Landscape Design
GARDEN TUTOR. Questions? Concerns? Need a guide? Our garden tutor can come to your garden and discuss anything you want or need. Are you wondering when to prune your lilac? Maybe you need some help creating an annual bed, we do it all. Minimum of one hour $75 per hour.
LANDSCAPE DESIGN. There is no project too big, or too small. Every question is worth asking. You can meet with our designers at our offices at Cobblestone Gardens & Market, or they can visit with you at your place to discuss your landscaping. Our designers can do a quick sketch or a complete design. Unlike some landscape design firms, we don’t own your design, you pay for it and you own it. We also offer installation services through Ground One Enterprises of MN, our landscape installation partner and parent company, find them at www.groundonemn.com.
MEET OUR DESIGNERS. More than likely you have met our designers. They can be seen assisting customers in the garden center, watering perennials, and creating eye-catching displays. They not only use their knowledge and creativity to design a landscape plan for you, they inspire gardeners who come to the garden center with their displays.
GAIL HAVLICEK – MNLA CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL. Gail has been part of the green industry for over 20 years. She first discovered her green thumb while helping out with her sister and brother in-law’s nursery in North Branch, Minnesota. After 20 years as a hair dresser, she was ready for a new challenge, so she pursued and received her landscape design degree from Dakota County Technical College. Prior to joining Ground One and Cobblestone Gardens & Market, she worked for Gertens in Inver Grove Heights. Gail is a very hands-on designer. She applies what she learns from the specimen plants in her own garden to the design that works for her clients. In addition to never tiring of gardening and digging in the dirt, Gail is kept busy with her three children: son Travis and twin girls Leah and Mariah.
DESIGNERS IN THE GARDEN CENTER. Where can you go to get sound advice, from sales staff? Several members of our team at Cobblestone are certified professional by the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape association (MNLA). What does it take to be certified? To even qualify to take the test, an applicant must have worked over 2000 hours in a nursery (or garden center) or must have a two years of education in a Nursery or Landscape program. Certified professionals have tons of hands-on knowledge; they must also pass a rigorous exam that tests their plant identification, horticultural knowledge, and landscape design. As certified professionals you must take continuing education classes each year to keep your certification, which is another way our designers keep up with industry trends.
WHAT ABOUT MASTER GARDENERS? Master gardeners are certified by the University of Minnesota Extension Service. You must take a course called, a core course, which specializes in botany; soils; herbaceous plants; trees & shrubs; lawn care; weeds; fundamentals of insect pest management; plant pathology; diagnostics; entomology; indoor plants; vegetables; fruits; living with wildlife and landscape design. The core course is the equivalent to one 3 credit college course. You must also volunteer 50 hours the first year, and 25 hours each year you continue as a Master Gardener. Although our staff would love to say we are Master Gardeners, our time spent as employees doesn’t count towards becoming a Master Gardener.
