A Tradition of Excellence • www.clcasfba.org FEBRUARY 2019 • Vol. 43, Issue No. 2

CALIFORNIA LANDSCAPE CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION • SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA CHAPTER

FEBRUARY 14 | 8 a.m.- 4 p.m.

NorCal Landscape ShowTake advantage of the NorCal Landscape and Nursery Show on Thursday, February14, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the San Mateo Expo Center, 1346 Saratoga Dr. in SanMateo. Walk the floor to learn about new products for the landscape industry. Or, takeadvantage of learning opportunities to boost your knowledge.The Nor Cal Landscape & Nursery Show has been awarded 27 CEUs for their five-

session seminar program. Register online at www.norcaltradeshow.org/seminar. Theseminars begin at 8:00 a.m. and conclude at 3:30 p.m. in the Events Pavilion. Parking is$15 per carload.Seminars

•Landscape Maintenance Best Management Practices (90 minutes)•Low Water Use or Drought Tolerant Landscape Plants. Are They the Same? (60minutes)•Landscaping for Native Bees: Plants, Maintenance & Design (90 minutes)•Welcoming Wildlife into Our Gardens (60 minutes)•The New World of Outdoor Lighting—The end of incandescent lights and the newworld of LED’s (90 minutes)Seminar Pricing:

Student with ID: $15 each, 2 for $20, 3 for $2560 minute seminars will be $45 or 2/$85 by February 8, 201990 minute seminars will be $60 or 3/$150 by February 8, 201960 minute seminars will be $50 or 2/$95 After February 8, 201990 minute seminars will be $65 or 3/$160 After February 8, 2019

LandscapeAchievementAwards UpdateKenneth “K.C.” Coverdell, Blue Sky Designs IncThe Awards committee has been hard atwork. We have decided to embrace theprestige of this annual awards banquet bycreating a classy theme: Landscapers BlackTie Achievement Awards. This theme is upto your interpretation but a black tie isrequired. Please note these important dates:•February: Applications ready to go out orare emailed – entry fee $100, late entryfee $150•Friday, May 3: Deadline to submit entries•Friday, May 10: Late deadline•Saturday, May 11: Entry Processing•May 14 – 16 (Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday): Judging dates•Friday, June 21: Awards Dinner –University Club of Palo Alto Theme: BlackTie Achievement AwardsPlease mark your calendar and select yourprojects for submittal. There are manyopportunities to volunteer for this event. Weare still looking for Drivers and Navigators.Coming from someone who was involved onthe judging dates last year, this is the perfectway to see first hand what other contractorsare doing in this chapter. If you have new orenthusiastic members of your company whoyou want to inspire, here is your chance. Letthem volunteer and/or bring them to theawards banquet on June 21. This willcultivate the future members of thisprestigious chapter. We look forward toreceiving your applications.

2 • February 2019 CLCA San Francisco Bay Area Chapter

Hello friends and colleagues!From what I’ve been hearing from you

all, my January president’s message is goingto be hard to beat – but here goes! I hopethe rainy weather has allowed you theopportunity to catch up on office work.Were you able to find time for fleetmaintenance? Have you reorganized theyard yet? What about those irrigationmaps? Can you still find the tailgatemeeting binder? Now is the time to catchup on the mundane tasks that keep ourbusinesses running smoothly. It’s going tobe spring before we know it and fortunesfavor the prepared mind!Our 2019 CLCA SFBA Chapter Kickoff

Meeting was held on Thursday, January 17in San Jose. Our speaker was Paul Verke,Office of Outreach and Public EngagementDirector from the Department of PesticideRegulation. As I’m sure you can imagine, itwas a rousing and lively discussion!Attendance could have been better. If you’rereading this now but were not inattendance, take a minute to think aboutwhy. Were you coming down from theholiday hangover? Was the south baymeeting location too far of a drive? Wereyou uninterested in the topic?

