Aug 30, 2021
Madrone extends a warm welcome to Tyler Ellison, who recently joined our landscape design team. With his functional and pragmatic approach, he fits right in! He is detailed yet practical in his designs, ensuring his fresh ideas are both buildable and unique. He loves meeting new friends, listening to their needs and experiences, and working alongside them to create a space they can enjoy and call their own. We look forward to tasting his homemade mac & cheese!
How did you end up at Madrone?
After finishing both the Landscape Architecture and MBA programs at Cal Poly SLO, I was looking to join a Central Coast landscape design company. I worked for around two years for a landscape architecture firm in San Luis Obispo. I have always been a designer and “maker” – so I jumped at the opportunity to work for a design/build company.
What is your favorite thing about working at Madrone?
My favorite thing about working for Madrone is people—both in and out of the office—and the diversity of opportunities it brings me as a young designer.
Sometimes I use Sketchup to help visualize design features and the feel of a space.
What do you enjoy most about your team/department?
I enjoy the unique strengths of each individual, and the various perspectives they lend to design and installation. Their feedback and crititique is a welcome challenge and completely necessary for any young creative.
What do you enjoy most about being a landscape designer?
I enjoy meeting new people and hearing their dreams for a space, and collaborating with them to design a space that is functional, unique, and beautiful.
I enjoy the sketching process starting out any new design.
I love the bold statement of a gold Bougainvillea, but also the softness of a variegated thyme along a path. I would consider Platinum Beauty Lomandra to be my favorite and most versatile landscape planting element. I unambiguously dislike Bradford Pear trees—massively overplanted, messy, susceptible to disease, and structurally weak, to name a few characteristics.
Photo of Platinum Beauty Lomandra from a favorite breakfast spot in Yountville, California.
What are some of your favorite hobbies outside of work?
Since my first art show in early 2020, I have continued to paint and sell art through an online portfolio, ellisondesigns.com. I love people, plants of all types, exploring new places, live jazz, brewing craft ginger beer, and developing a line of custom reclaimed wood furniture.
Give us a fun fact about you!
If landscape design doesn’t work out, you will find me opening a food truck that serves made-to-order macaroni and cheese and a variety of crunchy and savory toppings.
Ready for a landscape design and want to talk to a professional? Contact our landscape designers at [email protected] or (805) 466-6263.
Mar 10, 2021
Enjoying a lifetime of Jazz, Blues and R&B with Central Coast music lovers via public radio KCBX (above).
How long have you worked at Madrone?
Many decades now. Maybe right after returning from the Torre de Cala Pi job, on Mallorca (see photo below). Talk about a stacked-stone project! Blisters!
What led you to start Madrone Landscape?
The discovery of native plants for landscape use, combined with emphasizing environmental stewardship and sustainability, inspired me to visualize a company that tries to heal the scars of development. We moved to SLO County for Cal Poly and the opportunities to start our lives and family in a beautiful region with the potential to make a living, but without the crowding, smog, commutes, etc. we had grown up with. I already had a pickup truck, so all I needed was a shovel and I was in business. What could go wrong?
Lake Park Native Garden volunteer work crew
What is your favorite thing about working at Madrone?
The people of Madrone Landscape continue to inspire me more than any other single thing. Through the considerable ups and downs that have come along, our team has thrived. We have persevered and lifted each other up amazingly well. Respect is a strong value with this group, and it shows through all of our company’s core values: Teamwork, Quality, Stewardship, Service, Innovation.
What do you enjoy most about your job/specialization?
At this stage of my working career, one of the most enjoyable aspects of work is to help guide what we’re doing, individually as well as systemically, and in the process help my co-workers learn and grow.
El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO)—donated landscape design/build for Atascadero Shelter
What is your favorite Madrone project and why?
I’m sorry to use the old cliche: That’s like asking which of your children is your favorite? So many of our projects have improved the situations beyond the sum total of materials installed. We help create environments that range from functionally enabling the use of property, to nurturing people’s souls. There is a lot to like throughout the hundreds of projects we’ve worked on.
What is your favorite plant and why?
This answer will periodically change, but for the moment, I’ll pick the entire genus of Arctostaphylos, or Manzanita. There are over 100 species of Manzanitas, from 3-inch high ground covers to 30 ft. tall trees. They all evoke Western North America, my home and favorite region on the planet.
Torre de Cala Pi is an iconic defense and observation tower on the southeastern coast of the island of Mallorca (built in 1663)
What are some of your favorite hobbies outside of work?
Family, music (still a jazz host on KCBX after many years—Freedom Jazz Dance, Mondays 8pm–10pm, KCBX fm90, KCBX.org), hiking, reading, and yearning to enjoy gathering with friends, live music, and traveling soon.
Give us a fun fact about you!
I first volunteered at KCBX Public Radio (90.1 FM or KCBX.org) in the summer of 1977, and have continued hosting weekly shows and volunteering ever since.
Feb 9, 2021
Jose Benitez, a project manager especially skilled in landscape and hardscape, has been working with Madrone for just over five years now. We’ve enjoyed his mind, work ethic, and skill in our building aspect of design-build landscapes, and his talent and hard-working mindset have been evident since his first time working with us at 18.
Though he can’t put a finger on his favorite project yet, his favorite plant to work with is the beautiful Central Coast native Arbutus tree, well-known for its red bark and edible berries. Did you know we share our name with them? They can also be called madrones or madronas.
Sycamores, on the other hand, are “nasty” but “necessary” in his opinion—they really are a tricky tree to maintain with their sticky green buds and many secondary trunks.
When Jose has free time, he likes road trips, riding his bike, and playing soccer with his daughter!
We’re grateful to have him on our team, and we look forward to continuing to work alongside him.
