Verdant Enterprises

Shedlarz Residence

hartford — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:29:19 +0000

Working in collaboration with the architect, Verdant Enterprises sited structures and oversaw all other outdoor improvements with deference to a beautiful grove of live oaks overlooking the Colleton River.

Verdant was responsible for developing concepts, budgets, and architectural review documents for all elements outside the buildings including alternate pool studies and a walled entry garden. Special features included a small Charleston-style courtyard with a sculpture and pool. The gardens feature traditional Southern horticulture within a backdrop of hardy, native plantings.

A second phase focused on the design of a custom water feature for the guest house garden. This entailed full design and project management services and coordination of an arborist, an aquatic consultant, a landscape contractor, and other trades people. The resulting garden acts as a tranquil, alluring outdoor room.

Willingham Plantation

tgongaware — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:24:19 +0000

This commission began with site analysis and field verification of the central compound surrounding an old farm house. The resulting 100-acre master plan led to the construction of a unique entrance featuring serpentine walls and an allee of hollies and live oaks. Verdant Enterprises sited and specified a tractor shed and, together with the owners, we contemplated the restoration of an oak grove. We also prepared architectural drawings for porch additions to the house and a new parking court. Construction documents included a pond-grading plan and a bridge. We also furnished conceptual designs for a future hunting lodge and swimming pool.

Indigo Farms

tgongaware — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:23:20 +0000

The owners of this 100-acre farm near Edisto Island, SC had an overall vision for what they wanted but sought Verdant’s help in translating that vision into an overall master plan and a series of phased improvements. Design work included mapping, site analysis, schematic alternatives, master plan, clearing plans, and planting plans. Working in close collaboration with a forestry consultant, we also prepared construction documents for a key recreation area beside a creek.

Spring Island Fitness Center

tgongaware — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:22:48 +0000

Verdant Enterprises created the master plan for this 9-acre site. It is located at Walker Landing, a critical hub of activity within the 3000-acre community of Spring Island. The owners association wanted to update the existing fitness center, sports garden, and pool area. Our design work for them included site analysis, schematic design alternatives, master plan, and cost estimates. We prepared a scale model of the entire site in order to help the committee sell the plan to the broader membership.

Colleton Museum and Farmers Market

tgongaware — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:19:35 +0000

Verdant Enterprises helped produce the conceptual design for a permanent home for the Farmers Market. We also helped write the USDA grant that will fund the project. When the County won the grant, we developed the architectural and landscape plans for the public restroom building and outdoor pavilion. This required close adherence to ADA guidelines and jostling of tight budgets. Working with our senior associate, we developed the design for structures which celebrate light and air and which transformed the non-descript facade of a former warehouse into a multi-use facility resplendent in blooming vines. The success of the project was assured when Colleton County decided to fully renovate the adjacent building as the new home for the Colleton Museum.

Palmetto Rural Telephone Headquarters

tgongaware — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:18:56 +0000

Verdant Enterprises developed the landscape master plan for the corporate headquarters of this regional utility company. The design featured a predominantly native index of the plant communities on the site. Our landscape architects worked with the owners and a site grading contractor, making critical adjustments to the proposed grading plans that preserved existing trees. Distinct features of the plan include an outdoor gathering area for employees, a nature/fitness trail, and a bio-filtration pond with an island and bridge to handle stormwater runoff in an attractive way.

Veterans’ Victory House

tgongaware — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:46:19 +0000

This 20-acre master plan featured extensive remedial drainage and design of a pond as the central feature for the entrance area. Verdant’s construction documents included a custom arbor and outdoor dining terrace. We also researched and developed special courtyards for Alzheimer’s patients. We presented alternative budgets for a phasing plan to include future plans for a recreation area and garden for the residences.

Jager Residence

tgongaware — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:45:27 +0000

This marsh-front landscape features both salt and fresh bog areas and a swale system in lieu of a lawn. It won the Sweetgrass Award in 2010 for best landscape and utilizes predominantly hardy, native plantings adapted to this maritime hammock zone. Additional elements of the plan include: entrance corridor enhancement, pool terrace planters, a nature trail and a sun pocket patio. Custom hardscape design involved a curving bridge and boardwalk and Mexican Porphery walkways.