Our chapter thrives on memberparticipation. Not every dinner meetinglocation will be convenient. Not everyspeaker will be captivating. Our chapterstill needs your participation. Everyonewho attended on January 17 was just asbusy as you are. However, they sacrificedtheir time to come together with friends andcolleagues because they know the value ofour chapter and these meetings.Our trade is a forward thinking one. We

plant trees today knowing that people willenjoy their shade 20 years from now. Weconserve water today because weunderstand how scarcity will affect futureBay Area residents. I’m asking you tosacrifice a few hours per month for thefuture of our chapter. None of us want tospend time reorganizing the yard orservicing our fleet during these quiet winterweeks – but we do. We understand thatshort term sacrifice of our time will yieldlong term dividends to our businesses. Thesame principles apply to our chapter!I hope to see you at an upcoming dinner

meeting. Please, introduce yourself, andbegin to take advantage of all the chapterhas to offer.

A Message from the President

WeNeedYou toKeepOurChapterVibrantBy Gabriel Thomas, Three Rivers Landscape Services

www.clcasfba.org February 2019 • 3

Calendar of EventsFebruary6-7 Landscape Industry Show, Ontario

Convention Center, 2000 E.Convention Center Way, Ontario,CA. www.clca.org/lis/index.php

14 NorCal Landscape and NurseryShow. San Mateo Expo Center, SanMateo. www.norcaltradeshow.org.

28 Chapter Board Meeting. 5 p.m.Peninsula Building Materials, 2490Charleston Rd., Mountain View.

March21 Chapter Meeting. Details TBA28 Chapter Board Meeting. 5 p.m.

Peninsula Building Materials, 2490Charleston Rd., Mountain View.

April18 Chapter Meeting. Details TBA25 Chapter Board Meeting. 5 p.m.

Peninsula Building Materials, 2490Charleston Rd., Mountain View.

May3 Landscape Black Tie AchievementAwards entries due.

10 Late entries due for Awards.14-16 Awards judging.16 Chapter Meeting. Details TBA23 Chapter Board Meeting. 5 p.m.

Peninsula Building Materials, 2490Charleston Rd., Mountain View.

June21 Awards Dinner – University Club

of Palo Alto27 Chapter Board Meeting. 5 p.m.

Peninsula Building Materials, 2490Charleston Rd., Mountain View.

CLCAMember Benefit

On DemandWebinarsCLCA members have access to knowledge through a library ofrecorded webinars on business topics. Access these and others atclca.org/webinars/index.php. You will need member login info.•What Keeps Employers Up at Night? (60 minutes, Nov 9, 2017)•The Ins and Outs of Employee Handbooks (61 minutes,October 26, 2017)•2017 Immigration Update (60 minutes, August 24, 2017)

4 • February 2019 CLCA San Francisco Bay Area ChapterErhard Wegman, Erik Aichelen, and Leo Ott.

2019 KickoffMeeting Intimateand Informative

The CLCA SFBA Chapter held its 2019 kickoffevent on Thursday, January 17 at Flames Eatery& Bar in San Jose.

Mary Cohen and Lesley Peters of the Auxiliary.

Above: Dawson Bean, Robert Bean, guest speaker Paul Verke, Mark Ayala and Louis Caravas.

At left: Andrew Frost,Mark Takeda andGirvin Peters.

Barry and Mary Cohen, Elle Taketa and Tom Ellington.

Above: Girvin Peters, winner of the Half Moon Bay Basket with Lesley Petersand Chapter President Gabriel Thomas.

www.clcasfba.org February 2019 • 5

At left: Leo Ott, Mark Takeda(winner of the arranged made byLeanna Coverdell), and CharleneOtt.

Below: Leeanna Coverdell andCharlene Ott greeted guests to theKickoff Meeting.

At left: Sandy Jungwirth of Green Earth Gardeners won acopy of the Landscape Data Manual presented by LesleyPeters.

