Landscape Legends: Dennis Buettner
by Rommy Lopat

ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED: 2000 Fall

Send out an announcement to the members of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society that there will be a tour of landscape architect Dennis Buettner's clients' gardens, and you will soon have a bus filled to overflowing. Why does everyone want to go? Because Dennis Buettner is practically synonymous with landscape architecture in Wisconsin, since he is the "landscape architect of record" for so many important public sites around the state, not to mention hundreds of residential works, commercial sites, and parks.

Buettner's work, however, is not confined to the state of Wisconsin. On the very first morning of a recent vacation to the glorious beaches east of Michigan City, Indiana, this author bought a local newspaper and was startled to see Buettner's photograph on the front page. He was featured because he had just unveiled a 12-year Master Plan for International Friendship Gardens (see page 19).

Buettner (pronounced, "Bittner") is known for his creative designs and rich planting palettes, as well as inventive master plans for many public and private facilities. His firm of six landscape architects has worked on numerous public gardens including the Wisconsin Governor's Residence; the Allen Centennial Garden (a teaching garden for the University of Wisconsin in Madison); the 14-acre Rotary International Gardens in Janesville, WI; the new Green Bay (WI) Botanic Garden; and the Cedar Valley Arboretum & Botanic Garden in Waterloo, Iowa.

Buettner's thirty years of experience is also well recognized nationally. In 1995 he was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) for his innovative designs and service to the profession.

Buettner, 57, received his degree in landscape architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1967, and then went to work for John Ormsbee Simonds in Pittsburgh. Simonds' book, Landscape Architecture, had inspired Buettner to change from a botany major to landscape architecture. After three years, Buettner decided to return to his hometown of Milwaukee, having decided that Pennsylvania "had all of the miseries of winter but none of the benefits. I missed skiing, sledding, and skating." After a decade spent working for the land planning firm of Nelson & Associates and CH2M engineers, Buettner made the decision to open his own design office.

His first historic landscape commission came in 1975 when he free-lanced a design for the Cochran House in Mineral Point, WI, which dates from 1830. The original driveway was found by archaeologists, and the carriage shed and "slavequarters" were still in place. The land contained a lead mine, for which Buettner recreated a windlass once used to haul up ore buckets. A sheep meadow was fenced off and a stile installed, and old street brick was located to use on the walkways. Eventually the owners--antique dealers who collected period garden furniture--purchased four more homes, and the rebirth of Mineral Point as a historic site gained momentum.

Years later, in 1997, Buettner returned to Mineral Point to undertake a master plan for Orchard Lawn and Gundry House (See page 18). Buettner's work was aided by consulting a tree inventory of the property he had done "for fun" back in 1976. "Gundry House had Wisconsin's first catalpa tree and the most magnificent bur oaks, only some of which are still there," Buettner recalls with a nostalgic sigh.

Unlike many landscape architects who are pained by bureaucracy, Buettner relishes public projects. "I love working on public gardens!", he exclaims. "Even though the Ôclient' may be a committee, everyone involved has enthusiasm for the project. Their hearts are in the right place and so I find building consensus is rather easy. Public gardens also provide an opportunity for using really diverse, rich plant materials. And these jobs let me give thought to educational themes--how plants relate to man, what meaning plants have to children, horticultural history, plant genetics, ethnic viewpoints, and the usefulness of plants to people."

The good feelings are reciprocated by his clients. Tammy Steinhagen, executive director of International Friendship Gardens, says of Buettner, "Dennis is wonderful! I feel totally privileged to have been able to work with someone of his expertise. I look forward to working with him again in the future."

Asked how he approaches choosing plants for private home gardens, Buettner responds that "each environment is unique. If a home exists in a woodland, I respect that and use native plants as much as possible. In fact, our tree palette is mostly native. I love using oaks, but I have to work hard to convince owners that going small [he uses oaks under 1.5" caliper] will work."

Buettner seeks out the best landscape contractors in each locale to implement his designs. His office often recommends that his clients hire Neil Diboll's Prairie Nursery (Westfield, WI) for prairie installations and he has worked with Joyce Powers of CRM Ecosystems/Prairie Ridge Nursery (Mt. Horeb, WI) on wetland restorations. He hasn't used dwarf conifers to a substantial degree yet since "the industry is still pretty much guessing at how big those Ôdwarfs' will get over the long-term."

Buettner, who loves to travel and accompanied the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society on a tour of England this spring, says that "we in America are sometimes more advanced in our use of plant materials than other countries. Americans are very well travelled and have had a broad exposure to horticulture. We expect to see a lot of variety of plant materials in our landscapes." Buettner continues, "I prefer dramatic sweeps of plants to the ÔEnglish polka-dot' style of border making."

As for working with clients, Buettner emphasizes, "I'm always encouraging people who want a flower border to make it large enough. Twelve feet at least--please not just four feet...". Buettner has "fired" only two or three clients in his 30-year practice: "Lovers' quarrels are tough, but clients who change their minds a lot are the most difficult."

One of the great pleasures Buettner takes in creating gardens is collaborating with artists and sculptors. "We also work with a couple of wonderful blacksmiths and a coppersmith as well."

Buettner's artistic proclivities extend to his interest in collecting antiques. "I look for Midwestern primitives, Japanese bronzes and prints, and Shaker furniture. These artists understood the essence of wood and natural materials as well as the importance of simplicity." In describing them, Buettner might just as well be describing himself.

Dennis Buettner can be reached at Buettner & Associates, Inc., 6916 N. Santa Monica Boulevard, Fox Point, WI 53217. (414) 351-7080 or via e-mail: buettner@iswi.net.

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