Move over spider plants, Trevor L. Smith is overhauling the way we bring the outdoors in.

Trevor specializes in living walls and designing their placement in interior work spaces.  Trevor’s business Land Escapes has received an overwhelming response to his unique designs.  The best of Boston’s corporate world is calling Trevor to add life to their work environment.

Trevor shares the many benefits of adding living walls to the work place include:

• Aesthetically pleasing
• Absorbs pollutants and dust in the air
• Helps mitigate sick building disease
• Contributes to LEED certification points
• Acts as a sound barrier

The plant palette that creates his living wall tapestries is abundant.  He skillfully designs interesting weaves of color, textures and patterns.  Trevor creates unique living wall designs using the EARTHSCAPES landscape design software.  He can instantly sell or increase the project spec simply by showing more living wall component within the before and after design created with the EARTHSCAPES software. Living walls are a creative way to liven up the indoors but often a difficult design element to sell. Trevor finds EARTHSCAPES landscape design software as the best way to sell and promote his unique business.  Below is an example of a living wall design created with the EARTHSCAPES landscape design software.

Land Escapes specializes in garden design and yard makeovers, container design, water features, rain harvesting systems and rain gardens, living wall and living roof systems, floral design for all occasions and seasonal decorating.  Land Escapes is located in Arlington MA.  Available online at http://www.everydaygetaway.com/Living-Wall.html.

5 Things You Must Consider Before Buying Landscape Design Software

Do you know how to powerfully communicate your design ideas to clients? For most landscapers and contractors, quality design is the golden key that opens the door to more sales. Most clients are visual and respond to images that help them “see” your finished landscape project. To evaluate what software system will work best for you, here are seven critical items to look at before you buy:

1. Professional vs. Consumer Power

Professional landscapers would not consider consumer level equipment for heavy, commercial use. This is also true with landscape design software. 
Some contractors have tried out second-rate software – only to get quickly burned on using landscape design tools.  Cheap landscape design “in a box” is often hard to use, full of limitations, and fails to give professional quality images.  If  this sounds familiar, please do not let a bad experience with inferior tools turn you off to using a professional grade program. 
Pro version design software will include:

1. Large library of plant and hardscape images
2. Access to technical support
3. Several ways to present your final design

2. What is the final result?

There are several types of designs you can create including…

• Illustrations
• 3D Models
• Photo Realistic Visuals

 All of these are possible design outputs from professional design software.  There is not an absolute industry standard.   
If you are looking to produce visual designs that look realistic (which is often easier for customers to understand), consider choosing landscape design software that offers photo editing. This will allow you to “tweak” the before image and add your landscape design elements. Look for programs with both large plant and hardscape libraries. This gives you the power to prepare a customized, professional design specific to your client’s needs.

3. Will it work on your Computer?

The majority of design software available to the professional landscape industry (beside a true autoCAD system) does not require the latest, fastest computer. However, you must be honest with yourself and determine if your computer could use an upgrade prior to enhancing your business with profit-making landscape design software.  Here are a few (light-hearted) clues that you may need to upgrade:
• You had to re-install windows multiple times on the same machine
• Your computer was a hand me down from your children 
• You brag about your old computer still running

On a serious note, almost any computer that you purchase today is sufficient to run professional landscape design software.  Here are a few recommendations:

For Windows Vista and Windows 7:
- 1.8 GHz or greater dual-core Processor
- 2.0 GB RAM (DDR2, DDR3, PCI-E)
- 1024×768 Resolution
- 2.8 GB available hard drive space
- CD-Rom and DVD Drive
- 256MB Integrated Video Card

4. Do I need a tech guru?

The short answer is “no.” Adding a revenue generating machine like design software does not mean you need to hire a software or tech “guru” to make your designs. 
In fact many of the superior design programs will equip you with all the necessary resources to be successful on your own.  To build your great landscape designs, look for solutions that include technical support, manuals, CDs, how-to videos, webinars, and personal training opportunities. 
Check to see if training materials are included with your purchase or if they may be purchased for an additional price.  Evaluate design programs by researching websites, reviewing products at trade shows, asking colleagues, and participating in educational webinars. 
The goal is to select a design solution that….
• makes sense
• easy to use
• and gives professional results
You have the know-how.  Give yourself a few days to work with the tutorials and you can be a design rock star.

