Landscape architecture isn't only about the finished, photo-ready landscape that most people see, it's also about the process of getting there! For us, blogOutside is the perfect venue to start showing you what we're up to, and a little view behind the scenes on all the work that goes into designing a site and working with our project partners.
We've received some beautiful aerial photos recently from Greg Boudrero at MGB+A: The Grassli Group, showing the construction progress made at the Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake City, Utah. These aerial photos are immensely helpful during the construction progress to track progress on the entire site and visualize the design implementation as a whole, but it's also just really fun for us to see a project come together from the bird's eye view.
The Water Conservation Garden is the newest garden expansion at Red Butte Gardens. The Water Conservation Garden is approximately 3 acres in size and climbs over 80 vertical feet from top to bottom of the site. The steep topography across the site made grading the site challenging; however, we were able to keep the main trail handicap accessible without the need for handrails. The main trail snakes from side to side across the site, stopping at various trellises that frame views of Salt Lake City and the surrounding mountains.
The garden will showcase over 500 different species of native and drought-tolerant plants for the Salt Lake City area. At the top of the hill, grading has been designed to create micro-basins that help retain water and will demonstrate edible plants that can be grown in the region. The garden is expected to open in the Fall of 2016.
The site plan for the Water Conservation Garden uses winding trails to direct the visitor up the hillside.