President's Message

 

Spring is here and it still amazes me how beautiful our California weather is!  It was only four weeks ago when I was in Cleveland, Ohio with board members Janet Bell and Susan Morrison for an APLD Chapter Symposium.  It was cold and there was lots of snow from a storm that had swept through only a couple days earlier.

 

How lucky we are to be out creating outdoor spaces in such great weather!  How lucky we are also to be part of an international association that is building and becoming more known each year.  The overall theme of the symposium was that as a team we can create more awareness and professionalism in the landscape design industry.  All of the chapters participated and we heard about programs and policies from each chapter.  We truly feel that there is strength in numbers and the kind of team and plan that APLD is developing will further promote APLD designers. 

 

With only volunteer members holding the board positions from districts through national levels it is amazing everything that gets done.  Membership is growing so new districts and/or chapters are popping up all over the nation.  Many chapters are dealing with state legislative issues similar to the issues we had a few years ago here in California.  The Certification Program is developing and with it more prestige in being certified.  Our national board recently made a decision to hire a public relations firm and we look forward to more and better exposure for APLD.  The upcoming National Conference in Tarrytown, NY in August will give designers wonderful ideas, education and camaraderie with fellow designers.  With the support of all of our state members and our national team, we will continue to make our mark in the landscape world.  The fact is, we all learn from each other and with the volunteer support of a few, many, many designers benefit!    Susan, Janet and I left Cleveland full of energy and enthusiasm for APLD and for our own business growth.

 

Your 2008 president, Colleen Hamilton

 Members' Section

 

 

A San Francisco Flower & Garden Show Experience

By Shelley Somersett, APLD

 

'It doesn't take a hectare' began at an East Bay APLD meeting when Kay Estey visited us with her annual request for designers to consider being a garden creator for the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. When Kay said "I would like to have an edible garden on the floor this year" my heart leapt. I have long been interested in edible plants being included in the designed landscape. My inner voice said, "you can do that". My logic said "whoa Nellie". The vision would not leave my head and the following poem came to me as I considered how I could execute a garden for the show:

 

It doesn't take a hectare to feed a family four square

 

Heirlooms in the Cottage or on an Urban Roof

Wine Country Tuscan or Berkeley 'Locavor'

No GMO's are in our food, the nutrients are proof.

 

Take some dirt, add sunshine, clean water and fresh air,

A designer for the garden and you're half way there.

When Edibles are planted, sustainable's the fare.

 

Breakfast, lunch and dinner your neighbor too can share

The earth still laughs in flowers, the chef's gourmet affair

Feed a hungry neighbor, teach the world to share.

 

by

Shelley Somersett, APLD

 

I decided that this was a garden I was meant to design for the public to demonstrate the use of edibles in the garden. This is an area of sustainability that is not frequently mentioned in the green movement. How to be water wise and the use of natives and Mediterranean plants is readily available as a move toward a lighter footprint on the landscape continues to gain public interest. How to grow your own food, how to teach children where food comes from, and edibles as an alternative to lawn is beginning to reach the landscape design field. There have been many forward thinkers such as Rosalind Creasy who have challenged the neighborhood front yard design in recent years. Reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, Paul Hawken's Blessed Unrest, Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle set the stage for my taking an activist role. Alice Waters and her school garden movement, purchasing local food and cooking fresh food from your own garden has long been an example for me of good stewardship, and of course her latest cook book, Simple Food. Here was the opportunity to combine my passion for gardening, the environment and social justice issues all rolled into one event. Kay Estey had me, hook, line and sinker.

 

I asked fellow APLD member and CLCA member Warren Leiber if he was interested in partnering with me to design a garden at the show and after explaining my concept he agreed. We began our collaboration in September of 2007. Warren was a great partner, meeting with me weekly at his yard where we built the garden offsite to be disassembled, transported and reassembled on the floor for the show. Warren was a great partner having designed two gardens himself previously for the SFFGS. Warren Leiber and his crew at Leiber Landscape Services work in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties. Good teamwork is the magic of good gardens.

 

Where to get vegetable plants that would be large and luscious the first week of March was a challenge. The solution after talking with several nurseries was growing them myself. So my daughter, Lauren, husband, Bob, and I spent a few days planting seedlings, then potting up over 200 plants into one gallon pots for the show which we grew in two greenhouses in Concord, California. Lauren was veggie nursery woman extraordinaire while staying on top of a demanding job for PG & E. Next challenge was where to find fruit trees that would be in flower for the show and the answer was Sweet Lane Nursery who had a great selection of b & b trees (a resource that I learned about from an APLD field trip). The cordoned 20^th Century Asian Pear and Fuji Apple were big hits with the public who have smaller and smaller spaces for gardens. Be prepared when you do the garden show to answer the same question thousands of times.

 

Staging the garden was fun because I had selected four design styles to showcase the vegetables and fruit trees. I had to find elements that identified themselves as a specific style. Francesca Agrusa of American Soil & Stone was the first to help with loaning the beautiful Italian terracotta for the wine country garden. Our beautiful stucco wall which Warren's team built was faux painted by Helen Doronkina. Warren's team executed a great gothic fence design I gave him and laid a beautiful brick path to the cottage garden vignette. The urban rooftop with its corrugated metal walls and corten steel planter beds was a big hit with many for the way it brought the garden to eyelevel. It also was admired by several people who had mobility challenges. It made gardening a possibility that did not require getting down on the ground. The Berkeley garden had beveled glass doors rescued from the West Portal District in San Francisco and lichen covered boards from a fence demolition in Moraga. But the star was the twelve foot tall rabbit sculpture by Phil Glashoff for the Berkeley eclectic garden. Phil was exhibiting in the vendor hall this year and was very gracious in loaning the rabbit to our garden.

