Zone4 Landscapes - About Us

About Zone4

About Sandy

That's me on the cool bench that I made in a rustic furniture workshop that Judd Weisberg taught at Sugar Maples. I am looking a little posed and not so comfortable but at least I am colorful and smiling. I am the owner of Zone4 Landscapes. I am also the designer, bookkeeper, backhoe operator, webmaster, field manager and the list goes on. I love getting to do a little of everything but I do have helpers and utilize them and the expertise and services of other tradesmen when needed.

I have a Landscape Design Certificate from the excellent program at the New York Botanical Garden. I also have a Master Gardener Certification from the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Greene County. I am still active at both institutions, continuing to take a variety of classes and workshops to keep up with the industry and acquire new skills as well as giving lectures and participating in special projects and workshops.

My passion for gardening and design has been developing for many years but it took a leap when I purchased an apartment in Manhattan specifically to gain exclusive roof rights. I then proceeded to create a 1200 square foot roof garden where I spent almost all of my time away from the office. After exhausting the limitations of the roof garden I purchased a log home with 5 1/2 acres in Andes, NY in order to expand on this obsession. I finally decided to give up my lucrative career in Information Technology (and my roof garden) in Manhattan and move to my home in the Catskills and start a landscape design business. It has been a challenge but you couldn't drag me back kicking and screaming.

I am originally from Louisiana and did all my undergraduate and graduate work in music composition and piano performance with a focus on classical or "serious" music although I was a rock & roller in high school. When I moved to NYC in 1975 to pursue my musical career it took a strange twist and I ended up playing at CBGB's in a new wave rock band, not Carnegie Hall. I switched gears a couple of times and after a wild journey ended up at Ogilvy and Mather as the Chief Technology Officer of the Interactive Division. That is all behind me and now Zone4 is now starting its sixth season and I am loving it.

I believe that I have a good combination of skills, natural affinity, experience and knowledge to guide Zone4 to provide excellent solutions for clients in a cost effective and enjoyable manner. I am totally jazzed by creating functional and beautiful solutions to living situations and the exterior environment provides a great canvas. My designs are very sensitive to environmental/ecological concerns including using indigenous plants and avoiding invasive species and unnecessary chemicals.

I can’t say enough about Sandy. She is one of the most delightful people I have ever known and our clients love her as well. Sandy not only has extensive experience gardening in the Catskills but she is amazingly organized and really keeps me on my toes. Sandy actually grew up in the area and has had a love affair with the flora and fauna of the region since her childhood, particularly the woods. She gets so excited when we sometimes have reason to go into the woods and extra-excited when we get the opportunity to forage and harvest native plants from a client’s property. She can often identify and name plants in the wild that I have not learned yet and she has a great sense of what will work and not work in the landscape from her years of gardening in her various abodes over the years. Not to mention that she has an excellent eye, impeccable taste and works hard, including the heavy lifting although she will readily complain.

It is also really great to have Sandy around because she knows nearly everybody and can disarm the surliest of foes. Often times we will encounter contractors on a job that are not predisposed to like or be helpful to the “landscape designer” especially a transplant from the city. Well, much of the time Sandy knows them, and they immediately warm up or even if she doesn’t know them, her good looks and warm demeanor are more likely to win them over than I could ever hope to. She’s great and I am lucky to have her as member of the team.