Activity

I suspect that there is room for both native and non-native plants in the landscape.  People get tired of the same old thing over and over again.  So mix it up -why limit yourself to one camp or the other?  Just remember the plants that have stood the test of Father Time in your area are the natives. 
 
s.

Housing was a big problem here a few years ago as vacation homes were selling like hot cakes and being flipped left and right. Few people rented out homes to year ’round workers because they could rent out by the week in the summer and save a couple of weeks for their own use and get the same money. There was a big shortage of labor, so many…[Read more]

A person close to the situation told me today that the number being floated was $20k, but I don’t know if that was speculation or fact.

Massachusetts has a state law that requires each town to strive for 10% affordable housing. Affordable housing is defined by rent or mortgage payments that is based on a percentage of the mean income of that particular town. If that is not met, there is a program called 40B where any developer can get zoning relief if he makes 25% of the…[Read more]

Wow!

Yes, we did do that.  The project, surprisingly is going on its 15th year and still looks great.  Thank you. : )

Sure, but I am Design Build– so you will need to have good graphic skills and a CDL!  Ha!

Thanks Elizabeth. Actually I also failed in the area of creating 2 significantly different plans. All of my other areas I got 1’s on. I recently read here in this forum that you can’t have any 2 elements in the same place, and I would bet that this is where I fell short.
 
As for the written portion, it amazes me that one of the graders could be…[Read more]

Are you hiring?? I want a boss like you!!!!!

Judy, is failing the written portion the only item keeping you from passing? i had a similar experience last fall. When i took the redline review and saw that i’d gotten a ‘3’ on the ‘predicting environmental impacts’ portion i was floored. I went through the grading criteria listed, and saw that my written portion listed every one of those items,…[Read more]

Although this looks pretty promising: “Tijuana Estuary Visitor Center”

I have taken Section C 4 times. Admittedly, I realized that I was not prepared at first for the parking configurations. I don’t do this often at my firm, but have practiced and have that down. Having recently failed again, I am stumped as to what I am missing in the part that deals with explaining how the design impacts environmental quality and…[Read more]

Amen Gene.  How about those of us who started firms with the attitude that we would never treat employees the way we were treated?  I’ll bet there are a lot of us out there.

Vote with your feet, I did when I opened up my firm. I decided that I was no longer going to work as I was. I have striving to make my employees lives as good as they desire.  I started oout with $1,500 in my pocket and worked out of a 8×15 foot space for the first six months and that was 23 years ago.  Unions will only decide how much your s…[Read more]

Well my work is too specialized to be pertinent (does an African Savanna at the Dallas Zoo using mostly Texas natives count? – and since they are West Texas natives I can’t even see it as a native landscape in Dallas)… but the California Academy of Sciences’ native landscape is a more appropriate local example.
Perhaps not local enough for you,…[Read more]

Ha!  Lee that is hilarious.!  I propose Brother Martin for union president!

I completely agree with you on this Ami.  I stress this point to the principal that we will get left behind in this economy if we don’t make a fundamental shift in our philosophy.  However, he takes the position that, he doesn’t want to take the responsibility 5 years down the road when the landscape is in dire shape, which I can’t really blame h…[Read more]

We should buy a golf course?

Maybe I was thinking about this all wrong:
 
http://www.startribune.com/sports/golf/116783973.html
 

Or a MINI.  I firmly believe that landscape architects have a better feel for how people perceive outdoor space, how to  enrich the experience of being out of doors, have a better understanding of the negative space between buildings than any other profession. We are also more in touch with the nuances of space and how space is perceived, and used…[Read more]