Darrel Morrison is a renowned landscape architect and educator whose ecology-based approach to design has influenced generations of students and practitioners. Darrel taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Georgia-Athens (where he was Dean of the School of Environmental Design), as well as additional faculty engagements at Conway School of Landscape Design, Columbia University, New York Botanical Garden, University of Michigan, Utah State University, Rutgers University, University of São Paulo (Brazil), and University of the Pacific (Columbia). Darrel created influential designs for the UW-Madison Arboretum, Storm King Art Center, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, among other places throughout the country. He has been a long-time instructor at The Clearing in Ellison Bay. Darrel lived and worked in New York City from 2005 until 2015 and now lives in Madison, where he is an Honorary Faculty Associate in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Wisconsin.

“Some gardeners react to any mention of ecological landscaping — the merging of environmental science and art — as if it were a compromise or concession meant to limit their creativity. Darrel Morrison begs to differ. ‘A lot of people, when they hear a phrase like ecologically sound landscaping, they think they are giving up something. But they are not — it only enhances the experience.’” New York Times Book Review, Aug. 11, 2021

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Upcoming Speaking Engagements and Courses

June 9-15, 2024, Landscape Design Inspired by Nature, Course #29, The Clearing in Ellison Bay, WI. “The Summer Program, which runs from May through October, is The Clearing’s oldest and the one that most closely resembles Jensen’s original folk school vision. The mainstay of the Summer Program is week-long classes, with 25 to 35 students and instructors living at The Clearing, eating family-style meals and renewing their spirit through close contact with the native landscape.”

September 2024, New York (info coming soon)

Recent

Beauty of the Wild, January 27, 2024, Atlanta Botanical Garden Spring Symposium

In the Field: Ecology-based Landscape Practice at University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, Madison, WI, August 10, 2023, New Directions in the American Landscape, with Susan Carpenter, Michael Hansen, Darrel Morrison, FASLA, & Larry Weaner, FAPLD

Landscape Design as Ecological Art, at the Midwest Native Plant Conference, July 28-30, 2023, Beavercreek, Ohio

Beauty of the Wild, at The Cullowhee Native Plant Conference, July 19-22, 2023, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina

Summer Solstice Lecture featuring Darrel Morrison, June 21, 2023, Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha, NE

Film, interviews, podcasts

Video: Designing in the Prairie Spirit: A Conversation with Darrel Morrison (Library of American Landscape History)

Video: Beauty of the Wild: A life designing landscapes (University Place)

Essay: Darrel’s story of his first visits to The Clearing, April 2023

Articles: A Midcentury Classic and the Beauty of the Wild, and ROUNDTABLE: Wild Beauty and Its Role in Landscape Design (excerpts from View 2020, Library of American Landscape History)

Audio: Professor Darrel Morrison – Beauty of the Wild (Native Plant Podcast)

Video: Darrel Morrison: Readings from Beauty of the Wild (University of Georgia College of Environmental Design)

Video: Darrel Morrison: The Landscape is Our Teacher

Video: Darrel designs to music, 2014 at New Directions in the American Landscape Conference

Article: Creating a Preserve on the Niagara River (excerpt from View 2016, Library of American Landscape History)

Article: Q&A with Darrel Morrison, Designer of BBG’s Native Flora Garden Expansion (Brooklyn Botanic Garden)

Article: Morrison Prairie and Forest Preserve (Driftless Area Land Conservancy)

Selected Major Works

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, Texas. 1992 - 1995 (opened 1995). Senior member, site planning and landscape design team

University of Wisconsin Arboretum Native Plants Garden, Madison, Wisconsin. 1997 - 2002 (implementation began 2002)

Storm King Art Center, Cornwall on the Hudson, New York. Native Grassland Establishment and Management, 1996-present

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Native Flora Garden Extension, Brooklyn, New York, 2010-2013

New York Botanical Garden Old Stone Mill, Bronx, New York, 2010-2011

Utah Botanical Center, Kaysville, Utah, 2004-2005, Master Plan and selected garden designs

Stella Niagara Preserve and Findlay Preserve, Western New York Land Conservancy, Lewiston and Niagara, New York. 2015-2018

Selected Honors

2023 – Garden Club of America 2023 National Medalist: The Mrs. Oakleigh Thorne Medal, awarded for outstanding achievement in design, architecture, or art related to the garden, to Darrel Morrison for his ecological restoration, sustainable design work, and teaching.

2021 – Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College: Scott Medal

“Through a lifetime of teaching, publishing, advocacy, conservation, and design practice, Darrel Morrison has made a powerful and lasting impact on public and private landscapes across America and on the science and art of American gardening generally.” (Robin Karson, Library of American Landscape History)

2017 – Western New York Land Conservancy: Conservation Hero Award

2017 – Association of Professional Landscape Designers: Award of Distinction (one award nationally)

2012 – Wisconsin Chapter, ASLA, Life Achievement Award

2010 – Fellow, Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture

2006 – American Horticultural Society: Design Award (one award nationally)

1998 – American Horticultural Society: Teaching Award (one award nationally)

1998 – Chicago Horticultural Society Hutchinson Award

1996 – Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture: Outstanding Educator Award

1996 – The Tom Dodd, Jr. Award of Excellence, Cullowhee Conference on Native Plants in the Landscape

1996 – Pennsylvania State University Bracken Medal for lifetime achievements in Landscape Architecture  (one award internationally each year)

1996 – ASLA Merit Award for design of Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

1995-2014 – Wild Ones Honorary Director

1983 – ASLA Merit Award in Communication for founding of Landscape Journal

1981 – Fellow, American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)

1980 – University of Wisconsin: Bascom Professorship

1979 – University of Wisconsin: Distinguished Teaching Award

1977 – Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture: Outstanding Educator Award

Selected Publications

Beauty of the Wild, Library of American Landscape History, published June 2021. Full-length manuscript by Darrel Morrison about his career and work.

Excerpt, Georgia’s Saltmarsh Landscape, from Place+Meaning+Experience, College of Environmental Design, University of Georgia, 2020

Designing in the Prairie Spirit: A Conversation with Darrel Morrison, Film, Library of American Landscape History, published Oct 18, 2012

Landscape Journal, University of Wisconsin Press. Founder (1982), Founding Co-Editor

“A methodology for ecological landscape and planting design”, in The Dynamic Landscape, Dunnett & Hitchmough, ed., 2004, Spoon Press, London.

Foreword, for American Plants for American Gardens, Roberts & Rehmann, 2011, University of Georgia Press. Initiated re-publication (originally published 1929).

“Landscape Restoration in Response to Previous Disturbance”, in Landscape Heterogeneity and Disturbance, M.G. Turner, ed., 1987, Springer-Verlag, New York.

"On aesthetics and restoration and management." Ecological Restoration 5.1 (1987): 3-4.

"Beyond Planting Design." Landscape Architecture 89 (1999): 11-92.

"Restoring the Midwestern Landscape." Landscape Architecture 65.4 (1975): 398-403.

"The tragedy of the commons revisited: invasive species." Front Ecol Environ 3 (2005): 103-109. With Reichard, Sarah H., et al.

For fun, you can order your own ‘darrelectual’ t-shirt here.

(T-shirt artwork was a collaboration of Tom Hunt and Nancy Aten)

Order your own copy of A Tribute to Darrel Morrison, on the occasion of Darrel’s 80th birthday, featuring contributions from students, colleagues, and clients.