martinhouseclr

211 5 // TREATMENT RECOMMENDATIONS most meaningfully convey the true character of the Martin House property as it appeared during the Period of Significance. Clearly an in-kind replacement of plant material would not be possible for all vegetative features. Yet, since the visual and spatial qualities of the grounds have been highly documented, it is reasonable to expect that the replacement of missing vegetative features that form the critical three dimensional spatial definition within the landscape can be completed with a high degree of accuracy in many cases, provided that these replacements are desirable and they meet the contemporary needs of the property. Selection & Substitutions It is recommended that plant selections for replacement vegetative features (garden collections and individual plants) be done through a generally systematic approach. However, the process must maintain flexibility to both accommodate the current use and any unexpected circumstances or complications in achieving the treatment goals. Two aspects of plant selection should be acknowledged. These include: (A) accurate restorations which involve the selection of individual plant specimens for in-kind replacements or replacements with substitute materials to accommodate plant health or viability issues, and (B) the individual selection of plants for replacement of features with compatible new designs that exhibit the character of the historic vegetative feature. When sufficient documentary evidence exists to restore an individual plant specimen or garden, the preferred course of action should be to do so if the restoration is compatible with the contemporary property use. In such cases the following decision process should be used for selecting plant material: 1. Utilize existing historic material collections and propagate through vegetative root/shoot cuttings, or seedlings, or; 2. Replace with same identified nursery stock from another source, or; 3. Replace with a substitute disease resistant cultivar of identified plant material, or; 4. Replace with a substitute cultivar or variety of the same genus and species which exhibits the visual and spatial characteristics of the material to be replaced, or; 5. Replace with a substitute genus or species which exhibits visual and spatial characteristics of the material to be replaced. When replacing plant material based on the characteristics it exhibits then the substitute plant should convey critical aspects of that documented character known to exist during the Period of Significance. Special attention should be paid to the accurate restoration of visual and spatial relationships using substitute plant material, particularly if the plant material has direct visual relationships to design features of the architecture or supports essential spatial definition within the overall landscape. Based on the limited quantity of historic material, #1 above (utilizing vegetative root / shoot cuttings or seedlings) will not be feasible for most replacements. Furthermore, it may not be desirable from a management standpoint to replace wisteria vine cover with the specific extant historic species (believed to be Japanese variety). A proper identification of the off-site plant material and assessment of the suitability of its characteristics for rehabilitation purposes should be conducted prior to performing treatment tasks. If the plant material is not suitable for extensive use within the rehabilitated landscape it is recommended that it be used in a limited fashion, within the restrictions of maintainability or management objectives, due to the high interpretive value. When sufficient documentation does not permit an accurate restoration of individual plant specimen or garden or where treatment recommendations call for the restoration of visual and spatial relationships by means of a new but compatible design then the selection criteria becomes substantially more wide- ranging. Thus the recommended decision process is to base replacement selections on the restorations decision process noted above, and, as necessary, modify the selection based on individual site specific factors. In all cases, selections for replacements with new designs