June 30, 2005
Landscape Transformations- Before & After
One of the great things about the design-build process of landscape construction is we get to take the projects from start to finish. We get to see some great transformations, and have a lot of fun with clients transforming their old yards into beautiful gardens in the process. It may sound like lip service, but few other segments of this or any industry allow that great client interaction. Each project is different and each has it owns challenges, which leads to interesting design and construction solutions for each project we complete.
Below are 3 recently completed projects with Before/After pictures.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)
June 29, 2005
Garden Web Resources & Links
Below is a list of websites for Reference and for local suppliers in the Marin County, California area (and beyond) for garden related products and services. (Check our newest updates, we update this list frequently!) We make no endorsement or recommendation of the products and services below, these links are informational purposes only.
Automatic and Wood Gates
Gate Depot
Charles Prowell Woodworks
Hardware Rennaissance- Beautiful Custom Gate and Door Hardware
Van Dykes Restorers- Gate and other Restoration Hardware
Horton Brasses- More Gate Hardware
Rocky Mountain Hardware
Barbeque Islands and Outdoor Cooking
NPT Modular Barbeque Systems
Cal Flame- Modular and Prefabricated Barbeque Islands from Cal Spas
OLP- Outdoor Living Products Modular Islands
U-Line- Refrigerators and Outdoor Icemakers
Viking Range- Premium Grills and Refrigerators
Lynx Professional Grills- Premium Grills
Barbeques Galore
Kalamazoo Gourmet Barbeque Islands
DCS- Dynamic Cooking Systems Barbeques
Outdoor Fireplaces
Heat n' Glo
OLP Modular Fireplaces
CalFire Modular Fireplaces
Rumford Fireplaces
Building Supply
Golden State Lumber
Rafael Lumber
Jackson's Hardware
Home Depot
Lowes
OSH- Orchard Hardware
Restoration Hardware
Concrete & Mortar Colors
Davis Colors
Scofield
Decking
Trex Composite Decking
Evergrain Composite Decking
Mataverde Ipe (Brazilian Hardwood) Decking
Engineering & Surveying Firms (Marin)
ILS Engineering
JL Engineering
Fencing
Feeney Cable Rail -Architectural tensioned railing systems
Master Halco - Metal Fencing
Fencing Link Guide- From USA Architecture
Greenscreen- Architectural metal trellis and modular fencing material
McNichols- Manufacturer of Wire Fence Products
Decor Cable- Cable Railing Systems
Ameristar Metal Fencing
Garden Care
Ehow.com- garden care information
San Francisco Bay Area Gardens, Landscape Architecture & Design
Gardenvisit.com-Extensive articles and photographs from all over the world
Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross
Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma
Sunset Display Garden in Menlo Park
San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboreum, Golden Gate Park
San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers- Don't miss the Japanese Gardens, De Young Museum and others in Golden Gate Park
Hakone Japanese Gardens in Saratoga
Elizabeth Gamble Garden in Palo Alto
Ruth Bancroft Gardens in Walnut Creek
Filoli Estate in San Carlos
UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens
Quarry Hill Botanical Garden in Glen Ellen
The Gardens at Heather Farm in Walnut Creek
(thanks to Ruth Bancroft Gardens links page)
Lighting
Vista Professional Lighting
FX Luminare
Kichler Lighting
Lamps Plus - Low Voltage and Indoor-Outdoor Lighting Products
B-K Lighting
Links to Garden Links
Sloat's Garden Links
Landscape Contractor National Magazine- Product Search
Irrigation Supply
Horizon Irrigation
Ewing Irrigation
Urban Farmer
County of Marin & Other Municipalities
County of Marin GIS Maps- Giving a wide range of geographic information for projects of all sizes
County of Marin Assessors Parcel Number Lookup- use this tool to find your Marin Assessor's Parcel Number (APN)
Marin Assessor's Parcel Map-Once you have found the APN, lookup the Assessor's Parcel Map with this tool
Community Development Department- Find information on permits and building requirements for everything from "tear-downs" to fences
Marin County Local Governments Guide- From Marin.org
City of San Rafael Community Development
