 a hole in one by carole j beeson american nurseryman august 1991 a georgia designer and contractor team up to score a winning landscape in record time a bombedout wasteland with tracked golf carts trundling through it this was cla pronounced clay allgood s humorous impression of the st ives country club when he began work there in spring 1990 strewn with trucks tools piles of but not a single the site would have daunted any landscape contractor but to top it off the developer wanted this wasteland transformed into a worldclass facility in time for the grand opening of the clubhouse just three months after allgood received the final plans the developer s intentions for the clubhouse were ambitious to say the least at 52000 square feet the 8 million structure was to be the centerpiece of the 2yearold st ives golf course 18hole facility is located in duluth ga an affluent growing suburb northeast of atlanta ga residents of the 700home st ives golf community tucked into the rolling appalachian foothills would be able to gaze up at the clubhouse which would be perched on the highest point in fulton county allgood president of allgood outdoors a design build and landscape management company in alpharetta ga already had the maintenance contract for the partially completed residential community when clubhouse construction began we actively tracked its progress he says and when the opportunity arose he put in a landscape contracting bid land plus associates ltd an atlanta land planning and landscape architecture company had been working with the developer north fulton land equistand ltd since the inception of the project says alec michaelides vice president of land plus we were recommended to the developer by the clubhouse architect we began with the design of the frontage and main entrance and the subdivision entry as the project progressed we got involved in site development fortunately allgood and michaelides had worked together in the past and have always had a good relationship though deadline pressures and client demands might easily have strained that relationship these collaborators say the project progressed smoothly this winning partnership led the georgia green industry association to honor the project with a 1991 grand award for commercial landscaping over 100000 mutual understanding was the primary factor contributing to the job s success duane marcus allgood s production manager was the key supervisor at the site marcus who has a master s degree in landscape architecture worked well with michaelides who says he knows how a landscape architect thinks that made things a lot easier for us allgood returns the compliment michaaelides is very receptive he s open to contractors viewpoints and he spends a lot of time trying to understand our concerns allgood and michaelides faced their first challenge when the developer decided he wanted a water feature behind the clubhouse he requested a brook bordered with bright flowers that would run beneath a golf cart path and spill through several waterfalls in front of the clubhouse michaelides had designed the landscape in an english country style characterized by semiformal plantings including massed plants and large clipped hedges photo opposite the whole concept was to give the clubhouse a residential feel explains michaelides clearly the water feature as described by the developer was not harmonious with a formal landscape however michaelides says we tried to blend it in we considered it a fun feature a little different from what people are used to seeing but if we had done what the developer originally wanted it would have looked like disney world he wanted too much variety of plant material in the other areas we had large masses of fewer varieties so we had to tone it down the transition is made fairly well although it i had to do it again i d probably simplify it even more after michaelides created the initial design allgood applied his experience in engineering and building water features to complete the job and it was no simple task we had to work between three existing pinus taeda and several elevations allgood relates we built a scale model with contour changes to show how it would blend in the 3500squarefoot feature consists of four waterfalls the first is carbed into the side of a raised functioning tee box on the tenth hold a retaining wall was installed and then we piped the water through the wall this is the source says allgood then it goes through a pond under the golf cart path through a second waterfall into another pool over a shoal into a third pool and over a wall into the final level a 10inch pvc equalizing pipe connects the pools the golf cart path wrapped through all these elevations allgood continues we had to give the illusion that the last pool is below the level of the path otherwise it wouldn t look natural but it s actually several inches above michaelides and allgood created this illusion simply by situating the pool as close as possible to the path an arching bridge faced with tennesing stone carries the cart path over the water photo page 33 the four levels have distinct personalities each waterfall is different by design explains allgood we wanted to show the many actions of water the first waterfall forms a smooth vertical sheet the second skips down a staircase of boulders the third is a freerunning shoal and the fourth tumbles over a tight architectural stair wall allgood describes as less natural looking than the others photo page 33 the result of michaelides and allgood s blending efforts is a somewhat rustic stream that manages to look at home on the wellmanicured golf course we could have built a totally water feature says allgood but it wouldn t have looked right coming out of a tee allgood advises landscapers building water features to first find out whether the owners or developers want an outdoor aquarium or an outdoor pond the difference as he defines it is that outdoor aquariums have perfectly clear water outdoor ponds do not therefore an outdoor aquarium requires more chemicals and more maintenance since the st ives developer wanted an outdoor pond allgood simulated a creek bottom by leaving the cement base rough giving it the appearance of aggregate he also finished the banks to resemble eroded mud finally he stained the cement with seven earthtone colors enhancing the water s ability to reflect the sky and surrounding plants to complete the scene workers used a crane to position weathered boulders weighing up to 3 tons in the water the mature pinus taeda helped age the water feature as well allgood soon found himself responsible for more than just the water feature his company s bid for the landscaping had not been the lowest he says but the developer had been pleased with our performance allgood won the contract and wasted no time getting to work when they told us the time frame we recommended starting the digging process says allgood every day was critical with crews of up to 35 at a time all 5500 shrubs 700 container trees and 138 large caliper trees specified in michaelides design access problems forced workers to use an 80ton crane to lower in some of the large plants since the clubhouse is located at the highest point in the county and is visible from a distance the developer wanted to make sure the landscape was highly visible as well in addition he wanted the clubhouse to look as if it had been there for years so michaelides chose mostly large mature specimen trees and shrubs they didn t want to wait until the landscape came up to speed says michaelides but we did have a budget so the larger materials were placed in areas where they would make the most impact that way they d get the most band for their buck to make an impressive statement from the start michaelides placed the largest specimens two 8 to 10inch caliper carpinus caroliniana blue beech like sentinels on