I graduated from UGA, after being away for 6 years, in 1991 working in various industries, but always involved part-time in garden center selling, greenhouse propagation and doing garden center design for customers. My father wanted me to work for NYC, but opted to move instead to ME where I setup a landscape company working for banks, Casco, and commercial establishments trying different approaches. I also consulted with an architectual firm in Portland on a facility for the Severly Mentally Retarded in Bangor which involed loads of research and presented the city of Portland for a new concept in pedestrian walkways. I moved back to NY and dabbled in various areas but always was involved with LA part-time, but it wasn't until I moved to CO and started a residential design/build company that I enjoyed the challenge of bringing the mountains to the suburbs. I was never one to punch a clock. I have two classmates, one who is dean at a university and another who left teaching because the students didn't want to learn and went back to private practice. The only problem with working for yourself is money is always tight, you have to buy your own health insurance and no one contributes to your 401K and now that I am nearing retirement I wish I hadn't been such a free spririt, but glad the Bush administration enacted solo 401K's and increased Roth account deposits. In hindsight I wish I could have sucked it up and punched a clock, but if a person is up to challenges nothing like being a free spirit, because they will have experiences that people who punch a clock will hardly ever see or envision. I left LA and started a legal publishing company because I found out the hard way how lazy the younger generation was and couldn't take the labor intensity of design/build. People tell me today how lucky I have it, being self employed. Only in their wet dreams.

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Perennials

What you did not learn in school and how you learned it?

I learned analysis. First I was introduced to all sorts of things that could be analyzed - color, texture, form, ... rythm, harmony,... soils, slopes, solar aspect,... Second, I was taught a methodical design process.

Anytime you do not recognize a situation, you miss an opportunity to enhance it or correct it. Learning a structured design process develops a way of thinking that is very structured in school and becomes more intuitive over time, yet quite thorough.

This allows you to not only analyze opportunities and limitations, but it allows you to analyze what makes existing compositions successful or not successful. That allows you to avoid mistakes made by you or others in the past. More importantly, it gives you the ability to recreate positive aspects of other built work. Anyone can see the items in the composition, not everyone recognizes the dynamics of the composition because he simply does not know what else he is looking at.

What was the most valuable thing you learned in your education?

To have a reason for everything I do, to know that reason, and to communicate that reasoning to the client.

How the profession has changed overtime and how you grew with it?

It is diverse, has always been diverse, and is increasing in diversity (by diverse, I'm not talking about demographics). I don't know that any individual has to become more diverse because all of the opportunities that existed before still remain, but there are additional opportunities as well. You can look for emerging opportunities that match your interests or skill sets to fill a niche.

I guess that is what I did because there simply are not many opportunities in landscape architecture offices in my area without a very long commute. My primary job is with an engineering office where I do more civil site plans than planting plans, but I like to think that I bridge a gap between "gear head" oriented site design to one that is "end user" or people driven site design. I have done a lot of wetland restoration/mitigation design as well because of the position. I worked in design/build a lot more in the past. Then I have a side business as a landscape architect where I do more traditional landscape design (ie, planting & hardscape plans vs. siting buildings and designing roads and parking lots). The niche that I am exploiting (for lack of a better term) is the experience and ability to bring together site design, aesthetic landscape design, and regulatory response in any project that I work on.

Where you see the profession going and what skills will be required over the next ten years?

I think all of the landscape design niches that have existed in the past will remain strong. I do see a lot more opportunities in larger scale site design and planning for landscape architects. It is a fast growing and more widely used profession now. Environmental concerns as well as more proactive regulation to reverse negative functional and aesthetic trends in mostly more developed areas at every scale have been the main drivers for this in the past ten years. I believe that some developers have also learned that good "people space" can also be very profitable in a lot of situations. You'll always have your developers who are all about minimizing cost of development rather than enhancing an experience - that is a viable opportunity as well that can not be overlooked just because it is not the philosophy we are taught to value.

Diversity in knowledge is the key to exploiting those as a career and one of the few areas where a degree and/or credentials opens doors that experience alone may not.

I'm not a pro, but I've had a long career with exposure to engineers, architects, and LAs, many of them not long out of school. I'll rephrase one of your questions.

"What was the most valuable thing you didn't learn in your education?"

The most important thing that none seem to learn in school, and many never learn, is to observe Rule #1.