City of Novato Community Development
City of Larkspur Planning
Kent Woodlands Property Owners Association- For projects in Kent Woodlands area of Kentfield
City of Mill Valley Planning
Town of Ross Building & Planning
Town of San Anselmo Planning
Town of Corte Madera Planning
Town of Tiburon Planning
City of Sausalito Planning
Outdoor Furniture & Sculpture
Frellens Furniture
Patio World
Gardenside Teak Furniture
Outdoor Decor
Smith & Hawkin
Pacific Blue Traders- At Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma
A New Leaf Gallery- Sculpture and Fountains- Sonoma at Cornerstone Gardens
Artefact Design and Salvage- at Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma
The Wooden Duck- wood furniture in Berkeley
Pavers
Basalite Pavers
McNear Brick and Block
Calstone Pavers
Paver Depot- Great Photos and Paver Information
PaveTech
Stepstone Inc. Modern looking precast concrete stepping stones and pavers
Plant Databases and Information Sources
Cal Flora Plant Database
Cal Flora Photos
Floridata -Large Florida Base Plant Database
USDA Plant Information
About.com -Gardening and
Plant Guides and Information
Plant Ideas-Plant articles and information
Sunset Magazine- Gardening Articles and Information
Scotts Fertilizer and Lawn Products- Fertilizer and Gardening Information
Plants- Nurseries Informational
Native Sons Nursery- California Native Plant Information and Articles
San Marcos Growers- Plant Database and Useful Information
Monterey Bay Nursery- Large plant Photo Database and information
Monrovia Growers- Plant and Gardening Information
Las Pilitas Nursery- Native Plant Information and Photos
Annies Annuals
Emerisa Gardens
Plants- Retail Nurseries
Sloat Garden Centers
Armstrong Garden Centers
Sunnyside Nursery in Marin
Sprinkler Manufacturers and Information
Toro
Rain-bird
Hunter
Stone-Tile Supply
Bay Area Bluestone- Bluestone Supply Shipped from the East Coast
Shamrock Materials
American Soil Products
Wheeler Zamaroni
Lyngso Garden Materials
Arizona Tile
Echeguren Slate- San Francisco
Stone Veneers
El Dorado Stone- Manufactured Stone Veneer
Cultured Stone
Rox Natural Stone Venners
Synthetic Putting Greens/Lawns- See this post
SynLawn Golf
Southwest Greens
Golfscaper
Players Turf
Wall Systems
Allan Block Retaining Wall Systems
Versa-Lok Retaining Wall Systems
Keystone Retaining Wall Systems
Water Features & Statuary
Oreq Corporation- Makers of Pool and Water Feature Accessories
Jandy- More Pool and Water Feature Accessories
Magic Planter: Fountains & Art in Sausalito
Florence & Italian Art Company
Al’s Garden Art
Aquascape Designs: Waterfalls and Liner Systems
Longshadow Planters
Nichols Brothers Stoneworks
A. Silvestri & Co. Statuary- Manufacturer- San Francisco, CA
Trevi- Manufacturer- Las Vegas, NV
Stonesmith Garden Vessels (SVG)- Manufacturer- Santa Fe, NM
Stone Forest- Manufacturer- Cambria, CA
Absolute Statuary and Fountains- Retailer in Sebastopol, CA
La Villeta- Pottery and Outdoor Accessories in Sonoma
Watering Information
East Bay Municipal Water District- Articles and Watering Information
Wood Care Products- See this post for more info
Flood Company
Behr
Cabot Stains
Let us know if you can't find what you are looking for in this list, or if you have a suggestion for an addition.
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 09:09 AM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2005
More Choices in Wood Decking
We frequently receive questions about what the best material to use for new decking. There are several products out on the market, each with their own benefits and drawbacks:
Redwood, Cedar: These two softwoods are traditionally used for wood decking. They have a nice appearance, but require staining and upkeep to look their best. Because they are softwoods they also weather and eventually rot faster than some alternatives.
Composite Decking: Composite or Plastic Decking is a synthetic product made of a composite of wood particles and plastic. Is requires much less maintenance than traditional softwoods, and is rated for a longer life span. The drawback of the composite decking is its appearance. While new technologies and products are available that are more realistic looking, they still do not fully approach the beauty of natural wood.
