Vireo Design Studio, LLC

"Designers and builders of the past were ingenious at understanding and using the elements of nature to modify the climate, soothe the spirit, and delight the eye. Their techniques can serve as inspiration for a new order of sustainable climate design, grounded in practical and innovative interpretations of historical methods." ~Chip Sullivan

Cool Operators: Historical Design Strategies That Reduce Temperatures By Chip Sullivan For most parts of the country, the Hot August Nights are here. Current climate events, including excessive heat warnings and extreme weather patterns, reinforce the need for coolin…

This is an exciting example of problem-solving by a visionary designer. Pacific Horticulture awarded this Design Future Award to expose the “inner beauty” of landscapes built to conserve plants and wildlife, treat our water and soil as precious, and hold the well-being of human beings at the center of our gardened environments.

The design is easily replicable, is modest in size, or able to be experienced for intimate neighborhood community use. A jury of highly experienced horticulturists, landscape designers, and landscape architects evaluated the award based on five core themes: Growing for Biodiversity, Drought and Fire Resilience, Nature is Good for You, Garden Futurist, and Sustainable Gardening.

Really well done planting planning.

https://pacifichorticulture.org/articles/in-oregon-award-winning-campus-experiment-reveals-a-new-way-to-maintain-landscapes/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_source_platform=mailpoet&utm_campaign=design-winner-2024

Inspiring project example about reducing climate impacts of design, reducing costs, being creative, and keeping historical memories alive. “Don’t wipe the slate clean.” ; ,

New Linear Park Shows the Great Potential of Material Reuse A new landscape in Hayward, California demonstrates how to reuse materials on a grand scale to save money and reduce climate impacts. Designed by landscape architects at Surfacedesign, the Mission …

Hot news! The USDA just updated the plant hardiness map for the first time since 2012, sending designers, gardeners, and nurseries rushing to the Internet to find their zone rating. Knowing your zone isn’t simply a matter of utility, it’s an indicator of what plants are appropriate for a given site. It's no surprise with increasing climate change indicators, about half of the US has seen a jump in zone designation. Here in western Washington, we were in Zone 7a just a couple of years back, and now we are in Zone 8a.

2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map | USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Terminus is a memorial project featuring glaciers of Olympic National Park, and is an artistic elegy and interactive map by some very talented artists. Check this out.

TERMINUS - Olympic National Park (U.S. National Park Service) Terminus is an artistic elegy, a river you could skate away on, a love poem to a changing planet. (It's also an interactive map.) Between 1982 and 2009, the number of glaciers in the Olympic Mountains shrank from 266 to 184. We know that number will dwindle further as the climate continues to change...