So You Wanna Be ?EUR??,,????'??? a Regional Landscape Manager

By Stephen Kelly, regional editor

The horticultural diversity of the property is the main challenge, says Jeff Aiken, the regional landscape accounts manager for the property. A walk across the Coastal Boardwalk affords the sights and smells of redbag (Persea barbonia) (l), American snowbell®, autumn blaze maple and common alder (l-r back) and longleaf pine (back). Aiken uses cypress mulch in this area for its lighter color to blend with the sandy soil. A hardwood mulch, darker in color, is used to match the soil color in the Mountain Garden.

Jeff Aiken is a regional landscape accounts manager for ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, a nationwide leader in landscape maintenance and horticultural services. He operates out of a satellite branch office in northern Charlotte, N.C., with responsibilities for a number of properties. His major property, the subject of this feature, is the TIAA-CREF corporate campus in Charlotte, N.C.

TIAA-CREF (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund), a Fortune 500 company, needed a new regional service center and opted to build from scratch on 137 acres of bucolic splendor here along Interstate 85 just north of Charlotte, in lieu of buying and upgrading a building in New York City. The Atlanta-based landscape architecture firm Hughes, Good O?EUR??,,????'???Leary and Ryan (HGOR) did the landscape master planning and ValleyCrest did the landscape installation.

The ?EUR??,,????'??Glass Forest?EUR??,,????'?? in the Mountain Garden is by artist Gordon. The stream wells up among rock excavated from the parking lot. Underground vaults circulate 1,000 gpm through 2,200 feet of pipe. Jenkins Leucothoe (foreground left) goldstrum coneflower (mid-ground) and sourwood (Oxydendrom arboreum)?EUR??,,????'??+background right?EUR??,,????'??+supply shades of green and gold. The plant species in the Mountain Garden require less water than the other gardens. The crew hand-waters here as needed.

The crew does a daily walk-through to monitor the irrigation system for broken heads or other irrigation problems. The crew manicures many areas with stick edgers. The flora here is maiden grass (Miscansus sinensic) ?EUR??,,????'??Gracillimus?EUR??,,????'???, giant coneflower (Rudbeckia maxima), creeping raspberry (Rubus calycinoides) patriot hosta and dwarf mondo grass around the Oregon sunset Japanese maple.

Jeff Aiken received a bachelor?EUR??,,????'???s in horticulture. He wasn?EUR??,,????'???t sure if he wanted to work in landscape installation or on the maintenance side, but after attending a job fair he was hired in May 2002 by ValleyCrest as the landscape site supervisor for the TIAA-CREF campus. At that point, ValleyCrest was still installing the landscaping. About 60 percent had been completed. Jeff?EUR??,,????'???s job was to maintain what had been installed. The installation was complete by Aug. 2003.

Today, as the accounts manager, he rotates a three-man crew to stay on the property full time all week long, i.e., 120 man hours per week. He also has a supervisor on site, Mike Eckert, a horticulturist, to oversee the landscapers work, as Aiken also needs to monitor the other regional accounts under his management. This chain of command leads to Todd Chesnut, regional manager for ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance in the Carolinas and Virginia.

The man-made lake in the Piedmont Garden is set off by ?EUR??,,????'??Urbanite?EUR??,,????'??? ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), trees?EUR??,,????'??+?EUR??,,????'??October Glory?EUR??,,????'??? red (Acer rubrum) and southern sugar maples (Acer barbatrm), silky dogwood (Cornus amomum), swamp candleberry (Myrica heterophyllia) and prairie shoestring (Amorpha canescen). The tall fescue turf here adapts to a wide range of soils but does best on clay soils high in organic matter?EUR??,,????'??+perfect for the mostly red clay on the property. Aiken does soil samples every spring (Feb. or March). While drainage can sometime be a problem with clay soils, the drainage installation keeps the property properly drained.

