Here is an updated photo of an outdoor kitchen project we have been working on in Napa. We have just installed this Viking gas grill with warming drawer. Viking makes great outdoor components, and their cabinets are a refined way to create outdoor storage spaces.
Leading to and from and the patio space are these beautiful cedar gates made by Wil Matthews over at Woodcraft Marin. His garden woodwork is some of the finest that we have seen.
We wanted to follow-up on our previous posting on our upgrade and customer service experiences with Mindjet and the Mindmanager planning software. Following our previous posts, we contacted customer service via the web to tell them about our experience. We quickly received responses from customer service letting us know that they would issue a courtesey upgrade for the newest version of Mindmanager. We also received a message from one of Mindjet’s customer advocacy representatives following up our issues:
We take our relationships with our customers as the utmost priority and I deeply apologize on behalf of the Mindjet team for your negative incident. With new product introductions, there will be special situations which we will consider on a case-by-case basis, such as yours. We are grateful to have such passionate customers who care
enough to let us know when they are pleased and more importantly to let us know when they are not. You have provided us with valuable feedback and we hope that you will give us a chance to improve and earn back your trust.
In this era of limited customer service, we appreciate Mindjet’s efforts to satisfy our concerns with their upgrade process for Mindmanager and quickly respond to our concerns.
One of the pieces of planning software we use frequently to brainstorm and plan out projects is Mindmanger (see our 2005 post here). Recently in September, we upgraded our software to the current version 7. A couple of months later in November we got a notice that new version 8 had been released. Rather than pay again for a new upgrade only 2 months after the initial purchase we called up Mindjet product support number to see if we could upgrade to the newest version. The support representative tersely informed us that we had missed the cutoff for a courtesy upgrade by a couple of weeks. We don’t begrudge software companies for trying to generate revenue and keep their products current, especially a small company like Mindjet. It would have been nice if they informed purchasers that a new release was imminent to avoid upgrade fatigue. On the service side, because they are a small company, they should display more flexibility in working with companies like ours who are loyal users and want the new features provided in the software upgrades. Instead, because of their lack of service, this is one software product we will no longer upgrade.
Our 2009 Calendar is now mailing out. This year’s version features images of the beautiful vistas, landscapes and plants of Utah’s national parks.
As always, if you would like a free copy of the calendar, email us your name and address and we will send one out to you.
There was an interesting book review in the Financial Times today about a common plant and iconic fruit, the apple. The Story of the Apple, by a pair of botanists, Oxford’s Barrie Juniper and the University of Washington’s David Mabberley, chronicles their search through cultural, historical, and DNA evidence to trace the apple’s origins. Their best evidence points to the forests of Kazakhstan. This is removed from the biblical areas of the middle east and fertile crescent, where temperatures do not get cold enough to help apples properly germinate. It is fascinating to ponder the rich past of such a commonly cultivated plant and leads to curiosity about the sources of other plants we take for granted.
Here is a progress image from a large tile patio we are in process of installing for this Napa backyard renovation. The material itself is a unique product from Tile & Stone Concepts in San Rafael, which is custom cast concrete from molds and then colored. The advantage to this custom product is that it can be manipulated in a variety of sizes and applications and color can be custom tuned to the project color palette.
Here’s an image from a recently completed project in Mill Valley. We were performing an uplight adjustment on this kinetic stainless steel sculpture, the focal point of the front yard.
We are wrapping up on this landscape project that complimented a recent remodeling project on this modern Mill Valley residence. The owner found a great stainless steel sculpture that moves with the wind to accent the project and front yard space.
Here is a current project in Napa for an outdoor fireplace and kitchen that is in construction. The design for this project really opened up a small backyard and brought the detailing and richness that was present inside the house to the landscape for a great outdoor living space.
As energy conservation and efficiency become more and more prominent issues, there are increasingly alternatives for low voltage landscape lighting. Vista Professional Lighting, one of the widely available low voltage landscape lighting manufacturers we use, has a great variety of options for lamp types, including LED bulb options. LED are a great alternative to halogen, xenon or other bulb types. Like the more and more common compact florescent bulbs (CFL) used indoors to replace the standard filament light bulb, an LED fixture can use 75-90% less energy than a conventional lamp for the same light output. LEDs also have the advantage of a much longer lifespan, 5-10x longer than other lamp options. These fixtures can be more expensive, but the benefits of increased life span and reduced energy consumption help mitigate the initial cost of the fixtures.