Above: Charles Simms and KC Coverdell. Above: Lesley Peters, KC Coverdell and Mark Takeda.

CLCABenefit: Legal FormsCLCA has a host of legal forms available online including contracts, subcontracts,change orders, and more. Login at www.CLCA.org, click on Professionals,Membership, then ‘Legal Contracts Online’ to take advantage of this great memberbenefit.And, if you need legal advice, call CLCA’s Attorney on Retainer, Bill Porter at (916)

381-7868. When calling, please identify yourself as a CLCAmember and mention:CLCAHELPS

FirescapingwithDouglas KentReScape California is presenting a series ofconversations with experts who will discussregenerative landscaping practices thataddress the climate issues of our time. Weinvite landscape professionals, homegardeners, and municipalities to be a part ofthis conversation and help createcommunity-based solutions.

Thursday, February 7 | 6:00 PM to 8:30 PMThe Presidio in San Francisco, 1012 TorneyAvenue, Tides – Pacific Room.Cost: $25 Members; $35 Non-Members

As California’s population andtemperatures continue to grow, so does thelikelihood of wildfires. The ten most costlywildfires in U.S. history have all occurred inCalifornia—and the top 5 within the last 2years. Join Douglas Kent, author ofFirescaping, as he highlights the essentialqualities of a protected property andcommunity. Doug will be focusing on roads,structures, defensible space, outlying areasand community obligations.Doug’s presentations are dynamic,

educational and inspiring. He has beenworking to create fire safe properties andcommunities since 1993 and has written thebest-selling book on landscaping for fireprotection, produced articles for news-papers and magazines, and led landscapeprojects and education efforts throughoutthe state. Doug started gardening 40 yearsago. He has two master degrees in landmanagement, has written five other books,and has led three statewide publiceducation campaigns. Doug teaches atCalifornia Polytechnic University, Pomona,within the departments of LandscapeArchitecture and Regenerative Studies.Kent’s work has been featured in FineGardening, Sunset Magazine, HGTV, LosAngeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle,National Wildlife, Press Democrat, CNNComcast, and many others. A new edition ofDoug’s book, Firescaping, will be availablelater this year.

Lesley Peters

Happy February to all!Hopefully, we have allsurvived the weather ofJanuary and are lookingforward to Valentine’s

Day! Who doesn’t love chocolate andflowers! Belated congratulations to SamWhitney and Vivian Atlas on theirwedding announcement at the ChristmasParty and also to Mike and RoyaMcPherson on their wedding last year.The January dinner meeting at Flames

in San Jose was quite enjoyable. We were asmall group, but lots of good conversationswere happening. This was my first meetingas Auxiliary President in quite a few years,and I had forgotten how many people areinvolved in keeping the Auxiliary running.Thank you to everyone who has ever soldraffle tickets over the years. It has becomemore complicated than it needs to be! We’llbe looking to simplify the process as theyear progresses. Thanks to everyone whopurchased raffle tickets, the Auxiliaryraised $205 for educational programs.Thank you to Gina Stanley, CLCAInsurance Solutions, for donating the newLandscape Data Manual to the raffle, wonby Sandy Jungwirth of Green EarthGardeners. Thank you to Charlene Ott fordonating a beautiful arrangement, made byLeeanna Coverdell, and won by MarkTakeda of Devil Mountain Nursery. Andlast but not least, thank you to Sally

Coverdell for making a Half Moon Baybasket, filled with goodies from the coast,and won by Girvin Peters! Again, thankyou everyone who contributed to thesuccess of our raffle.We had a wonderful Auxiliary meeting

on January 22 at Parkside Grille in PortolaValley. We had 10 people in attendance andwe had lively discussions abouteverything! Thank you everyone who cameto start 2019 off right. BIG thank you toMarin Villalpando, Zanker Recycling, fortreating us to lunch. We truly appreciateyour generosity.I feel a new energy in our San Francisco

