IN THE GREEN
Enjoy a chat with landscape designers Steve Sandifer and Clare Lynn Highley.

Steve Sandifer and his wife, Clare Lynn Highley, met when they were undergraduate students at UCLA. Both were art majors and gravitated toward one another once they discovered another common interest: landscape design.

Clare Lynn was working part-time at the Palos Verdes Begonia Farm, and Steve, besides dabbling in garden design at his parents' home, was working in UCLA's School of Architecture and Urban Planning library. "I delved into journals and read everything I could about land planning and design," recalls Steve.

STARTING TRILLIUM DESIGN

After graduation, Steve worked part-time for a local landscape architect, and Clare Lynn put in several years as an elementary school teacher before the two formed their own landscape design business, Trillium Design.

Some 20 years later, Steve and Clare Lynn have never had to advertise their landscaping services. All of their jobs have come from client referrals. Whether it's verdant lawns, dense vegetable gardens, rich floral palettes or drought-tolerant landscapes, Steve and Clare Lynn's handiwork can be seen throughout Southern California--all the way from Pasadena to Santa Barbara. To date, they estimate they've designed more than 150 exteriors.

"We believe in customizing the job to fit the client's needs and the particular conditions of the site," remarks Steve. Assessing how a homeowner is going to use their outdoor space is key. Will they be entertaining often? Cooking outdoors? Do they have kids, pets?

And then there's the matter of price. "Price varies depending on the size and scope of a job," explains Steve. "What most people don't understand is that the lion's share of money is spent on infrastructure--pools, decks, gates, fencing, lighting and irrigation.

The cost of the plants and flowers is minor compared to everything else."

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For more information, contact Trillium Design at Ssandife.