KCAL/CBS Channel 9 Surviving the Heat Wave Segment

I was very happy to have a chance to go on our KCAL channel 9 news yesterday, at 12:30 to discuss how to help your garden survive the heat wave. To distill it all down to a simple message.. WATER! No seriously, there is more to it than that or I would not have a job! I talked with the Anchors Sandra Mitchell and David Gonzales who made me feel so welcome. It was easy because they really asked good questions and were very kind. I could tell that they both loved gardens so I liked them already. My roses really did burn.. so I'm not fibbing!

The weather was done by Josh Rubenstein who had hosted the Green Expo for the CLCA at Greystone Mansion. Here is the link to the segment http://cbs2.com/tv/garden.heat.wave.2.1809776.html

Video Landscape tips w Bryan Cranston, Robin Cranston

I thought I should post this clip reel that was shot the day of the photo shoot for Garden Design's story on the Bryan Cranston Garden. My friend and film maker Dorinda Angelucci shot this clip and had me talk on camera for the first time, which made me very nervous... But was good practice for me!

I cooked for Bryan and Robin after the shoot and it was very nice to be very able eat with them and enjoy the garden after a very long busy day.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcdIlMkzn4g&NR=1 Hope that you enjoy it.... Bryan and Robin and incredibly kind and fun to work with.

The clip also has our public service announcements for the California Landscape Contractor Associations Green Expo which we put on last year. The CLCA is a great organization which helps raise the professionalism level among landscape contractors and I have been a proud member for many years. Tiffani Theissen, and Sheryl Crow also speak on our behalf as we get out the word on conservation!

Garden Design Hollywood issue

Last night was the party at Rolling Greens for the Hollywood Issue. It was a really a beautiful and fun party and I was so happy that my family, friends, and clients were there. Here are some pictures of the event and I was especially touched that my clients, Jon Voight, Bryan Cranston, and Kyle Maclachlan came out to lend their smiling faces to our launch event . I am very blessed to have such kind, generous, creative and talented clients to work for. Hopefully, next year will be even better.. someone give Beyonce my number please!

Garden Design Hollywood issue

I am so pleased that Garden Design Magazine has include two gardens that I designed and built in the first Hollywood issue they have ever done. I hope that you enjoy it....

I will be on KTLA Channel 5 on Monday morning 2/29 on live with Allie Mackay broadcasting from Bryan Cranston's Garden... see you at 5:45, 6:45, and 7:20 am

Good night

Cindy Dole's Home Wizards Show 2/28/10

I had the unique pleasure of appearing on Cindy Dole's Radio show, Home Wizards on Saturday morning. She was so kind to me and her introduction was so lovely that I started to blush and told her that I was afraid someone was going to walk up, tap me on the shoulder and ask me to get up so that the guy she just introduced could sit down... I am so honored to be a part of her program and she wrote this lovely blog about it on her website so here it is...

http://cindydole.com/articles/2010/2/28/lessons-from-landscaper-to-stars.html

New Years Awards for Sunset Plaza

I was given a wonderful surprise in my email box today. The house that we did on Sunset Plaza was awarded one of the top 10 Visuals by the Los Angeles Times last Saturday and the Grand Builders award by Builders Magazine. It was a wonderful experience to work with the owner Brad Blumenthal, and the Architect David Thompson from Assembledge on this unusual and warm take on a modern home. I designed the landscape, pool and jacuzzi, landscape lighting, and the hardscape. We used the hill and pool orientation to create a room below the pool that used a board forming technique in the walls. The structural concrete face was given a wonderful twist as our concrete walls were formed from over 2000 different recycled pieces of lumber to give it many different dimensions in the exposed concrete face of the interior walls which were over 14" thick and contained more than 3 tons of steel within them. It was fun collaborating with Brad and David to create a softness out of such incredible mass. There are some pictures here from an opening that we did that featured several artists and their fans and guests. The art was curated by William Turner of the William Turner Gallery and Kate Stern of the Frostig Collection. Pieces by Michael Kalish, Brad Howe, Frank Gehry, and some fanciful Bacci Balls placed on an upper landing by Brad and myself. Below is a link to the story that appeared on the house written by Debra Prinzing and a link to the Builder Magazine Award

http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-sunsethouse-pictures,5,915764.photogallery

http://www.builderonline.com/design/sunset-plaza-residence.aspx

Hotel Bel Air

   This month has been a very very busy one...  I have been working hard on creating the newest landscape and waterfeature additions to the Hotel Bel Air. I am pleased to be preserving the landscape and continuing the traditions of the beautiful grounds that have always been a beloved part of the Los Angeles Landscape.  It has been a fascinating and exciting journey.  Now I have to get back to the drawing board...

Tennessee project

 This was a special project in that my crew and I custom colored with acid stains a stone deck which was far too pale for the owners taste. We also landscaped and built a pergola, irrigation system, audio system, lighting, and did it all in another city in 10 days. It was quite a fun but tiring adventure. The views were fantastic and after work I enjoyed bike riding the hills surrounding the ranch.  It was a wonderful town with a real general store, and very kind people.   

CLCA Green Expo Greystone Mansion with Sheryl Crow, Tiffani Thiessen Smith, Bryan Cranston, Ed Begley Jr, and Cindy Dole

 Mike Garcia and I built the Garden of Peace and Stream at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills California to commemorate the CLCA Green Expo August 9th 2009. It was great to work with Mike who did a spectacular job and was a wonderful team member. It is in a public park in Beverly Hills that was once the home of the Doheny family in the 1920's. It is a terrific place to visit when in the Los Angeles California area.

   We donated this landscape and water feature  in honor of the CLCA with the hope that it would bring a peaceful moment to all of the visitors from around the world who stop by .

The Fairy Garden

This garden is very unusual in that the owners and I decided that unless the garden was built before the house was completed it could never have been realized . We selected and placed huge mature specimen trees, using a 120 ton crane and the biggest excavator that I have ever seen, plus a crew 14 men. We then created stone walls both real and fake to contain the tree roots and hillside. The shotcrete walls were carved in real time and shaped and textured to look like stone cliffs. We created a waterfall and walkways with bridges supported by fallen trees( Which are really made of steel and concrete made to look like fallen trees). The rails are all made of reclaimed twigs and branches using our special technique to assemble and preserve them. The Oak tree in the foreground is really a crutch supporting the Live Oak behind it. See if you can tell the difference. All of the steps and pathway were constructed of recycled wood found on the hillside. The property had been in the family for over 60 years. There were fence posts which we recycled from the original fence and tree roots from that era that were placed in the shotcrete while we were shooting the wall. They were made to look like the roots were growing through the fissures in the rock cliff. After our shotcrete was finished the house construction began. The owner fell in love with some very small Fairy's and invited them to live under one of the new oaks. We built a little castle for them to live in and so far they have been good neighbors.