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Jessica Schwartz
Lakeside Patio, Lawn Repair Do More Than Restore
Most people would agree having large trucks and excavators going through the yard isn’t a good thing. For one client of Nature’s Perspective Landscaping the destruction of their yard turned into the gateway to several award-winning property enhancements. The latest: a new Chilton stone patio with jacuzzi, outdoor shower, fire pit, and small watercraft storage area on the shore of Lake Michigan. Paul Klitzkie, the general manager of the Evanston, IL company, explains that the property owners are long-time maintenance clients of Nature’s Perspective, and the company had won a previous award in 2016 from HNA for a clay paver driveway it had designed and installed at the front of the property. The Chilton patio is the latest project to be recognized by Hardscape North America (HNA) for its use of natural stone. “Our bigger job was to get the area back together,” Klitzkie says. “We did some extensive grading but pretty much everything else is new.” “The client had recently completed a large restoration project along the lakefront spanning several different properties,” explains Tim Benz, who worked with the owner on the design of the project. “Construction access to the lake had been through our client’s property, so the driveway, rear yard, and lake front had been damaged and needed to be restored. The client wanted a natural feel for the lake front; something that tied into the existing condition of the lake. He desired something that looked a bit rustic to match the natural element of the ...
Field To Dreams: Repurposed Limestone Creates Perfect Patio
With Hardscape North America (HNA) right around the corner, Joe Majerus, owner of Sheboygan Falls, WI-based Landmark Landscapes, Inc., knows it will be hard to beat last year’s experience. In 2018, Landmark won HNA’s award for best use of natural stone in a residential or commercial project. The project, incorporating innovative and aesthetic use of limestone found on the property, as well as Mexican beach pebbles, and a seemingly suspended chandelier, was an evolving plan that continues to be enhanced by side projects. An Evolving Plan The six-figure project was one any landscape design/build firm would love. The property sits on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, and Landmark had previously built a grill area adjacent to the kitchen featuring a dry-stack bar. But Majerus, who sees his role as one of building relationships, initially met the client through their neighbors. “This was a word-of-mouth referral,” he says. “We had done work for their neighbor to the north, the neighbor to the south and the neighbor to the west. We just encircled them.” Majerus says it was nearly preordained his company would take on the job. Majerus describes the home as a mid-century modern with a limestone façade that was built around 1960. Subsequently, when his company was called in to work on the second phase of landscaping for the property, it wasn’t starting with a blank slate. “There garden terrace that part of the original design, but it was never carried out very well,” he says. “It had some ...
WAC Upgrades Hardscape Series of LED Luminaires
WAC Landscape Lighting has upgraded its Hardscape Series of LED Luminaires with Dual CCT and Integral Brightness Control for numerous lighting applications. The Series allows for hardscapes of various materials and designs to be illuminated to suit the customers’ needs and applications. Lumen adjustment control allows brightness to be adjusted in the field and color temperatures can easily switch from warm for lighting granite to pure white for lighting bluestone. These IP66 rated luminaires are factory sealed and watertight for exterior settings and conveniently adapt into existing 12V Systems. They can adjust from 2700K and 3000K quickly and easily and feature tightly spaced and diffused LEDs which stem from standard frosted lens for even illumination. A stainless steel masonry bracket and rotating clips help achieve the perfect angle and eliminate glare. The Hardscape luminaires mount on walls in all orientations. Additionally the Hardscape fixtures are constructed of corrosion-resistant brass and available in bronze, graphite, and sand (in corrosion resistant aluminum) to complement a wide variety of materials such as stonework, concrete, and wood surfaces. Sizes range from three to 18 inches in length, with the controllability features available on the 6-inch, 12-inch and 18-inch models.
Block Retaining Wall Saves The Day At Vacation Home
For a central Wisconsin vacation home, Paul’s Landscaping of Vesper, WI designed a block retaining wall to replace a failing railroad tie installation. Including a turret in the design sealed the deal for this prize-winning project. The desire to beautify a space or make it more usable are two common reasons homeowners call in a landscape contractor. However, for vacation-home residents of the central Wisconsin community of Nekoosa, their need was more pressing — they wanted to save the back of their house from collapsing. Mark Paul, owner of Vesper, WI-based Paul’s Landscaping, estimates the owners had no more than 18 months before their deck and back of the house collapsed. The culprit: a railroad-tie retaining wall system installed in 1994 which was falling apart. “The sand was leaking through it; it was failing miserably,” says Paul. “The pavers that were under the deck were sinking, and the whole thing just wasn’t doing the job.” Paul explains that the jobsite is located just outside Nekoosa on Lake Arrowhead, a manmade lake surrounded by drumlins left from the last Ice Age. There’s approximately a 20-foot difference between the level of the home’s driveway and the lake, with the home built into the side of a drumlin. The home features a walk-out basement, with a deck built on the same level as the driveway. Paul was brought in by the company that does landscape maintenance on the home. “The owners talked to their maintenance people about it, and they recommended me because ...
