Jordan Lockman

I second this comment. This is a discussion that maybe should have happened when you were deciding between Land. Arch and Horticulture at your University. Maybe when deciding against the two year landscape design/hort. course at the local Vocational-tech School.
If you have a LA degree you have spent at least double the amount of time in school as…[Read more]

Now in my yard I am a gardener and I design small portions of my yards separate gardens. I also have been paid to build and design other peoples gardens as part of my job as a Landscape Architect. This does not make me a garden designer it makes me a Landscape Architect that has designed gardens as a subset of the landscape.
 
 

Garden Design is the design of a garden, a garden is grown for the display or use of plants. Where a landscape is the broad surface that makes up our world, earth view/shape. So a landscape is a place where a garden as well as everything else that makes up the built world can happen. No one ever says I am having a landscape party, they say garden…[Read more]

That is a very subjective thing to decide. I know that I like larger/broader curves than some designers install. The best thing would be to layout it out on your plan and try different radii until you find one that works.
 

A license is not a silver bullet that will give you unmeasured wealth, but it gives you more opportunities. I just got licensed last year (7years out of school) so far it has not changed my life much. However I do now have the ability to sign drawings and it allows me do more on my own. So good to have, but I would not stress about getting it…[Read more]

For my thesis I did a theme park. It was fun. In reality though Architects also have their hands in these projects. Another thing is that LA’s are not at all qualified to design the rides as you may know. I found myself using rides from specialty companies templates and treating the rides themselves as any other design element, like a tree,…[Read more]

If you liked Dirr’s “Manual of Woody Landscape Plants”than you will like the “Manual of Herbaceous Ornamental Plants” by Stil. It is laid out the same and is almost identical(It is the equivalent of Dirr’s book in the herbaceous world; annuals, bulbs, etc too). Not a lot of color photos just like Dirr’s book, but really an exhaustive reference…[Read more]

I like PC’s they are not as flashy, but they are more adaptable. Most offices use PC’s and you are presumably training to work in one of these offices. Check with the dept. When I went through, my school required we buy a portable computer and it had to meet the depts. specs. They even had it all printed on a sheet for me. Very straightforward.
I…[Read more]

I think that it is really simple. Use the name Landscape Designer before you get your license and let the goal of being able to call yourself a Landscape Architect be the motivation that gets you through those awful tests…
That is what I did and it was annoying, but I was really motivated… I would also much rather be a landscape designer than…[Read more]

Matt well said!
 

I am struggling with where the $400ish dollars I was spending is going? What is the benefit for paying this fee? I want to sign up again, but I can’t get my wife to let me spend the crazy amount of money on the fee.

It WAS not unethical, just not “professional”. The same went for hospitals, lawyers, colleges, architects, etc. I wonder if it is the baby boomers that changed that. Since over my lifetime you have heard a more steady increase of professionals advertising.
 
I think that we can advertise or market anyway that we want to now.

I like it. Funny, how common sense it is. If your soil is compacted you may need to till, but tilling loose soil makes it more compacted. One of those strange places between agriculture and landscape architecture.
I am experimenting in my veggie garden with no or minimal tilling and it seems to work well when there is a bed that was previously…[Read more]

A couple things that I have found.
First of all I am not sure that you need to send out a whole giant portfolio to everyone. I know that some people send out a “teaser sheet” and that works really well. One sheet that shows quick examples of your work with an option to send more, if someone is really interested.
 
If you are finding a lot of…[Read more]

I agree that it is not needed, but in a field where you are only as good as your PR it never hurts to have another set of letters.

After going through the time and commitment to do the LARE Exams my family has banned me from tests for a while. However if I were to take the tests I would do the ND test.
 

ND is fairly new in the last year.

It works really well to visit the counties site and see what is inventoried on site, find plat information, ownership of neighbors, topo, etc. In college I took multiple classes working with GIS and they all focused on creating gis. When in reality it appears that GIS like so many other things we learn is someone elses domain and we are just…[Read more]

You still need to do a trenched edge along the sidewalk or hardscape, but otherwise double edging is just a waste…

My neighborhood playground that my son goes to has a 6″ concrete  curb running around it to hold the sand in. It Seems to work well.