2025 NNLA Winter Design Workshop
On Wednesday, January 29th, the Nebraska Nursery and Landscape Association held their Winter Design Workshop at Keim Hall on UNL’s East Campus. NNLA invited award-winning designer, artist and educator, Lisa Nunamaker to share her design expertise in the day-long workshop. Lisa is the creator of the company, Paper Garden Workshop, a spirited place to learn garden design and landscape graphics. Lisa uses her illustration skills to teach these beautiful topics to budding designers around the world. Lisa also holds degrees in landscape architecture, is registered in the state of Iowa, has taught landscape design at Iowa State University for over 12 years, and currently serves on the Association of Professional Landscape Designers National Board of Directors.
The thirty-one attendees were skillfully walked through the concept of designed plant communities, which Lisa defines as “a grouping of plants that is intentionally planned and arranged to reflect the dynamic interactions found in natural ecosystems.” The key principles of designed plant communities, as taken from the book Planting in a Post-Wild World by Claudia West and Thomas Rainer, include designing with related populations not isolated individuals, using stress as an asset, covering the ground densely by vertically layering plants, making it attractive and legible, and planning for management not maintenance. They began with an overview of planting design basics, where they discussed thinking about landscape spaces as rooms with floors, walls, and ceilings. Lisa highlighted the elements of planting design such as form, texture, and color. She shared an explanation of different planting models and examples of prominent landscape designers using those models. Common planting models include monocultural block, mixed border, drift, matrix, and randomized/salt & pepper. Plant layers begin at the ground with the groundcover matrix layer or living mulch, then the seasonal theme layer and finally the structural layer, which can include trees, shrubs, or architectural features.
After a box lunch from McAllister’s Deli, Lisa shared with the attendees how they should work to be inspired by native plant communities in their region rather than imitating or copying them. Examples of native plant communities one might find in Nebraska include dry prairie, mesic prairie, wetlands, oak savanna, and woodlands. Lisa shared about adding legibility to our designs through strong plant forms, repetition of plants, color themes, and contrasting textures. Examples of features that add legibility can include a hedge, a cleanly mowed edge, or symmetrical planting at a doorway, you wish to highlight. The workshop attendees then had an opportunity to design a plant community in plan view and to sketch an elevation as well. Lisa facilitated a fun day full of opportunities for creativity and conversation. NNLA appreciates being able to hold this event at Keim Hall and thanks UNL for the opportunity to use the classroom space.