5. Which program to choose?

 Professional landscape design software is another tool in your tool belt and it should be viewed as such.  There are many levels of software applications that produce professional landscape designs.  Some programs require a skilled technician, robust computer, and hours to produce a single design…and others do not.  Certain projects require one type of design tool rather than another.  Consider design software as a specified tool for a specific job.  Just like you would choose a chainsaw for a large project and a pair of Felco pruners for a detailed task, the same is true for design projects.  You may have a design project that requires detailed plans that will be shared with engineers or you may have the need to communicate design ideas to your client FAST.  Every professional design software has its advantages in certain situations.    

…and one more thing: Additional Accessories

Printers and cameras are necessary accessories to complete your design studio.  Digital cameras are a great way to capture a project site.  To produce a before and after visual design, you must have a digital image.  Ideally, an 8 megapixel camera is helpful. This will produce great quality photos that you can use create an instant landscape makeover.  In a pinch, even the digital camera on your smart phone will serve as a quick and easy method to capture your project site. 
As for a printer, select a printer with a carriage that matches your needed design print out page size.  Design software commonly save designs as pdf files that can easily be sent remotely to a print shop for a large scale 24in x 36in or profession quality reproduction.

The best Christmas present EVER…but how do you wrap a pondless water feature?

An unusual Christmas request came into the offices of Atlanta’s JM Construction one week before Christmas. Joe McCown was asked to produce a landscape concept of the pondless waterfall he and his customer spoke a few weeks prior. The customer wanted to surprise her husband, unaware of the prior design discussions, with this spectacular design feature as a wrapped gift under the tree. The client was thrilled to learn that Joe would use his photo design software, EARTHSCAPES to transform the current wooded lot into a spectacular landscape feature suitable for any garden tour!

You will not believe this transformation! Check out the photos below.

Joe’s client was speechless when he presented the landscape project as a beautiful landscape illustration as a framed piece of art. ‘My client could not believe the quality and how realistic the photo designs turned out. She can’t wait to see her husband’s reaction Christmas day not to mention when we official break ground on this project!’ shares Joe.

We know not everyone received such an elaborate gift under the tree but we hope you had just as memorable of a holiday season.

If you have a desire to become a landscape rock star like Joe, give our office a call to learn how you can enhance your design presentations with the EARTHSCAPES design software.

    
                           Before                                                                   After

Lessons learned at the 2011 GIE Expo in Louisville KY

The GIE Expo in Louisville KY is by far the ultimate tradeshow for the professional landscape industry.   The 2011 show, Oct 27-29, did not disappoint.  The crowds were overwhelming and the trade show energy through the roof.  This show has such a reputation for its professional educational series and high class networking events that many landscape professionals schedule this event as a business development and vacation get-away all rolled into one! 

The icing on the cake is the FREE concert that GIE offers to all attendees.  This year was bow breaking and classic country icon Charlie Daniel’s with his band!  What a show.    

Every year the GIE exposes new equipment and trends.  This year, it was evident that water conservation and environmental issues are a hot topic with both residential and commercial landscape projects.  One topic that is gaining popularity is rain and water gardens.  Many companies are featuring new systems, designs and educational materials to promote these environmentally friendly landscape design elements.

Rain gardens play a significant trend in sustainable landscapes.  The entire country is buzzing about water conservancy with many states implanting mandatory water restrictions.  Adding a rain garden is a substantial for your clients to make a difference in water conservancy issues.  Rain gardens are designed to collect run-off or rain water.  A newly introduced product by ABS Materials, that when used within a rain garden system shows scientific studies to reduce the amount of pesticide residual and improve the quality of the soil.  Consider using ABS Material’s Obsorb product the next time you are tasked with a rain garden product.

Perhaps your client is looking for a smaller water collection system for their landscape.  A rain barrel is a great solution.  The homeowner collects the roof run-off into barrels.  Atlantic Water Gardens has developed a pre-barrel filtration system.  The water is passed through the clean rain ultra system, a downspout diverter, prior to gathering into the rain barrel.   Your customer can use the clean water gathered to top up cisterns, rain barrels, swimming pools, and water landscape plantings. 

