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Hand drawing is defiantly an art form in our community that is dying a slow death

As was mentioned in one of the responses above, it does kinda seem to depend on a number of factors, not least how good you are and how many skills you bring to the table. In this neck of the woods (Cape Town) things are very ‘clique~y’ and once you get in with a team, you seem to end up working with the same people and developers repeatedly. As…[Read more]

I always used to say that despite being a landscape architect, my landscape was unkempt because it was “like how the pastor’s children are the most lawless”, but I like your analogy much better. I have lots of ideas for my yard, but meeting the needs of the client (my wife) rather than designing for the sake of design has been an issue; along with…[Read more]

Hopefully, someday I’ll have a place where I can experiment with an irrigation system. I’ve done some irrigation plans before, but I have a feeling you understand the whole system better when you install everything yourself.
I guess the veggie garden has given me a chance to try sheet mulching. I used newspaper rather than cardboard under the…[Read more]

Roland,

The recession gave my wife and I (partners in our LA business of 30 years) the time to completely re-landscape our house. We removed all shrubs and groundcovers and all pavement except the driveway. This proved to be important because the grading could be done right (50 years of soil build-up and settling in and around the plants could…[Read more]

“The cobbler’s children have no shoes” accurately describes the cumulative history of my personal residential landscapes…except for the last 6 years that my wife and I have been so fortunate to live in Truckee, CA. Dense forest is our yardscape…and we live in mortal fear of fire every June through October. When not at work, I am one lazy son of a gun!

Ah, Nick, Glad to hear you also joined “the group” of privilaged among those of us who have been pulled over by the res’ patrol. Me, on jet ski having fun while the wife is on the pontoon of friends. I motor up to say hi-ask if she would like to ride, and I get pulled over because I was following too close, another time just to make sure I had the…[Read more]

As a trampolinist, I watched attorneys assault my sport because so many foolish people who did not take the time to understand the apparatus got seriously hurt. I could have, too, but the difference is I prepared myself with proper training. In the public realm, we cannot expect all to be properly prepared or even physically capable of addressing…[Read more]

Mark, I’m in the same boat as well. It appears I missed the study session this past May, and plan on taking the exam in the next month. My email is brs@sikesdesign.net. Thanks for any help you can provide.

And now we really get to it, because I think liability is the core issue for the whole matter. Briefly, regarding the land use side of things, I LOVE the inherent danger = attracitve nuisance thing and I can’t wait for the day a lawyer refers to the Grand Canyon or other park as such. Actually, I suppose that already happens since some areas are…[Read more]

I too use my yard as a testing ground for plant material. 30 years in the trade and I learn something new everyday, particularly with plant life. If you just have a small plot, begin to experiment with all the herbaceous plants out there. Most of their characterisitics will manifest themselves in a relatively short period of time – you could then…[Read more]

Here are some images of my garden before and after.
I believe that a garden is a lab to any LA. We test plants and materials all the time, and we also have a small veg garden.
All images are available at “http://jardimehorta.blogspot.com/” with the history of the garden.

Mark,

I am also looking for study materials for section f and found this thread. I was hoping that you wouldn’t mind sending me the information as well. I know that I am writing a few months later but hope you still have the materials. It would be a great help and I would appreciate it very much as I am looking at taking the exam shortly. My…[Read more]

yep – goes without saying! I consider myself lucky to have a garden at all, it has been a tremendous help to me in professional practice at least in residential work. I often find that I know/understand plants better than my employers.

Jason, I really would enjoy some schematics. Just to give you a little more background on my request. I am currently teaching a class on sustainable design down in Costa Rica. Waste water is a big concern in the area because much of it is piped directly to streams or rivers. There has been some research done on reed bed greywater treatment…[Read more]

Forget the gardener. I sometimes which I could afford a house like my clients or at least half the size of my clients.

I probably won’t be in this apartment for too long, so I also struggled with whether I wanted to invest too much time and money. That’s part of the reason why I went with a veggie garden. At least I get something out of it then.
I relied on pots up until now. It took me a while to figure out how to build the soil in a closed system, but now the…[Read more]

yes, Andropogon’s Sidwell Friends School is an amazing example

http://www.andropogon.com/

-vanessa