A Walk on the Wild Side

Landscape designer Larry Weaner has always viewed gardens as evolutionary. That might not sound like a unique mindset today, but when Larry was first entering the horticultural field in the 1980s, designers liked to deliver a landscape that would hold the status quo. The thought was that while a professionally designed garden might take a few years to mature, it would then live happily ever after (or at least for the foreseeable future) as a finished, polished, and static presentation. But what Larry discovered early in the game was that he didn’t find an unchanging landscape to be even remotely interesting. Instead, he was fascinated by transformation and found himself gravitating toward more natural designs, especially meadows.

Although designed meadows weren’t in the mainstream at that time, the topic was in the air. When Larry signed up for a cutting-edge, three-day course at Harvard School of Design, he was excited to see that one of the subjects on the roster was meadows. “It was an eye opener,” he says. “The concept of how plants operate in nature and how plant communities transform was the magic that got the ball rolling for me.”

Not every designer understands the appeal of a garden that requires such a depth of botanical understanding over the long haul, but Larry’s tenure at Weston Nurseries in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, gave him the broadest possible horticultural knowledge base. Over the years, his inquisitive approach has also worked in his favor. Observant and empathetic, he is fascinated by the performance of plants throughout their lifespan. Multiply that trait by hundreds of plants all playing together in a field, and you’ve got a unique talent plugged into a trend that has made a mark in the gardening world.

Fast-forward 25 years when Larry was called in to work at the Dutchess County property of a savvy homeowner. The client had studied traditional horticulture but was ready to loosen things up and shift into a more informal style. “It originally was your quintessential farm,” says the homeowner of the initial 20 acres her family first purchased in 1986. Gradually, they added parcels to expand the viewshed and installed plantings around the house that were an informal mixture of conifers and ornamental grasses. But they looked to Larry to design an even more natural ambiance in the form of a meadow further from the home.

Thankfully Larry not only had the expertise needed but also the toolbox to troubleshoot the issues that lay in the formerly underutilized spaces. “There was an area that was especially hard to mow, and we needed a solution,” the homeowner recalls. “There also was a place where thistles had infiltrated.” Larry tackled these problems as he worked to incorporate the native plants he prefers to employ. At the same time, the homeowners took the major step of installing a pond—and that pond was the catalyst for the meadow project that would anchor it.

Although all of Larry’s installations are designed to evolve, a meadow takes that concept to a deeper level by multiplying plant interrelationships many thousandfold. In this case, the meadow he designed incorporated woody plants as well as biennials and perennials. The format opened opportunities for transitional zones moving away from the quasi-formality around the house while also delivering drama in revealed views. Paths outward from the house create adventure, while plants serve as portals that both screen and reveal the scenery.

The meadow has its own social science that changes as plants mature. Suppressing weeds in a large expanse of land requires a brew that’s specific to the site. “A meadow unfolds over time,” explains Larry. “To suppress weeds, you have to make sure that each stage is sufficiently populated by plants.” Biennials and short-lived perennials provide the density needed to keep weeds at bay while slower-maturing perennials such as gentian, echinacea, and culver’s root gain girth. But beyond the botanical element, other dimensions also come into play. “The shrubs adjacent to a meadow provide safety for birds,” says Larry. “We always arrange a site to optimize wildlife value.” The garden and its meadow are now incredibly complex—what was once underutilized has become an eco- system humming merrily along.

In autumn, the meadow is in crescendo and the surrounding trees are raging with intense color. While other areas in the landscape might be winding down, this space is radiant with echinacea, little bluestem, wild quinine, bee balm, black-eyed Susan, brilliant amsonia foliage, and rattlesnake master seedhead, all creating a textural broadloom. Viewing stations are incorporated into the site, and the client’s impeccable taste in outdoor furniture and hardscape gives this former farm its finishing touch. “The meadow is a thrill to watch,” says the homeowner. “And part of the beauty lies in the unpredictability of it all.”

By Tovah Martin

See more of Larry Weaner’s designs on his website and Instagram.

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