Tags: 2015, Billy Goodnick, Garden Design, Meeting, Season 2014-2015

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For our February event, landscape architect, writer, educator Billy Goodnick educated and entertained us with Design Like A Pro — Demystifying the Art of Garden Design. Billy sold and signed his book “Yards” (see below) after his presentation. We also raffled off a copy.

Many garden encyclopedias entice buyers by boasting “thousand of plant listings!” But who has room in their garden for all of them? Like everyone else, gardeners like to get the most out of the money they spend. This lively presentation teaches attendees the fundamentals of smart garden design, so they can Purchase with Purpose™, and bring home the best plants for their garden.

At the insistence of his parents, Brooklyn born Billy Goodnick was transplanted to LA at age eight, studied music and became an in-demand Hollywood studio drummer. “As fate would have it, I stumbled upon the exquisite art of bonsai,” he reports. “I turned my life on a dime, dropped my drumsticks, and started a journey into the world of plants.”

For 22 years, he was the City Landscape Architect for scenic Santa Barbara. His horticultural career also includes nursery sales, as well as garden maintenance and landscape construction. He continues to provide customized residential design coaching along the Central Coast and was the winner of 2005 Santa Barbara Beautiful Awards for both residential and park projects, and awards from both the California State Architects Office and the American Society of Landscape Architects. This diverse career path has contributed to the deep body of knowledge he now shares with gardeners across the country.

Billy is the author of “Yards: Turn Any Outdoor Space Into the Garden of Your Dreams.” Fine Gardening Magazine featured his column “Design Workshop” and his national award-winning “Cool Green Gardens” blog. He has written a bi-weekly SoCal-centric posts for Edhat.com, and for 5 years, contributed to 805 Living Magazine, while freelancing for other publications such as Sunset Magazine. Billy co-hosted Garden Wise Guys, a regional sustainable landscaping TV show that aspired, he says “to the sophistication of the Three Stooges,” and was a founding member of the Lawn Reform Coalition, a national group helping gardeners rethink the siren song of the “perfect” lawn. In recent years, he has added the title “college professor” to his credentials.

As an award-winning designer who worked his way up from swinging a pick to landscape architect, his presentations are enriched by years of professional design practice and animated by his earlier life as an entertainer. “That was too much fun,” is a typical response to Billy’s presentations and workshops. So is, “I thought there’d be a two-drink cover charge for the entertainment…and I learned a lot.”

Billy turns on his stand-up comic timing and rock drummer’s attitude to keep audiences attentive and smiling. He is adept at working “live” at nurseries and event centers, dispensing core design principles with a fast-paced improv delivery. But he’s also engaging in traditional settings, armed with eye-catching and often humorous slides to accompany his talks.

For decades, Billy has delivered his mantra of “beautiful, useful, sustainable gardens” to homeowners, Master Gardeners, and students. He shows audiences how to Design Like a Pro, while infusing a message of planet-friendly principles. There is a lot of useful information wrapped in an upbeat, inventive delivery. This refreshing and unexpected approach has won him fans from his speaking gigs across the country. “Everyone can have a garden that’s beautiful, serves their needs, and treads lightly on the planet,” he says, adding, “Sustainable landscape design is a serious subject, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a bunch of fun along the way.”