Slawson Creations

What's New?
 

Take a tour through the design and construction process of one of David Slawson's recent garden projects:

Children's Adventure Garden at Garvan Woodland Gardens

SITE :    This summer David is designing and directing rockwork for Garvan Woodland Gardens' new Children's Adventure Garden in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The site is a wooded north-facing slope just south of an elevated, curving 8-foot wide walkway already constructed.

CLIENT:    Mrs. Verna Garvan gave 210 acres of wooded land on Lake Hamilton to the University of Arkansas to be developed as Arkansas' premier botanical garden. The University's Department of Landscape Architecture is responsible for developing and maintaining the gardens. A major endowment by Bob and Sunny Evans has spurred this exciting garden project.

DESIGN INSPIRATION:    The master plan for the Children's Garden was conceived by landscape architect Brent Vinson. The two primary features of the plan are a series of linked treehouses that Brent has designed, and the rockwork being designed and directed by David Slawson with 1,200 tons of field rock and boulders supplied by Bennett Brothers and Millsaps. David's rock artistry will create a stream flowing from the south slope through a little gorge cutting through the most ambitious geological feature, the Ledges, which will be about 80 feet long and up to 12 feet high. The Ledges will include little passageways and caves in the rocks for children to explore and climb. The latest feature to be installed is Cave Falls, a waterfall under which the more adventuresome will be able to walk, or ride in a wheelchair (the opening from the bottom of the falls overflow rock to the floor of the cave is almost 7 feet high). The cave itself is almost 20 feet wide and has an egress hole with natural stone steps in the back. To gain inspiration for the Ledges feature, David visited several Arkansas landscapes, including Blanchard Springs Cavern, Pedestal Rocks, and Petit Jean State Park.

Watch for more images as construction of the Children's Adventure Garden continues through the summer.

Upper stream rockwork viewed from below

Rock balanced on another to evoke Pedestal Rocks, anchoring the west end of the Ledges feature.

building The Ledges

Little Gorge looking downstream

Photo by Sylvia M. Banks

Photo by Sylvia M. Banks

Flat-topped rocks weighing up to 15 tons were placed to evoke the scale and feeling of natural ledges.

When water pumped from Lake Hamilton begins flowing, it will cascade down through a narrow gorge and between the two large flat-topped cliff boulders.

.

Upper stream rockwork viewed from below

Photo by Sylvia M. Banks

 

Residential Back Yard Dry Landscape

SITE:     Northfield, Minnesota, was the beginning of the end for Jesse James. It’s also where I created my first Minnesota garden, at Carleton College in 1976. This time I've been asked to design a garden for an Arts & Crafts bungalow near the St. Olaf campus. Native pagoda dogwoods shade the 40 foot wide by 30 foot deep site, part of a larger residential backyard. The garden is viewed from a 19-foot-square sitting room with full height glass doors facing the backyard on the east.

 

CLIENT:     When the client bought this home there was an added bonus—a backyard landscape plan I had done for the previous owner was included in the deal. The new owner asked me to rework the design to her needs. She wanted a tranquil scene to enjoy from the east-facing sitting room/porch. At a later stage, when the budget allows, she may consider building the tea pavilion that was part of my earlier plan.

 

DESIGN INSPIRATION:     Imagine a mountain stream flowing from a rocky bluff. The stream zigzags down a slope, beneath a rock bridge and out into a lake bed of crushed stone. Rocks are mostly low pyramidal shapes to fit the gentle topography of the site. In the left foreground, a cluster of rocks set at an incline mimics uplifted rock strata to evoke a cliff along the shore and lead the eye out into the scene.

 

 

LOCAL MATERIALS:     The landscape rocks will be dark gray Minnesota Iron Range with green and white marbling. The stone slabs forming the walk will be light gray Chilton limestone quarried in Wisconsin. Plant materials will complement the cool green of the existing pagoda dogwoods. Ground covers will be just two or three fine-textured, restful greens. The cool shade of pagoda dogwoods may be enough to support bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), native to the north shore of Lake Superior.

 

[ Home ]

Send mail to david@slawsoncreations.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2006 David Slawson. All rights reserved.
Last modified: 06/12/07