California Landscape Design

We jumped in with both feet ...

Sometimes, you just have to jump in with both feet, as my colleague Mim Michelove and I discovered when we started Grab & Grow Gardens last April.  

The COVID-19 quarantine had just begun. News reports showed block-long lines of cars waiting for bags of free food distributed by local hunger relief agencies. The organizations were, and continue to be, a county-wide safety net for desperate people who lost their jobs and could no longer pay rent, pay bills, or afford food.  

Mim and I are both involved in food and hunger issues.  She is founder and CEO of Healthy Day Partners, a nonprofit that works on health and food equity issues, creates educational farms and gardens, and promotes healthy eating for children and their families. I’ve been involved in food systems since my college days. In fact, several episodes of my TV show, A Growing Passion focus on food systems, food deserts, hunger issues, and related topics.  

A late-night phone call between Mim and myself quickly turned into a brainstorming session that birthed Grab & Grow Gardens. It occurred to us that food deserts (areas without supermarkets or other places to buy fresh food) are also nursery deserts. So people who have the skills for and/or interest in growing vegetables don’t have access to seeds or seedlings. 

To us, people growing their own vegetables just makes sense – it’s a way to feed their families, an activity for parents to share with out-of-school children, a focus for seniors in seclusion, an opportunity for children to learn where food comes from, and a tools for self-sufficiency. 

We envisioned Grab & Grow Garden “kits” of seedlings with simple directions in English and Spanish for growing on a patio, balcony, or the front porch.  

Completed in 2020, the Las Virgenes-Triunfo JPA Pure Water Sustainability Garden located in Calabasas, California is a 7,700 square foot series of garden “classrooms.” The Urban Water Group developed the conceptual design, provided landscape architectural services, and created content for the comprehensive educational signage program and website pages.

The project was commissioned by the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District as part of its Pure Water Demonstration Facility, the precursor to a cutting-edge water purification plant. This plant will provide the means for testing different purification systems and training operators. Additionally, visitors will be allowed to view the process in action. 

This commitment to public education led to the Pure Water Sustainability Garden, which surrounds the Facility and contains fifteen distinct rooms as well as an amphitheater.  Each room has an informative sign that explains the primary – although not the only – purpose of the space, with QR codes to website pages where visitors can view educational videos, browse supporting content, and download plant lists.

Qualified Professional Members

A landscape designer who engages in the practice of landscape design for monetary compensation and contains more than 3 years of professional landscape design experience. Documentation of education and experience is required.

Christian Douglas
Christian Douglas Design (DBA) for The Backyard Farm Co, Inc (registered name with SOS)
San Rafael, CA

Lorri Hart 
Clear The Way Landscape Design 
Napa, CA

Professional Members

A landscape designer who engages in the practice of landscape design for monetary compensation and contains more than 3 years of professional landscape design experience. Documentation of education and experience is required.

Rania Affan
Odeh Affan Design
Millbrae, CA

Kimberly Emmen 
Harmony Landscape Design
Paso Robles, CA

Eric Saline 
Wild Made Design 
San Diego, CA

Lindsay Mugglestone
Berkeley, CA

Emerging Professional Members

An individual who has been practicing landscape design for one to three years and is starting a career in landscape design. Membership requires affirmation of education and experience, but not documentation.

Farah Saquib
Santa Ana, CA

Student Members

An individual who is actively enrolled, on a full or part‐time basis, in a landscape design, landscape architecture or horticulture program. Membership is limited to five years of membership at this level and proof of enrollment must be submitted.

Penny Betts, Bay Area District

Lisa Templeton, Bay Area District

Samuel Erickson, Greater LA District

Kathleen West, Greater LA District

Megan Berndt, Greater LA District

Q: How did I hear about APLD?

A: Last Winter, when I was studying to get my certificate as a sustainable landscape designer, I was searching online for a professional body that represents landscape designers. I came across the flyer for APLD membership which I put on my calendar, to join as soon as I got the certificate in my hands. Even if I hadn’t come across it at that point, during one of our subsequent classes at Saddleback Community College, we were told about APLD and that it would be a good idea to join it as an emerging professional.

