Nostalgia-Scapes: An Interview with Don Wert of Creative Plantscapes

By Leslie McGuire, managing editor

Phase II Plan: The owners were so taken with the first phase garden that the second phase was added in 2003. Don Wert has never lost a job to a CAD rendering. He does all his own renderings by hand, using watercolor and colored pencil.

People are very nostalgic for something they miss, something they know they need, but can?EUR??,,????'???t find anymore. Don Wert of Creative Plantscapes, Inc. builds a memory for them?EUR??,,????'??+one they?EUR??,,????'???re desperately looking for but have no way to find. He not only designs, he creates a visual presentation in his show yards and let?EUR??,,????'???s them choose.

If at First You DO Succeed?EUR??,,????'???

Mr. And Mrs. Chuck Cesari contacted Creative Plantscapes in March of 2002, to help them design a water garden. They had seen another one the firm installed and fell in love with it. The first phase was completed in June of 2002.

This backyard had a slight slope with various oak trees and some flowering trees. All were utilized in the plan along with adding fill and topsoil to change elevations throughout plantings. The second phase pond, 20-feet by 30-feet, has a large falls.

The noise generated by this amount of water affects all who hear it. The larger pump for the second phase pond, which is 20 by 30-feet, is a 10M gallon/hour pump feeding the large falls with a 3-inch feeder hose. The first phase pond?EUR??,,????'???s pump runs into a dual stream and that?EUR??,,????'???s a 7500 gallon per hour pump with a 3-inch feeder hose. Images Courtesy of Creative Plantscapes

The History and the Pre-History

Established in 1989 as a professional full service landscape company, Creative Plantscapes, Inc. offers a wide range of services including, but not limited to, landscape installation, landscape maintenance, water garden installation, brick walks and patios, custom built decks, arbors, pergolas, gazebos and low voltage lighting. Their lawn and plant care is mainly done through their Creative Lawnscapes division. Creative Plantscapes, Inc. works exclusively with Don Wert, founder of Landscape Design by Wert, for all their landscape design work.

Landscape Design by Wert was established in 1969 as a professional landscape design and installation company. Now with his focus on design, Mr. Wert works exclusively with Creative Plantscapes, Inc. on all landscape design work where the customer wants the design professionally installed. Mr. Wert has won numerous awards for his designs and landscapes and continues to be one of the premier landscape designers in the state.

 

First, a backhoe marks out the pond areas, then they dig to about 30-inches deep in the middle with a shelf that goes down 18-inches. That shelf is where they set plants such as water iris, water hyacinths, chameleon plant, water ferns and canna lilies being careful of choice because some of the plants have a tendency to damage the liners.

Growing Better Than Weeds

Their lawn and plant care is mainly done through their Creative Lawnscapes division. The concept of using organic fertilization for lawn care started as an offshoot. There was no advertising, just word of mouth, and a ?EUR??,,????'??100% Organic Lawncare?EUR??,,????'?? sign on their truck. ?EUR??,,????'??It turns out this is really attractive to people,?EUR??,,????'?? said Wert. ?EUR??,,????'??I worked with organic fertilizers when I was in college in the sixties. But at that time it was harder to get the organic nutrients you needed.?EUR??,,????'??

Using an injection system nutrients are pumped into the soil. ?EUR??,,????'??Liquid fertilizers work best when put directly into the planting hole?EUR??,,????'?? he says. ?EUR??,,????'??In addition, all our water gardens and their plantings get organic nutrients, as well. In half a season, the healthy lawns and the ponds tell the whole story.?EUR??,,????'??

In the ponds and falls, they use a river gravel and rocks that are a mixture of sandstone and limestone which doesn?EUR??,,????'???t make the water too sweet or too soft, which is just right for the fish. The rock is mined locally and comes in graded sizes. Instead of buying it washed, they use a pressure hose, lay it out in groupings and then spay it off before using a loader to move it into the pond where needed.

It Takes a Great Teacher

To further explain the company history, Michael Derk, who now owns Creative Plantscapes, Inc., had worked for Don Wert as a landscaper through high school and college. After college, Derk, though trained in sociology, said he liked working with landscaping better. Wert suggested he form his own identity and use the present company name. As someone who had ample experience training people in the landscaping business, Wert has given numerous training classes to horticulture students at various colleges and universities over the years. Many are quite successful and are now competitors, which, as Don Wert puts it, ?EUR??,,????'??makes it interesting.?EUR??,,????'??

Since Wert teamed up with Derk, the business has grown considerably in all phases, but especially in water gardening and the newly added 100 percent organic lawn and plant care business. In 2005, Creative Plantscapes, Inc. opened a new business center at Lewisburg, Penn. with approximately 2,500 square feet of office space, equipment quarters, and show yards on a four acre lot. Now, their office staff consists of one full time and one part time receptionist, two designers, with Mike as president. The total number of employees, full and part time, now numbers about 23. Many of the employees have horticulture degrees or certification. Says Wert, ?EUR??,,????'??All phases of our work have people who are talented and respected by customers who know them on a first name basis. The company has also sponsored numerous tours of its jobs and gardens and many are toured by community events.?EUR??,,????'?? Now retired, Don Wert is still doing the design work.

