Supreme Hort: A New Landscape for One of DC's Most Historic Homes
Event Type(s):
Newberry Cultural Series Speaker Program
Description:
Please note that this is a virtual event. All those who register will be provided instructions on how to view and participate in the event before August 14th.
Landscape architect Bob Bell will take us through the redesign of the home's street-facing gardens which have been redone with sensitivity to the home's history while adding elements to help the house adapt to a third century. Learn about the design and plants that make up the public portion of our gardens and help make the DACOR Bacon House so inviting.
Robert Bell grew up gardening and designing in Easton, Maryland. As a child, Bob enjoyed the natural world and had varied interests from creating organic dyes and metal-work to textile design and herbal remedies. Seeing gardens in England, France, and Barbados on trips inspired him to create lush, eclectic gardens at his family home to (mostly) the delight of his parents. An avid sailor, traveler, and plantsman, he began creating and maintaining gardens for local historic properties in high school, with a focus on tidewater Maryland’s native and adapted species.
After graduating from Cornell University with a B.S. in landscape architecture, he moved to Washington, D.C. to work with landscape architecture firm Oehme, van Sweden and Associates, known for their introduction of dramatic ornamental grasses and grand sweeps of perennials to American gardens. Bob managed a wide variety of construction projects at Oehme, van Sweden including The Americana Manhasset shopping center, Manhasset, NY; New US. Embassy compound, Kathmandu, Nepal; New US Embassy compound, Bridgetown, Barbados; New US Embassy compound, Kabul, Afghanistan; Ridge Hill Lifestyle Center, Yonkers, NY; and South Franklin Circle retirement community, Chagrin Falls, OH.
In 2007, Bob left Oehme, van Sweden to expand his own design firm. Bell Design, Inc. is a landscape architecture firm based in Washington, DC and Palm Beach County, FL. Its projects range from townhouse gardens to estate master plans and community design as well as construction management & maintenance review.
