Ten Reasons To Love Trees

Trees play an important role in water management.  As the New York Times pointed out a few weeks ago, “Trees are nature’s water filters, capable of cleaning up the most toxic wastes, including explosives, solvents and organic wastes, largely through a dense community of microbes around the tree’s roots that clean water in exchange for nutrients, a process known as phytoremediation.” Trees supply us with many other excellent benefits too.Read more »


Everyday Should Be Earth Day – 10 Things To Do On Earth Day And Beyond

The first Earth Day April 22, 1970 was a wake up call for us to take more action toward protecting our environment.  Gaylord Nelson, a Senator from Wisconsin was the thought leader for the day.  It marks the start of the modern environmental movement and the first Earth Day had around 20 million participants.  It was estimated over a billion people participated in Earth Day this past weekend.  This is a tremendous gain in participation…. Read more »


Are we all just moral hypocrites?

Happy tax day!  Thanks to Emancipation Day, the tax procrastinators of the Nation were given a couple extra days to file taxes this year.  April 15th fell on a Sunday so you would expect the deadline to move to Monday.  This year Monday is Emancipation Day so the deadline was pushed to Tuesday, April 17th. Emancipation Day, you ask?  It’s a local holiday in the District of Columbia and by law, District of Columbia holidays… Read more »


What's On Tap: Rivers, Clean Water, And Why You Can't Live Without Them

A few months ago Gary Belan, Director of the Clean Water Program at American Rivers was a guest on #landscapechat.  American Rivers is the leading organization working to protect and restore the nation’s rivers and streams, so I suggested he share some of his work in the form of a guest blog for ValleyCrestTakesOn.   Below is his contribution about how rivers impact our lives.  I’m… Read more »


What’s On Tap: Rivers, Clean Water, And Why You Can’t Live Without Them

A few months ago Gary Belan, Director of the Clean Water Program at American Rivers was a guest on #landscapechat.  American Rivers is the leading organization working to protect and restore the nation’s rivers and streams, so I suggested he share some of his work in the form of a guest blog for ValleyCrestTakesOn.   Below is his contribution about how rivers impact our lives.  I’m… Read more »


Celebrity Sightings at Starbucks

Starbucks is always a great place for people watching, but the location at the Commons in Calabasas is especially good for celebrity watching. I’m really more of a Peet’s person, but since this Starbucks is just across the freeway from ValleyCrest Corporate headquarters, I make an exception when I’m at the office.  I have seen many celebrities at the Starbucks, but you can imagine my surprise when I walked in and saw Britney Spears sitting with Brad… Read more »


Wanted: You, For Sustainability Leader

Every kid in the universe knows what’s it’s like to want to grow up and change the world.  That innate desire to make a difference starts in us the moment we begin to figure out ambition, and sustainability puts that power into our hands. That’s the message I hope attendees walked away with this morning after my talk at the National Facilities Management and Technology Conference in Baltimore.  The power is in our… Read more »


Garden Up! Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spaces

What is vertical gardening? The best way to maximize outdoor spaces and create drama in your garden. In the book Garden Up! (An Amazon Best Books of 2011 selection) you’ll see many examples, such as growing edibles up a wall or learning which edibles double as ornamentals.   Have a landscape eyesore? You’ll find lots of solutions in Garden Up! You’ll get ideas on how to create focal points with arbors. You… Read more »