 

The garden vignettes provided the teaching opportunity for thousands of children, yes thousands, who were challenged to find "Which plant is the carrot?" by my husband, Bob. A long time docent for the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, Bob, is in his element when teaching children about the natural world around us.

 

Many people ask "Was the garden show a success for you?" The answer for me will be a resounding "Yes". Yes, because I have developed a new friendship with a colleague, Warren Leiber; we have demonstrated how to design with edible plants; we have inspired unknown numbers of children and adults to plant a vegetable garden together; we have demonstrated how to make use of the land, water and sunshine to grow healthy, organic and local food; we demonstrated how to share the excess harvest with your local food bank; because indeed, no one should go hungry and food should never be taken for granted. Yes, in gratitude for the miracle within a tiny seed.

 

Sincerely,

 

Shelley Somersett, APLD

 

Somersett Designs

Shelley@somersettdesigns.com

www.somersettdesigns.com

925-788-9265 cell

The 2008 CLCA Chapter Project is Achievekids

By Kathy Ormiston

 

Each year the San Francisco Bay Area California Landscape Contractors' Association (CLCA) chooses a worthy charitable organization in need of a new landscape as their Chapter Project. Members of the CLCA volunteer their time and equipment to install a beautiful new landscape in a single, hard working day. This year the Peninsula APLD is asking its members to give their time and support to the CLCA on their Chapter Landscape Installation Project.

 

This year's CLCA Chapter Project is 'Achievekids'and will be held at 3860 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto on April 26th, 2008 from 8:00 AM until we're finished. Achievekids is a non-profit organization that offers individualized programs and services for children with special needs. The organization teaches youths with complex emotional and developmental disabilities the skills and knowledge necessary to achieve greater independence.  Linn Winterbotham, a Landscape Architect in Palo Alto, designed the project. 

 

Michael Gennette, Executive Director at Achievekids, was thrilled to hear that his school was selected by CLCA.  Michael told Rick Camin, the CLCA Chair for the Chapter Project, that their school has been the "ugly duckling" on the block for so many years.  That's where the CLCA and APLD members come in! The project entails grubbing out existing ivy, installing a new irrigation system, and planting a beautiful new garden.

 

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

 

The Chapter Project is a one-day event and we need CLCA and APLD member volunteers to show off their skills while serving the community.  Also, it presents a great opportunity to network with members and meet new people from the non-profit school.  It is always a fun time. The Chapter Project is a very special event and we welcome everyone to join us for one day, Saturday, April 26th.  It is the greatest feeling in the world knowing that you made a contribution that will touch the lives of many people for years to come.  

 

Please join us in making the 2008 Chapter Project a success!

 

Please contact:

Rick Camin, Chair                              

Camin Landscaping

rick@caminland.com

(650) 222-0398 cell

 

 

For more information:

Chapter Project - www.clcasfba.org, find SFBA Chapter heading and scroll down to Chapter Project.

Achievekids - www.achievekids.org

Welcome to New Members of APLD California:

First Name	Last Name	City	Mbr_Category
Edward	Bash	Glendale	Associate
Robert	Blasing	Redwood City	Associate
Geri	Farasopoulos	Aptos	Associate
Gina	Funaro	Cupertino	Student
Kirkwood	Hale	Redding	Associate
Leslie	Irey	Redding	Associate
Jerilynn	Jenderseck	Santa Rosa	Student
Janet	Lohman	Los Angeles	Student
Megan	Oslin	Carmichael	Student
Ryan	Prange	San Diego	Associate
Craig	Rapp	San Jose	Associate
Kevin	Sherry	Ojai	Associate
Jeanette	Tollstrup	Belmont	Associate

Awards & Recognition

 

APLD Member Takes Top Awards at San Diego Garden Show

 

Landscape designer / contractor Shellene Mueller, APLD, of Designs by Shellene recently participated in the San Diego Spring Home Garden Show, in Southern California. The San Diego Horticultural Society sponsors the show. Shellene's theme this year was "Stone and Steel'.  Shellene took home second best of show and was honored with awards of excellence for Best Hardscape and Best Water Feature; she received the Massachusetts Horticultural Society Medal for Design Excellence as well.

 

Shellene created her garden with rusted surplus steel walls, flanked with La cresta stone columns that double as planters.  She created a water feature with a salvaged "I" beam that served as a weir that carried water down to a rustic copper pot.  The weir sat on top a steel wall and stone columns. Permeable Acker stone Pavers were used for her patio flooring, and Shellene's husband Carl Mueller of Rustica Garden Works, created a contemporary Patio structure to top it off.

 

The favorite of the show enthusiast was Shellene's creative "Candelabrum", which was created from a burnt Manzanita shrub (from the recent witch fire in San Diego), painted olive green, strung with Christmas lights and hung upside down from the patio structure.

 

Shellene's plantings were artfully blended using low water Mediterranean inspired plantings such as Echiums, Cistus, Limoniums, agaves, Cordylines and much more.

This garden was truly a "Green Garden".

  

CLCA Beautification Award for APLD member

 

APLD member Michelle Helzer of Lotus Designs, Inc. was presented a CLCA Beautification Award in the New Member category.  Michelle began contracting after receiving her license two years ago.  She designed, installed and decorated the residence.

APLD California Chapter Upcoming Events