Landscape design plays big role at Summit Sierra

Anyone who putters around a home garden in northern Nevada knows this isn't the easiest place to grow plants.

It doesn't get any easier, Dale Doerr says, when the garden is in the midst of concrete and asphalt, can't get in the way of shopkeepers and their patrons and needs to look really great year-round.

Doerr, the director of landscape architecture and planning at Reno's CFA Inc., designed the extensive landscaping that surrounds The Summit Sierra, the 657,000- square-foot shopping center that opens in March at Mount Rose Highway and Highway 395.

While landscaping is important at any retail project, it's particularly critical at The Summit Sierra, which bills itself as a lifestyle center at which shoppers will want to soak outdoor atmosphere as they make their way from store to store, says Larry Hunt,manager of the center.

And that means lots of planting.

Some 2,000 trees have been planted on the property including the state highway right-of-way at the busy corner.About 15,000 shrubs.

Some 250 large plants for pots are part of the scene.

So are 220 hanging baskets.

"We want to create something that's very pleasing, very relaxing,"Hunt says.

The details of creating a pleasing and relaxing atmosphere were left to Doerr.

While the northern Nevada climate is challenging, Doerr says he got a break from the layout of the center.

It faces east, providing shelter from westerly winds for the plants in the front of the center.

That will provide some help to the trees that will shade parking lots and sidewalks.

Pedestrian walkways, for instance, will be framed by red oaks.

"It's always a challenge getting trees to grow in areas that are paved,"Doerr says.

He decided to plant smaller trees in the paved areas honey locusts will shade parked vehicles because smaller trees tend to root more quickly than larger specimens.

Another key factor:Making sure that the landscaping doesn't get in the way of the shopping experience.

"We had to be aware of what was happening behind the landscaping with all the windows," Doerr says."You have to keep fairly low so you're not blocking views."

Then there's the matter of designing landscape that looks good year-round even in deepest days of winter.

The plan developed by CFA relies on extensive use of ornamental grasses that will continue to provide visual interest even when they're dried in winter.

Winter specifically, last winter's deep snows put the landscaping effort behind schedule, and crews from Moana Nursery hustled through the summer and autumn to get irrigation systems, plants and landscape features in place before the weather turned cold once again.

Dave Miller,who headed the effort for Moana Nursery, says tight schedule became even more a headache as the company struggled to find workers in a tight labor market.At the peak of the Sierra Summit project,Moana Nursery had about 20 workers involved with the landscaping.

The installation work is just the beginning.

During the summer months,Hunt says, the landscape maintenance team two people will be on duty seven days a week will change out annual flowers in hanging baskets and elsewhere three times during the season.

"It will be a continuous process," he says.

The center's commitment to landscape maintenance made all the difference to Doerr and his design team.

"Their maintenance is top-notch," he says.

"It's the best I've ever seen."