President's Message

By Colleen Hamilton

Dear fellow California APLD members,

My year as your president is coming to a close and I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve as Chapter President.  It has been an incredible experience during which I have learned so much, developed my skills as a leader and designer and made wonderful new friendships.  Working with my fellow California Board members has been a joy because each member has so much knowledge and expertise to bring to our industry and to APLD.  It makes me proud of each and every one of them, and so proud to be able to call them my friends. 

Please join me in thanking the entire California Board for their countless hours of volunteer time to make our Chapter so successful.

Some of the Chapter successes over the last few years:

• We've become a leader in the International APLD Association.
• Our website has become an inspiration for other industry websites.
• We've worked with each District to support their growth and development of membership and programs.
• Our Sponsorship Program offers advertising for our industry and supports the development of our Chapter.
• The newsletter gives members current calendar details on programs, events, news and review of each District and the entire state.
• We've grown to handle problems and/or challenges with ease and responsibility.
• Our member work together as a team for the betterment of our Association in our industry.
• We've other benefits, some of which you can see and some not so apparent behind-the-scenes, that makes our Chapter great.

I love being part of our California Chapter and plan to continue to support the Chapter Board and membership as Past President. 

I wish you all a very blessed Christmas, a happy holiday, and a joyous New Year.

Colleen Hamilton

CA Chapter 2008 President

Reclaimed Spaces/Final Frontiers

By Alma Hecht, SF District President

In October the San Francisco District presentation by Jane Martin with Plant*SF introduced the ins and outs of reclaiming endless miles of concrete pavement for pocket street gardens.  The combined efforts of Plant*SF with SF DPW has streamlined permitting. What a wonderful opportunity for designers to showcase planting approaches while beautifying neighborhoods, reducing tripping hazards/ongoing concrete replacement from tree root uplift--not to mention how happier the trees are. Most importantly the pervious surfaces diminish storm-water runoff. The guidelines are clearly explained on Plant*SF's website, http://www.plantsf.org/.

A few weeks ago we moved from street upward with a presentation from ELT--Elevated Living Technology. ELT has developed living wall and roof systems. With space at a premium, particularly in San Francisco, ELT wall systems provide a structurally safe method of transforming blank walls and eyesores into vibrant, green canvases with biodiversity and some insulation benefits. Live roofs reclaim miles of wasted space, offer the same advantages, as well as absorb up to 75% of storm-water runoff. ELT certifies landscape contractors on installation and maintenance of the systems and is looking to expand their associates in California.

The session presented by Founder Greg Gardener, VP of Sales Jim Rizzo, and California Reps Josh and Lucas Hansen was the best attended in the history of the San Francisco APLD. Members from as far as the Sacramento District, Merritt College's Soils Instructor Stewart Winchester with students receiving double-credits, as well as non-members brought the count to thirty-five. 

We can genuinely say that San Francisco is going out with a bang. In 2009 we change from a district to a region--that is unless three to five people step up to create a Board. Otherwise we will enjoy the advantages of APLD as gypsy members attending other district's presentations. Additionally, we can host meetings.

Similarly to how a few members organized our meetings this year, if a topic catches your attention and you deem it appropriate, just write to Maureen Decombe, next year's California Chapter President, president@apldca.org, with two months notice. She will walk you through the simple steps necessary to publicize your event in the calendar and newsletter, ensuring that members throughout the chapter are invited, and the requisite APLD insurance is in place.

Once you have contacted Maureen and have the green light, write a "who, what, where, when, and why" notice in time for posting in the calendar, and voila.  For the past two years Linda and I have sent follow up reminders and made personal phone calls the day before the event. Here are some ideas that you might want to wrap your arms around: Grey Water Systems with the Grey Water Guerillas, Dog Friendly Gardens, Walking Tour to APLD Member Gardens, Field Trips, Design Salons, Plant Success for Droughty Times.

It has been an honor to serve as President of the San Francisco District for the past two years. I will be available as immediate past president, but it's time to devote myself to other exciting projects.

Energizing Your Sales Presentations

By Anne Chilcott, Director of Operations of GardenSoft

You are a card-carrying member of APLD, have taken Plant ID classes, subscribed to the best design journals and have hung on to every word of your mentor. These actions alone will not help you turn over job bids/proposals to signed contracts.

When you meet a potential client, first impressions are lasting:

• Be on time to your appointment; if you cannot, phone the client and let them know you will be X minutes late.
• Dress professionally; this does not mean you need a business suit but jeans you wear in the garden don't work either.
• Be prepared with business cards, examples of completed projects, ideas for the clients to consider (I assume you have gotten an idea what they may want done from a phone conversation such as front yard makeover or back yard patio installation).

Here are my ideas for being prepared:

A laptop computer is helpful as it can store your pictures of completed projects, plant pictures, and landscape pictures, which may include hardscape ideas as well as planting borders, pots, shady spot ideas, or lovely water features.

Bringing a laptop computer to the meeting helps keep you organized since you can eliminate carrying extra books that have lots of post-its, magazines, or torn out pictures.

GardenWorks, a software program for this very reason, is a useful tool in your business. You can store pictures of your finished projects, botanical gardens, lovely planting boxes, bedding plants and hardscape pictures. It is a storage place, connected to a database, for your pictures. It beats looking through folders for that certain picture you want to show to the homeowner or thumbing through a thick photo album.

Included in GardenWorks are 2,000 photos: there are pictures of Mediterranean style gardens, pools, ponds, back yards, fences, trellises, concrete walkways, just to name a few. You can search the 200 different landscape categories to find a particular style, theme, feature, or even create your own category such as outdoor fireplace. Search through the existing library or search only your portfolio.

If you know ahead of time that the homeowner wants a low maintenance garden, you can show them pictures of low maintenance plants on your laptop. You can do this with PlantMaster, our plant database. Use PlantMaster to create lists of:

• Favorite trees

• Favorite shrubs

• Favorite groundcovers

• Favorite drought tolerant perennials, just to name a few.

Show the homeowner your favorite plants so you can narrow down the selection of plants very quickly and easily. You can create a plant portfolio for your clients by printing out a plant legend, plant information sheets and pictures. This can be done easily with PlantMaster.

Being prepared for the consultation with the homeowner translates into more contracts and lets your client know that you are reliable, knowledgeable and professional.

For more information about GardenWorks and PlantMaster, please visit www.gardensoft.com or contact Anne Chilcott by phone: 805-492-0120 or email:  anne@gardensoft.com