One additional trend to that is pushing the water and rain garden trend are materials to educate your clients.  Aquascapes has informative pamphlets and marketing materials for you to pass on to your clients.  This is an easy way to share the benefits of adding a water feature to their landscapes.  Also, by using landscape design software such as EARTHSCAPES, you can communicate to a client how their landscape is transformed when water conserving systems, such a rain gardens or barrel fed water gardens are added to their landscape.

Software shows the impact of water gardens

EARTHSCAPES changed my business!

Going to tradeshows is a great way for Visual Impact Imaging to get out of the office and meet professionals like you. We love sharing the unique design service that EARTHSCAPES offers. EARTHSCAPES is a powerful tool and we are reminded of this each time we witness jaw dropping when we demonstrate how easy it is to create a design-especially painting on a paver patio! However the greatest joy is when an existing EARTHSCAPES customer stops by the booth to share their success story. We were pleased to have Korey Sayles of Bennett Landscaping in Horicon WI stop by the EARTHSCAPES booth at the GIE show in Louisville KY.

Korey shared how he uses EARTHSCAPES at Bennett Landscaping. Korey beamed with delight when he reported that for every job he produced a photo design with EARTHSCAPES sold! He was happy to share with others gathered around the booth that by far using EARTHSCAPES changed his business. Korey now produces a photo design for every client asking for design services. “I can create a design for each side of the property in 30minutes. This gives the customer an overall view of the entire project. I will take a few extra minutes to polish my designs and they do blow the competition out of the water! I use the photo imaging as a tool to educate my clients. They (customers) don’t understand a site plan. The photo design is the fastest way to sell a project!

Bennett Landscaping has reaped huge rewards with EARTHSCAPES that they advertise ‘Digital Designs service’ on their website. We wish Bennett’s many more years of success with the EARTHSCAPES software! You can visit Bennett Landscaping online.

Upcoming Industry Trade Shows-not to miss!

Stop by and see what all the excitement is about. Visit our booth and learn more about how EARTHSCAPES can change your business! We look forward to meeting you.

MANTS- Baltimore MD
January 11-13, 2012

CENTS- Columbus OH
January 23-25, 2012

New England Grows-Boston MA
February 1-3, 2012

Finish 2011 Strong & Have a Great Season in 2012

Visual Impact Imaging participated in an on-site case study to learn how a successful commercial landscape company operates.

The event called upon regional landscape professionals to meet at the Cocal headquarters. Everyone was encouraged to be open listeners and free with their thoughts as Cocal presented their daily operational challenges and efficiencies.

Here are a few valuable ideas to help your landscape business:

Leadership is Over-rated.

A leader is a lone nut but it really takes the 1st follower to create a movement. Look at your own landscape business for example; you may establish a new mission statement but it takes the support of champion employees to follow your example to create a new culture within your organization. So define your message, nuture and energize your team to achieve the results you want!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out this movement in progress caught on video!

Start with a Beginner’s Mind.

Challenge yourself to think with an open mind. By starting with a beginner’s mind, you have opportunities to consider ideas that you haven’t tapped into yet. Implement these ideas now and finish 2011 strong so your company will have a great start in 2012!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out this video from Britain’s Got Talent. This performance shows the amount the original thinking and fearlessness that took this dance team to the stage

It took one open idea that was probably discussed over the dinner table to get this father/son dancing pair up on stage. Doubtfully both were immediately on board with the idea of dancing up on stage in front of thousands! But that hair brained idea and their open minds now have them pulling in $10,000/night to perform their talent. Let that same original thinking and fearless motivate your landscape business.

Overall, energize your team and have the courage to be open minded to implement those hair brained ideas that will launch your landscape business into a stellar sales year.

Jim Paluch, founder of JP Horizons, developed these Face-to-Face sessions to actively exchange ideas, capture a new way of thinking, and enhance the business mind of everyone involved. The event was a huge success with over 50 in attendance.

