Well-loved for its presence as a ski retreat in Mid-America, the resort's landscape environment-- including new practice and pitching greens, driving range, downhill skiing and cross country trails, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, jogging and fitness trail, and nature trails-- has created a sensation all of its own.

In 1993, the resort was purchased as a run-down property by Marcus Corporation. The owner's vision for the resort was committed from day one-- to bring out the natural beauty of the rolling hills with native plantings, perennials and ornamental grasses incorporated into the resort. The prairie-style lodge-- long and sunken into the hillside-- lends itself easily to a prairie-style landscape. The client committed more than $20 million for the total renovation of the resort, with a heavy emphasis on the landscape design. Since then, the resort allocates more and more funds each year for the expense of the landscape; consulting Landscape Architect Lynn Russo is responsible for the direction of all new landscape projects.

Original designer Brian Kliesmet, ASLA of Milwaukee-based Landscape Architects, Inc. describes the resort as a "horticultural extravaganza." Kliesmet, who completed the 1993 conceptual master plan, describes the project philosophy as "simply creating the best landscape experience around." Working only under the conceptual master plan, the landscape team designed each section of the resort "as it was built." Indeed, Kliesmet explains, "A Landscape Architect was on site every day for the first year of the project." The design team did not have to work with a set budget; rather, they "concentrated on creating one spectacular area, and duplicating it over and over again throughout the site."

To begin, the main entryway to Grand Geneva is set back 200 yards from the highway; therefore its presence, in order to be effective, had to be very visible and dramatic. The entry, described as a "spectacular front door" by Kliesmet, features an elegant sandstone monument and an immense planting bed, filled with a vibrant palette of seasonal colors.

The resort boasts two championship, eighteen-hole golf courses. The Highlands, a Scottish-links style course, was originally designed by Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus, and was renovated in 1995 by Bob Cupp. The Brute, designed by Golf Course Architect Robert Bruce Harris, was rated "one of the top courses in the Midwest" by PAR Excellence Magazine.

Kliesmet describes the blend of formal and informal design used throughout the site as "a charming way to create dynamic, enticing landscape spaces." The Landscape Architects custom-designed all of the site furnishings and receptacles-- mainly from teak materials, and adorned with the Grand Geneva logo-- throughout the resort. The landscape team created private gardens to accompany the ground floor rooms of the hotel; a variety of both sun and shade environments; and various "photo shoot" areas, or backdrops for stunning tourist photography.

Native sandstone was shipped in from quarries across the nation to enhance the prairie-style landscape design. The resort is sprinkled with natural fieldstone boulders and walkways. Pedestrian access and flow was a strong concern for the clients. The resort's vast acreage allows for scenic walks along winding, well-lit pathways, which are enhanced with a lush, park-like environment.

Decorative lighting illuminates the two-mile long entryway, while ground flush lighting highlights the steps, paths and landscape beds. All of the trees are uplit at night, as well as the various fountains throughout the resort.

The landscape designers incorporated an immensely wide variety of plant materials, combining native species with lush seasonal color. A splash of annuals, including formal arrangements of tulips, complements the major perennial design. The clients desired an "instant landscape" effect; mature and fast-growing plant materials were specified into the plans as they "did not want to give visitors the appearance that the landscape would have to still grow in."

While Lake Geneva's rolling hills required very little attention to erosion details-- the slopes were left in their natural form-- the significant acreage of the resort warranted careful irrigation design. Irrigation Consultant Tom Emmerich of T.J. Emmerich Landscape Irrigation describes the watering system as "precision-engineered and efficient." A complete collection of line-voltage, gear-driven sprinklers, spray heads, and rotors irrigates both courses and the resort grounds. Stand-alone station controllers monitor the irrigation of the resort grounds, while the golf courses are computer controlled, monitored by On Site Management and Control (OSMAC) field satellites, and are managed with a computer software system from the grounds management headquarters office.

The vast amount of perennials and annuals that are changed every season require a great deal of care-- this is most definitely a high maintenance resort. Jim Crothers, CGCS, Superintendent of Grounds, and Dan Schulz, Landscape Superintendent, supervise a staff of 52 groundskeepers who are responsible for maintaining the resort's two tour-quality golf courses and acres of rolling hills. Plantings are rotated with the seasons, and little expense is spared. For example, the week before Memorial Day, the crew plants 75-85,000 annuals including blue salvia, geraniums, impatiens, begonias and cleone.

Crothers, who has worked on the resort grounds for sixteen years, is responsible for the direction and implementation of all landscape projects, as well as the maintenance for the outdoor of the resort. He enthuses, "The Grand Geneva Resort boasts a very unique, non-commercial nature; visitors are often taken aback here, in the middle of God's country, by this expanse of natural beauty."

The winterscape was very crucial to the design philosophy of the project. As Kliesmet remarks, "During the spring, summer and fall the landscape is a wonder. We chose perennials that would give us a nice winter die-back, disappearing under the snow." During the Christmas season, more than 500,000 lights illuminate the resort.

One of the keys to the resort's success, Kliesmet believes, lies in the diversity of the design committee that approved each phase of the project. From the client to the Landscape Architect to the Grounds Maintenance Crew-- everyone was involved in the design process, which resulted in an "efficient and dramatic landscape." Of course, the resort has become a large draw for tourism, which benefits the entire community. As Crothers explains, the landscape itself has become a unique "micro-destination-- where the visitors come just to look at the landscape!" lasn