President's Message

By Colleen Hamilton

Hello fellow California members.

Here it is the beginning of September and the summer has flown by!  The National Conference in New York was absolutely wonderful.  Every garden we saw, every class we went to, and every speaker we heard, made the event well worth the time and money invested!  I can't think of a better way to stay educated. 

The professionalism of the entire event speaks for itself.  I am truly amazed at the work done by fellow designers in APLD in the design world and the volunteer time they spend on behalf of our association.  It takes a lot of time and effort to put on such a great event and I want to thank everyone involved.  In addition to the conference I was able to spend two days in New York City.  What a great way to see our country with my first visit to the Statue of Liberty, Times Square and all the New York sites.

During the conference we visited many incredible gardens.  Each garden was unique, the stone work was oh so beautiful and the plant material palette made my mouth water.  I was quite surprised how many low water plants were also used in that "high water" part of the world.  Two highlights of the conference for me were our visits to:

• Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, New York.  The magnitude and beauty was breathtaking.  I highly recommend that the next time you are in New York, you visit this incredible garden.  It is about 90 miles north of New York City and is open to the public. 
• The private garden of Dick Button, a professional ice skater, long time announcer in ice skating and now a retired, avid gardener.  He had many acres of rolling hills with a creek/waterfall, old world wall/fence, a vegetable garden, patio, pool, barn etc. and all on a simple old farm-house estate.  It was fabulous!  The pictures I have included in this newsletter issue are from his garden.  

I am very impressed with the landscape designs of fellow APLD members. I want to acknowledge our California award winner Laura Morton.  Laura is from West Hollywood and her work is amazing.  Please watch for more information on her garden design and award in the next issue of "The Designer".  I was also very pleased to see that the student award was given to Kathy Basque, a student from Lodi, California.  Our California Chapter had a nice group of attendees, many of whom I had not met before.  It was such a pleasure to meet and spend time with so many of you!

I strongly urge you to attend the conference in Portland, Oregon, next year.  Mark your calendar now for July 12^th through the 17^th, 2009. Conferences will become something you will plan to attend every year.   I am truly blessed to be a landscape designer and part of APLD!

Your 2008 President,

Colleen Hamilton

Web Site Bulletin:

Chapter Members - Your Assistance is Needed!
By Sharon Gibson - Web Site Chair, APLD California Chapter

Well, the dust has settled, and the new California Chapter web site isn't so brand new anymore.  We have started the planning process for various enhancements, but meanwhile, your assistance is needed on an important topic:  improving our Chapter web site's search engine rankings, which will help make the site more "visible" to the public. "What can I do?", you may be thinking.  A key component of the search engine ranking for any web site is how many other sites link to it.  We'd like to request the following of all Chapter members: 

The location of the link within your site doesn't matter; its existence is what counts.  If enough of us do this, the Chapter web site search engine rankings should be dramatically improved, hopefully pushing us towards the top whenever someone searches for a landscape designer in California or similar phrasing.  Your web support person can do this work easily, or if you manage your web site yourself and need assistance, please feel free to contact Sharon Gibson at sbgi@att.net for additional information.

While we're on the subject, here's a useful tip that may help you with your own sites:  links have more importance to a search engine if the words that are linked are meaningful, rather than phrases like "click here".  So, when you link to your own pages as well as to external sites, place the links on meaningful phrases.

Thanks in advance for your support on this important item!

Sharon Gibson

"Garden Coaching"

Submitted by Stephanie Bartron

• When: Friday, September 26^th, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
• Where:  Shirley Bovshow's garden, 5348 Ellenvale Avenue, Woodland Hills 91367
• RSVP: Stephanie@sbgardendesign.com
  

Looking for ways to ride out the tough economy, grow your business, and/or just share your experience and talent? Add Coaching to your design/service options. Shirley will share her experiences with this new trend, and discuss how to keep it fun and profitable.

Open meeting - all designers welcome!

Please RSVP so we'll have ample snacks.

Editor's Note:

Additional event listings for the Southern California region will be posted on the www.apldca.org website in the near future. Remember to visit the website often, for information on interesting events in your area!

Prolific Writers on the Peninsula

By Kathy Ormiston

The Peninsula Writers' Collective has been very busy. We've published ten articles in the Los Altos Town Crier and the Palo Alto Weekly since the beginning of the year. Peninsula designers interested in submitting articles should contact Communication Officer Kathy Ormiston at Kathy@ginkgogarden.net We are looking to add more writers and more papers in the coming months!

