Monthly Archives: June 2009

Awards

2009 CLCA Design-Build Award Winner

For the sixth year running we won an award for this year’s 2009 North Coast Chapter California Landscape Contractors Association awards. The awards are a yearly competition of landscape projects in the North Bay in a variety of installation categories. Against some stiff competition, our submission for an outdoor entertaining space in Napa won first place.

The project included a custom Rumford fireplace, Viking gas grill, refrigerator, ice maker and sink cabinet. These elements were integrated into the rear pool area with a beautiful custom concrete tile patio material by Tile and Stone in San Rafael that was installed over new concrete sub-slab. The project was tied together by some amazing custom woodwork done by Wil Matthews at Woodcraft Marin.

Special thanks to the suppliers, sub-contractors, Linda Applewhite & Associates for her great design vision, and of course our client who was a pleasure to work with.

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Materials Information

Water Bowls- Interesting Accents for Fountains

Spilling water bowls are a unique way to incorporate fountains into pools, on top of pillars or in other applications in the landscape. A couple of interesting sources for these:

Grand Effects has a Plantier that incorporates a planter and spilling water bowl for eye catching results.

Fountains Unique also has an interesting line of spilling fountain bowls and many other wall and freestanding fountains that are worth a look.

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General Commentary

Our Refferal Program

Personal relationships with our clients and excellent customer service are two ways we distinguish our company. When customers refer family, friends, or neighbors to O’Connell Landscape they are paying us a great compliment. In appreciation for your referral, we have set up a new thank you program. Just have your referral mention where they heard of us, and when we start the referred client’s landscape project, we’ll contact you to discuss your thank you gift. You can be a past client or simply someone familar with our work, either way, we have established this program to recognize our efforts and pass our name on to other clients.

Our Thank You Gifts
-Dinner for 4 at Buckeye Roadhouse
-A Weekend Get Away for Two at a West Marin B&B
-Or a Napa wine tasting tour

Sustainable Landscapes

Bay Area Source for Rubber Mulch

Rubber mulch is gaining popularity in landscapes as an alternative material to woodchips for play areas and for landscape mulching. Rubber mulch has a higher absorption rate for playgrounds and a good life span when compared to wood mulch. There are some issues with the material, and its important to take into consideration the type of mulch being used. Not all mulches come from the same source and there are some concerns with toxicity of some recycled rubber products.

As with other alternatives like glass mulch, rubber mulch is going to cost 2-3x the cost of wood mulch, depending on the quantity installed.

The Cover Source, out of San Ramon is a good local reseller of rubber mulch that ships straight from the manufacturer is bulk quantites for landscape use.

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Sustainable Landscapes

Smart Controllers Made Easy- Hunter’s Solar Sync

I just had a meeting with our local rep from Hunter Irrigation. We use Hunter Controllers frequently on our projects. They have just launched a new smart controller module, Solar Sync, which adjusts programing for solar exposure, temperature, and rainfall. The multifunction sensor has a sensor for sunlight, can detect freezing temperatures, and turn the controller off in case of rain.

Unlike Hunter’s fancier ET system, the Solar Sync is cost effective and easy to program, with a simple module that adjusts the percent application of irrigation. Just program the controller for what normal watering would be during the hottest month of the year, make a few minor adjustments and the Solar Sync does the rest. Say it is 50 degrees on average during the month March, Solar Sync may only apply 10-20% of the normal maximum watering. The module recalculates the percent application each night, ensuring that plants are watered appropriately.

For more visit Hunter’s Solar Sync page

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