For more:
-Vista’s LED options
Here is some current work on concrete paths and retaining wills for a project in Mill Valley. We are working on the garden for this recently remodeled modern home.
Retaining curb wall and concrete rebar before concrete has been poured
Walkway and retaining curb wall poured. The color of new concrete starts out dark and rich and fades as it cures.
Good gate hardware can be difficult to find. Rocky Mountain Hardware has some of the best gate hardware currently available, with a wide variety of styles and finishes to choose from. Quality comes at a price however. The latch sets can run from $500-$1,000, as these are the same grade and type of forged brass latches featured in Rocky Mountain’s regular hardware line.
Here is a gate design for a current project. This gate will be crafted by a custom woodworking firm and then installed for the project to give rich detailing to the entrance and perimeter gates.
Here are some follow-up images and featured portfolio for a challenging Tiburon project we worked on earlier this year.
Download the Portfolio
California has implemented its new 2007 building code based on the 2006 International Building Code. The full set of the code is available in hardcopy from reference publishers, but previously was not available online through an official outlet such as the California Building Standards Commision. An open government advocacy website public.resource.org has scanned an uploaded copies of the full code that are available for download in .pdf.
The website argues that under 2002 Federal Appeals Court Decision that posting the code information online does not qualify as copyright infringement because once the code is enacted as law it becomes part of the public domain and does not qualify for copyright protections.
Publishers and code writing bodies argue that in order to produce building codes they incur costs that need to be offset and funded by the sale of code information. The open government proponents counter that increased access to the code and other open source legal information benefits society, and improves adherance and knowledge of building code standards.
Here is a detail section for a current project’s outdoor fireplace we are working on. It features a wood burning Rumford design and is integrated into an outdoor kitchen. Potted trees have been integrated into the existing decking above the fireplace the help soften the chimney and integrate it into the context of the yard.
There was an editorial in the Marin IJ from Marin Municipal Water District’s general manager recently about the districts plans for water conservation. Like all water districts in the state, the needs and demands on the water supply are becoming more pronounced.
In about one in 10 years, the district would ask customers
to voluntarily reduce water use by 10 percent. In the most severe drought years, MMWD would require customers to reduce water use by 25 percent. In spite of these reductions in drought years, MMWD still would not have sufficient water to meet customers’ needs. To close this gap, customers would have to reduce water use in all years, reducing 10 percent immediately. Demand reductions would have to increase to 20 percent in 2025 because population growth in Novato and Petaluma will have first call on supplies from the Russian River aqueduct.
Conservation is obviously the main tool the water district has at its disposal to manage the water supply. This needs to be combined with increased reclaimed water efforts and could be supplemented be a future desalination plant the district has been exploring. In any scenario, it seems that water supply will be a major future issue in the county and a general issue in the landscape industry.
There was an interesting article in today’s SF Chronicle about water restrictions and golf courses in the East Bay. One course profiled is trying to drill wells to supplement its water needs. Continued drought conditions, water restrictions in the Sacramento Delta, and Southern California water demand are going to make these issues and difficulties more and more commonplace.
While driving by Sears Point Raceway (Infinion) recently in Sonoma, I noticed large flocks of sheep grazing the grass and weeds on the edges of the racetrack property. Turns out there is a free range sheep grazing service Wooly Weeders, which provides the sheep to control weeds for vineyards and other large properties. Apparently, the sheep can be more efficient and more ecologically effective in removing surplus weeds and grass. A simple and old fashion innovation for the problems of mowing large areas.
For More:
Article on Sheep Grazing in Vineyards from the Chronicle
There was an article recently in the Chronicle detailing the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s new set of rules design to limit emissions from wood burning fireplaces. While outdoor cooking itself is not directly regulated by this rule change, many municipalities have recently made the requirements for outdoor fireplaces more strict.
Provisions of the new rule:
– Limits excessive visible emissions from wood-burning at all times.