For more information about JP Horizons and the Face-to-Face events lead by Jim Paluch, visit http://www.jphorizons.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

Even though much of the nation has a few more weeks before the true winter season displays its glory, many landscape professionals are preparing for the holidays.  No they are not sharpening their plows and servicing their trucks.  They are preparing to satisfy increasing requests to design and install holiday displays.

Scheduling a design consultation allows the customer to really think through the options of how a custom holiday or event lighting display might work on their property to create a unique experience for their guests.”

Tom Tolkacz, Swingle Landscaping

Landscape Contractors Designing Holiday Displays

Many landscape companies noticed a significant increase from their commercial customers to request holiday décor services this summer. Requests ranging from Halloween themes to traditional holiday lights are gaining popularity and keeping many full service landscape contractors busy year-round.

Calling upon the expertise of a professional not only to design but also install is highly sought after from both commercial and residential properties. It is never too early to begin promoting the holiday services your company has to offer. Schedule a time with your clients to review and design a theme that best suits their budget.

Tom Tolkacz of Swingle-a landscape company in Colorado, recently shared with the industry publication Lawn and Landscape, “Scheduling a design consultation allows the customer to really think through the options of how a custom holiday or event lighting display might work on their property to create a unique experience for their guests. Where we once delivered, ‘beautiful,’ now, ‘memorable,’ is also an expectation in the marketplace.”

Schedule a design consultation with your customer as soon as possible. In order for your customer to see your vision, use professional landscape design software. Taking a picture of the project site, adding holiday fixtures and colorful spots will instantly communicate your ideas.

Need help with your holiday lighting designs?  Get started today with EARTHSCAPES landscape design software.

5 Expert Tips to Take Better Landscape Shots

At the root of a phenomenal landscape design is the original photo. Before we design something new, we often start with our current landscape.

Cindy Dyer from the Nikon Camera Blog offers five tips that will help you create stunning landscape photos.

1. Shoot establishing shots (wide-angles), zoom in a little (medium shots) and then get close-up or macro photographs.
2. Look for clean lines and strong colors. Make your photographs more graphical by filling the frame with a single color or texture.
3. Don’t limit yourself to one format, shoot horizontal and vertical images. Sometimes changing the camera’s orientation will get rid of a distracting background or cause you to see a new element you had missed before.
4. Early morning and late afternoon offer the best lighting of the day. Shooting during these times limits the harsh, bright light of the mid-day sun. Overcast skies also provide you with naturally diffused lighting.
5. Remember that a garden is a sum of its parts, so don’t just photograph the flowering blooms. Photograph vegetables and trees, handmade objects or structures—the things that give a landscape its personality.

What to Capture

Picture the garden as a whole is the primary goal. Capture the elements that make up this landscape as a single macro shot. You can take additional photos that illustrate the details that make this landscape unique. These secondary shots will point out any problematic areas.

Time of Day

If you want to improve your landscape and garden photography, Cindy recommends photographing when it is overcast. However, it is difficult when you are working with a time restrictive schedule to wait for such an overcast conditions.

If you cannot avoid taking your photos during a bright sunny day, you can adjust the final photo within the EARTHSCAPES software. EARTHSCAPES includes a full license of Corel Photo Paint where you have access to all professional photo editing tools including a brightness/contrast to fix an over exposed or under exposed photo.

Gear

Cindy is a professional photographer that also enjoys taking close-up photography. She will quickly tout her favorite camera, a Nikon D300, which can run upwards of $2500.

However, most of us are foreign to such high dollar gear. Not a problem. If you are taking photos to document a property or capture an image to later use with landscape design software, you can achieve great results with any digital point and shoot cameras on the market.

In a pinch EARTHSCAPES’ customers have even used their camera phones to capture a project site. Even though this is not ideal, it does provide a fast photo that can be emailed back to the office. This is a quick way for the office to immediately receive the photo so work can begin on creating a digital design or instant makeover using landscape design software.

Cindy is a woman of many talents. In addition to being a photographer, she is also a graphic designer and gardener. Thanks for sharing your insight Cindy!

Jen Rodriquez of Ruppert Landscape shared a wild tale of how she made use of the EARTHSCAPES software to become king of the jungle and win a high profile landscape project. 

