Turned Earth

The North Coast Chapter of CLCA presented their 2008 Contractor Awards last week. We were lucky enough to win awards in three categories with some excellent competition.

We won first place for Medium Residential Installation, a recognition award for Medium sized Design-Build project and the Judges award for a Custom Residential project in Tiburon.

The chapter awards are a competition for landscape contractors in Marin, Sonoma, and counties up to the Oregon border. Projects are judged in blind judging process by other CLCA members from other chapters around the state.

Our Portfolio of 2008 Award Winner is Here

We are working on a project in San Rafael for a commercial concrete installation of walkways and patios and installing a new retaining wall and parking area. The concrete area will include space for patios and enclosure for bicycle storage.

One of our Tiburon garden installations has been featured in July's Marin Magazine. The project featured a roof top garden, with green roof installed over a new pool house. The pool house was integrated into the project hillside to give seamless views of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco.

The owner of the project wanted a garden that would replicate her garden before construction of the pool house. She also wanted a design that would give instant impact.

The project was done in coordination with Caletti Jungsten Construction and was designed by Pedersen Associates Landscape Architecture. O'Connell Landscape did the landscape installation and second phase design and installation.

Contractor trucks and equipment consume a fair amount of fuel. While our expenditures on fuel aren't as dramatic as some industries in the transportation sector, we still notice the difference on our truck fleet especially. The cost of diesel for example, has jumped almost a dollar in the past couple of months, to an astonishing price of over $5.00 per gallon in California.


















More information from the EIA

Here are a few images from a very modern garden we did for an Eichler home in Lucas Valley. The colors and textures of the plantings have filled in nicely and given a great a great compliment to the residence. These images are take about a year after the garden was planted.

Detail from a custom arbor project in Tiburon:

Spring is a busy time around here, sometimes it is easy to get wrapped up in spring work. Here are some of the projects we have been working on so far this spring:

Here is a video for a dual sided gas fireplace we are working on completing in San Rafael. The fireplace was installed with a gas burner topped with special fireplace glass, which gives it the appearance of fire on ice.

We are getting close to finishing up this pool courtyard project in San Rafael. Pictured below are an accent water feature, a large wood trellis with masonry pillars and a dual sided gas fireplace. The space is almost ready for outdoor use as we come into spring.

The Chronicle had a small article over the weekend about an interesting electric patio heater with a style different from the typical stainless steel gas patio heaters. Blue Rhino, who will probably most familiar to people as the company that does propane tank exchanges for Barbeques, has a new line of the electric heaters coming out soon that give another option for outdoor heating when gas may not be practical.


Blue Rhino's New Orleans patio heater. Photo courtesy of Blue Rhino Global Sourcing Inc.

We are working on this commercial project for a Pool Courtyard in San Rafael. As part of the renovation we are expanding the existing patio space, installing a new gas fireplace and a central wood trellis. Below are images from before and after the courtyard transformation as the concrete has just been poured-

Doing some research for local suppliers for a statue for a Zen/Asian style garden, we stumbled up Routes Gallery in San Anselmo. Their intimate store front in San Anselmo has all sorts of stone, concrete, and wood Buddhas and other statuary that would work well as garden accents. Definitely worth a look if you need an interesting accent for an Eastern style garden.

Here are a couple of details from some current projects. The first is for an outdoor gas only fireplace, the second a planting plan with images of plantings to be installed.

An amazing video showing how one man from Flint, Michigan is able to move Stonehenge sized concrete lintels alone, using only leverage and other simple mechanisms. Makes our projects moving boulders and trees using equipment seem easy by comparison.

Here is a current project that we are wrapping up in San Rafael. It features a large bluestone patio set in sand. The seams in between the stones will be planted with low creeping Thyme groundcover. Patios set in sand can give a different design look than patios set on concrete. They also allow for future flexibility as the shape of the patio can be fairly easily changed by moving stones. These bluestone pieces are 2" in thickness and set on a compacted baserock subsurface, providing good stability. Having stones of good size (these are 2' x2'), thickness, and with proper base preparation is crucial to having a patio that will be stable over the long term.

Sometimes in retrospect you can look back and be glad in the judgment of having made a correct decision. Our company's decision to switch from Nextel to Verizon a couple of years back was one of these instances. I read with interest in the Wall Street Journal of Sprint/Nextel's huge 30 billion loss in the previous quarter, due largely in part to a write down in the value of the Nextel division. Our company's experience with Nextel has been well chronicled here in the past, and I was in no way surprised to learn of Nextel's difficulties. For the scores of other construction companies who still use Nextel, the question has to be asked, is it time to get off a sinking ship?