The Quilt Terrace, composed of Cold Spring granites, is in the Mountain Garden. Aiken says some of the transplants in this garden required special attention, like the rhododendrons, which were getting too much sun and necessitated planting large shade trees to protect them. Little bluestem (foreground), lamb?EUR??,,????'???s ear, Dianthus (in quilt), and, in back, sugar maple, northern red oak, Canadian hemlock and Sioux blue Indian grass complete the scene.

The Challenges

The horticultural diversity of the property is the main challenge, says Aiken.

The Coastal Garden (which includes a beach area) sports those native species that like sandy and dryer conditions. The seashell-embedded walkways are lined with evergreens and Venus fly trap.

The courtyard?EUR??,,????'???s water feature connects the three gardens (Mountain, Piedmont and Coastal). The plants in each garden have species native to those regions of North Carolina. In the courtyard, however, non-native species?EUR??,,????'??+Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica ?EUR??,,????'??Yoshino?EUR??,,????'???) and maiden grass?EUR??,,????'??+are on display, along with the native ?EUR??,,????'??Gateway?EUR??,,????'??? Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum) in the foreground.

A cool season tall fescue sod was installed in the back of the building that leads to the 1,200 sq. ft. centerpiece fountain courtyard. About 20 percent of the turf area was seeded. The crews use 48 and 52-inch walk behind mowers to better control the cut along the many curved edges. A few problems with brown patch cropped up from some initial over-watering. White grubs have also appeared, not surprising, as the Japanese beetle is attracted to many of the property?EUR??,,????'???s flora. Heritage fungicide and proper watering controls the brown patch and Merit takes care of the grubs. Employees, many who were associates brought down from New York, enjoy the courtyard surroundings on their lunch break. The landscape crew must be finished in this area by 11:30 to make way for the lunch-time crowd.

Water and Irrigation

Water connects the gardens, emulating how water flows from the state?EUR??,,????'???s western mountains, to the Piedmont lakes, then to the coast. This is replicated by a pumping system that transports 350,000 gallons of water through the gardens via interconnected winding streams.

The irrigation system for the property is under the control of seven Rain Bird Rain Clocks. In the Mountain Garden, however, watering needs are less and that area is generally hand watered. There is a daily walk-through to monitor the irrigation system for broken heads or other problems. When the turf by the Courtyard Plaza was installed it was overwatered a bit, which caused some brown patch problems, which is now under control.

Sand Dollar Plaza, composed of colored-concrete and seashell aggregate, is part of the Coastal Garden and affords views of the loblolly pines. The loblolly, a fast-growing pine that can reach 100 feet, is often used as a landscape screen. While the landscape crew does some tree pruning, it leaves major cutting of big tress to arborists.

(From left:) Crew members Orlando, Porfirio and Crispin, plus Mike Eckert, the supervisor. Aiken rotates a three-man crew for the TIAA-CREF property. The crew puts in 120 man-hours per week.

Other Considerations

The soil here is mostly red clay. Aiken does soil samples every spring (Feb. or March). The drainage installation keeps the property properly drained.

Rabbits in one of the undeveloped sectors have been attracted by the love grass growing there. Aiken says this area may be the next building site, but meanwhile the crews are careful when working in the area not to weed-wack a rabbit. Note: Aiken says he hasn?EUR??,,????'???t noticed any rabbit damage. He should see my yard! We inherited a group of rabbits that have thoroughly borrowed our side yard. They began chewing the bark of two young citrus tree requiring me to transplant them: one survived. They also love chewing most man-made materials, including hoses.

M. Jeffrey Aiken, regional landscape accounts manager for TIAA-CREF corporate campus in Charlotte, N.C.

Mike Eckert, a horticulturist, supervises the grounds crew at the TIAA-CREF campus, as Jeffrey Aiken also needs to monitor other regional accounts.

Monitoring

Though Aiken and his crew carefully manage the TIAA-CREF property, the firm has a monitoring service that monthly grades their landscaping maintenance performance. Such monitoring will certainly keep any maintenance manager alert, but Aiken says he looks forward to these reviews as he knows the effort and care given to the property and is proud to have the watch dog concur.