Splendor From the Grass
Lee Jacobs
Conceived by the Van Sweringen brothers as a luxury residential development, Moreland Courts comprises 15 distinct buildings of English-Georgian design with decorative elements taken from Tudor, Gothic, and Jacobean styles.* In 2018, Moreland Courts’ Landmark Committee undertook a significant garden creation project. The goal was to enhance the residents’ enjoyment of their surroundings and amplify the beauty of the Point Building. The Point Building is the easternmost property within the Moreland Courts complex that faces Shaker Blvd and Coventry Road. At the inception of the project, the site consisted of a large irregular triangle of grass and a tree lawn marred by jagged stumps— the sad remnants of mature oaks unceremoniously cut down by the City of Cleveland.
Landscape design submissions for the project ranged from park-like, tree-only interpretations of the space to contemporary ideas with a commercial focus. Only one vision successfully married the architecture with the space and cleverly managed to offset the irregular triangle to achieve aesthetically pleasing quasi-symmetry. The committee (unusually) voted unanimously for a sophisticated but appropriately restrained oval English-style garden designed by Kew LLC.
By June of 2019, the oak stumps had been ground down, the entire lawn was killed and prepped for hydroseeding, sprinklers were installed, and a three layer substrate with good drainage was prepared for the oval walk’s Philly tan granite aggregate top dressing from Connecticut. Shrub and perennial planting decisions were made with the adept team at Kew. Mature Buxus ‘Green Velvet’ was installed around the perimeter with hollies placed at the entrance and two Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’ standards at the opposite end. The beds were festooned with Penstemon ‘Dark Towers’, Deutzia ‘Yuki Cherry Blossom’, Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’, Astilbe ‘Bridal Veil’, Allium ‘Globemaster’, Narcissus ‘Martha Stewart’, Alchemilla mollis, and light pink Geranium sanguineum. Special attention was paid to selecting the six ornamental trees in the oval as it was imperative that the specimens offered seasonal interest. Stewartia and Heptacodium were the main contenders. The latter was chosen having considered the exposed conditions, its moderate spread, and reputation for attracting hummingbirds and butterflies. To complete the garden, the northeast side of the triangle was planted with three mature Norway spruce trees.
It is the garden’s one year anniversary and even at this young age, truly magnificent. If you are stopped at the traffic light on Shaker Blvd and Coventry Road, or going to the Farmer’s Market at Shaker Square, be sure to notice Moreland Courts’ splendid new garden!
*source: Moreland Courts Condominium Association, www.morelandcourts.com
