President's Message

By Colleen Hamilton 

Hello fellow California members.

What are you doing to keep busy in the slower building world?  Are you taking time to do the leg-work with your clients so they will want to see your happy face in the future?  Possibly you don't make a dime after you give your client their design, but you will reap huge benefits if you don't worry about the money and participate with your clients to see their dream come to fruition. Plus you will learn a lot from watching the installation.  I give my clients 1-2 hours of free time during the planting process.  This allows me to go back to the job site and help with plant placement.  Everyone appreciates it when we go that extra mile.  I recommend that we take the time with each client, and your client will pass your name freely to others.  Referrals are the very best resource for future clients. 

This is a great time of year to attend events and garden tours sponsored by water/utility agencies, universities, master-gardeners, nurseries, rock-yards, community groups, and of course APLD events.  Have you been to New York?  I have not and August is my time to go!  I am very excited to attend the APLD National Conference and see New York all during the same trip.  I hope many of you will make the investment of time and money and get there!  Our landscape design world is growing and changing rapidly.  There are so many different ways to build outdoor spaces and I want to see and explore them all.  The APLD Conference in New York offers us tours of wonderful gardens plus, camaraderie with fellow designers, great education, wonderful speakers and lots of fun.  I hope you plan to attend!

Your 2008 president,

Colleen Hamilton

In the News

By Nan Simonsen - SoCal Member

It is great to get noticed by someone who can spread the word, but how does one go about it?  In my case, it came about in a similar fashion to the way my burgeoning business evolved, through the back door.

I never meant to have a landscape design company, but began Nanscapes in 2006 'by popular demand' after the 2.25 acre botanic garden-style landscape that I designed, planted and maintained, was featured three times in Sunset Magazine, on the cover of the LA Times 2002 Garden calendar, and in several local magazine and newspapers. In other words as a plant nerd, Master Gardener and gardening lecturer and teacher, creating gardens for others became the next logical step. 

What we create becomes part of our reputation. More than three years ago I moved from my large home on a 2.25 acre lot, into a 1941 cottage in a historic area of Riverside, CA, on a 7,000 square foot lot.  After moving into my cottage, Sharon Cahoon, senior gardening editor of Sunset Magazine who had written the previous articles, heard that I had moved, and called to ask about my new garden. Knowing that I was now designing landscapes, she asked to see my current garden, and others that I created in the area.  She wrote an entry on the new, interesting and informative Sunset.com blog 'Fresh Dirt' on three of the properties that we visited. (editor see www.sunset.com, Blog, Fresh Dirt).  The gardens were varied, and the focus of each article was specific.... the May 2 article was about 'functional turf', the second, on May 7, about replacing 4,400 sq. feet of lawn with a Mediterranean plant palette, and the third featured my own garden, with the admission that perhaps there is still a place for cottage gardens.

Sustainability has become the catchword.  To me the term means creating a landscape with beautiful combinations of plants that will work, long term, where they are planted. It means replacing non-functional turf and thirsty ornamentals with a water-wise collection of interesting plants, irrigated with drip, that create air-action; i.e. fills the space above them with bees, butterflies, birds and beneficial insects. Getting to know plants, experimenting and experiencing them has given me the ability to create a variety of landscape styles, and gardens that 'work' long term. My clients say again and again that their new gardens [to paraphrase] feed their souls.

When a landscape 'works', it has broad appeal.  It attracts attention.  It pulls people in.  It turns clients into advocates. It gets you noticed. It helps you build a flourishing business.

Case in point...last August I created a landscape that got so much attention that in order to easily answer the question "who did your landscape", my client created, and presented me, a business sign (I hadn't gotten around to making my own) by cutting and pasting from my web site (www.nanscapes.biz). Immediately I began getting calls.  I have since made an additional 20 signs because clients have wanted to leave their signs up, rather then having me pick them up after a few weeks.

In a neighborhood of historic homes where I have created 12 landscapes, when asked if I should pick up my sign, a client proudly said no, "I want people to know that I've been Nanscaped".  Interesting phenomenon.

Welcome New Members!

Landscape Designer Library for Sale
By Bonnie Lammar

I am an ex-landscape designer and was a member of APLD and acted as treasurer for the Northbay/San Francisco District for one year.  I am selling my landscape designers' library and also wanted to offer my photography services.  For more information, please call 415-389-8782. Thank You! 

A Visit to Cornflower Farms

By Gary Kernick - Sacramento District Event Chair

Cornflower Farms treated the Sacramento District to a wonderful "Day on the Farm" event this May. For those of you not familiar with Cornflower Farms, their motto is "to grow what everyone else will not or cannot grow".  That has led them to grow quality plant material for several major specialties: California natives & water wise perennials, grasses & ornamentals - restoration & revegetation plants - beneficial insect plants for agriculture - butterfly and hummingbird plants. Contact Janet Gerland at (916) 689-1015 for a catalogue or check out their website at www.cornflowerfarms.com

Our day on the farm started with a delicious lunch of grilled salmon, burgers & potato salad. Many of you requested the recipe for what seemed to be the hit of the menu, a unique Curried Rice Salad. Cornflower's owner Ann Chandler, was gracious enough to share her recipe with us. The delicious meal was only surpassed by the garden setting. We dined on the patio of Ann & Jeff Chandler's home. The patio is surrounded by a giant pond with water features and a resplendent Carex meadow. 

Bernadette Balics of Ecological Landscape Design educated the group on the means and benefits of designing a garden for wildlife. Her talk was informative and inspirational. Next we moved on to a tour of the nursery and a demonstration of propagation.

Our thanks go out to Janet, Ann and all the staff of Cornflower Farms for their hospitality and their support of APLD.  We encourage you to support them in return and discover the unique plant palette they offer the California garden designer.

Congratulations to Sacramento Member!

Tommy Herren, membership chair for Sacramento District, was recently featured in the May/June issue of Professional Landscape Design. To read the article, please click here. 

Congratulations to East Bay Member!

Suzanne Arca, from Albany, has been published in the EBMUD book. To read the sidebar 'Waste Not - Water Yes!' please click here.

Congratulations to SoCal Member!

Nan Simonsen has been featured in multiple Sunset Magazines and blogs. To find out more, please read her article above.