At Home with Native Plants

Landscape designer Larry Weaner knows that the ideas behind naturalistic landscape design can often be misunderstood.

“Too often, random informality passes for ‘natural,’ when in reality nature is highly ordered and anything but random,” Weaner says. “Understanding this order and using it in our designs is the key to making natural design workable and successful. This does not mean, however, that we must design exclusively with native plants, attempt to copy nature exactly or exclude the influences of other design styles.”

In his talk to the Connecticut Horticultural Society (CHS) March 15, Weaner will describe how to use Connecticut’s native flora to achieve landscapes that are beautiful, diverse, low maintenance and easy on the environment. The talk begins at 7:30 p.m. at Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr., West Hartford. Everyone is welcome (non-members of CHS pay $10).

Weaner will explore the ecological processes that occur in the Nutmeg State’s native woodlands, shrub lands and meadows, and illustrate how they can be applied to various residential landscapes. He will highlight solutions to common landscape problems, including entrance areas and screen and bank plantings. And he will describe how to establish native wildflower meadows and woodland gardens in the appropriate context.     

Weaner has been creating native landscapes throughout the eastern United States since 1977.  His firm, Larry Weaner Landscape Associates in Glenside, Penn., received the top three design awards in 2008 from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. In 2009, he received the New England Wild Flower Society’s landscape design award for a property in Salisbury, Conn., that features extensive meadows.

Other projects close to home include creating gardens for a 17th century residence in Danbury and for a public park in Wilton center. Along the Taconic Parkway, he designed and installed a series of native meadow plantings.

High-profile clients have included Bruce and Patti Springsteen of Freehold, N.J., where plantings focused on ecological restoration and meadows.

He is a guest lecturer and instructor for horticultural and environmental organizations throughout the United States. His landscapes and gardens have been toured by many organizations, including The Garden Conservancy and the American Horticultural Society.

In 1990, Weaner founded New Directions in the American Landscape, a nonprofit educational programming series with a national following among landscape professionals. 

The Connecticut Horticultural Society is a statewide, nonprofit, mostly volunteer organization dedicated to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of gardening. CHS is based in Rocky Hill and holds monthly meetings in West Hartford.