It’s a wonderful day to Meet the Team! Today we are highlighting our Operations Manager Erik Gorham.
Erik has a hand in every project we build and keeps our construction department running smoothly. His vast knowledge of both construction and compost tea is an incredible asset to our team, and his great sense of humor makes him an absolute joy to work with. We are so lucky to have Erik coordinating and managing our construction teams. Thank you so much for all your hard work, Erik!
1. How long have you been working at Madrone?
Around 8 years
2. What is your favorite thing about working at Madrone?
At Madrone, I work with a diverse team that I get to both help shape and learn from.
3. What is your favorite project that you’ve worked on and why?
Honestly, I can’t point to one specific project. The projects I have enjoyed the most have always been with collaborative involved clients that work with our team to build their vision. I have also found that these types of jobs create lasting relationships with great people.
4. What is your favorite, or least favorite, plant and why?
While I don’t have a specific plant that stands out as my favorite, I would say plants that can serve dual purposes are my favorite. In particular, plants that can be visually appealing in the landscape and can also be served as a meal appeal to me. Asparagus, artichokes, rosemary, and fruit trees are among my favorites.
5. What are some of your favorite hobbies outside of work?
Currently most of my free time is taken up by planting and maintaining research gardens that allow me to experiment with organic fertilizers and pesticides while tracking their effects on soil biology.
It’s a beautiful summer day to Meet the Team! This month we are highlighting our General Manager – fearless leader and plant guru – Daniel. His passion for our work is deep-rooted and contagious: it is felt by everyone who has the pleasure of working with him. Our team wouldn’t be the same without our pun-loving, surf-styling manager! Read more below to get to know a bit about him!
How long have you been working at Madrone?
I have been working at Madrone for 11 ½ years. I started in December 2007 right at the beginning of the Great Recession. With a bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture and a couple years of running and working in small design build landscape companies, it was a tough time to be starting out on your own. Before Madrone, work simply ran out. I reached out to a former Landscape Architect professor, Stratton Semmes, and she told me to come and talk to Rick Mathews at Madrone Landscape. I interviewed with Rick in my nicest button up shirt, slacks, and shoes, willing to help out however I could as a 25-year old young adult. The next day, I came in with work boots and jeans and started running landscape construction jobs. As time went on, I took on design, estimating, and sales while managing construction projects. Madrone was about 10 people and we all did what we could to survive in the dismal economy of 2007-2010. Sure enough, things turned around and the phone started ringing. We started working with business consultants to organize our roles and the company makeup to handle more work. We started building the team of key people we still have today and it helped us get past the hurdle of being an awkwardly small company where everyone wears a lot of hats.
Today we have about 25 people and 4 distinct departments: Design, Construction, Maintenance, and Service. Our capability, organization, and talent has grown. I have been the General Manager for the last 4 years and it has been an honor to work with such great people and see how much we can accomplish working together.
2. What is your favorite thing about working at Madrone?
My favorite thing about working at Madrone Landscape is the culture. We have some unique characters and everyone is free to be themselves. We spend most of our adult lives at work, so it is important that we make the best of it. The support I feel from everyone, and the comradery I see really makes me feel good about working here.
3. What is your favorite project that you’ve worked on and why?
My favorite project is Halter Ranch Vineyard. Before I came on in 2007, Madrone had already installed several projects on the property. When I started working with Halter Ranch, there were several multi-firm design and construction collaborations for various projects. Everyone involved shared a pride in the work. It was fun to work with the ownership and other trades with the common goal of producing the best product we could. Halter Ranch’s internal team shares a lot of our core values like stewardship, quality, teamwork, and integrity. Not to mention, we have installed some of the most beautiful landscapes of our portfolio there. We have won 3 county and statewide CLCA awards in 2012 and 2016, notably 1st place Large Commercial Construction in 2016 for the Tasting Room Landscape. Having a stoked team that works well together and produces award winning projects is a true privilege. To add to that, the property is open to the public 7 days a week and it is great to be able to enjoy the landscape and share it with others. Win, win, win!
4. What is your favorite, or least favorite, plant and why?
My favorite plant is ever-evolving and it really comes from emotions and horticultural nerdiness. If you are not a plant nerd, you may want to skip this section ;). Generally, I get excited about seeing California native plants in their prime season. Right now in summer, Mimulus aurantiacus, Mimulus ‘Cone Peak,’ Trichostemalanatum are pretty awesome mid-summer bloomers, with the Trichstema having one of the coolest scents. In the winter and spring, Salviaspathacea is beautifully blooming and fragrant, while the Saturejadouglasii is the most refreshing herby mint scent of all. In fall, the Zauschneria (way more fun to say than Epilobium) is a showstopper. Basically, growing up in California, then learning the plants, allows me to flash back to memories exploring the woods as a kid. If I step on a Gnaphaliumcalifornicum, it smells just like maple syrup and brings me back to the walk home from the bus stop in 5th grade, where we would step on them. Native trees are also very dear to me. I grew up in a mixed evergreen forest with Quercusagrifolia, Quercuslobata, Quercuskeloggii, Acermacrophyllum, Arbutusmenziesii, Heteromelesarbutifolia, Umbellulariacalifornica, and Sequoia sempervirens. Being in a forest feels like home to me, anywhere in the world. Finally, the almighty tomato, my first introduction to gardening. I owe my career to growing tomatoes as a kid and developing a great appreciation for how good a home-grown tomato can taste. The connections to plants in my youth definitely shaped me as a person. The beauty of horticulture is that it is limitless with cool things to learn every day.
