Come Crashin' Down

This morning I headed out to campus, taking the westerly route through our old neighborhood. As I rounded the corner onto Country Club Blvd, I heard an explosive sound. It sounded like tearing and screeching,so I thought a car had run the stop sign up ahead and hit another car. Mind you, this all happened within a nanosecond. When I looked up, I caught sight of the origin of all that noise. I just hollered out, "Holy Crap!" I could not believe my eyes.

All winter long, as the snow has been piling up on everyone's roof, the ice dam on this house has taken the prize. The weight of the buildup of ice was bending the rain gutter across the front of the porch roof and every time we drove by, one of us would comment on its crushing weight. Well today it all came crashing down. When I looked up, I caught the front left corner falling down into the shrubbery.
The weight of the ice was too heavy for this overhang to carry any longer.

An older couple has lived in the house for as long as I can remember. When we lived on Storm Street around the corner, I always thought this was the most beautiful property in the area. It turns out that this was the home place of the man who put the Landscape Architecture program at Iowa State University on the map nationally. Philip Homer Elwood.

Before I started the program in the Fall of 2007, I spent one summer day up on the 4th floor of Parks Library in Special Collections. I had read his name somewhere and wanted to read more about him and the history of the department. P.H. Elwood was born and raised in upstate New York, but came to Iowa from a prestigious New York City firm to leave his stamp on the Midwest. He wrote a column in the local paper and he had a weekly radio program on WOI-Radio broadcast from ISC campus. He served on numerous campus committees and offered short courses in farmstead design and home garden layout through the Extension Service. He worked for the federal government, the State of Iowa, and consulted for the city of Ames. Saturday I found a beautifully ornate master plan for the Ames Arboretum which he designed. I believe his training was in engineering and when he was in Europe during the war, he designed a military cemetery in France at Argonne.

My favorite stories about this man were those where he would lead his students from the Landscape Architecture building (the old horse barn up until remodeling in the late 30's made it into our program's first stand-alone building) out into the 4th Ward to do field work. His plant walks brought these young people to our neighborhood. They conducted tree inventories for the city and he held sketching class along the tree-lined streets of Lynn, Donald, Knapp, and Ash Avenue, the street where he lived. I came across an article in Horizons, a journal published seasonally by the LA students, describing the annual Sunday afternoon tea hosted by Professor and Mrs. Elwood. One student wrote about the lovely arrangement of the rooms in the house pictured above. They commented on the fine furniture and luxurious rugs upon the floors.

Elwood loved to travel and made regular journeys to the Far East with students in tow to study Asian architecture and landscapes. Several weeks ago I walked over to the intramural field which sits south of the former Elwood home and stood looking over the fence into this garden. PH Elwood's garden after all these 60 or 70 years still reflects this Asian influence.

He also would depart Ames early summer after the end of the term with a carload or two of students and head west. They traveled through the national parks and eventually ended up in California to visit several land arch firms on the west coast. They camped along the way and some of the photos showed tents, camping gear, and all the rag-tag stuff that goes along on these road trips.

Today our program is unique in that it offers the Savanna Studio for 2nd year students. They take off for 3 weeks in September and head north to the Boundary Waters, or north and west to Yellowstone. They return to Ames long enough to do laundry and stock up for another 3 weeks. This time they head south along the Mississippi River, all the way to Texas, Louisiana, and into Mexico. The tradition of Savanna Studio puts these new students out into the landscape sketching, grading, painting, and experiencing landforms with the bottom of their boots. They bond whether they want to or not; fifteen-passenger vans carry these young adults, dirty feet and all, 24/7 for 21 days. They canoe, portage, and camp under the stars, rain, and even snow. It is a life-changing experience and a great beginning into this program of the architecture of landscape.

Too bad about his house.

Barred Owl Lookin' for a Little Action

The other morning I ran out to the garden to feed the birds. When I turned to go back inside, I noticed that the snow was covered in tiny nutlets with hairy tufts. I looked up to see which of the trees was casting out its seed. It was not obvious to me, so I captured one and ran inside.

