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Phyto Studio

@phytostudio

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A nature-based design studio focused on the intersection of landscape architecture and ecological planting. Authors of Planting in a Post-Wild World

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It was a little early in Shenandoah National Park for optimal autumn colour but the Sassafras albidum were an exception. As we warm this species becomes better fitted to our UK summers #shefplanting #landscapearchitecture

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Botanising the Maryland Barrens (serpentine outcrops) at Soldiers Rest with Thomas Rainer and Claudia West. These soils support very low vegetation productivity and hence high spp diversity of spp not able to compete on “better soil” phlox subulata grows here on the least productive bits #shefplanting #landscapearchitecture

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RHI Founder Faye Harwell, FASLA, was thrilled to escort former RHI colleague, Thomas Rainer, as he received his Fellow’s designation from the American Society of Landscape Architects at the ASLA annual conference. The event also included Fellow’s recognition for Marisa Scalera, Landscape Architect of the Capitol, at the same Potomac Chapter ASLA table. Faye was delighted to travel to Los Angeles, CA for the event to support these long-time colleagues!

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Fall is calling and ELA has plenty of ways to learn, connect, and get inspired. 🍂

🌱 October 15 | Cultivating Conservation & Community Engagement
Join our next Landscape Lecture Series with Kesha Braunskill and explore how a community pawpaw seed-planting initiative has grown into a grassroots conservation effort.

🌿 October 22 | ELA Meetup at Rushton Conservation Center
Come connect with fellow ELA members, enjoy refreshments, and explore Willistown Conservation Trust’s preserve and regenerative farm on a guided walk.
Partners: @wctrust

🌾 November 10 | Advanced Design Workshop: Plant Systems for the Anthropocene with Claudia West
Head to Brookside Gardens for a hands-on regional workshop exploring ecological models, resilient plant communities, and strategies for designing and caring for landscapes in a changing world.
Partners: @montgomeryparks

🍁 December 3 | Season’s End Summit
Take a thoughtful look back at the growing season—celebrating successes, unpacking surprises, and reflecting on lessons learned in ecological horticulture. Registration opens in early October.
Partners: @newenglandbg

Learn something new. Meet your landscape-minded people. Get inspired to grow differently. 🌿

🔗 Link in bio to register.

#EcologicalLandscapeAlliance #EcologicalDesign #NativePlants #LandscapeDesign #Conservation

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What if stress is part of the design?

During her walk at The Battery, Claudia West showed us how gravel planting works as both a weed-suppression strategy and an “amplified stress system.”

On the waterfront, plants have to contend with drought, wind, flooding, salt, and increasingly extreme conditions. Rather than trying to eliminate those stresses, the planting is designed with stress in it, and around species that can live with it—and together create a more resilient plant community.

It was fascinating to see ideas Claudia explores in Planting in a Post-Wild World applied here, in real time, at the edge of New York Harbor.

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Yesterday, we had the pleasure of welcoming landscape designer Claudia West back to The Battery for a walk through the gardens she helped shape.

Our group brought together amateur gardeners, park lovers, and colleagues from the High Line, Riverside Park, Battery Park City Authority, and NYC Parks. Claudia was incredibly generous in sharing the thinking behind her plant choices and design decisions—why certain plants live together, how communities evolve over time, and how she designs for both beauty and ecological function.

There is something special about learning in the garden itself: looking closely, asking questions, and understanding not only what was planted, but why.

Thank you, Claudia, for sharing your knowledge so openly—and to everyone who joined us.

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Thank you Amy Seek @stantec and Claudia West @phytostudio for a lovely tour of the updated #gardensofremeberance @thebatterynyc. They thoughtfully preserved the essence of the original design by @pietoudolf by creating a framework that stands up to storm surge and a planting palette that boosts ecological diversity. This a wonderful example of Landscape Architecture and Horticultural in a non-hierarchical collaboration to create something elegant and full of life.

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Claudia West, co-author of the influential Planting in a Post-Wild World, is also the planting designer behind The Battery’s newly transformed Promenade and the gardens surrounding Castle Clinton.
On September 8, she’ll be at The Battery to lead a special walk through the landscape she helped create — sharing the ideas and strategies behind its design.
How do you create a garden that is beautiful, resilient and ecologically functional — while responding to the very particular conditions of New York’s waterfront?
Claudia, Principal of Phyto Studio, will share how the new design builds on the original Piet Oudolf’s Gardens of Remembrance, the thinking behind its planting strategy, and some of the meaningful species selected for the landscape. She’ll be joined by Amy Seek of Stantec, who will offer insights into the site design, sustainability and construction behind the project.
A rare opportunity to walk a newly completed garden with the people who designed it.
🌿 Tuesday, September 8🕐 1 PM📍 The Battery — register at the Eventbrite link in bio

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No words, just light.

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Field trip day! 🌿
Always learning. Always growing.

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Some plants quietly become favorites. Others become obsessions.

Geum triflorum—perhaps better known as prairie smoke—is one of ours. After its nodding pink flowers fade, they transform into extraordinary silky seedheads that seem to glow in the light. The closer you look, the more unreal they seem.

Those feathery seedheads have inspired generations of gardeners to give this plant wonderfully descriptive names, including torch flower, long-plumed purple avens, prairie smoke, lion’s beard, and old man’s whiskers. Once you see them, it’s easy to understand why.

We didn’t have prairie smoke at The Battery until Claudia West of @phytostudio Studio introduced it in her planting design. We’re grateful she did. It has become one of those plants we find ourselves photographing again and again… and hopefully you’ll forgive us for sharing it again and again, too.

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Congratulations to @phytostudio on receiving the 2026 ASLA Landscape Architecture Firm Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects!

You can see Phyto Studio’s beautiful work right here at the Garden. Visit Ann Lee’s Meadow to experience their award-winning approach to ecological planting and landscape design firsthand: https://www.lewisginter.org/visit/gardens/

📷: Tom Hennessy
📷: Will Nelson

#publicgarden #landscapedesigner #meadows #henrico #virginiaisbeautiful

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