Association Of Professional Landscape Designers—

Connecticut Is Now Home To Its Own APLD Chapter

By Shannon Hicks

Brid Craddock has formed a state chapter of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD). The Connecticut chapter of the only international organization that offers accreditation to landscape design professionals has no official office in the Nutmeg State, but its home base is unofficially out of the Newtown home of Ms Craddock and her husband Harvey Pressin. The association itself was formed in 1989 and is dedicated to promoting and supporting the highly qualified landscape designer.

“They’ve had members here in Connecticut for 20 years, but they couldn’t get together a chapter,” said Ms Craddock, who works for Growing Solutions, LLC in Ridgefield and also owns Heirloom Gardens Nursery here in Newtown. “Most designers work like I do: in a home office. But you need to collaborate, you need a colleague. It can be difficult to find the right person when you need an electrician for a project, for instance.

“You’re kind of a rare animal,” she continued, speaking of herself and her colleagues in the landscape design world. “You meet another landscape designer and you’re very supportive. We support each other, we compare notes, we share ideas easily.

“Designers are very focused on their networking. We’ll sit down and someone will say ‘Do you know someone with a weeping beech? My [client] killed one and I need a replacement. We want to share that kind of information with each other. I can’t imagine two plumbers meeting and saying ‘You’re a plumber? Cool!’”

The formation of a Connecticut chapter was announced during APLD’s International Chapter Symposium, which was held in Chicago in February. APLD-CT held its first chapter meeting, a kickoff event, in February at Planter’s Choice, the wholesale nursery in southern Newtown.

“At that first meeting Brid asked how far people would be willing to travel for events,” said Mr Pressin. “The consensus was about an hour, which means we are reaching members easily from across the state.”

Before Ms Craddock and fellow APLD members formed their new chapter, most Connecticut members were traveling to Boston for meetings. The New England Regional Chapter continues to host members from Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

APLD-CT members have signed on from across the state, and there are opportunities for students, retirees, and new designers to join as well.

“There are all different levels of people in this group,” Ms Craddock explained. “There are people who design perennial gardens, or do fine gardening. We have people who design container gardens, and others who are landscapers. We have people from Glastonbury to Greenwich, Southington to Old Lyme, and a lot of people right around [Fairfield County].”

Members are expected to follow a Standard of Practice, and there are six categories of membership available: Certified, which requires a judicial process that considers a designer’s work and references (and an Associate Membership prior to consideration); Associate, the standard level of membership; Allied, for companies or individuals who provide services and/or products that are resources for the landscape design profession; Educator, a professional landscape design educator who is not a practicing landscape designer; Emeritus, or permanently certified members who are at least age 70 and still working in some capacity as a designer; and Student, which has two branches. Traditional Students are those who are working toward an associate’s or higher degree, and Professional Education and Certificate Students are those who are taking classes and working toward their professional certificate in a program requiring at least 24 total credits.

Officers have been named for this inaugural year of the chapter. In addition to Ms Craddock serving as president, Jay Petrow of Westport is vice president; Debbie Roberts of Stamford is serving as treasurer; Whitney Freeman-Kemp of Ridgefield is secretary; Sharon Slocum of Stamford is membership chair; and Mary Ellen Pirozzoli is the communications chair.

The first chapter event was a landscape design lecture and dinner at the Westport showroom of Gault Stone-Mason Supplies. Members and guests were treated to a lecture, “Masonry Design and New Product Introductions,” as well as dinner catered by Aitoro and networking.

Prior to the kickoff meeting APLD-CT claimed “about 50 members,” said Mr Pressin.

“I think about 20 people who came as guests to the Gault event took membership forms,” added Ms Craddock. Anyone can attend up to two APLD events for free. After that they need to join in order to gain access to events. “I think after two events you know whether this is going to be a fit or not,” said Ms Craddock.

Like its national umbrella, APLD-CT is committed to offering its members help with defending their right to work. So-called practice laws, say APLD members, not only include verbiage that prevents anyone from practicing landscape architecture unless they meet state eligibility criteria, but in many states these laws also strictly limit the scope of work and specific tasks that landscape designers are legally allowed to perform. APLD is committed to opposing any legislation that restricts a landscape designer’s right to practice, Laura Kuhn, APLD’s chair of legislative affairs, wrote for the winter 2008 issue of The Designer, APLD’s quarterly publication.

Chapter benefits, according to Ms Craddock and Mr Pressin, also include receiving job leads and referrals; discussion forums on business techniques, new ideas, and the latest trends; hands-on workshops and expert speakers on innovative design concepts; networking, mentoring, and job sharing opportunities with like-minded individuals; and increasing public awareness of landscape designers with outreach design projects.

“We would like to have certification workshops in the fall and during the summer we’ll have a few low-key events,” said Ms Craddock. “That’s everyone’s busy time though, so anything we do will be very low-key.”

Additional benefits are press releases and media coverage to promote member businesses and APLD; increased professionalism and confidence; a Find A Designer page on the APLD chapter website and networking between members on a Yahoo! forum (both currently under construction); connections with allied green industry members; field trips; and the opportunity to meet the public to showcase original designs during home, garden, and trade shows.

That last point will be offered later this month, when APLD-CT participates in the inaugural Sustainability Expo in Stamford (Thursday, May 28, 2 to 8 pm, at the Stamford Government Center). The chapter will have a table at the expo, and members will have the opportunity to display their design portfolios.

To join the Connecticut chapter of APLD or for additional information, send an email to membership@APLD.org or visit APLD.org. Additional information is also available from APLD-CT chapter membership director Sharon Slocum, SharonSlocum@yahoo.com or 203-348-8871. Ms Craddock can also be reached at BridCraddock@yahoo.com.