Today while I was out communing with those trees that make up Sycamore Row, I strapped on the snow shoes and headed out across the utility corridor. Right away I noticed a sycamore ball in the snow. As I bent to retrieve it, I saw thousands of those hairy seedlets dispersed all along the corridor. I just grinned. Of course, the two Sycamores that stand along the fenceline of my neighbor's backyard are flinging their seed. I hope one decides to stay permanently in my garden. :}

Sycamore Row over the Last 100 Years

With a little more sleuthing, this is what I discovered...

Looking east toward the creek and Ames, IA. Back of foto reads, "campus view remedied by plantings ordered by Landscape Architecture, dated March 30, 1917. These are the Sycamores! (fotos courtesy of Parks Library, Special Collections ISU, Ames, IA)

Sycamore Row along the cinder path,1974. This is the same stretch as that shown in 1917 foto above. (fotos courtesy of Park Library, Special Collections, ISU, Ames, IA)

(foto courtesy of dlcooper, 2010) A winter walk along Sycamore Row, 2010, close to the same spot as the above two fotos.

You might wonder, as did I, why Professor Erwin planted Sycamore trees to line this walkway from campus to creek?

I found in his personal papers that he was born and raised in Fulton, Missouri. When I google-mapped Fulton, the first street that popped up was Sycamore Street. A perfect species choice for this stretch of floodplain.

...the development of natural beauty, and the adaptation of natural features to the necessities of human occupation....

The fact cannot be too strongly impressed upon the owners of real estate, that although a house may be built for temporary occupation, with the intention hereafter of erecting a more elegant and convenient mansion, no such possibility exists in landscape architecture. In all the essential features of arrangement, the village, the park, the cemetery, or the private estate must remain for all future time as they are first laid out.
We have in our hands the work of creating a nation. We spend thousands of dollars to secure the best designs for public and private buildings. Shall we deny the possibility of artistic arrangement of the sites they are to occupy, and in our blind adherence to geometric rules, destroy the features of natural beauty of which we might avail ourselves, to secure effects of beauty or convenience whose value could not be estimated by a pecuniary standard?

H.W.S. Cleveland from Landscape Gardening in the West, 1871

Coming Into My Own

Last week I received a phone call from one of my professors, asking if I would be interested in helping out with the plants studio. I was surprised by the request, but delighted to be asked. I just wasn't sure what 'helping out' entailed.

I would conduct a plants walk on Tuesday, February 2nd, then help proctor a plants exam scheduled for the 16th. I could do that, but I knew I would have to brush up on the nitty-gritty of which ever plants we would be walking to. I could do that, also. But then there was remembering everything the students needed to hear, while walking AND talking (how did the Greeks do this so well?). I also needed to nail down those Latin names and pronunciations, linking those with the common names for these plants.

I was relieved when Prof said we were hitting the evergreens. We were doing a walk of 'compare and contrast'. This was probably the hardest thing for me two years ago when I took this studio. The evergreens stumped all of us. They all looked the same! But they are not...

I felt confident that this plant walk would be perfect for my inaugural flight as Teacher. I had had 3 weeks of plants class with these students early last semester when I needed to finish up some coursework from the previous year. They were bright and eager and very accepting of a student who did not fit their demographic profile. I was older than their mom, a mother to a child their age...and a 50+ year old student whose mind was anything but a steel trap! And I carry a passion for these pines, spruces, and firs, the likes of which they have not yet experienced! I was ready to go.

I reviewed the list Prof gave me. We talked about the subtleties of each evergreen family, then I went home and studied. This would be so much fun. Prof encouraged me to talk a little about the research I had been doing on the plantings of Central Campus and the layout and design of The State Agricultural College and Experimental Station, established in the late 1850's.

I handed out a small quiz, prepared by Prof, as we stood in the lobby of Beardshear Hall. It was cold outside (low 20's), but the sun arrived over the lunch hour and it was a beautiful, crisp, winter day in Ames, IA. They had their boots, hats, mittens, and an attitude that made for a fun day.

