This post is by Bill Spiewak, an arborist in Santa Barbara, CA, and originally appeared on his blog, Treemendous. Last month in my arboriculture class, I may have implied to my students that this instructor is falling off the deep end. I asked them to stand and assume the yoga position, tree pose. My objective… More
We’ll be hosting our next webinar, timed for our UK/Europe audience, on how to lay out the Silva Cell using AutoCAD next Wednesday, April 25th at 3pm GMT. Anyone is welcome to register, but for those of you in North America, it will mean an early start time.
Phytoremediation is the use of green plants and their associated microorganisms to stabilize or reduce inorganic and organic contamination in soils and surfacewater or groundwater. In other words, the process of using trees and other plants as biological filters. It is also a key component of what we mean when we talk about ecosystem services… More
Many designers understand the need for the Silva Cell and support it as an effective design tool for tree growth and stormwater management in urban environments. Yet, all too often it gets value engineered out of projects for being too pricey. While cheaper than creating a custom suspended pavement system, and actually money-saving in the long-term,… More
Trees are effortlessly artful. This artfulness may be part of why they have such a calming and restorative effect on people and can elicit such powerful emotional attachment. Trees are also functional infrastructure. You can debate which role is more valuable, but from an economic standpoint, infrastructure usually wins hands-down. That’s one reason why recent… More
Last month’s Landscape Architecture Magazine had an interesting feature by Mike Singer. The article, titled “Are We Done Yet? Measuring for a project’s success is keeping clients and designers engaged well after installation,” explores an emerging trend in the field: extended contract periods to address the long-term success and performance of the site’s landscape.
Three magazines recently included articles about projects that incorporated Silva Cells in their green infrastructure plans.
I’m going to start a new mini-featurette on the blog, which I’m calling “Big Tree, Little Tree.” Just side-by-side pictures of dramatically different-sized trees, highlighting the effect each creates on a streetscape. These were both taken in San Francisco’s Mission district. The little guy was in especially bad shape for at least one obvious reason.
Jake Sippy of Design Workshop has some nice words for Jim Urban’s book, Up By Roots. I thought the salient points that stuck with him from the book were very valuable, and worth repeating. For those of you who don’t own the book or haven’t been to an Up By Roots workshop, I highly recommend… More
There are so many reasons why trees are beneficial in urban areas. This abundance of evidence can have the strange effect of sometimes making the benefits we cite feel like platitudes rather than proven, compelling facts (“trees are so great, here’s a million reasons why…” *staring off in to space*). For that reason, as much… More
More good news/bad news from New York. In an editorial two weeks ago, the New York Times endorsed green infrastructure solutions for managing stormwater runoff. We’re pleased as punch to see this issue getting deserved attention. But there was one part of the editorial that had us scratching our heads.
New York has an ambitious Green Infrastructure plan, and lately their enhanced bioswales have gotten additional attention. These five foot by twenty foot planters look great from street level, so why do I feel uneasy about them?
Soil. Stormwater. Sustainable Infrastructure.
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