Reinventing the Connecticut Garden

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

New Suburban-friendly Green Roofs and Walls Poised to Take Off in Fairfield County, Reinvent the Connecticut Garden 

Landscape Architecture Design/Build and Maintenance Firm, The LaurelRock Company, to Host Lecture & Workshop Event with Green Living Technologies Pioneer George Irwin

WILTON, Conn. (Feb. 27, 2012) –- Gardening is a labor of love for Connecticut homeowners who have made an art of transforming the most challenging of landscapes into the most beautiful of vegetable and flower gardens. Now, this perennial spring endeavor is taking a high tech turn with new, easy to install and maintain garden solutions, from green walls to rooftop gardens, that are migrating from the city to the Fairfield County suburbs for the first time.

Homeowners eager to embrace these new gardening solutions are in luck. This March 20th, the first day of spring, the Wilton-based landscape architecture design/build and maintenance firm, The LaurelRock Company, will host “Reinventing the Connecticut Garden,” a lecture and workshop designed to introduce Fairfield County gardening enthusiasts, as well as homeowners at large, to a new suburban-friendly generation of sustainable green roof and green wall solutions that has transformed the horizontal and vertical landscapes of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other large cities around the country.

Bringing these proven urban concepts to the suburban landscape, LaurelRock is teaming up with creator, educator and international Green Wall Editor George Irwin of Green Living Technologies International (GLTi), to educate area homeowners about GLTi’s revolutionary green roof and green wall panel technology, which promises to reinvent the market for sustainable residential landscape design/build. Co-sponsored by Connecticut Cottages & Gardens, the lecture and workshop event will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Wilton’s Millstone Farm, 180 Millstone Road, a working farm that supplies the area’s farm-to-table restaurants. The event is open to the public and is free. Guests must RSVP by calling 203-544-0062 or emailing info@laurelrock.com by March 16. Space is limited to the first 75 people. Refreshments will be provided by The Schoolhouse at Cannondale, a farm-to-table restaurant in Wilton.

According to LaurelRock President Burt DeMarche, Fairfield County homeowners have been slow to embrace green roof and green wall solutions. “Early-to-market offerings were costly to install and exceedingly difficult to maintain,” says DeMarche. “GLTi’s patented panel technology is a real game-changer when it comes to creating green roofs and green walls that will stand the test of time for the residential market.” DeMarche adds that homeowners can tiptoe into these amenities with a small-scale decorative indoor or outdoor picture wall, or invest in larger-scale green walls or green roofs for a more permanent statement.

DeMarche believes area gardeners will be drawn to GLTi’s latest offering, edible walls, which produce an abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs.  “Traditional vegetable gardening is hard work. These new edible walls are an easy option for someone who wants to grow basketsful of their own food, but doesn’t have the time or energy to get it done the old-fashion way,” says DeMarche. “We expect many Fairfield County families to embrace this new technology as an easier way to practice the ‘farm-to-table’ lifestyle.”

Perhaps best known for creating the largest green wall in North America at PNC’s Pittsburgh, Penn. corporate headquarters, GLTi has developed a reputation for turning sustainability into an art form.  “We’re delighted to introduce Fairfield County homeowners to our new gardening solutions,” says Irwin. “While we would never want to replace more traditional methods, our solutions offer a creative way for gardeners and others to expand their love of all things green and natural to their home structures, both inside and out. We applaud LaurelRock’s efforts to educate Fairfield County homeowners about these new suburban-friendly solutions. I’m thrilled to be working with a firm that is in the forefront of sustainable green design.” 

LaurelRock’s March 20th “Reinventing the Connecticut Garden” event will open at

9:00 a.m. with a complimentary continental breakfast.  Highlights of George Irwin’s lecture and workshop include:

• Green Roofs -- Connecticut rooftops go green!

✓  New enduring, low-maintenance residential solutions

✓  Amazing transformations

• Green Walls -- Living walls, indoors and out, small and large

✓  Picture Walls

✓  Freestanding Walls

✓  The interior design connection

• Urban Farming in the Country -- Farm-to-table edible walls

✓     Grow anything from fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs to long-living perennials

✓     The “Zero Miles” way

✓     Indoor and outdoor

✓     Triple the growing area of horizontal gardens

• Vertical Agriculture -- The new gardening technique that has residential gardens climbing the walls

✓  high yield

✓  easy maintenance

✓  the feel-good social pay off

About The LaurelRock Company

What started as Dickson DeMarche Landscape Architects in 1975 has evolved into one of Fairfield Counties’ most respected residential landscape design-build and maintenance firms. Founded by Landscape Architect Dickson DeMarche and his son, Burt DeMarche, the Wilton-based LaurelRock Company is today a family business with Dickson and Burt working alongside their talented team to produce and maintain award-winning residential landscapes throughout the region. Today, with a staff of more than 40 dedicated professionals, including landscape architects, designers, horticulturists, fine gardeners and skilled crews, The LaurelRock Company demonstrates a commitment to preserving and enhancing the area’s renowned aesthetic beauty.  For more information, please visit www.laurelrock.com.

About Green Living Technologies International, LLC (GLTi)

Green Living Technologies International, LLC (GLTi) is a privately held environmental / green technologies manufacturer providing patented products and services that facilitate the integration of vegetative technologies like Green Roofs, Green Walls, Vertical Agriculture and Green Education. As the technology partner for the New York City School district they provide a complete package that includes custom manufacturing, design, consulting, products, services and warranties. CEO George Irwin is a published author and authority on green wall/roof technologies known as the “Green Wall Editor” for the number one green roof and wall website in the world, greenroofs.com. GLTi is also the inventor of edible wall technology growing food on a large scale known as GLTi Food Factories. A leader in “Zero Miles” from farm to table with indoor and outdoor edible walls for the freshest fruit and produce in urban environments, parking lots, brown field sites, schools, roof tops and job training programs. The GLTi span of products provides a variety of options that allow for commercial scaled production to a single mobile unit for classroom use.  For more information, please visit www.agreenroof.com.