Hardwood Decking: Brazilian Walnut (also known as Ipe or Pau Lope) is a tropical hardwood that is several times stronger, denser and heavier than softwoods. It is highly fire resistant and has great structural properties. Unfortunately it is also the most expensive of the three options. The wood has a beautiful appearance stained (like that of a fine interior hardwood floor) but requires continual repeated staining in exposed areas (once per year). If the wood is not stained it can be treated with a wood seasoner (Seasonite) and allowed to turn silvery gray (think weathered teak).
A Decking Article from Bob Villa
-Mataverde Ipe (Brazilian Hardwood) Decking
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2005
A Better Way to Treat Aphids
We recently received a call from one of our newly completed landscape projects. They were calling to express concerns that aphids were eating their newly installed landscape plants. As such, they wanted us to spray to stop the infestation.
This reminded me of an interesting book that I read on permaculture, Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway. In the book he explains, "Insects that feed on plants reproduce at staggering rates, quickly surging to astronomical numbers. But the insects that prey on these pests reproduce more slowly and are far fewer in number." He goes on to say, "that predators always occur in much smaller numbers than their prey and the predator we are looking for is ladybugs [in the case of aphids]". The problem with ladybugs is that just about the time the ladybugs reach the numbers necessary to control the aphids, the gardener notices the outbreak and sprays insecticide. This kills most of the aphids and the ladybugs. The fast breeding aphids recover within a few weeks, but the ladybugs that have no food until the aphids are in good supply, remain at critically low numbers. Just when the ladybugs feeding on the small population of aphids begin to breed again, a gardener sees that some aphids are still out there. Fearing another plague he sprays again, really hammering the struggling ladybugs. As Hemenway sumises, “A few rounds of the cycle and the ladybugs are all dead, while some aphids are bound to survive."
This is why we need to practice patience when spraying insecticides. Sometimes we have to let nature take its course and that means having to tolerate aphids on our roses in order to give the predators a chance to kill the infestation. Sometimes spraying is not the answer, patience is.
Posted by John O'Connell at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)
Oil Prices & Energy Sustainability
With oil hitting $60 per barrel, one has to hope that eventually we will push for more sustainable energy sources on the small and large scale. The difficult thing to know is where we stand with our current oil based economy.
I have been following this issue closely for the past few months and the predictions give a wide range of possible scenarios. Some experts say that we reached a peak in oil production and that as the lines of supply and demand cross, with no extra production to fill the gap, that we will see a spike in oil prices. A few months back analysts at Goldman Sachs forecast the possibility of $100+ oil in the near future. That would obviously have severe ramifications for the US and world economies.
Conversely, US agencies such as the USGS and EIA (Energy Information Administration) predict oil supplies that will not peak until sometime between 2020-35. This is truly a different forecast than the pessimistic forecasts of the more conservative energy experts.
Unfortunately, it seems the only way we will know any thing conclusive is after we have gone past peak production. What we do not know is if there will be a prolonged plateau instead of a peak, when the peak will happen, and what other energy sources (Natural Gas, Nuclear, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Wind or Solar) will be able to pick up some or all of the slack.
We do know that US production has peaked (early 1970's) from around 10 million barrels of production a day to a current production of 5 million barrels. It is from this peak that many forecasters predict the world oil peak (using a model know as Hubbert's Peak).
This is a very interesting subject for us. Obviously our fixed business costs and stream of work would be adversely impacted by such scenarios as $100 oil in the near future. It will be fascinating to see how it plays out.
The organization ASPO predicts that oil production will peak around 2007.
Copyright Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas Newsletter
Oil Links:
EIA
Hubbert's Peak
Goldman Sachs "Is There Life after $60/bbl?"
Google News Oil Prices
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 08:13 AM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2005
David Allen- Learning Blackbelt Productivity
Here is another great resource that has been influential in our office that has helped us increase effectiveness and efficiency. Author and productivity master David Allen's books Getting Things Done and Ready for Anything give a great system for organizing everything that needs to get done in a system that works. Allen's basic tenet- get things out of your head (or your ineffective system) and into systematized processes that work consistently and effectively.
One of the things that differentiates Allen is that the books go beyond the theory of "Getting Things Done," he walks you through the processes with some great tools. The tools are as simple as a basic tickler file to make sure you don't forget your dentist appointment on Monday, to more advanced gadgets like his firm's Getting Things Done Plugin for Microsoft Outlook.
