The Green Meridian Podcast - A Landscape Design/Build Toolkit

​Bill Peregrine is a well respected horticultural professional here in the Puget Sound region. I've known Bill for I think almost 30 years - and he is known best as a natural process horticulturalist, a talented landscape designer .... and recently he became a farmer! Let's welcome Bill to this episode - and listen to what he has to say about natural process horticulture and how he organizes his b...

A lot of us in the landscape industry are wondering, like you, what is developing with this whacked out economy? What should a green industry pro be planning for? Unemployment is crazy low right now. Anyone that is hiring knows that. Consumer spending continues at a wicked pace. Pandemic shut downs are almost completely reversed. The supply chain is loosening up finally. Lumber prices have comedow...

The daily push and pull of our daily activities keeps us so incredibly busy, I think sometimes we can lose track of the passionate origins that inform how and why we got into the green industry in the first place. For most of us, I think will agree that the basic thinking that we might have had at the beginning of our careers has slowly evolved - as we have put our work into practice. This is of c...

In my time in business, I have seen thousands of residential clients. Last year, I think I completed almost 50 custom design build protects with my team - and our company finished over 120 jobs. When I meet with a prospective customer, I know that I have to be very careful about how I am approaching my developing relationship. Because, as you know - it's a potential minefield. Part of the nuance o...

I talked to a number of people during any given year, those that are interviewing for a design position with our company in some cases and in my discussions through the landscape design trade organizations, with folks that are rethinking their careers and orienting themselves now to a career in landscape design. So I was daydreaming about what real guidance I needed back in the early days. There a...

First, a caveat here. This is for stewards, not sprayers. I'm not expecting to appeal to all of my industry peeps here. Don't hear this as a blanket condemnation. Recognize that our world has significantly changed over the last few years. If you don't agree, you're not really paying attention. We are awash with misinformation. I'm not talking about politics, or the developments in Artificial intel...

As a landscape architect, I've been managing design/build businesses now for a number of decades. Our business has been in place for almost 40 years and we have built literally thousands of landscapes. Our work is incredibly complex. Can we simplify it to make it easier to understand? As a design build company we have been fortunate to be busy and innovative , and we've gone through some difficult...

The Dozen things topic is split into two episodes, each one a braindump of information - hey! More than you might get in 4 years of landscape architecture school - or two years at your local Community college. Grab a pen and put on your earbuds, here we go! I am of course just kidding. This podcast summary is more like just a year of LA school - a year that likely wont be offered, because you will...

This wintry season has me thinking about holidays, history and horticulture. It’s somewhat troubling to think about how far our national holidays have strayed from their original meanings, whether you consider the Coca-Cola symbolism of Santa sliding down a chimney or the candy colored creation of Valentine’s Day, our holidays have lost almost all their true significance. The seasonal awareness an...

How do you come about really learning how to ply your trade, what techniques work best, how best to plant and what amendments to recommend? What kind of garden folklore do you swear by? You will likely agree that it's hard to find any two designers or horticulturalists to agree on any particular method in answer to questions we get from clients. Our work by its very nature is so difficult enough t...

“The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me - away from those who are still undecided.” Casey Stengel These are difficult days for project managers. Impediments and slowdowns, resistance and friction are put into your daily design and construction activities in forms that we didn't have to think about in the past. Our problems are ongoing and multifaceted, from the limitatio...

The problem with design/build marketing is frankly that many business managers may already be busy. This can lull them into feeling that they have a sense that they know what they're doing with regard to marketing. But do you, really? The phone is ringing, appointments are being made! When business is going well, trust in your smart marketing decisions can give you a false sense of security. Belie...

What's the REAL difference between the two trades? Why is there a low-grade friction between the disciplines? What can we do about it? Years ago, I was asked to weigh in on a new landscape architectural practice law. There was a proposed state legislation at that time that would have made certain kinds of residential landscape design illegal unless the practitioner had an LA license. You'd think t...

"That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees." Marcus Aurelius It's pretty shocking when you visit a nursery these days. If you take a moment to stop by your local plant wholesaler, you'll see a wide variety of new hybridized plant materials . Even the most experienced horticulturalist can be dumbfounded by new plant varietals that were unknown just weeks before. When...

"Architecture is a service business. An architect is given a program, budget, place, and schedule. Sometimes the end product rises to art - or at least people call it that". Frank Gehry. Working with a building contractor or architect can present new opportunities and pose challenges for your landscape design or design/build business. As a designer or design build contractor, you have certain obli...

Look, I know it is going to be problematic to discuss the difficult issues that arise when we talk about the quality of landscape design education. It is a multifaceted issue with no direct and easy answers. I want to start by saying that my own education was a bit circuitous and in that way - unusual - but I have talked with enough landscape architects & designers over the years to find that...

"A Lawn is Nature Under Totalitarian Rule" Michael Pollan I remember growing up in Florida, you’d occasionally see some old duffer give up on his front yard completely. He’d rip out all the turf, pour concrete and paint it green. Voila! A solution made of paint and protest. As our summer in the northwest wanes, I know many of us have turned to our turf with trepidation and yes, mulled over the unt...

For me, there has been no greater outlet for my creative energies than the call to design a theatrical garden. The possibility of mixing fantasy and fable blends with the capacity to work with professional horticulturalists and craftsmen - the result being a remarkable botanical stage set. As a student of this varied and magical discipline, I find myself striving to reach a little further than the...

(It’s a plague of locusts, except they're cute & hairy 200lb. beasts)… Years ago I was asked to design gardens and landscaping for a rustic log home in a remote area. Deer were constantly on the property foraging the vegetation, killing much of the owner’s ornamental planting. Researching the problem (and with a number of distracting jobs in the hopper), I quickly specified “deer-proof” plants...

"I'm never going to get anybody to agree with this kind of structure if they can't see it. I'll finish it knowing there's a risk they'll make it come down… It's kind of an outlaw's game; it's got that Huck Finn thing to do with it." - Peter Nelson We plant a lot of trees, from little conifers to specimen trees planted with a Vermeer. When I design with trees for a home, I think of trees...

I once had an artist (of the martial type) explain the basis of Judo to me. In Judo it appears, the central premise, the martial arts secret so to speak - is the idea of using your opponent’s natural force to strike a blow. Ah, so…I am thinking. Can I use the force of nature against itself? After snatching the pebble from his hand, I thought I might apply some thinking to my arch enemy, the lowly...

Frequently, when I am measuring a home site to prepare a plan, I will have a conversation about what I do and how I do it. What is it that goes into the preparation of plans and proposals? How do you go about drawing up a property plan? I was reading a special centennial issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine the other day and was fascinated by plans by one of my absolutely favorite landscape ar...

“A hundred objective measurements didn't sum the worth of a garden; only the delight of its users did that. Only the use made it mean something”. Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign, 1999  The measure of success in what we do as landscape designers is for the most part determined by our ability to creatively conceptualize a space. Designing, specifying and finally building spaces are...

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see". Arthur Schopenhauer Have you run into the “cape & beret designer” or for that matter,” the chainsaw guy”? You might find it harsh to note, but it seems to me that a disproportionate number of landscape designers fall into these two categories. You know who I’m talking about. Say that you’re the homeowner. You...

"The destiny of every walking man is to immerse himself in the panorama surrounding him, to the point of becoming one with it and, ultimately, to vanish". ― Federico Castigliano, Flâneur: The Art of Wandering the Streets of Paris I found myself ruminating on the French concept of the 'Flaneur' or as Wiki defines it, 'an urban explorer or connoisseur of the street'. As I age, I am of course slowing...