• Karen Donnelly, "Choosing the Right Tree for the Right Place", Los Altos Town Crier, July 30, 2008
• Fran Adams, "Create a More Friendly Front Yard by Design", Los Altos Town Crier, June 25, 2008
• Laxmi Natarajan, "Year-Round Color", Palo Alto Weekly, June 20, 2008
• Jessy Berg, "Creating the 'Wow' Factor", Los Altos Town Crier, May 28, 2008
• Astrid Gaiser, "Living Large on Little Lots", Los Altos Town Crier¸ April 30, 2008
• Daxin Liu, "Chinese Garden Design Transfers Nicely to Local Gardens", Los Altos Town Crier¸ April 30, 2008
• Kathy Ormiston, "Making Sustainability Easy in the Garden", Los Altos Town Crier¸ March 26, 2008
• Astrid Gaiser, "The Side Yard Escape", Los Altos Town Crier¸ February 27, 2008
• Laxmi Natarajan, "Renewing a Garden", Palo Alto Weekly, February 20, 2008
• Laxmi Natarajan, "Combine and Contrast to Create a Mood in Your Garden", Los Altos Town Crier, February 27, 2007
• Astrid Gaiser, "Creating Oases", Los Altos Town Crier¸ December 26, 2007
• Laxmi Natarajan, "Creating Color: Designing Your Bulb Garden for Spring Splash" Palo Alto Weekly, November 16, 2007
• Patricia Evans, "Mulch Provides more the Curb Appeal", Los Altos Town Crier, Novermber 28, 2007
• Judith Grant, October: A Wonderful Month for Landscaping Your Yard, Los Altos Town Crier, September 26, 2007
• Laurie Callaway, "Think Big", Palo Alto Weekly, August 15, 2007

Green Tip - San Francisco Recycles All Rigid Plastics!

By Katey Mulligan, APLD

Now your coffee cup top can go into the recycling bin at work or at home.

Businesses are encouraged to recycle all plastic tubs and lids, yogurt and 'clamshell' containers (clean, without food or liquids), cups, buckets, plant containers, and other non-film plastics.

As long as an item is made only of rigid plastic - not a plastic bag or other film plastic - it can go into in the blue recycling cart.

Plastic toys are accepted as long as they have no metal parts, batteries, circuit boards or wiring.

Remember to lightly rinse food soiled plastics before putting them in the recycling bin.

San Francisco Home Tours

By Katey Mulligan, APLD

Anyone interested in touring some of San Francisco's new architect-designed private homes? If so, check this out. On Saturday and Sunday September 13^th and  14^th, the SF branch of Architects Institute of America/AIA's very popular tour explores housing trends and design solutions that inspire unique city living. On September 12^th, readers of Dwell magazine can meet their favorite editors, tour the Dwell facility, and hear the back story behind articles and homes featured in the magazine. For more information and tickets, please go to www.aiasf.org/hometours.

Becoming a Certified Arborist

By Ellyn Shea - Arborist and Educator

Submitted by Katey Mulligan, APLD

If you are thinking about taking the Arborist Study Series, the deadline for the early signup discount is September 1st! We have a great lineup of guest instructors and knowledge you can use. After September 1st, we're taking registration for single sessions as well as the entire series. Either way, attend for your own professional development - it's not necessary to take the ISA Certified Arborist Exam afterwards.

The single session signup form is on the same page as the agenda and speaker list. The series signup form is in the brochure. Pick what's right for you.

The program is ISA CEUs offered, DPR and APLD CEUs has been applied for. For more information visit www.braintree2008.blogspot.com
or check out the registration form. 

APLD/Home Away from Home

By Alma Hecht

On a recent trip to Seattle, Washington, my timing was slightly off to join Kat King's weekend of garden tours up in Bellingham. Being the generous person she is, Kat put together a list of gardens around Seattle to explore on my own. Then she spent the Monday after her weekend extravaganza in Bellingham, showing my friend and me around gardens she and colleagues had designed. First Kat and her architect husband Tim welcomed us into their home and garden with muffins and coffee. Fortified, we forged ahead for a morning of ongoing hospitality and visual joy. What a treat, and what a perfect example of the benefit of being part of the APLD - a sure way to feel at home when away from home. As well as the King's own jewel box of a garden we saw one of her client's; two of Daniel Lowery's, APLD Communications Chair and owner of Queen Anne Gardens; and two by architect/landscape architect/sculptor Louise Durocher with plant designs by Charles Price & Glen Withey.

In case you find yourself up that way, here are the public spaces:

• A lovely garden originally designed by the Olmstead brothers the Dunn Garden has recently been beautifully updated. Reservations needed. www.dunngardens.org.
• My favorite garden in the Seattle area is the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. Reservations needed.
  www.bloedelreserve.org.
• Bainbridge Garden is a great nursery and serves good food, too. Both stops make a lovely day. You need a car to get there from the ferry. www.bainbridgegardens.com
• My favorite Seattle nursery is Swanson‚s in Ballard. They have a good café, too.
  www.swansonsnursery.com

CLCA Award Winners

Big congratulations to APLD members who received 2008 Landscape Achievement Awards from the CLCA San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. Winners included Sam Whitney of Samscaping, Inc., Lesley Peters of Girvin Peters Landscape, Shannon Swain of Shannon Gardens, Laura Schaub of Schaub Designs, and Lorraine Edel of Garden Tapestries Landscape Design.

Congratulations to Lodi Member!

Kathy Basque of Great Escapes Garden Design has been awarded Honorable Mention in the 2008 APLD Student Design Awards.  She is a recent graduate of the California School of Garden Design.  The award was announced at the 2008 APLD Annual Conference closing dinner on August 14, 2008.