either side of the main entry walk we wanted something unique he says and blue beeches are seldom used in this area two 6footdiameter buxus sempervirens guarding either side of the porte cochere covered driveway were individually selected from old homesites in north and south carolina other large specimen plants include 15foothigh ilex x nellie r stevens which were handdug from a remote area of north georgia at 12 feet across these shrubs were used to fill expanses along the driveway and sides of the building plan page 34 about 99 percent of the shrubs are evergreen but we also selected plants for seasonal interest michaelides points out we chose azaleas and viburnum x pragense which has a white flower for the spring and abelia x grandiflora for the summer fall color is provided by annuals there s also a handful of maples but most tree selections were made for form shape and texture shade trees chosen for the site were quercus phellos which is common in georgia acer rubrum frank s red red sunset maple and specimen 8inchcaliper quercus rubra michaelides chose flowering trees with staggered blooming times pyrus callervana bradford prunus yedoensis lagerstroemia indica tuscarora malus indian magic and magnolia grandiflora brown beauty allgood also installed approximately 250000 square feet of t419 bermuda sod a warmseason grass used frequently in the southeast bermuda sod is droughttolerant and heals quickly says michaelides the developer ruled out seeding because the fastapproaching deadline would not have allowed enough time for the seed to form a thick luxurious lawn another reason for using sod says allgood is that the best bermuda grasses are not available in seed form for extra bursts of color michaelides specified nearly 2000 square feet of annuals along the driveway in front of the clubhouse at intersections in the parking lot beside the porte cochere and around the water feature the entire project began and ended with the water feature in fact says allgood we were planting around the water feature up to the last minute before the grand opening the plants in that area were chosen for color and interest in addition to annuals they include masses of juniperus conferta blue pacific prunus laurocerasus otto luyken iris kaempferi acer japonicum miscanthus sinensis gracillimus hybrid rhododendrons and variegated hostas plan page 32 the altitude of the golf course and clubhouse makes the site susceptible to strong prevailing winds to combat this problem and to block stray golf shots the developer had a 1400footlong golf ball buffer planted along the north edge of the 10th fairway leading up to the building the trees used in the buffer were 18 to 20 foot native pinus taeda that had been scattered throughout the area workers dug the trees with a 90inch tree spade and transplanted 10 to 15 feet apart michaelides also designed the hardscape around the clubhouse including the sidewalks patios and cart paths for cost reasons we used mostly bufftone concrete he says on the rear patios and the men s grill patio we used green slate as an accent border the front walkway had granite pavers the clubhouse s architect selected all hardscape materials and the general contractor did the installation while allgood s crews were planting the large trees and shrubs the general contractor was doing the rough grading soon however the grading began to fall behind schedule and the developer hired allgood to take over to protect the newlyplanted trees from root damage during grading allgood put barbed wire fences around their bases we used barbed wire to show people we re serious that they need to stay away from the construction says allgood another reason he says is that barbed wire has better tension than the plastic mesh typically used on construction sites allgood also picked up the contract for the berm work the berms were a challenge in that they had to be very carefully shaped he says in keeping with the formal style the planting beds and berms have a precisely curvilinear sculptured look michaelides hired ronco irrigation marietta to prepare the irrigation plans and install the sprinkler system allgood s crews began planting the shrubs and ground covers as soon as the sprinkler installation was nearly complete another subcontractor moonlighting landscape illuminations inc dunwoody designed and installed the night lighting crews positioned lights to illuminate the buildings and large trees and to accent the waterfalls and certain plants working side by side with other contractors was a tricky situation at times even trickier according to allgood was having to yield to golfers whenever anyone was at the tee near the work site he says the workers would slow down production to respect the golfer s shot we had to keep debris off the paths and if someone approached the worksite we d pay attention michaelides relates that the golfers displayed a great deal of interest in the project and would often come up to ask questions for their safety the construction areas were flagged off says allgood it was also important to keep the noise levels down so that the golfers would not be needlessly disturbed with the exception of one parking lot which served as the construction staging area the project was successfully completed by the grand opening date allgood and michaelides admit st ives was a bigger project than each was accustomed to the budget for the planting water feature and sprinkler installation was 225000 the water feature alone cost 50000 yet there have been few problems since the job was completed in june 1990 one thing that has cropped up is typical in the southeast says michaelides very often in this part of the country there are drainage problems because of the heavy clay soils and especially when there are several feet of clay used as fill he says in this situation water will not percolate through the compacted soil and the only solution is to put in an expensive french drain when we can anticipate drainage problems we do michaelides explains at st ives there was poor drainage near the left front of the building where we had created berms now we have to go back and install french drains we have to remove the shrubs that are there azaleas because we lost half of them other than the azaleas michaelides claims to have lost less than 1 percent of the plant material included was a group of rhododendrons that was probably getting to much sun says allgood st ives own crews are presently doing the landscape maintenance allgood and michaelides are concerned about how the recession may affect the country club s maintenance budget they believe good maintenance is crucial for a landscape of this size the water feature in particular must be carefully maintained the maintenance crew should be skimming the water making sure the automatic fill device is working periodically cleaning the skimmer baskets and pump baskets backwashing the filter adding fresh water and sometimes adding algicides says allgood although the water feature is a pond and not an aquarium it still requires consistent care to keep from becoming murky today 14 months after finishing the job michaelides admits the project had its pros and cons it was both an enjoyable and frustrating project he says we had a generous budget and the developer appreciated the quality of our work but the timetable was frustrating also the developer liked to get personally involved in the project allgood is pleased with the results for his company we considered it a prestigious job in light of the quality of the design and the area he says it was a very visible job it s really added to our credibility apparently the visibility has paid off we re working on our third golf club community now says allgood and the perks are enough to make a golfer drool with envy says michaelides unfortunately i m not a golfer but we can play all the free golf we want  title test 