Story Of A Landscape: Custom Buffet/Water Feature Combo Fits The Bill
A backyard redesign delivers on what the client was looking for, including a custom buffet and water feature combo. Sometimes, getting a job is simply a matter of giving the customer what he wants. Just ask Nathan Filip. The owner of Elmhurst, Ill.-based Premier Outdoor Environments, Inc. (POE), says his firm got the job that earned it recognition from Hardscape North America (HNA) in the category of concrete paver — residential — less than 3,000 square feet for 2017 because it did just that. “This job was a referral from another client that we previously did work with,” Filip explains. “They were already in the design process with a few other contractors. They chose our design because we incorporated everything that they were asking for as well as a few of our own touches.” And, POE was not, he stresses, the lowest bid. The property certainly needed help. Filip says the owners had been in the home — in a large-lot subdivision — for several years and after doing interior renovations finally decided to take on the exterior. “They wanted to remove an old and rotting deck and gain a functional outdoor living space,” he says. “Their wish list included an outdoor kitchen, dining space, lounging spaces, a buffet and serving island, and both water and fire features.” Perhaps not surprisingly, the ability of designer Kevin Barnes to fit all that into a 1,200-square-foot space is what makes Filip most proud of this project. And, with good reason. While POE ...
Story Of A Landscape: Retrofitting A Senior Living Facility
Crane, Drains Make for a Challenging Courtyard Project Wayne, NJ-based Monello Landscape Industries LLC does everything from private homes to large commercial projects, but the company has become a virtuoso for one very specific type of client — senior living facilities. Its jobs invariably win recognition from Hardscape North America, and 2018 was no exception as its CareOne Courtyard here took honorable mention in the category of Combination of hardscape products – commercial. Often these jobs are retrofits, and many times are further complicated by being renovations of enclosed courtyards, meaning access for demolition and construction is via crane. In both cases, this project for the CareOne at King James facility in Atlantic Highlands wasn’t the exception. However, company owner Joe Monello and his crew are so experienced that they’re able to fit the desired amenities into a variety of changing spaces while uniformly guaranteeing work at the site will be completed in 60 days. Even so, the Atlantic Highlands project presented some challenges for the company. A major one was correcting some drainage problems that meant tearing out some interior concrete. “This building looked like it may have been a combination of several things: a hotel, and possibly a church,” he says. “The architecture was very strange. Years ago, nursing homes did basically the bare minimum of landscaping. There was a lot of green lawn area and a perimeter walkway around the space and that was it for the courtyards.” In doing the redesign, Monello says he recognized today’s ...
Solid Brass Collection By Vista Professional Outdoor Lighting
The new Solid Brass landscape lighting collection from Vista Professional Outdoor Lighting is designed to provide the aesthetic appeal of brass with durability that spun brass fixtures cannot match. The collection consists of six models — four Up & Accent lights and two path lights — all of which feature thick-wall, die-cut brass construction finished with a proprietary Olde Brass process. “Many outdoor lighting manufacturers offer fixtures made with spun brass,” said Cruz Pérez, vice president of sales and marketing for Vista Professional Outdoor Lighting. “However, spun brass simply cannot compete with solid brass when it comes to overall appearance and durability. It’s easy to tell the difference between the two types of brass by simply holding the fixtures in your hands. Our new Solid Brass Collection is heavier and stronger, built to rigorous specifications for lasting customer satisfaction.” The 2216, 5006 and 5014i Up & Accent models feature tempered, shock-and-heat-resistant soda-lime glass lenses as well as tool-free, rotatable shrouds for easy fixture entry and aiming by hand. The 5105 Up & Accent has a bordered, high-impact, tempered lens with a high-performance anodized aluminum reflector. All four Up & Accent models have solid-brass, adjustable knuckles with half-inch NPS and silicone o-ring gaskets for a reliable seal. The 2216 and 5006 include Vista’s high-performance LED 4.5W or 5.5W MR-16 lamp in 25°, 36° and 60° spreads. The 5014i model features integrated, advanced chip-on-board (COB) LED technology available in 1.5W, 2.5W and 3.5W with outputs up to 400 delivered lumens available in ...
Tradition of Excellence
Healing gardens coax Bakersfield’s Monji Landscape into high-end maintenance. By K.Schipper Fred Monji started Monji Landscape in 1953 with a pair of pruning shears and the goal of providing maintenance services to residents of the Central Valley community of Bakersfield, California. However, as his client list and expertise grew, he found himself drawn to garden designs and the company began offering design-build services, as well. It’s a model followed by his son, Dan. In recent years the company has only offered specialized maintenance services to its design-build clients. Even as Monji Landscape Companies has expanded its design-build offerings, Dan and his wife/partner, Mary Kay Gundry, decided to take another look at maintenance, and the company began providing weekly maintenance services starting this past June. Monji Landscape Companies Owners: Dan Monji and Mary Kay Gundry, and their son Aaron Gundry-Monji Founded: 1953 Headquarters: Bakersfield, California Markets: Central Valley community of Bakersfield, California Services: Landscape design, green walls/roofs, waterfalls/fountains, outdoor kitchens, LED lighting, water management, landscape maintenance and pools/spas Employees: 30 Websitehttp://www.monjilandscape.com Aaron Gundry-Monji, their son who serves as the company’s marketing director, says his dad believes the garden design portion of the business is a response to the family’s Japanese heritage. “The Japanese have been designing beautiful gardens for hundreds of years,” he says. “That’s where Fred’s love and his passion was. As the business grew he got away from doing maintenance.” Gundry-Monji says his own father is much the same way. Dan enjoys the complexities of designing a project, as ...