I have to say that I am really happy I joined it. It is a tremendous resource for us.

Q: What environmentally sustainable concepts do you apply to your landscape design practice?

A: I got trained as a sustainable landscape designer. My initial reason to get into the program was my interest in Permaculture, which I practiced on my own garden. I was already a firm believer in sustainability. I believe as designers we cannot afford to take a back seat on the issues facing the planet, especially where we can influence and educate. I and my partners, push native plants whenever possible. We always try to add a water harvesting/conservation feature in all the designs we work on. I am also QWEL certified.

Q: Who or what inspires you?

A: Too many people inspire me. Mostly I am drawn to very clean, modern minimalist designs.

I am also inspired by Geoff Lawton, and what he and others like him are doing to for sustainability.

Q: How did you find out about APLD and what led you to join? 

A: I found out about APLD, through your publication on watershed landscaping. I started teaching part-time last year at Cal Poly in the Environmental Horticulture department and I used the publication as a guide to teach a landscape course. I was led to join because I wanted to support the organization and because it provides the students a professional organization to join.

Q:  What environmentally sustainable concepts do you apply to your landscape design practice?

A: I am not a practicing landscape designer, but I am teaching landscape design and was previously a landscape designer and contractor for many years. On a broad scale, the key sustainability concepts I teach are for students to see themselves as both horticulturalists and conservationists and to see landscape projects as opportunities to not only beautify the environment for people but to see them as opportunities to conserve natural resources. 

 Q:  Who or what inspires you?

A: I am inspired by the students in my classes and by nature. The students are very bright and are wanting to make a tangible difference in the world. Nature inspires me because it is being threatened and we must do all we can to protect and restore it.

Q: How did you find out about APLD and what led you to join?

A: I first heard about The Association of Professional Landscape Designers a few years ago when a sustainable house I designed in Santa Monica was on an APLD tour. The garden was designed by talented APLD member, Susanne Jett of Jettscape Landscapes and so she was actually my initial intro.

In November of last year APLD held an amazing zoom conference on Biodiversity in Los Angeles and I decided to sign up at that time. I was glad I did; it was a very well-organized, topical and timely conference, the best I have been to in years.

Q: What environmentally sustainable concepts do you apply to your landscape design practice?

A: I am a building architect and a Fellow of the AIA, but I am also deeply interested in landscapes - primarily because I believe you can’t design a house without considering the whole site. This of course extends not only to the landscaping, but to the surrounding environment including wind currents, neighbors, views and outdoor spaces. I suppose that the most impactful way I influence the landscapes of the houses I design is by deciding early on the location of stormwater collection and its on-site use. This includes not only water collection but greywater use. I also consider the neighbor-friendly location of trees and solar features to avoid conflicts.

Native plants are also a big consideration with me. My own home has been on the Theodore Payne Garden Tour five times. In my garden I collaborated with Jettscapes, Heytanks, Honeylove, and many other forward-thinking experts to achieve an ecologically balanced, sustainable, attractive and “critter friendly” yard. Currently, a CalState LA graduate student is doing research in my garden comparing the habitat value of a native garden (mine) to a neighboring conventional garden. In ½ hour, the student counted 45 birds and 12 different species in my yard. In the neighbor’s, she counted just 1.

Q: Who or what inspires you?

A: I am inspired by nature itself and by the people who understand, value and fight to keep nature an integral part of our lives. I am currently a member of the Community Forest Advisory Committeee in the City of Los Angeles and was appointed to this position by my Councilmember. This group is fighting to protect mature trees and improve conditions in the City for newly planted trees, the important and necessary habitats they provide, and ultimately, for the citizens who will reap the benefits.

I have also been developing building prototypes and principles that demonstrate how houses/housing can be built while also integrating habitat into the design. The City of Los Angeles is up-zoning. I am working to make sure that as our city densifies, we preserve spaces for nature so that all residents can enjoy its benefits and so that the City can become an oasis in which nature thrives. Doing this work is, in itself, an inspiration for me.