Volunteer at the James Rose Center

James Rose is an American icon of landscape design.  A modernist pioneer along with Thomas Church, Dan Kiley and Lawrence Halprin, Rose was set apart by the fact that he lived and worked in New Jersey.

His Ridgewood residence is now the James Rose Center and APLDNJ has been invited to help with spring clean up at the center.   A link below the pictures (used with permission of the James Rose Center) will take you to the sign up form.

Modular Screen and Garden

Outdoor Room

Roof Garden at Rose's Ridgewood home

Register to volunteer and help preserve one of New Jersey’s most important residential landscape sites.

Designer’s Toolbox: 1 Day Designer’s PR & Marketing Workshop

Join APLDNJ for a full day workshop with international Public Relations expert, Suzy McCoy, principle of Garden Media Group and learn the ins and outs of public relations for your landscape design practice.

Suzi McCoy

Suzi is well known in garden-writing circles, she is active in Garden Writers Association of America, a member of the National Gardening Association, American Horticultural Society, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, and a speaker in the field.

What You’ll Learn

Find out exactly what you need to do so the media knows you and wants to cover your projects and events.  This workshop will include a hands-on component that will insure that you walk away with tools you put to use.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided (with vegetarian options) as will WiFi and plugins for your laptop.

Workshop Date:  March 18th 8:30 sign-in and coffee, Workshop 9:00-3:00

Pricing:

• APLDNJ members $120.00
• APLD and affiliated association members $135.00
• Non-members $150.00

Seating is limited for this valuable workshop! To reserve your spot, please send full payment by check with your name address and email contact information to:

APLDNJ 14 Abington Street, Morris Plains 07950

APLDNJ at Monrovia’s Sustainable Event x 2

Gracious to the end, APLD Platinum sponsor, Monrovia held two workshops–one a snow delay for APLDNJ and the NJ chapter of ASLA at Barton’s Nursery in Edison.  It was an excellent workshop filled with useful information and a first hand look at many Monrovia plants.

The focus of the event was on  creating sustainable landscapes using Monrovia plants.  Ian Cooke from Monrovia’s Tennessee facility presented a compelling case for Monrovia’s company wide commitment to sustainable practices.

APLDNJ and ASLA members on the 2nd day of the presentation

Wisely stating at the onset that ‘The most expensive plant you can buy is the one that dies’, Mr. Cooke continued to make the case for the high level of quality of the company’s output as well as their commitment to sustainability.

After a short break for lunch, Pier Davis, the region’s Monrovia representative gave a presentation on new plant introductions.  Most exciting were the Itoh peonies.  Named for Toichi Itoh, the first hybridizer, they are cross between a tree Peony and a herbaceous Peony.  Don Smith continued the hybridization and Monrovia’s exclusive  Paeonia x ‘Yellow Doodle Dandy’ is pictured below still in a pot…Can you wait for spring?

Paeonia x 'Yellow Doodle Dandy'

APLDNJ at Leadership Symposium!

Five members of APLDNJ are attending the 3rd Annual APLD leadership conference in Berkeley, California.  All are learning about tools and ideas to bring back to the Garden State to share with its members to make the chapter stronger and more engaging for all landscape designer members.

Who is here?  Jock Lewendon, APLD – Chapter President, Elaine Stevenson – Chapter Treasurer, Jeannie Marrucci – Chapter Secretary, Susan Olinger, APLD-  APLD Int’l Board Member (Chapter Liason) and Susan Cohan, APLD- APLD Int’l Board Member (Membership Chair and Technology Chair).

The International Board met yesterday to begin mapping out APLD’s future…here’s one of the documents that was created there.

