Planning of the Willowdale Steeplechase

For the past 3 years, I have just begun carrying a tradition every Mother's Day to plan and design the landscape for the Winners Circle on the day of the race as well as plantings for the Water Jump Ball and Auction on Friday night. It is a black tie fundraiser for a non-profit group that provides therapy to kids with special needs, a veterinary surgical facility that treated the Philly native, Barbaro after the Preakness Stakes race and a fresh water treatment facility.

I have really appreciated this race, and the fundraising that happens especially towards, Quest Therapeutic Services, Inc., since my little nephew, Luke who has special needs out in Park City, Utah has benefited and loved every moment of his therapy on a horse.

The company I am with now, W.D. Wells & Associates is bending over backwards to help this cause out, by volunteering all its time and energy to see this weekend take off. We will be providing the Winner's Circle where the champion horses will receive their pictures Sunday, and will also be providing decoration in way of trees for the tent, Friday night at he Water Jump Ball and Auction.

It's a great day to bring the family, tailgate from the back of your car with lunch, throw the football or frisbee and watch some pretty incredible races. W.D. Wells & Associates will also have an exhibit in the Shoppes Tent, so you can get more of an idea of who we are and what we are capable of of designing and building.

I am proud to be a part of The Willowdale Steeplechase and help in anyway possible in years to come.

Gardens just beginning to taking shape

I was out performing a check up on one of my clients properties yesterday and noticed the buds swelling significantly on a Syringa vulgaris (Common Lilac). I have two of these lilacs in positions in their garden off the staircase and close to the kitchen windows where the sweet fragrance from the flowers will permeate the whole room. These plants are extremely hardy and require tip pruning after bloom and also thinning of old wood every several years to promote vibrant growth. The Common Lilac came over from Europe to a gardener by the name of John Bartram and now has naturalized so much that it has become the state flower of New Hampshire. It desires a colder winter in order for it to be at its peak during bloom and just to really thrive. You can find this plant almost in every one of our mom's back yards now here in the Northeast, but still a favorite for me as a designer for at least one in the garden.

I just installed a new boulder walkway for this customer as well to their back outdoor kitchen and the sod has done well over the winter and will begin to blend in nicely later on this season. This natural walkway is a great transition from upper patio to the lower patio, and a easy maintenance free walk where the customer is able to mow right over. They had some concerns with a septic leach field in their back yard and this gave us an opportunity to not dig too deep besides lay the stone base and the boulder itself. It also gave us the chance to give the boulder walk a natural curve around the field.

Here is the front walkway, in which we covered his concrete pad out the front door and brought in a more formal look for the front. We used a natural multi-color flagstone with a paver to tie in the backyard patio paver's.

Up to Boston

I had went up to Boston the other weekend, and really had not expected to be that nice of weekend, but it was probably the nicest weekend I had seen so far this Spring. It was a warm 65 degrees as I went to see my girlfriend and her old college roommate from Univ. of Pitt. and her husband. They hosted us incredibly well as we traveled all around Boston, walked the Freedom trail for maybe 3 minutes, if that and went down into Boston's Common. It reminded me a lot like Central Park in New York, as it proudly displayed its arboretum. I was impressed being from a suburb of Philly, Boston was incredibly clean and it took great pride in making sure of that. I had an great time there walking into Cheers to grabbing lunch and walking down Newburry Street taking in all the sights and realizing that Simon and Pierce was a franchise, little did I know after seeing it in the heart and center of Newburry St. The only thing I did not like architecturally was their government building. You decide for yourself and let me know what you think being smacked dab right into the heart of historic city.