Getting off the Gound UMaine grad and business owner David Maynes applies architecture principles and environmental concerns to design landscapes that are elegant and smart

loading...

Thomas Jefferson probably would have struck up a great conversation with David Maynes.

Like the third president, Maynes has a passion for landscaping, horticulture and architecture. Maynes has no immediate plans for a Monticello-like estate, but he is actively planning an ambitious career path. The recent graduate of the University of Maine studied landscape horticulture with a concentration in design. His next academic stop will be at the Boston Architectural Center, where he will attend graduate school.

But Maynes, 31, isn’t waiting for a graduate degree to start a business. He already is designing landscapes and pleasing clients with the results.

He started his business, Enviro-Arc, by word of mouth and with a business card. The words play on his combination of environmental and architectural concerns.

On a recent afternoon, he took great pride in showing off a Bangor yard where he had turned a neglected lawn into landscape than included a boulder, perennials, evergreens, mulch, blueberries and other ground cover.

“Not everything that’s beautiful has to have a flower,” Maynes said. He prefers a subtle approach to designing a garden. “There’s an instinct within everyone to acknowledge nature and to notice things that are unique, different or odd. I like to design landscapes that exploit that sense.”

His designs seek plants, shrubs and trees that complement one another and cause observers to take notice.

“Design should take advantage of the best attributes of a plant, be it the bark, leaves or overall shape,” he said. In that Bangor yard, he pointed to a Hinoki false cypress, a tree that is tall and narrow as opposed to broad and round, allowing it to be placed where there isn’t a lot of room for horizontal growth.

Central to Maynes’ plans are sustainable landscapes supported by integrated pest management.

“Some plants, like people, are high-maintenance,” Maynes said. He prefers the low-maintenance varieties. For example, the Hinoki false cypress is often seen as an alternative to white cedar because it has fewer pest and disease issues.

With pest management integrated into design, it is obviously best to go with low-maintenance plants. And other plants can bring other attributes to the equation. Yarrow is a perennial that attracts parasitic wasp populations. In a landscape, Maynes said, that is a good thing because the wasps prey upon insects such as aphids and thrips, which damage stems and leaves of the desired plants.

When Maynes finishes a landscape, his client is advised on how to maintain it. He tells them how frequently to fertilize their gardens. Fertilizers typically contain nitrogen, a beacon for aphids. Most woody plants need no fertilizer after they have been established for three to five years.

Drainage considerations are an important aspect of design. For clay soil, where water can’t drain fast, Maynes chooses plants that like “wet feet.” Candidates for such places include sweet gale, a bog plant native to Maine, and weeping willows.

Naturally, Maynes pays attention to the needs of clients. If someone wants to do virtually no gardening, he will design an area that will allow it. For others, who prefer to get their hands dirty or maybe plant annuals they love, he will do a different design.

He sees the typical grass lawn as especially high-maintenance. Anyone who has mowed a lawn wouldn’t argue. Maynes likes designs that use grass as an accent, for example in a circular shape or some other configuration that works in a space between buildings and other primary landscape features. A recent client wanted a grassy area for her grandchildren to play on, so Maynes kept a majority of the landscape as a regular lawn space.

For others who don’t need the traditional grass, he might prefer to plant creeping red fescue.

Maynes also likes to use boulders in his design. Rocks can be nice places to sit and contemplate. They also are integral to an ecosystem. “Butterflies like to perch on a rock and bask in the sun,” he said. “Chipmunks use them to crack nuts.” He thinks most people are drawn to rocks. They get attention and inspire thought.

Maynes’ career path probably started when he was a youngster visiting his grandfather’s greenhouse business in Littleton, N.H. During that period, he also exhibited an interest in designing things, building forts of wood. “I learned the enjoyment of creation,” he said.

His college career started at the University of New Hampshire, where he attended on a music scholarship. He dropped out after a year, traveled, and later was a self-described ski bum. But curiosity called, and back to school he went.

Now that his business is under way, Maynes, who lives in Bangor, hopes to keep it going by moving to southern Maine, commuting by train to school in Boston and serving Maine clients when he can find time. He would prefer to design landscapes and have subcontractors do the physical work. But for small jobs, which he describes as costing less than $10,000, he would do both.

In architecture school, Maynes hopes to perfect incorporating “green” building technologies with traditional architecture. This is where his past, including both horticulture and those forts he built as a boy, will meet his future. He feels he is well equipped to incorporate landscape with building function and design.

“I hope to find a more harmonic cohesion between the two,” he said. “One feeds the other.”

While at the University of Maine, Maynes presented a green roof proposal for the flat roof of the Memorial Union. He wanted to replace conventional roofing materials with vegetation, including trees, shrubs and rocks. He might even have suggested a bit of grass.

Maynes says blueberries actually work well as roof cover. He finds the plant especially decorative with blossoms in the spring, rich green leaves, blue fruit in late summer and red leaves in the fall.

“Grass doesn’t have these advantages,” he said.

After graduate school, Maynes would prefer to keep working and living in Maine. After all, he has built roots here and they are about to grow more. His wife, Kelly, is four months pregnant.

“I’m not looking to make a huge living,” Maynes said. “I think I could do it in Maine.”

It probably wouldn’t be wise to bet against him.