FROM THE CHAPTER PRESIDENT
Francesca Corra, APLD
Welcome to the Summer edition of California Landscape Design! Or, ‘CLD’, as we have taken to calling it. This is our first, somewhat delayed, edition since the pandemic has come upon us and life sure has changed, hasn’t it? As a collective group we have faced sickness, death, cancelled wedding plans, cancelled vacations, missing distant family, economic uncertainty…the list goes on. Undoubtedly, we are living through a challenging time. We lost a very beloved member of the APLD family at the beginning of this pandemic and I am sorry that it has taken this long to acknowledge the loss, but I hope you will enjoy the heartwarming tribute to one of our former CA Chapter Presidents as you scroll through this issue.
I have to say that one silver lining has been the coming together of our members throughout all the districts like never before. Distance has always kept many of us apart, and this coming together usually happens only occasionally, at chapter board meetings and sometimes when members travel for larger district events and conferences. We have such a wonderful group of people up and down the state and I have loved seeing you all get to know each other, even if it is just virtually.
The conversations on the groups.io have been outstanding! If you have been enjoying the camaraderie of other APLD members during this time, please consider joining your district or chapter boards. This is the time of year when we start looking to fill positions for 2021. No experience required!
It has been inspiring to see our district leaders working together, first out of the gate to coordinate the Koffee Klatches, and now to present a fabulous array of programming for all to share and benefit from. It has been a disappointment to have to cancel some programming where so much effort was put into organizing. Hopefully all will not have been for naught and we look forward to enjoying the fruits of that work sometime in the future.
We are all racking up our CEU’s right now, so I do hope that you are keeping track and uploading them to the national website. A special shout out to our sponsors, as well, who have reached out and are providing us with some wonderful webinars. If you did not already know it, you can see that our sponsors are an excellent resource for us and are always willing to share their expertise. Our sponsor relationship is very much of a symbiotic one, so do keep them in mind when specifying plants, materials, and products.
As life is constantly evolving, so is that happening now with our CLD. The CA Chapter is proud of this publication and so grateful to Mary Fisher and her daughter Maggie Elias for putting it together these past few years. They are ready now to step down and hand it off to the next person(s) who would be willing to take up the reins. If you think you would be interested in such an endeavor, please reach out to me at president@apldca.org.
Even before the protests started this year, our APLD national president, Eric Gilby, discussed with attendees at the Leadership Symposium in January his goal to make APLD more inclusive. CA Chapter member and a Past President, Amelia Lima, will be chairing this new committee. Anyone that feels committed to this cause should reach out to be a part of the move forward.
One other silver lining to this pandemic has been the astounding number of homeowners that are reflecting on their gardens and finding themselves wanting to make changes and improvements. We truly are essential, as we bring happiness, serenity, and joy to so many people.
Go Forth and Design!
Francesca