The project called for a lush tropical jungle to be installed under the belly of an amusement park roller coaster ride! 

Even though the site was situated miles from the Amazon jungle for an environment warm enough to grow authentic tropical plant material, Jen still eagerly accepted the challenge. She used the EARTHSCAPES landscape design software to carry out the transformation for the design proposal. 

When presented with the final digital designs, the client was awe-struck.

As he scanned the landscape design concept, his eyes grew larger. Before him were all of the details of a genuine tropical environment — even down to the swinging monkeys!

Our client, Six Flags America, asked us to re-theme their new waterslide attraction, Zoomazon Falls. Thanks to Earthscapes we were easily able to create images full of the artificial plants, vines and wildlife that would bring the Amazon to Zoomazon.”

Jen Rodriquez, Ruppert Landscape

Jen reflects on this project and recalls that EARTHSCAPES allowed her clients to instantly understand her vision.  Jen shares, “This project sold immediately when I presented the EARTHSCAPES design.” 

This project sold immediately when I presented the EARTHSCAPES design.”

No matter if your next project calls for traditional design elements or something exotic like Jen’s Jungle design, make use of the high powered sales tool of the EARTHSCAPES landscape design software.

New Ways to Serve Customers and Earn Business

Families are flocking to their local garden centers to learn how to use resources in their backyards. Arett Sales, a premiere distributor of lawn, garden and outdoor living supplies, reported the top four garden center trends at the 2011 Arett Open House.

Raising Chickens: Bucks from Clucks

Free range chickens and a posh coup in the backyard is a new hobby gaining popularity with home owners.  Many a garden hobbyist is smitten with the idea of adding another degree of life to their beautiful landscapes.

Raising chickens or ‘chicken collecting’ can be as addictive as going to the garden center and buying this season’s got-to-have plant variety.  Chicken enthusiasts search out different breeds from the exotic looking Frizzled Cochin to the more mundane Rhode Island Red.  To house their beloved new additions to the garden, homeowners often install elaborate and often whimsical chicken coups.  Housing chickens mere feet away from your backdoor is rewarding.  Garden centers have recognized this growing interest and can supply homeowners with the best information for structures, feed and cultural practices.

Hydroponics and Growing Vegetables

Garden centers are offering a variety of easy growing unique vegetables for the home gardener.  When fruit and vegetables are produced from home, the worry of any unnecessary contaminants is long gone.  There are many tools to assist the home gardener when the temperatures drop and the growing efforts must be brought indoors.  From heat mats to new LED growing lights, garden center experts have the best insight to equip a home with all the resources necessary to keep the growing season producing all year round.

Creating Outstanding Outdoor Spaces

From garden furniture to outdoor kitchens, homeowners are dedicating more time and money to their backyards.  Stay-cations are a growing trend and driving force to enhance outdoor living spaces.  The majority of consumers are weekend warriors rushing to garden centers to capture ideas and racing back home to carry-out the expert advice.  Garden centers offer a landscape makeover service that arms the Do-It-Yourselfers with a photo design.  Home owners are requested to bring in a digital photo of the project site.  The garden center expert drops plants, garden art and other design elements one-by-one to the before picture of the project site.  In a matter of minutes the garden center creates a new landscape design on the project site showing the customers a visual of the transformation. The EARTHSCAPES landscape design tool creates plans that earn additional sales. The homeowner drives away with all of the plants and garden elements necessary to recreate the photo design in their own backyard.  This customer landscape makeover service is booming business that more and more garden centers are providing to their customers.

Mystical Fairy Garden Retreats

Young and old are huge fans of the miniature landscape retreats of the mystical fairy world.  Plant breeders are growing dwarf varieties of familiar conifers and boxwoods to create the tiny environments.  The quaint dwellings of the mysterious fairies come alive with appropriately scaled garden structures and tools.  This is a trend that will last for many generations.  Local independent garden centers inspire gardeners of all ages with their elaborate demonstration gardens of the fairy wonderlands.  No matter if the home gardener dedicates a container or corner of their landscape planting bed to a fairy garden, they will be running back to the garden center to shop for more miniatures to adorn their petit fairy lands.