Visual representation of APLD's future

Designer’s Toolbox: Monrovia Nursery Event-2/26/10

Guest blog post from Kathy Rudnyk of Monrovia Plants

The event information is at the end of this post, it is free to APLD members, but you have to RSVP as seating is limited to 100.  Call  to reserve your spot – 1-800-999-9321 x 1148 or email Kathy krudnyk@monrovia.com

Sustainable… beautiful plants from Monrovia

The latest buzz word is “sustainable”.   Join Monrovia’s Ian Cooke and Pier Davis to learn the latest in how sustainability has gone full circle from nursery production and into the future with support from the Sustainable Sites Initiative.

Monrovia's Nursery at Visalia, California

Besides winning the prestigious Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Evergreen Award, Monrovia’s on-going sustainability efforts include creating compost with cutting refuse, practicing integrated pest management, recycling water, and applying slow-release fertilizer.  Our Cairo facility, even has designed and constructed a bioswale, where an alligator currently resides. Sustainable nursery practices are used today at Monrovia, and perhaps you are curious to know what those practices entail and significance.

When it comes to design, Monrovia has asked your design peers for assistance.  In November, Monrovia hosted a Design Council of prestigious and active APLD and ASLA members.  These members completed homework, like identifying sustainable plant categories that transcend the typical, such as natives, cold hardiness, light exposure, sea coast exposure, and drought tolerant.  The group even determined what a best practices landscape care calendar would reflect. Saving you time and money and allowing you the freedom to make recommendations to your clients or their plant maintenance team.  Come learn what those futuristic offerings include.

We at Monrovia believe that design leads the way for beautiful and sustainable landscapes.  Join us for free lunch from noon to 1:30 pm at Barton Nursery on February 26, Friday.  949 New Durham Road, Edison, NJ 08817  Phone: 732-287-5222.  Please RSVP with Katharine Rudnyk 1-800-999-9321 x1148.  CEU credits are available, too.

2010 Chapter Board Members

Beginning in January, the New Jersey chapter will have a new board of directors.  They have lots of plans for outreach and events.  The three main changes to the board:

2010 Chapter President – Jock Lewendon, APLD

2010 Chapter Secretary – Jeanne Marucci

2010 Chapter Treasurer – Elaine Stevenson

You will be able to contact them through their email links on the APLDNJ website beginning in January.  If you’d like to volunteer for an event or just to help our chapter grow, please contact them.

We were first, but…

APLD International has a group blogging experiment going on for the month of November.  You can follow along and comment on Designers on Design if you’d like to join in the conversation.  There are 9 or 10 APLD member contributors from four countries all talking landscape design.

APLD Twitter List

UPDATE: November 13, 2009

Twitter has now incorporated a list service of its own and we are using that list as our primary list.  Here’s the link Twitter List of APLD Members it is updated often.  You can use the list if you Tweet to easily follow other members and join in on the conversations there.

 

Here’s a list of international APLD members who use Twitter.  If you Tweet and aren’t on the list, simply tweet @apld.  Your membership will be verified and you’ll be added.  Join the conversation on line…the list is growing daily!

If you Tweet about APLD related topics, be sure to use the #apld hashtag so it’s searchable.  What’s a hashtag?  It’s a way to make each tweet with that tag show up in one group so you can follow the conversation with ease.

Photography Workshop Photos

Eight APLDNJ landscape designers met on October 2nd at Atlock Farm for a garden photography workshop with Rich Pomerantz.   Below are the photos sent when when each designer was asked to submit of their favorite image from the workshop.  Some photographed plants, some gardens, some chickens and still others architecture.   Each viewpoint is distinctly different.  We are landscape and garden designers after all…hope you enjoy the view!

Jane Derickson

Andrea Grillo

Laurel Von Gerichten

Susan Cohan, APLD

Jock Lewendon, APLD

Rich Pomerantz--our intrepid instructor gives us the boot!

Barbara Miller

APLD debuts new Facebook Fan Page

Join the conversation over on Facebook–APLD has a cool new fan page. The fan page has unique content, discussions and a place to post photos.  You don’t have to be a member of Facebook to join…but if you aren’t and want to be, read this for a full explanation of Facebook and how it works.

Association of Professional Landscape Designers

Promote Your Page Too