Advice From the Help Desk of the UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County
Does Master Gardeners do home visits? If yes, what is the fee? How and who shall I contact to get an appointment to have a trained Master Gardener visit my home so I can get equipped with good advice? Thank you again for all your help. I hope to hear from you soon.
MGCC's Help Desk Response: Congratulations on your new home. Starting a new garden is exciting, but it can definitely be a daunting undertaking. Unfortunately, the UC Master Gardeners do not perform home visits and cannot recommend any particular landscape design, construction or maintenance company. However, the following organizations, listed in alphabetical order, provide references to these professionals. This list is neither comprehensive nor all-inclusive, and no endorsement of any business or professional is intended.
- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is the national professional association for landscape architects. Landscape architects typically hold a degree in landscape architecture, covering a broad range including design, planning, grading and drainage, construction, and horticulture. Each state requires a landscape architect to earn a license to practice. The ASLA website maintains a searchable list of members as well as photos of award-winning residential projects. http://www.asla.org/ISGWeb.aspx?loadURL=firfin and http://www.asla.org/homeandgardentips.aspx.
- Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) is a 25-year-old organization established as a peer reviewed certification program based on built projects. The organization also encourages all members to adhere to a code of professional standards, to actively participate in continuing education, and to be current with state-of-the-art developments and trends throughout the field. Their website has a search function that will help you find a local designer. https://www.apld.org/
- Bay Friendly Landscaping and Gardening Coalition is a San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable landscaping. Qualified landscape professionals must complete a comprehensive training program and use sustainable practices. http://www.bayfriendlycoalition.org/BFTQP.shtml (information on their qualification program) and http://www.bayfriendlycoalition.org/QPdirectory.php ( an online directory of Bay-Friendly Qualified Professionals).
- Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour is a local (Alameda & Contra Costa Counties) organization that seeks to educate and encourage the use of California native plants in home gardens. The organization provides contact information for those landscape professionals whose gardens have been featured in the tours. http://www.bringingbackthenatives.net/find-a-designer (contact information and links to photos of gardens created by each designer).
- California Landscape Contractors Association (CLCA) is a non-profit trade organization of licensed landscape and landscape-related contractors and professionals http://clca.org/consumers/consumers_home.php and http://member-clca.org/max/4DCGI/directory/contractor/index.html (directory of members).
- Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper (QWEL) graduates have been trained in water-wise landscape practices including plant selection, irrigation system design and water management. QWEL maintains an online list of certified professionals in the East Bay. While the website lists all professionals under the category of non-residential, many perform residential services. http://www.qwel.net/ and http://www.qwel.net/graduates/east%20bay/ (list of certified professionals).
Before contacting a design consultant, you may want to familiarize yourself with some of the basics of designing a new garden. The UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa article “Designing with Drought Tolerant Plants” http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/files/221114.pdf provides a good summary of the many variables.
If you need help selecting plants, there are a number of very useful online databases. A few of my favorites are:
- The UC Davis All-Stars are 100 plants selected by the UC Davis horticultural staff, mainly for inland California (most of Contra Costa qualifies) for their toughness, reliability, ease of growth, low water requirements, and few problems with pests or diseases. The following web link allows you to search the All-Stars for plants that may be of interest to you: http://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/plant_search.aspx.
- The Contra Costa Water District website provides access to an extensive database of native and non-native plants for Central Contra Costa County. The link http://www.contracosta.watersavingplants.com/search.php allows you to go on a guided tour through the database.
- Calscape is a collaboration between the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) and the UC Berkeley Jepsom Herbarium and contains California native plants only. The Calscape website http://www.calscape.cnps.org emphasizes the selection of natives local to your area.
There are also some excellent books that can help you in your research. All of those listed below should be available from the county library.
- The New Sunset Western Garden Book: The Ultimate Gardening Guide
- Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates of the San Francisco Bay Region. The pictures from the book are also available on-line at http://summer-dry.com/search/
- Landscape Plants for California Gardens: An Illustrated Reference of Plants for California Landscapes, by Bob Perry.
Good luck with your new landscaping. Please let us know if you have further questions or would like additional information.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County (MPL)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (//ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/blogroll.cfm).