For every project built on, or a part of, terra firma:

Rule #1
The first thing to consider in design, and the first thing to do in construction, is to take positive control of the water.

Water not only sustains life in the landscape, it also has legal, destructive, and economic issues. Good design recognizes all of these issues on almost every project. Rule #1 dictates that the designer know and document all water entering the project area, what it does on the project, and where the excess will leave the project, before construction, during all phases of construction, and at completion.

What you did not learn in school and how you learned it?

This is kind of a loaded question :-))......IMO, any formalized training/educational process is only going to supply the basics. Most of what you learn will be obtained from outside of the academic situation. I'd say one of the biggest issues for me was dealing with the business side of things - developing a business plan, record keeping, accounting, marketing, client interaction, etc. Fortunately, I had siblings that were self-employed (but in different fields) that offered great input and advice. The second major issue was developing a personal data base of plants and their growing requirements, habits, cultural issues and ultimate sizes. You can spend years doing this and college plant ID classes barely touch the surface. Much of this was already in place as I was a life-long gardener with pretty thorough plant knowledge to begin with but the rest has been obtained over time with personal experience (if it grows in my area, I will plant it in my garden!) and by working in both the retail and wholesale nursery industry. You can't know too much.

What was the most valuable thing you learned in your education?

That education does not stop once you leave school. Horticulture and landscaping, including the design aspect, is such an expansive, complicated, diverse and continually changing subject that you can never learn it all. I continue to attend classes and seminars and self-educate constantly. The more you know, the better prepared you are to do your job

How the profession has changed overtime and how you grew with it

In my area, the client demographic has changed significantly over the years. Both age and economic status and the sizes of most properties are very different - clients are younger, far less interested in 'gardening' and very busy. They want a landscape that looks great year round with minimal input from them and can afford to pay for it. They have more of a focus on outdoor living/entertaining and less on tending to a garden. Hardscaping in the form of patios, decks and outdoor kitchens is a big deal.

There is also a very big focus on "green" trends in my area. Drought tolerant planting, limiting resource guzzling lawns, avoiding any chemicals and other organic practices and attracting wildlife are becoming more and more popular.

Where you see the profession going and what skills will be required over the next ten years?

Wish I had a crystal ball! I think economic constraints will have a huge impact, at least for the short term. A study of retail trends indicates that plant purchases are down overall, but that may also be a factor of smaller and smaller lots requiring less landscaping as well as a change in the demographics. The same trends indicate that consumers want package deals - one stop shopping - so retail nurseries that offer design/installation services and all the plants and accessories may be in higher demand. There is also a lot more DIY activity, but whether that reduces or increases professional design assistance remains to be seen.

I guess my biggest piece of advice to current design students would be to broaden your skill set as much as you possibly can to address any situation and remain flexible in how you approach your business. As laag points out, diversity is the key and finding your niche in such a diverse and rapidly changing industry is critical.

This is excellent feedback I really appreciate the diversity of responses and experiences. This is what I love being able to share with my students. I really try to stress the school teaches you to learn, not everything you need to know. Its just the beginning.

Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated as well.

I'm not a full time professional. I just realy enjoy designing and have a nack for turning an eye-sore into an area of beauty. I'd say that the skill that cannot be taught in school is how to treat your customers.

I have had well over 18 years of working with the public and I gotta say, that customer service is often bad with yough people. I've cut grass and helped my customers design a landscape they are realy happy with.

We all have grouchy and picky customers. One thing that disturbs me is how some of the younger folks talk to people. I guess this comes with time and pratice. Also, it's about understanding the customer's needs come first.

And pride... you can't run a successful operation without having a high level of pride in your work. I've received job after job because "the kid down the stree" dosn't use the trimmer every week. They don't do the little extras that they didn't bid for. I'm not happy to lose a customer to a kid that will do the job cheeper or faster. But, more than a few times, I got the job back because their service wasn't what the customer wanted.

If you can teach that to a kid (or more than a few kids) then you could realy build a strong and thriving business.

While I agree that there seems to be an abundance of rude and indifferent kids today I wonder if that has anything to do with the grouchy and picky people they are growing up around.

Or have teens just always been snotty? I really think a lot of the terrible events for most of humanity's history has in large extent had a lot to due with the fact that until recently most people were under 30 years old.