Lawrence is a truly talented designer with a vast knowledge of plants and design. I am very glad I have hired him for both my museum as well as for a redesign of my parent's home in Stuttgart, Germany. I happily recommend him to all my friends!
I met Lawrence at a fundraiser and after learning what he was a landscape architect, I asked him to visit my museum as we were opening our doors in a month and needed to design the exterior. Our museum is by the ocean in Malibu and it's hard to water. Our contractor put in some plants he got at Home Depot and they died in a few weeks, so naturally we needed to find a more permanent solution.
Lawrence arrive with his intern, Jack, and asked us all sorts of questions about the design of the interior, the layout of the gallery, what sort of lighting we were going to have, and how the external spaces were to be used. Needless to say I was impressed by all the questions for what seemed like a fairly simply project.
A week later he sent us some sketches of how he wanted to design the front, including some changes to the walkway (the contractor poured a simple concrete walkway, rectangular and boring) that would better feature our sculptures, and included some delightful ideas of having some tall plants to create a green curtain against the back walls. We loved it! He also gave us a list of plants he wanted to use, explaining how they were from Catalina Island and Topanga. After a week or so the plants arrived and they looked great! Lawrence worked with the contractor to redo the irrigation so the plants would be watered without damaging the walkway or sculpture. Now a year later it looks fantastic with lots of little white and pink flowers that contrast the patina of the bronze artwork beautifully.
A few months later we hired them again, this time to set up our gallery for a fundraising party. He brought in this beautiful arch made of exotic flowers that fit perfectly over the entryway into the gallery. He then placed these long swaths of fabric across the ceiling that gathered in the middle light fixture. His crew them set up these set of lights that changed colors throughout the night and illuminated the fabric. In other words he turned the ceiling into a massive color changing fabric chandelier! It was so beautiful! His team also arranged for a few local chefs to cater the event and hired us a DJ to play ambiance music. It was a highly successful fundraiser and we were blown away with what he did with our space!
After being so happy with his work I asked if he ever worked in Germany. He said, "not yet!". I emailed him a series of photographs of my parent's home in Stuttgart. Each photo showed how my parent's garden was a mess of thorny roses, dying shrubs, and other plants that would die in the snow or warm summer months. They hated how their yard looked so ugly despite working on it so long with their gardener.
Lawrence asked for their address and started to do research. Before he even gave me a bid for their yard, he researched the climate, soil, and sent them a long list of questions on how they used their yard and what they were looking for. He used an online translator so the German was a little funny but they understood the questions.
He sent them photographs of plants that do great in this area, as well as plants native to the area that me was able to find from a few local growers. After they approved his design (which he was able to do entirely in metric, very impressive!), he arranged for the plants to be delivered through a local nursery. It was so beautiful!
Lawrence had given us very specific instructions on how to plant everything. He even gave a set of instructions in Italian (my parent's gardener is from Naples). He even draw some diagrams to show how best to plant everything and protect plants from the frost.
They recently won a regional award for best garden, which made them both very happy!
My mom and dad still write to Lawrence, and he still writes back. Sometimes they ask gardening questions, sometimes they just chat about the weather or me (they are my parents, after all). This last Christmas Lawrence mailed them some freesia bulbs to plant in the spring and they bloomed! I'll be honest, I think my Mom has a little crush on him, since she always asks me what he's doing when I call home.
I also would like to add that Lawrence has a heart of gold. He volunteers for non profits and has fundraisers all the time. I wish I had his energy and passion for making the world better. read more