We are working on wrapping up this project in Mill Valley that features a granite water wall and Ipe Fencing. Because of the challenging nature of the site topography, the 1,500 pound polished granite fountain piece had to be installed with a forklift and hoist arrangement to lower it into place.


The Ipe fencing for the project consists of two types of fencing- a wall cladding over an existing concrete retaining wall and a solid Ipe privacy fence. The Ipe has been treated with a hardwood stain to bring out its natural color.

Here is a video from a current project we are working on wrapping up in Mill Valley.

Selecting the right landscape light can put a great stylistic accent on a finished landscape. The question becomes which of the many brands of light to select. For our projects we mostly use two manufacturers, FX Luminare and Vista Professional that provide a broad range of landscape fixtures. There are many different manufacturers that offer differing styles or niche products for specialized applications. Here are a few different options for landscape lighting:

FX Luminere: A great selection of high quality copper landscape fixtures. Classic landscape styling and application types.

Vista Professional: A very wide selection of styles, applications, finishes and bulb options including LED landscape lights

Hadco: Specializes more in commercial lighting and fixtures, but does have a residential landscape line tending toward more utilitarian and modern styles.

Unique Lighting: Low voltage landscape fixtures with Brass finishes and craftsman inspired styles.

Kichler Lighting: Makers of light fixtures and landscape lighting fixtures. Landscape line has more variety and ornate and custom fixtures for specialty applications.

Lumiere Lighting: Line and Low Voltage fixtures by this Cooper Lighting subsidiary. The Lumiere line features sleek, modern fixtures in different metal finishes.

BK Lighting: Featuring modern styles and customizable options with many different bulb options.

Hinkley Lighting: Beautiful detailing and metal finishes are available in their landscape line.

Here is an image from a current project we are getting close to wrapping up in Mill Valley. It features a terraced bluestone patio with bluestone capped stucco walls and a tempered glass aluminum safety railing.

This is the time of year where hidden elements like drainage and roofing that go unnoticed most of the year can become the focus of attention. When there are feet of standing water in the crawl space or water pouring through the skylight, their importance become obvious.

We just finished an extensive drainage system for a commercial project where we installed over a thousand feet of drainage line and twenty new catch basins to solve drainage problems around the project site. Having a drainage system that provides a finished solution is an important consideration. Unless the system collects and removes or segregates all the draiange water out of critical areas, it can function to treat the problem but not solve it. For example, a system that pumps water out of a flooded crawl space or basement is less effective and higher maintenance than a French drain or other surface drainage system that stops the water penetration in the first place. Sometimes this type of solution isn't possible due to site conditions or topography. In most cases though, while it may cost a bit more the short run, the system that can most effectively deal with drainage issues is going to perform the best in the long term.

Here is a quick sketch of a couple of detailing options for a wood arbor. Part of the appeal of a custom wood arbor is the variety of detailing that can be done to create a style that fits a project and can coordinate with the house architecture. In the sketch are two basic systems for framing an arbor- either using sandwiched beams around a main support post, or having the beam rest directly on the post.

Here are some photos from a couple of current projects- one in Mill Valley and one in Tiburon that are in progress.

As with any planting, location can be a key factor to the plant's success. As I was walking by an office building today, I noticed a stand of Redwoods planted within feet of an office building's foundation. The trees themselves looked great, and helped to screen the building, but functionally it was clear the trees were misplaced. Half of the tree had to be pruned against the building, leaving them misshapen. Large scale trees may work well in confined spaces when young, but as they grow taller and as their root systems grow more pronounced they can cause significant problems. We have seen this time and again on projects where tree roots are disturbing foundations, and sewer or utility lines.

Practically it makes sense to think about what the tree is being planted to do (screen, provide shade, visual presence etc.) and to take into account its mature size and the needed buffer distance to help prevent problems. Selecting the wrong tree for a particular application can be just as bad. Just ask those with high rooted Birch trees planted in lawns or Liquid Ambar trees planted along sidewalks.

Here is an update to an earlier post, showing a pool courtyard project we are working on. Things have progressed from the initial concept to include a new water feature, fireplace with seat walls, and arbor to create an improved pool and courtyard space.