– Requires cleaner burning technology such as EPA-certified
wood-burning devices, pellet stoves, low-mass fireplaces or masonry
heaters in new construction or when the stoves are sold, resold or
installed.
– Prohibits the burning of garbage, plastics, chemically treated
wood, waste petroleum products and other inappropriate materials.
– Requires labeling and disclosure of the moisture content on wood
sold for use within the nine-county district, including instructions on
how to dry the wood if it has a moisture content greater than 20
percent by weight. Sellers of seasoned firewood must properly label it
as seasoned.
Fires used outdoor for residential cooking won’t be regulated.
Smart irrigation controllers that automatically adjust based on plant water needs and weather patterns are becoming more and more common in landscaping of all scales. The Chronicle had a good overview in today’s paper about the role of climate-based controllers and some different manufacturers. Definitely worth a look; in the current drought conditions, water districts are going to start mandating these controllers be installed for new and existing landscapes.
We attended an interesting talk yesterday in San Francisco by Fritz Haeg put on by the Garden Conservancy and held at Flora Grubb in San Francisco. His Edible Estates project was an interesting project undertaken at 9 residential homes across the country to tear out front lawns and plant vegetable gardens in were the landscape was previously dominated by little used front lawns.
Haeg’s ideas were to promote gardening, highlight discussion and debate about how we use residential landscapes, and how lawns are often traditionally used as filler with no real practical usage.
An interesting lecture and an idea that promotes sustainable and local food production. His work on the project in chronicled in his book, Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn, well worth a look.
This project we are working on in the conceptual design phase in Corte Madera works on redeveloping the front and back yards of the residence. The design creates more planted garden space and more usable outdoor living space.
The North Coast Chapter of CLCA presented their 2008 Contractor Awards last week. We were lucky enough to win awards in three categories with some excellent competition.
We won first place for Medium Residential Installation, a recognition award for Medium sized Design-Build project and the Judges award for a Custom Residential project in Tiburon.
The chapter awards are a competition for landscape contractors in Marin, Sonoma, and counties up to the Oregon border. Projects are judged in blind judging process by other CLCA members from other chapters around the state.
Our Portfolio of 2008 Award Winner is Here
We are working on a project in San Rafael for a commercial concrete installation of walkways and patios and installing a new retaining wall and parking area. The concrete area will include space for patios and enclosure for bicycle storage.
Retaining Wall Rebar and Foundation Prepared for Parking Area Wall
One of our Tiburon garden installations has been featured in July’s Marin Magazine. The project featured a roof top garden, with green roof installed over a new pool house. The pool house was integrated into the project hillside to give seamless views of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco.
The owner of the project wanted a garden that would replicate her garden before construction of the pool house. She also wanted a design that would give instant impact.
The project was done in coordination with Caletti Jungsten Construction and was designed by Pedersen Associates Landscape Architecture. O’Connell Landscape did the landscape installation and second phase design and installation.
Green roof with lawn, plantings and view of the Golden Gate Bridge and San FranciscoContractor trucks and equipment consume a fair amount of fuel. While our expenditures on fuel aren’t as dramatic as some industries in the transportation sector, we still notice the difference on our truck fleet especially. The cost of diesel for example, has jumped almost a dollar in the past couple of months, to an astonishing price of over $5.00 per gallon in California.
Here are a few images from a very modern garden we did for an Eichler home in Lucas Valley. The colors and textures of the plantings have filled in nicely and given a great a great compliment to the residence. These images are take about a year after the garden was planted.
View of the front yard- Concrete Path with accents and plantings featuring Blue Fescue, Berkeley Sedge, New Zealand Flax and Mexican Fan Palm
The planting design used California and Mediterranean plants to create interesting foliage and texture differences throughout the garden.
Detail from a custom arbor project in Tiburon:
Spring is a busy time around here, sometimes it is easy to get wrapped up in spring work. Here are some of the projects we have been working on so far this spring:
Here is an update to project we completed in the fall, we planted a second round of spring plantings for a full, lush garden. The garden in Tiburon featured a roof garden with great views to San Francisco
Here is another update to a project we have been working on. This pool courtyard in San Rafael was completely redone, with a new concrete dining area, shade arbor and see-through gas fireplace.