When it comes to landscape installation, I have a different set of favorites and least favorites based on performance. As I see more landscapes mature, I tend to like to design a majority of long-lived low maintenance plants with far less perennials and high maintenance flowering plants. There is nothing worse than showing up to a landscape 5 years later to see that it was not maintained to your vision and plants have died. Therefore, my pragmatic favorite plants are: Rhamnus californica ‘Leatherleaf’, Chondropetalum tectorum, Carex divulsa, Arctostaphylos (several good Manzanita), Quercus (agrifolia & lobata), Pistacia chinensis, Cedrus deodora, Cistus ‘Sunset’, Muhlenbergia rigens, Pennisetum spathiolatum, Agave ‘Frosty Blue’, and of course Arbutus ‘Marina’. My least favorite plants are invasive pests such as Cortadera selloana, Ehrhart acalcina, Arundo donax, Delairea odorata, Stipa tenuissima, and Cytisus scoparius. These plants threaten our native California landscape – which means a lot to me.
5. What’s one of the things on your bucket list?
On my bucket list is getting my Landscape Architecture License. I haven’t needed it personally to do my job, but it is something I could get this year with the little I have remaining in the process. Life has a way of changing plans, and it has been evading me thus far. Free time to study is what it will take. I will get it done, and hopefully very soon.
To continue off our “Meet the Team” segment, we would like to introduce a new-ish member of our team: Coner Boaen. Coner started out as our Service Technician, but is currently running his own crew as a Project Manager for our construction team. He hit the ground running and is doing an awesome job with our clients – thanks for all you do, Coner! See what he said when we asked him some questions about himself and the job:
How long have you been working at Madrone? 5 Months!
What is your favorite thing about working at Madrone? Having the freedom to be a Landscaper!
What is your favorite project that you’ve worked on and why? Paso Robles Residence – Got Daniel out of his flip flops and into some boots and helped me get a rock wall started!
What is your favorite, or least favorite, plant and why? Favorite, that’s hard. I am really liking the Silk Trees right now! Least favorite, anything with thorns like agave or barberry.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and who would you bring? I have the aloha spirit in my heart. All I need is my girls and a white sandy beach in Hawaii!
To kick off our new “Meet the Team” segment, we are highlighting the dynamic duo Megan Savage and Ian Parker from the Design Crew! Ian Parker is the Sales Manager at Madrone, and has more than 10 years of field installation and design experience. Megan is one of Madrone’s Landscape Designers, and has years of technical and design experience behind her. Together, they cover the whole spectrum of the design experience, designing for San Luis Obispo county and North Santa Barbara county. Here is what they told us when we asked about working together as the core design crew:
How long have you worked at Madrone? How long have you worked with each other?
Meg: I started working at Madrone about 2 weeks after I graduated from Cal Poly, and I have been here for just over a year now. I started working with Ian when he switched from the construction side to the design side of the office.
Ian: I’ve been at Madrone for close to 6 years now – mostly as a Project Manager with our Construction Department, and now as a Designer and Sales Rep. I’ve been working alongside Megan for the past year.
What is unique about the working relationship with each other?
M: We have similar personalities but different skills. We are constantly encouraging each other and bouncing ideas and questions off one another which makes our office a fun, productive space. We both have a unique approach to our designs. My skillset lies more in the graphic details and technical drafting, whereas Ian has great design skills plus a vast knowledge of building and installation techniques. Between the two of us, I feel like we can design anything and find a way to install it in the landscape.
I: Megan and I work together well because we have a real complimentary skill set, and I think we’re both driven by our passion for creating beautiful spaces and making clients smile. She’s a great designer, and amazing with the technical stuff, and I’ve built enough landscapes to know what will work well and how to bring concepts to life. Together i think we cover the whole spectrum of design experience.
How many projects have you collaborated on?
M: All of them since Ian started in this office. I can’t think of one that we haven’t had one another take a second look at for some aspect of the design!
I: We collaborate on every design. We’re always asking for a second opinion on layout or discussing plant choices or building techniques. I know I can be my own worst critic at times, so having someone to approve my ideas and offer encouragement is awesome.
Which two projects were most successful?
M: I feel like every design we have done is successful in its own way. Some are feats of technical detailing, some are just incredibly laid out with gorgeous plant palettes, and some simply made our client smile and go outside more – in my book, all of these traits (and more) could be considered successful.
I: I think all of our projects have been successful, and we have quite a few projects that we’ve collaborated on scheduled for construction this coming summer and fall. I’ve had a lot of fun working with her to build 3-D models of some of our more involved designs. It’s amazing how much seeing a 3-D model can do for a client’s confidence – I mean, this stuff just wasn’t available when I was in design school.
What do you most appreciate about working with each other?
M: Ian’s support and mentorship. I had no construction experience when I started here and I feel like I am constantly learning from his skillset every time we look at a new project. If I hit walls with design ideas or have a lacking creative moment he always helps me find a way to see my site differently so I can work through it.
I: I really appreciate Megan’s energy and passion for her clients and their projects. She really wants to help them make their home a place that they love, and it shows in all of her designs and interactions with clients. Side Note: She also has this strange power that allows her to stare at my computer and make it behave when it’s acting up… short of buying a new computer, I don’t know what I’d do without that!
To continue off our “Meet the Team” segment, we would like to introduce a new-ish member of our team: Coner Boaen. Coner started out as our Service Technician, but is currently running his own crew as a Project Manager for our construction team. He hit the ground running and is doing an awesome job with our clients – thanks for all you do, Coner! See what he said when we asked him some questions about himself and the job:
