The latest news is that the Governator wants to end (or curtail, or reduce) licensure for landscape architects. This might save the state of California a bit of money, although we pay enough licensure fees to make up a good portion of whatever it costs to run the program. It’s not like we all getContinue reading “The Governator”
Author Archives: mike
Some thoughts on golf courses
I was at a seminar the other day at a golf course, and was looking at all the energy consuming, toxic lawn. The lawn could probably made less toxic by applying organic growing techniques, it could consume less water if alternate species were used, or if the water applied were captured for reuse. However, itContinue reading “Some thoughts on golf courses”
Sierra fall color
Normally, every year I go and photograph the aspens in fall color, generally around Hope Valley. This year, the photographers’ posts are exceptionally varied. They basically say that it snowed already, the trees are confused and it looks like some of them might skip the color altogether and just fade to brown. It looks likeContinue reading “Sierra fall color”
First thing is the program
Although many people seem to think the first step in designing something is a plan, it should actually be the program from which the plan is generated. I don’t mean the CAD program that will be used to draw the plan, but rather the set of “rules” that the new design should follow. For example,Continue reading “First thing is the program”
Where should the outdoor kitchen go, anyway?
There seem to be two schools of thought for outdoor kitchens: they should either supplement the indoor kitchen, or they should duplicate it. In the supplement option, the kitchen moves smoky or messy functions outside. This obviously applies to grills and barbecues, but can also work with wok rings, wood fired ovens, and other equipmentContinue reading “Where should the outdoor kitchen go, anyway?”
Lawn substitutes
Recently, people have been looking into using alternate varieties of naturally low-growing, evergreen plants. Some are listed as low growing, since their leaves don’t grow very tall, but some of these get flowers that rise well above the leaves, requiring more maintenance. Most have to be planted as plugs (tiny plants) instead of sod orContinue reading “Lawn substitutes”