As you can tell we are big fans. Find out more at the David Allen Company website or read David Allen's blog for more information.
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2005
Postcards from the Road
Well this is a feat of our mobile technology. I am posting this entry from I-5 on my Blackberry. We made the jump from regular Nextel Phones to Blackberries for our management staff. It has made keeping track of emails and meetings a breeze. It beats the days when we used to haul around a laptop and cell phone with data connection to check mobile email.
We have always been early adopters at our firm. We had some of the first digital cameras for consumers on the market and we were one of the first firms with a website in our industry and area.
It sure shows have computers have advanced from unstable and bug ridden machines, to stable and powerful communications tools.
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 07:57 PM | Comments (0)
CLCA Awards
I attended the California Landscape Contractor Awards Last night (CLCA) for our region, which includes Marin and Sonoma County. We were fortunate to win an award for a design-build project we completed this last year. There was a lot of tough competition and beautiful projects. See photos of the project below.
Brazilian Hardwood Deck and Cable Railing
Arizona Flagstone Entrance Pathway and Deck
Brazilian Hardwood Entrance Gate and Arizona Stripstone Wall
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2005
Charles Prowell Woodworks
Wanted to share a great woodworker I found in an Internet search, Charles Prowell Woodworks out of Sebastopol in Sonoma County. A great website and beautiful detail and artistry (see gate below). We haven't used them in one of our projects yet, but the next time we have a client who wants a high quality gate or craftsmen fence we will give them a call.
http://www.prowellwoodworks.com/
Image from Prowell Woodworks Website
http://www.prowellwoodworks.com/gate/g_20.htm
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2005
Service Headache
Sometimes it seems like companies are just trying to beat off their customers with a stick. Take for example one of our large stone suppliers. Every time there is an adventure in itself; changing policies, incorrect billing, incompetent and untrained employees. The list goes on and on. We spend tens of thousands of dollars with this vendor every year. What it does do is make us do it look for other outlets for stone products and use the service oriented companies whose price may be a bit higher.
It's something that we notice with contractors as well. Working with another contractor on a recent project was a frustrating experience. After unanswered calls and missed meetings it wasn't a hard act to follow to look great in the eyes of our client.
Not to be overly promotional, but this is something we try to stress as a point of difference. With cell phones and Blackberries quick and seamless response has become even easier. I just wish many of the other companies we deal with had the same emphasis.
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2005
Great Planning Software
Wanted to share a great planning tool that we use in our office for brainstorming, planning and to-do lists. The software is MindManger by MindJet located locally here in Larkspur http://www.mindjet.com/. The software allows you to quickly brainstorm, lay out visually to do lists and planning. It also works well as it integrates directly into Microsoft Office and Outlook. We use it throughout our company for planning purposes and recommend it for anyone looking for a great planning tool. There is a full feature 21 day trial available on the MindJet website.
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 01:22 PM | Comments (1)
June 21, 2005
Filoli Visit
Upon returning from Filoli today in Redwood City the trip was well worth the visit. The estate is well cared for especially considering that it is maintained by the State. There was plenty of staff making sure the garden looked its best.
The estate itself is a Georgian Mansion, which to me did not jive with the mixed Oak Woodland of the peninsula where it is located. But I was not there to see the Mansion.
The garden was a great mix of plantings, hardscape and water features and I would recommend them to anyone wanting to visit a great garden in the Bay Area. It is clear why Filoli is considered one of the great estate gardens of California.
See the photos below, and I will work on a larger gallery for our Gardens and Parks Section
http://www.oclandscape.com/gardens/gardens.htm
Filoli http://www.filoli.org
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 07:09 PM | Comments (0)
Filoli
I am on my way today to Filoli, or Fight Love and Live. It is a renoun garden on the Peninsula founded by gold mining barons. Filoli is a compound version of owner William Bowers Bourn II motto “Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life.” Find out more about Filoli at their website http://www.filoli.org/. I will post pictures in our Great Parks and Gardens Section of our portfolio upon our return.
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)
Turned Earth Our New Blog
Welcome everyone to Turned Earth, O'Connell Landscape's blog page. Here you will find commentary on landscape related items, brief articles and notes on questions we receive from clients, and other garden oriented materials.
So Please enjoy!
Michael O'Connell
Posted by Michael O'Connell at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)