Bay Area Chapter Auxiliary. We are theonly Chapter in CLCAwith an activeAuxiliary, which is unfortunate for CLCA.Our Auxiliary members play a vital role inthe functioning of the chapter. Of course,the first part of functioning is FUN and wedo like to have fun! The Auxiliary’s goalsare simple: promoting education andfriendship and supporting CLCA at boththe state and local level. Our membershipnumbers are down from 10 years ago, and Iwould love to see our membership growthis year. We welcome any and all whowish to become a member. I encourageeveryone to find out more about theAuxiliary and how you can participate in2019.Winter can be a bit depressing, with

gray gloom, rain, clouds and more rain.But, Valentine’s Day is near and spring isright around the corner. Rays of sunshinewill, hopefully, be here soon. I hope thenew season will be bringing positive

energy and good things to you, your familyand business. Have a happy and healthyFebruary.

Lesley PetersGarden Designer650-941-4093gpland@sbcglobal.net

uxiliary ReportA

6 • February 2019 CLCA San Francisco Bay Area Chapter

SFBA ChapterScholarship FundsThe SFBA Chapter has establishedscholarship funds through the LandscapeEducational Advancement Foundation(LEAF) with the following balances:SFBA Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . .$10,289.25John Lyngso Honorarium . .$15,157.15Herbert Frank Memorial . . .$16,356.83Hans Biland Memorial . . . . .$11,545.88Bill Hayes Memorial . . . . . . .$13,520.62Klaus R. Hertzer Memorial .$11,544.49G. Kunimoto Memorial . . . .$12,770.00Ken Jenner Memorial . . . . . .$12,201.99Paul Shogren Memorial . . . .$16,363.56Edron Schneider Memorial .$11,574.81Dr. Barry Cohen PhDHonorarium . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 8,270.29Tanouye Memorial . . . . . . . .$ 5,000.82Steve Whitehill Memorial . .$ 5,133.50John Gachina Memorial . . . .$14,135.00Mas Tsuda Memorial . . . . . . .$5,393.98Candy Fiske Honorarium . . .$6,475.12Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$175,733.32

To make a donation, send a check payableto “LEAF” to: CLCA, 1491 River Park Dr.,#100, Sacramento, CA 95815.

Partners for uccessSBy Marin Vallalpando

I’m looking forward to another great yearof educational activities, informativemeetings, and great networkingopportunities with the CLCA SFBAChapter. All these great activities arelargely made possible by the generoussupport of our Partners for Success. Now isthe time to make your commitment tosupport this great chapter in the comingyear. Please consider renewing yoursponsorship of our chapter, or, if you arenot already a sponsor, consider joining theranks of this elite group of companies whoprovide the means for this chapter topresent quality programs.To become a partner, please contact me,

Marin Marin Villalpando at 408.586.9292 oremail marin@zankerrecycling.com.Partners information can be found at

www.clcasfba.org/whoweare/#Partners.

11www.clcasfba.org February 2019 • 7

Diamond Partners

PlatinumPartners

Gold Partners

Sapphire Partners GardenTour Student Sponsors

•Charlene Ott • Leo Ott•Jolee Horne

Landscape Design•Oliver Frank Landscapia

®

Member Benefit: PersonalizedEmployee Handbooks

CLCA, along with the CaliforniaEmployers Association, has compiled anew, first-of-its-kind employee handbookwritten specifically for employers in thelandscape industry.•Use of company vehicles•Working with subcontractors•Directions for inclement weather call-in.The handbook is in an easy-to-useMicrosoft Word format, which you canfully customize to fit your company’ssize, needs and special programs. Theresult is an accurate and up-to-dateemployee manual, one of the bestdefenses available against employee jobactions and lawsuits.The handbook includes all required

state and federal policies, as well aspolicies that apply to your every daywork world.Contact CLCAHQ at (800) 448-2522Nowavailable in Spanish!