Question for Raleigh Durham / Greensboro area gardeners

has anyone ever dealt with New Garden landscape design in Greensboro? Tony Avent recommended them to draw up a design plan for me and I was just wondering if anyone had worked with them.

I left a voice mail on their machine so I don;t know if they will even consider doing one for me as I am almost 2 hours away but wanted to ask anyway. The firms around here that call themselves landscape designers are really just interested in putting in a lawn and only give me hydroseeding estimates which is *not* what I am looking for. There is one large one but they just do boring designs for businesses.....and they didn't return my phone call anyway so I am reaching further out.
Thanks for any advice you can give, I am overwhelmed with trying to do anything with these 2 acres of mostly cleared land around my house!

Try this.

http://www.vsld.org/

you can pick your region to find folks with credentials. Even if they are not affilitaed with a design/build business - maybe you can get a recommendation or a landscape design.

http://www.rebaandroses.com

Thanks, I'll check them both out!

dragonfly, if those don't work I may know of someone also

Well, New Garden called and said they weren't interested as the travel time would be too long and the job is too large to work from pictures and measurements. I know they are right, I was just hoping.

Missingrosie, the link doesn't show any landscapers in my area; the closest ones are in Richmnd which is also an hour away. But thanks for the info, I'll keep it in mind.

I'm going to call reba and roses on Monday but I don't hold out much hope, See all I want is a 5 year plan, we don't have the money to do it all at once. That's not very lucrative for the designers and I can understand why they don't want to do it.

Sorry the link didn't work. I saw that it had a place for you to pick your area of Va. but I didn't look to see how many were listed under each area.

I know that NC State has a wonderful degree granting program in Landscape Architecture. Maybe you could call down there and ask if there are any senior or junior students willing to help you develop a plan. You could pay them for the travel and the time - and they may welcome the experience. Are their any courses near you --maybe students there. Explore Niche Gardens here in I think Carrboro/Chapel Hill (not sure about the town) for landscaper resources, and last - Scotts Sand and Stone out in Hillsborough --or Mebane maybe--- anyway, the business sells all sorts of stone ..rock...sand.. etc. but by the very nature of their business, they are asked about landscapers and several list with them --and there are a few trying to start up businesses or move into the area and still need to be established.

Will do and thanks for the help!

Doesn't UVA have a LA program as well. Wasn't Thomas Jefferson the first Landscape Architect?

I live 20 minutes away from the NC state line. Most people here work in Roxboro or Raleigh Durham and it's not a bad commute, if I wasn't already employed I'd look for a job there. The "Landscape Architects" in this area don't like to call people back so that's why I am looking further afield.

As far as getting workmen, this place is terrible. It took me a year to find someone who would cut 4 holes in my roof and install a solar tube and 3 attic fans. They didn't have to do ANY of the inside work, just the roof work. I called 12 'contractors" but only 2 returned my call. I ended up hiring a guy for $35.00 an hour and it took him about 8 hours to take care of the installation.

My husband is really handy, he did all the wiring and connecting but he just can't go up on roofs anymore due to his meds making him dizzy. So if you want something done here it seems you have to go outside the area to try and get someone. The guy I hired said that everyone is looking for big jobs so he gets lots of the small ones and has a good stream of income without having to travel too far. Unfortunately, he isn't a LA and doesn't know anyone who is in the business.

At one time Southern Living magazine had a great program where for a very reasonable price they would send you a kit to complete and return to them. They had you take pictures of all areas and you had to send them a plat so they knew the elevations, etc. and they would design a landscape plan for you. Sadly, I can no longer find anything like that on their website. But, it was never very well advertised. Perhaps you could contact them and ask if they still do that sort of thing.