After the liner is laid down, rocks are placed making sure the liner is stretched accordingly as the rocks are placed along with some large stones for fish to hide under. Pond plants are set on the shelf before the pond is completely filled with water. Some plants are wedged in between rocks. Some plants are available in a soil-less prescribed medium that doesn?EUR??,,????'???t get the water dirty.

Matching Plants, People and History

Located on the east coast, many of the properties and homes they work on were built over a hundred years ago?EUR??,,????'??+some as early as the late 1700?EUR??,,????'???s.

?EUR??,,????'??When we do Victorian, Georgian or colonial, we always try to design the plantings around the period of the home. Sometimes we even get involved in suggesting colors for the house itself.?EUR??,,????'?? Creative Plantscapes puts in some of the period plants, as well. Unfortunately some of the older cultivars don?EUR??,,????'???t have as long a blooming time as the newer cultivars. ?EUR??,,????'??When clients find that out, they often decide they want the long blooming term so they stay with the new cultivars,?EUR??,,????'?? says Wert.

The finishing touches are done before the mulch goes down and the lighting goes in. They place Typar fabric that is permeable, allowing water to penetrate, but weeds can?EUR??,,????'???t get through it. It has the added advantage that it doesn?EUR??,,????'???t require much maintenance.

Seed companies have had some success by hybriding and often they mix some of the old cultivars in with the newer ones to maintain historical correctness in the plantings. In order to get the correct plants or the older varieties, they send away to particular nurseries that specialize in the old ones. ?EUR??,,????'??With so much hybridizing, we?EUR??,,????'???ve lost a lot of the beauty of the older cultivars,?EUR??,,????'?? says Don. ?EUR??,,????'??Some of the older varieties are now being brought back from seed banks. They?EUR??,,????'???ve done a very good job with some of the older roses especially. By working with the seeds they?EUR??,,????'???ve cultivated roses that are resistant to insects and diseases. These hybrid roses are often much better than the originals?EUR??,,????'??.

The Real Thing is Worth a Thousand Words

Although the company has always had show yards, (they had an office with the show area in another location) they now have a large show area on the same site. They have installed gardens on the site that people can look at to make choices and get ideas. They also run tours and people come from all over. What they see whets their appetite for bigger and better gardens. Community garden clubs will also come great distances to tour their facility. They keep innovating to come up with new ideas to interest people. They often end up traveling a 100 to 150-mile radius to do some of these jobs.

Large rocks and boulders helped balance the large oak trees while plantings of evergreen trees and broad leafs helped soften the terrain. The falls elevation and soil mounding effect worked very well in keeping the feel of an enclosed ?EUR??,,????'??water room.?EUR??,,????'??

When he first started out with a one-man operation, he used fiberglass pools which didn?EUR??,,????'???t use filters. They had to be cleaned often. As an added business opportunity, instead of just building the ponds Creative Plantscapes designs and installs the environment around it. They make small man made hills. They can take a perfectly flat area and make it look like a wooded forest, by sculpting the land. The Cesari residence was a perfectly flat, uninteresting backyard.

It Takes an Artist

Wert does all his own renderings by hand, using watercolor and colored pencil. That means, of course, that people think of him as an artist. Probably, seeing the hand done artwork, they realize that they?EUR??,,????'???d rather have an artist design their yard than a technician. Wert has always loved art and grew up on a farm. He grew into this business because it combined both of his greatest loves?EUR??,,????'??+art and floriculture/horticulture. ?EUR??,,????'??It became addictive, he says. ?EUR??,,????'??I love floriculture and farming?EUR??,,????'??+being an artist with plants, colors and textures. I even sit outside or go out and walk in the woods or fields, following cow paths and deer paths. Actually, the Lord is the world?EUR??,,????'???s greatest Landscape Architect and Designer.?EUR??,,????'??

The smaller pump is located at the opposite end of the pond across from the falls. The hose is buried in the ground and the pump forces the water back up into the falls. The water changes a number of times with the suction and draw-through so you don?EUR??,,????'???t have any mosquito problems.

Nostalgia is a Great Salesman

?EUR??,,????'??The best sales tool is nostalgia,?EUR??,,????'?? says Don. ?EUR??,,????'??People remember grandpa?EUR??,,????'???s farm, so in addition to the plantings, we also build into the design old sheds with broken fences and old fashioned crockery.
?EUR??,,????'??We had just finished an installation involving some old-fashioned fences and buildings and, when the two women came home and saw the finished garden, they started to cry,?EUR??,,????'?? says Don. ?EUR??,,????'??I guess it turns out that?EUR??,,????'???s something else we are providing?EUR??,,????'??+memories.?EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??It?EUR??,,????'???s a question of the feel, the flow and the function,?EUR??,,????'?? says Wert. ?EUR??,,????'??We actually make them ?EUR??,,????'??feel?EUR??,,????'??? something.?EUR??,,????'??

The plant material selections had to be able to take at least half shade and still give a marshy effect. This backyard had a slight slope with various oak trees and some flowering trees. All were utilized in the plan along with adding fill and topsoil to change elevations throughout plantings.