship acknowledges the reality that systems, materials, and organisms are constantly in flux across parcel boundaries and that any person’s control or guidance extends only as long as their life. Stewardship implies and anticipates the transience of the individual and conscious preparation for future conditions and future stewards. Practices are acts of repetition, asserted over time and across place, that establish the character of the landscape and the human-plant connection. It is through these acts, through practice, that landscape extends beyond form and instigates process, fostering radical collaboration between people and plants. #practicelandscape #landscape #plants #gardens #landscapegardening

Excerpts from Rosetta’s review “Species Revival” of Ferns: Lessons in Survival from Earth’s Most Adaptable Plants By Fay-Wei Li and Jacob S. Suissa for Landscape Architecture Magazine, February 2026. We are living in a time of lament for the loss of words related to nature. The roots of this began in 2016 when Oxford University Press announced the removal of terms such as “cowslip,” “bluebell,” and “catkin” from its children’s dictionary due to the need for entries that more accurately reflect everyday life. The additions included “blog,” “voicemail,” and “database.” In landscape architecture, plant diversity is similarly being edited out of practice, with only modest lament. This loss is not merely reflected in words redacted from reference books; it is starkly revealed by the increasing absence of species from planting lists, trade directories, and nursery catalogs, which have shrunk to accommodate commercial demand. As with most prevailing styles and customs, the use of particular plants comes in and out of fashion and reflects the culture of the times. It is up to us as designers to rediscover species that are no longer on the list. Imagine a world where landscape architects are devoted plant enthusiasts who counter such redaction by reviving diversity in planted public spaces. So how do landscape architects learn an expanded language of plants? Ferns: Lessons in Survival from Earth’s Most Adaptable Plants By Fay-Wei Li and Jacob S. Suissa: Berkeley, California: Hardie Grant North America, 20225; 192 Pages, $45 @letsbotanize @landarchmag Images selected from the book: 1. With the ability to thrive in dense forest understories, Dryopteris wallichiana is one of the most common types of ferns. 2. Crested fronds helped fuel Victorian-era “pteridomania,” or fern fever. 3. Landscape Architecture Magazine, February 2026 4. Lecanopteris ‘Tatsuta’ from Southeast Asia has a symbiotic relationship with ants, which form nests within the plant’s rhizomes

It is time to value and appreciate the water around us. Slowing its movement is one way to appreciate water on its own terms. Restoring the natural flow of water as it travels across the landscape is the most effective way to reduce flooding, while creating healthy ecosystems. This case study is offered as a guide, and a hopeful first step in paying attention to the movement of water around you. This report explains the benefits of addressing two issues: water quality (pollutants, chemicals, bacteria) and water quantity (erosion, crop loss, flooding) by redesigning an existing retention pond to connect with a restored wetland, slowing water. Report available at link in bio and at our website: Lake County > Slow Water: Common sense solutions for adapting retention ponds and restoring wetlands Contractor @encap_ecological

“To be part of nature herself, rather than foreign to the general character of the place.” - Frederick Law Olmsted Practice Landscape along with @pamelasandlerarchitect , David Hamilton of @geobarns , Foresight Land Services, and the Vanderbilt Berkshires Estate have proposed a site plan for the historic Elm Court in the Berkshires. Elm Court, still the largest Shingle Style residence in the United States, was designed in 1885 by Frederick Law Olmsted and architects Peabody & Stearns as a summer residence for Emily T. Vanderbilt and her husband, William D. Sloane. Our proposed landscape design centers on the Olmstedian principal “Genius of Place,” or a celebration of the site qualities to be enhanced and preserved. In this case, those qualities are the incredible existing topography of the Berkshires as well as the endemic plant species. The project preserves 70% of the landscape, including forest and wetland, as well as the historic Olmsted grounds and views. #landscape #olmsted #gardens #historiclandscape #practicelandscape

Practice Landscape has been consulting for the Huyck Preserve in Rensselaerville, New York, one of the oldest continuous biological research stations in the country. Their commitment to field research stretches back to 1938 (including the early work of Eugene Odum, the “father of ecosystem studies”) and offers a careful record of how the landscape has changed over nearly a century. Arborist and author William Bryant Logan writes, “Trees are neither inanimate nor stationary. They are constantly creating and recreating themselves. Trees respond moment to moment, year to year, century to century to the world around them.” On a recent visit to the preserve, the solitary “wolf trees,” like this Pinus strobus in the first photo, are indicators of just that change. The old trees move overtime, growing out of former pastures, slowly surrounded by the successional forest. These outsized and irregular individuals mark the traces of long-ago gateways or stone walls of a once open sunny field. They are themselves a way to read the history of a place. Learn about and support @huyckpreserve And read more from @williambryantlogan #practicelandscape #landscape #huyckpreserve #ecosystem

Honored to share some kind words for the Second Edition of Landscapes of Retreat. Available at @ideabooksnl @printedmatterinc @headhi_ny @assemblylineshop With @k_verlag A very special thank you to: Peter Del Tredici @peter_del_tredici Rebecca McMackin @oroeoboeococoao Elizabeth K. Meyer @elizabethkmeyer Kate Orff Tim Waterman

Let’s talk about companions. Marigolds (Tagetes patula) are one of the greatest companion plants, best known for its strong scent, and astringent properties in the veggie garden. But Marigold is also a friend to many other plants. Look to Marigold for many perennials, especially small plants that are trying to get going, like a fresh grid of small plugs. Plants have a tough time with environmental issues or nematodes and whiteflies. Enter Marigold! Try them near chrysanthemums, salivas, veronicas and a host of other ornamentals. English herbalist John Gerard mentioned Marigold as a companion in Chapter 174 of The Herball Or Generall Historie of Plantes (1636), remarkably it is on a page describing lavender where he writes: And then she’ll Spike and such sweet herbs infold And paint the Hyacinth with the Marigold. Want to have marigolds forever? Pinch off deadheads while color remains Pull petals from dry seed pod Seed pod should be brown, not green. Pull out the bundle of achenes. Save in a dry spot to grow later. Enjoy the petals, sprinkle on salads or cocktails, Or grind into a fine powder. #practicelandscape #landscape #gardening #landscapegardening #marigolds

Vermont gardens #practicelandscape #landscapegardening #gardens #landscape

A bunch of happy shrubs and grasses right up to the city sidewalk in Chicago. Photos: @ontherealfilm Contractor: @premier_landscape #practicelandscape #garden #landscape #landscapegardening

wetlands 🤍 #practicelandscape #landscapegardening #gardens #landscape #wetlands #restoration

Gardens and gardeners gardening. #practicelandscape #landscapegardening #landscape #gardens