Landscape Design Consultant’s Council of South Carolina
Newsletter Spring 2021
Dear Members,
Hopefully in the next few months we will be turning the corner on beginning to control the spread of Covid. There is now more room for a cautious optimism and hopefully the return of some forms of normality in our lives as more people get vaccinated each day. Yet, we can’t let our guard down and ignore the fact that there are new and more virulent strains of the virus being discovered. I just received my second shot two days ago and I am feeling a bit more secure about the possibility of moving forward.
Cares and Concerns: Since the publication of our Winter Newsletter I have discovered that a number of our members are recovering from various serious health problems. Our hearts and prayers go out to each of them for a fullrecovery. If you know of someone in our organization who has been ill, for anyreason, please let me know so that I can send a card.
Our sympathy goes out to the family of our member, Freddie Wilson, who passed away February 4, 2021 in Spartanburg. Her daughter and grand-daughter were able to be with her at the time.
Treasurer:Our Treasurer, Linda Siceloff, has asked me to remind you that although this is the time of year that we normally renew our LDCC dues, we will not be asking you for them at this time. Our Board agreed that since nothing is ‘normal’ right now, and our funds are healthy enough to get us through another year, we did not deem it reasonable to ask members for funding for programs. We are agreed that if we are able to resume our meetings in person this Fall, that we will ask the membership to decide at that time how to go forward with the funding of any programs. .
Nominating Committee: Our Nominating Committee has been hard at work since last Fall to complete a slate of officers to present to the membership. I would like to thank Vasiliki Moskos, Chairman, Marie Land and Mary Alice Hall for alltheir efforts on your behalf. Their job has been unusually difficult. They recently reported to me that they stillare unable to fill a complete slate of officers to present to us. Unfortunately, our current By-Laws have no built-in provisions to guide the Board in this eventuality. Technically, your current Board member’s terms of office ended on February 22. This newsletter is therefore later than I intended for these reasons:
1. We had an incomplete slate of new officers. The joint Nominating Committee and Board therefore deemed it was risky to make a partial change in leadership immediately because so few of our members were ready to take an active part in this organization until their lives returned to some form of ‘normal’. 2. I wanted to attach this LDCC Newsletter to the copy of NGC’s Newscape Newsletter, so that our secretary Judy Robinson would not have to send out two separate mailings. Newscapeis due any day.
After numerous phone calls, polling our Board members and the members of the Nominating Committee, and then comparing notes with other similar organizations, the consensus of opinion was that the best scenario for the continuity of our organization would be for your present Board to agree to stay in place until this Fall in the hopes that there would be sufficient improvement in the curtailing of the pandemic for us to be able to meet (outside with restrictions) and conduct the needed business and elect new officers at that time.
Your present Board has agreed to stay in place, with one exception. Our very dedicated and efficient Secretary, Judy Robinson, has just tendered her resignation because she is moving to Iowa in a few weeks to be closer to her children and grandchildren I gently reminded her that COLD, SNOW and MOVE are all four-letter words and she responded that they are working on a plan to spend at least part of their winters back in Hilton Head. I know you will want to join me in offering her our thanks for four years of a job “exceptionally well done”. We send along our best wishes for their safe journey and good health.
New Secretary:Sometimes fate opens up a door just as another is closed, so I am pleased to report that our member Bonnie Dumas has graciously agreed to accept my appointment to the position of Secretary, until such time as we can vote on a slate of 2021-2023 officers for this organization. A chance meeting at the library has now provided us with a very able and enthusiastic new secretary and I hope you will join me in thanking her for stepping up to the plate on our behalf.
Landscape Design History: Continuing with my running outline of Landscape Design history lessons: My last newsletter discussed a few of the contributions of the Italian Renaissance period. The greatest changes in landscape design began during this period because it was the first time that the natural topography of the land was radicallyre-defined from what nature had provided. This allowed a very formal design for gardens to come into existence. This “stage management” of the landscape often included architectural embellishments in the garden… like grottos and all sorts of ‘follies’. One of the famous Italian gardens, Villa Lante, was filled with unusual and complex fountain designs that contained surprise water jets designed by a hydraulics engineer. The epitome of garden fountain design was achieved during the Renaissance. These architectural embellishments also often provided ‘secret garden spaces’…a recurring design element found in gardens today. Clipped boxwood parterres and rows of cypresses were the order of the day.
During the Italian Renaissance a series of paintings were done for wealthy individuals to document their grand Tuscan gardens. These demi-lune shaped paintings were placed on the inside walls of the villas over top of the doorways leading outside to the gardens, so that guests might be given a visual bird’s eye view of the overall landscape plan. These paintings are some of the very first examples of formal artwork documenting garden design.
In urban landscape design, the Renaissance period gave us the lasting concept of ‘town squares’ and also zoning rules affecting the height and character of surrounding buildings. I think it is fair to say that the Renaissance, more than any other period, gave us many of the ideas we still use in today’s gardens.
As always, I look forward to hearing from you and I am always open to your thoughts and ideas for the betterment of our organization. Karen Prewitt, President, LDCC of SC
The Garden Club of South Carolina, Inc.