Reid Residence

tgongaware — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:44:38 +0000

This two-phase project on Spring Island began in collaboration with the owner’s architect. Together we sited a guest house, garage and courtyard. The courtyard design featured a tabby bridge over a fern swale and a small walled garden with peripheral, native landscaping.

The second phase included enhancements to the main house, including a lawn terrace, nature trail and the addition of a naturalistic water feature. Verdant Enterprises recommended predominantly native plantings with pockets of more traditional horticulture and modest lawn areas associated with the building compound.

Moore Farm

tgongaware — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:35:42 +0000

Verdant Enterprises prepared the master plan for this 350-acre private botanical garden in Lake City, South Carolina. Later, we helped with vehicular circulation and site plan details associated with a kennel and the development of construction documents for a new road corridor and fishing pond. Design work included coordination of aerial photography, master planning, pond grading plans, and custom construction details.

The photo images below depict the existing site to describe the scope of the project.

Frierson Residence

tgongaware — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:51:55 +0000

This commission for the former President of the Garden Club of America sought seamless fusion of an adjacent residential lot to a well-established landscape. The resulting plan laid out an Italianate series of spaces terracing down a hill, organized on axis with a central water feature. The plan included custom-detailing of walls, steps, and water feature as well as a sunken garden and classical loggia for outdoor entertaining.

The Frierson garden has recently been added to the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Gardens’ Garden Club of America Collection for the year 2011.

Baruch Residence

tgongaware — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:49:32 +0000

This project honors the innovative master plan for the development of the entirety of Spring Island, on behalf of a client who is committed to sustainable landscape goals and the use of native plants.

Verdant delivered this project in two phases, the first of which began in 2000. The home and grounds continue to evolve. The first phase included the siting of a house and garage structure on a half-acre lot with deference to a grand live oak tree. The second phase began in 2005 with the creation of a native plant demonstration garden on the adjacent half acre lot.

The goals for the landscape design where predicated on preserving the beautifully-wooded embankment overlooking a salt water creek and on a reinterpretation of the flora and fauna on what was predominantly a disturbed horse pasture. Recreational opportunities such as benches, nature trails, patios and dock access were nestled within a diverse, multi-layered, semi-tropical and almost entirely native landscape.

Regionally-specific hardscape includes the use of tabby and hardpan, eastern red cedar, various pervious aggregates such as river pebbles and shell-sand, blending with more traditional elements such as brick, stone and wood. The grades, slope aspects, and moisture gradients were subtly sculpted to provide for a maximum diversity of distinct native plant communities. Special features of this ecotype garden include hard-pan seat walls, a sun pocket, a weeping wall, a rustic tool shed and a swale/bog system.

This garden is now used as a regional education tool and has inspired the creation of a native plant nursery.

St. Helena Episcopal Church

tgongaware — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:47:55 +0000

Verdant Enterprises developed a master plan for an entire city block for the expansion of the parish house belonging to the oldest church in Beaufort, South Carolina. Design work included new parking facilities, streetscape improvements, and the creation of a series of small, walled gardens and outdoor rooms. Construction documents for a central cloister garden required deference to a grand live oak in the design of low terrace walls, a deck, and a water feature for outdoor lectures and events.

Mepkin Abbey Columbarium

tgongaware — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:45:26 +0000

Verdant Enterprises won a design completion to work with the monks at Mepkin Abbey on the creation of a three-acre burial park, part of a 15-acre woodland restoration on this historic site in Monks Corner, South Carolina. Design work included … Continue reading →

Georgia Southern Botanical Garden

tgongaware — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:44:49 +0000

Verdant Enterprises’ master plan for this 11-acre botanical garden included the core area of the garden: a heritage corridor associated with the garden center and the flanking woodland areas featuring native plants of the Southeastern United States. We conducted extensive botanical surveys and detailed a long-term vision for pedestrian circulation, strengthened the subsets of the plan, and organized the plant collections. Key features of this plan include screening of a noisy highway and further work to highlight certain plant communities such as long-leaf pine flatwoods. We also prepared construction documents for an outdoor classroom using
indigenous bald cypress and featuring custom stools for kids, slab benches for adults and an elevated stage for events.