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Neighborly Gestures

Bellevue's shopping mecca shows a softer side with perennials, primroses and pots

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COURTESY OF KEMPER DEVELOPMENT The pots in Bellevue Square's Fountain Court are filled with plants that bask in the reflected heat off all the pavement, such as coleus, fancy-leafed geraniums, a variegated brugmansia and a cascade of chartreuse sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas). Potted plantings by Botanical Design. COURTESY OF KEMPER DEVELOPMENT Even the concrete parking garage is softened by flowers and foliage in this combination of Fuchsia 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt' blooming coral above pots dripping with coleus.

ANDI MEUCCI, landscape director for Kemper Development, can't stay away from work even during maternity leave. Meucci and her team are responsible for all interior and exterior plantings at Bellevue Square, Bellevue Place and now the newly opened Lincoln Square. "Plants never stop growing," she sighs, as we walk along the busy sidewalks, checking out freshly planted primroses.

Meucci's month-old son, Max, is tucked into a Snuggly, oblivious to all the honey locust budding along the streets, and the strips of perennial gardens his mom has championed. Meucci grew up not far from Bellevue Square and can remember riding her bike to the mall when it was still one story and open air. "It's a trip," she says. "It's a whole new thing now, but it's still my neighborhood."

Looks like a big city to me, with a new multiplex cinema, upscale restaurants and so much retail it makes your head spin. But for Meucci, it's one big potential garden. She uses plants to warm up and soften the intensely urban environment between Crate & Barrel and the Hyatt Regency. Meucci worked with landscape architect Larry Smart of Atelier Design on the design and planting of Lincoln Square. "We didn't want to do anything that looked commercial," she says, pointing out the honey locust ('Shademaster') trees lining the streets and the newly planted mixed borders in raised boxes along the sidewalks.

Kemper Freeman, an old family friend, hired Meucci away from the garden-design firm she'd founded in Sun Valley, Idaho. Four years ago, she returned to Bellevue to green up his three properties, recently christened "The Collection." Freeman is passionate about plants, says Meucci, and plans to build a greenhouse for afternoon tea and gardening demonstrations. It'll also be used to raise plants — perhaps a new signature flower — because Freeman remembers when masses of begonias for Bellevue Square were raised in his family's greenhouse in Medina.

Meucci has a half-million-dollar budget, contracts out for color and containers, and works with a small in-house crew to care for the permanent, in-ground plantings. Just the renovation of all the dogwoods, rhododendrons and azaleas around Bellevue Square's perimeter is enough to keep a crew busy, and now, with the new residence tower, she's even responsible for a "dog relief area."

Plants in pots are the showpieces of the shopping malls, but they struggle in dry conditions and a lack of sun. Inside and out, the potted plantings are cared for by Botanical Designs (see sidebar), which uses a soil mix rich in earthworm castings to coddle the confined plants. Still, they need to be changed out monthly or even weekly; the older plants are donated to a horticultural-therapy program at a nursing home in Kirkland.

Containers can go the distance planted with these

Helen Farrington of Botanical Designs relies on these plants for durable container plantings:

FILLER:

Sweet flag (Acorus 'Ogon'). A bright golden ornamental grass.

Golden spikemoss (Selaginella 'Aurea'). Chartreuse, moss-like carpet.

Hellebore 'Ivory Prince.' Compact winter-bloomer with long-lasting green and white flowers.

Strawberry begonia (Saxifraga stolonifera 'Maroon Beauty' and 'Harvest Moon'). Shade-tolerant plants with colorful leaves and runners to drape over the edges of pots or hanging baskets.

Tassel fern (Polystichum polyblepharum). Compact, shiny and evergreen.

Carexes. Foolproof evergreen ornamental grasses that are full of movement.

CENTERPIECES:

Mahonia 'Charity.' Gives a tropical impression, has yellow winter flowers and won't outgrow its space too rapidly.

Golden Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa 'Wilma Goldcrest'). Has lemon-lime foliage and a citrus scent.

Fernspray cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Filicoides'). Comes in green or gold with an interesting shape ideal for a low, wide bowl-shaped pot.

Life is tough for plants in the big city. "It's not only light and exposure, but the public," says Meucci. "They stick gum and cigarette butts in the beds and the pots, and then there's the occasional posy picker." This doesn't deter Meucci from adding more personal touches, like fragrant daphnes near the doorways and roses to climb the cement walls, determined to give the place the homey feel of her old neighborhood.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.