Collaborators Wanted for Landscape Installation
One of the top questions we receive here at Theodore Payne Foundation is “Who should I hire to make my garden a reality?” I am here to tell you that I am in a similar position: I am ready to start my own home garden, but who do I hire? I decided to take this opportunity to test out our new job board, a free service that connects the public with landscape professionals.
The Backstory: My family moved into our new home about a year ago and we were especially excited about the landscape potential. After ripping out the usual mish-mash of desert and subtropical flora that graces so many SoCal homes, we planted a micro-farm with wildflowers as a placeholder while we sketched out our vision for the future.
Making the Vision a Reality: Now that the veggies and wildflowers are done for the season, we’re ready to install a native plant garden. And we need to hire someone to help make this a reality! Could you be the perfect collaborator for this project? What I bring to the table is an evolving vision, horticultural knowledge, and a loose design for our 800-square-foot front yard in the historic West Adams district of Los Angeles. We are looking for someone who can help finalize the design through a collaborative process and install the garden. We are looking for the installer to supply all hardscape and irrigation materials as well as the labor required to prepare and install the landscape. I would provide the plant material and pay for its installation. The yard is south facing, flat, and the soil is a beautiful sandy loam (a soil report can be provided to installer for reference). Some features we are looking for include a rain garden/swale (gutters were installed last year), an irrigation system, installation of medium size boulders and timbers for play, a small section of native lawn alternative, and a design that creates bird habitat. We want the garden to be an extension of our home and a place for the kids to play and enjoy summer afternoons.
I have been gardening and growing plants for 15 years, and feel that the best gardens always come from collaborative pursuits where varying perspectives receive their due inclusion and our vision is grounded in reality. I think I actually will make a decent client for someone out there because I understand the process of landscaping and the pacing—things don’t happen overnight!
For anyone reading this blog that may need help with a project, I encourage you to post your job here! For those of you who are PEP members interested in applying for this or other jobs related to landscaping, check out the job board listings where I have posted this opportunity. Finding a gardener shouldn’t be that hard, and we are here to help connect those in need with those who have the skills to make gardens a reality.
Ready to post your job? Check out the Job Description Writing Guide to get the best results in your search.
See you on the Job Board!
—Tim Becker, TPF Director of Horticulture
Hello! Thanks for the great work you are doing. I think it’s wonderful to train new folks in this field.
If your students want information on becoming a landscape contractor, please feel free to hit me up. I’ve been a landscape designer and installer for 12 years and became a contractor around 5 years ago. Legally in CA you have to be a contractor to do this work. The CSLB is not the greatest system and I’m not advocating it…it’s just easy for installers to get into trouble legally…as I know from experience. I’m happy to share how I became a licensed CA-27 if you ever need!
Hello yes I would love to have a conversation with you!!
Hi there, you can find Tim’s job listing and apply on our Job Board here.
Hi! Would love to connect with you!
Julia
[phone number removed]
Hi Julia, you can find Tim’s job listing and apply on our Job Board. Check it out!
Dear Tim,
Thank you for kicking off this program by reaching out for collaboration on your own home garden…I have some thoughts already.
The recent history of your front yard suggests that a lot of organic amendments were added. As part of your regrading for stormwater capture, it might be a good idea to move that enriched topsoil away from where you want to plant drought-tolerant natives that are healthier when grown in poorer soil.
For the ease of moving through a gate opening – especially with equipment like green bins, wheelbarrows, and ladders – it’s best to have at least the last few feet of pathway approach it ~perpendicularly, rather than obliquely.
Photinia [Heteromeles] arbutifolia (Toyon) is unlikely to be approved as a street tree by the City of Los Angeles Urban Forestry Division because of its low-branching habit and small canopy size. You and they could consider a standard (i.e., limbed-up single-trunk) Lyonothamnus floribundus aspleniifolius (Fernleaf Ironwood), however, which grows much taller and wider (thereby providing more ecosystem services, as a native) while still appropriate for your narrow parkway because it has very low root-heaving potential (i.e., it won’t break and lift pavement that is a few feet away, even when mature size).
Quercus engelmannii (Mesa Oak) grows on dry mesas, inland from your location, and will likely suffer from fungal diseases if planted within a wet basin at your house – ideally, a rain garden would be inundated every few weeks [N.B. you’re going to need a very large rainwater tank for that] with its wet basin located just beyond this tree’s dripline so that its roots can reach outward/downward to persistent groundwater in summer, mitigating its natural drought deciduous habit. Under good conditions, Mesa Oak will grow up to 2’ per year, to ~50’ in diameter in a generation or two, so a rain garden would need to keep moving away from its trunk apace. Designing a movable rain garden would be an interesting challenge….
Best regards,
Mike
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Michael G. Terry
Garden Ambassador
California Native Plant Society
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Mike, salient advice. Do you do consults as part of your profession? If so, how May we contact?
Hi Les,
Thank you for your patience – I didn’t get a notification that you had posted questions for me and I just happened to check back with this blog today…busy times….
The answer to your first question is: “Yes.”
The answer to your second question is: “Please post your project on the Job Board.” I’ve been a little better checking back in that forum, more regularly, and it’s set up for people to connect with each other directly (e.g., over email – my address is michaelgterry@hotmail.com).
Best,
Mike
Tim, this is so cool! Interestingly, my son, daughter-in-law, and 2 kids moved into their new home in Monrovia last November. They have a similar front yard, though they have a lovely western sycamore on one side of the front path. They are letting their St. Augustine lawn die, and we are planning a garden. They have little time, no experience with gardens or plants, and very little disposable income to hire people. Soooo, we are going to muddle through this ourselves. We plan to use overhead sprinklers – changing the heads to mp rotators. My most recent blog post (http://www.weedingwildsuburbia.com/lawn-removal/) is on lawn removal. I’d love to be part of TPF’s exciting discussion on this. We can all learn from each other and have fun while doing it.