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If you don’t mind, I’d rather not say.  It is in the south-eastern part of the U.S.

Thanks for your comment.
Those plants are also good performers in the western Great Basin, WITH irrigation, of course with our normal 7-10″ annual precip.  Good thing we have some local ordinances that require a certain amount of growth AND irrigation for these things…  Do you any mulch on the ground surface to protect plants from foot and s…[Read more]

If Werner Von Braun could do it, so can you, Roland! “You too may be a big heroOnce you’ve learned to count backward to zero.In German, oder English, I know how to count down,and I’m learning Chinese!”Says Wernher Von Braun
Good luck, buddy – any language expands the mind, and if you listen to Evan Osnos on china, he insists that English is the…[Read more]

Honeylocust, Gro-Low Sumac, Spirea, Sea Green Juniper, and Daylilies are staples here (Midwest). I don’t necessarily approve, but I suppose it’s a fitting boiler-plate palette for boiler-plate buildings. Expanding the palette means topsoil, irrigation, regular maintenance, etc… which Walmart probably isn’t going to spring for, unless the local…[Read more]

I agree with mauiBob.  If you live in the States, Spanish will be much more important than Chinese.  I’m studying Chinese just for the fun of it, but I’m making my kids learn Spanish.

I’ve been studying Mandarin Chinese for over a year now.  I actually use 2 programs.  Rosetta Stone (RS) and Rocket Chinese (RC) (like Pimsluer and Berlitz).  I think you need both.  I go back and forth between the two.
RC is conversational while RS focuses on words and word combinations.  The biggest problem with RS is that sometimes it is diffi…[Read more]

?  =  Entertainment architecture 

20 years.

Stone veneer on a fairly thin and cheap panel ?    How long do you want this to last ?   

Haha… love the @frank gehry!

I think [ = Brutalist.
| = Bauhaus/International.
{ is clearly Moorish.
@ = frank gehry?

In 2009 I had designed a huge Costco parking lot in Los Angeles, and I visited it last week.  I picked out Tristania trees for the little planting cut-outs among the parking spaces, mostly because they were tough and most people would know how to care for them. The results are okay.  The curious thing is among the sixty or so trees planted is h…[Read more]

Indeed.  Great idea!

Maybe you forgot to convert $ to Euros.  I hate when that happens.

Probably the most ambitious at least since the last ‘global’ landscape project….How come most of us never got the RFP for this one? (wink)………no seriously, it would really help my bottom line.

Roland, as someone who has taken a few Chinese classes, I would try to master the phonetics, the 4 tones, and pinyin of Mandarin first before learning any words. If you can’t afford any classes, pick up a book with an audio cd, or go on iTunes and download some pinyin apps. Some apps even have audio clips for you to get your sound right. In…[Read more]

Roland: If it is any more help to you, I was able to find a torrent site and download the complete Rosetta Stone modules for both Spanish and Chinese. I can burn them to a CD and send it to you. Might take a couple of weeks to get to you. You can email me your mailing address here on Land8Lounge if you would like to get a copy.
Landplanner

It’s helpful to get your point of view on this. I can already see this will not be easy just based on the first few lessons on the Berlitz program. As you can probably tell from my answer to Bob, this is something I’m doing partly to improve my chances of getting a job (either at a large firm here that works internationally or at a firm in China…[Read more]

Bob,
I just need something to do when I’m not applying for jobs (almost all of them stateside).  I have so much time on my hands its ridiculous. I’ve done all the things you mentioned to the point that I can’t stand it anymore. I’m also in the process of redoing my portfolio for the fourth time. So, don’t worry, learning Chinese is one thing among many.

My apologies first, I thought the top posting here was yours, then I looked again and it was reigning master of rapier wit here, Dr. McDonald.  I thought for certain it was you Bob. Here is what I first put down.
I read your posting and had to read it twice to make sure that it was the same MauiBob. This sposting of yours might, just might have…[Read more]