I walked them out to the steps of this prestigious administration building for ISU and asked them to take in the view of central campus. We saw a beautiful circular lawn, carpeted with snow. It was enclosed with that curvilinear edge of trees and shrubs, some planted by our first president of the college, Dr. A.S. Welch.

He threw potatoes into the air, and where they fell he would plant a tree. Today we call this naturalizing; it made sense then, as it does now. President Welch also sent students out into the surrounding forests where they collected 500 native trees and shrubs for planting around the original campus.

He believed in beauty, 'the crowning perfection of that which is useful'. He embraced the curved line for there was 'never a straight line with Mother Nature'. Trees were planted in groups, each species by itself. He planted evergreens by the buildings and deciduous trees at a distance. His groves of trees blended color, his vistas excited, and his open spaces, carpeted with green lawn, invited both students and faculty to come out into the sunshine. He planted native vegetation so these plants would survive the harsh Midwestern winters and offer incredible displays of beauty throughout the years.

Off to the northeast as we looked out over the campus, we spotted 'a fine group' of Austrian Pines, Pinus nigra, planted by Dr. Welch. These trees are magnificent specimens growing into their splendid heights over the last hundred years. Their reptilian plates of bark pull the eye upward along massive trunks, allowing one to take in their antiquarian beauty. When I turned to remark further, I was struck by the faces of these students. They were seeing the landscape before them...maybe for the first time. Their faces reflected the possibilities open to them as budding landscape architects.

I reminded my charges that today was a day for the evergreens. Our goal was to compare and contrast from a distance, then approach the trees and shrubs using all our senses to experience these different species. With the mission to 'touch it, smell it, see it, hear it!' we would use form, foliage, fruit, and flower to 'ID it'. One of the stops, suggested by a fellow graduate student in the studio, was a grove of hemlocks tucked in behind Curtis Hall. These trees were a delight to see and touch, but it was their silent beauty, tucked in out of the wind, that was deafening.

I had 30 stops on my list, many repeats for reinforcement, and lots of tromping through the snow to get up close and personal. Baby, it was cold outside. Earlier that morning after I finished my class, I started to walk the route I would take the students on that afternoon...a rehearsal, if you will. I ended up jumping on the bus and heading home to don another layer, my hiking boots, a warmer coat, hat, and mittens. I figured if I kept the group together and kept them walking, we would stay warmer than if we dawdled and straggled along. I was also warned by the Prof and the other studio instructor that there would be student leakage. "Plan on returning with fewer students than you set off with. Some just grow bored or cold and wander off to join friends, to seek warmth."

Once the Prof caught up after finishing with other commitments on campus, I left the group to catch a bus home. I counted heads as they trudged off. Eighteen stocking caps bobbing up the walk. Same as I started with!

Yesterday I was reading my horoscope for this new year and smiled when I came across a prediction that this would be the year when I would become a teacher. I like that. When my kids were little, especially with Evan, we would set off daily to explore our world. We were always jabbering about plants or animals, weather, rocks, dinosaurs...whatever caught our fancy. Ev would tell me at night when I was tucking him in, that we had had the best day yet.

Last night in the shower I had a tiny ah-ha moment. I am happy. I have finally made some decisions and followed some opportunities that have come my way. They have helped me figure out who I am and the general direction I am heading. I am not along for anyone else's ride. I am do the driving. For the first time in my life I feel confident when my emotions tell me to pay attention, to listen to that little voice inside saying this is it, this is you...

Tuesday was the best day yet.

Sweet 16! Today

And Flights of Angels Sing Thee to Thy Rest!

Joyce Joan Pierce
October 10, 1930 - January 30, 2007

Mind Mapping

This is a mind map, or relationship diagram. It shows the interconnections of ecosystems along a river corridor. This was a restoration project of a riparian wetland within the floodplain in a highly urbanized area. If you google 'mind maps' you will see lots of circles and lines denoting ideas and their links. My brain works a little differently, and since I am a student of landscapes, I like to push it a little. This is what my mind's eye envisioned when I worked through the process for this assignment.

CowBoy Rules