Greenlee & Associates' Resume
Awards
2016 Norcal Landscape and Nursery Show - Outstanding Booth Award
2017 Brisbane Flower Show - First Place
2017 San Diego Horticultural Society - Best of Show/Second Place
2019 AIA Award for Urban Design - Hunters Point Shoreline
2010: Garden Writers' Association Gold Medal for Best Book, The American Meadow Garden
2009: Selected as a keynote speaker for the ASLA conference in Chicago
2002: Horticulturist of the Year, Southern California Horticultural Society
Carmel Garden Show - Three Gold Medals
San Francisco Flower and Garden Show - Four Gold Medals in four entries
Design Consultant Experience
Disney's Animal Kingdom - Florida
Houston Zoo - Texas
Oklahoma City Zoo - Oklahoma
Los Angeles Zoo - California
San Francisco Zoo - California
San Diego Zoo - California
San Diego Wild Animal Park - California
Sea World - San Diego, California
Sea World - Vallejo, California
Design + Planning at AECOM (formerly EDAW)
Knibb Design
Marmol Radziner + Associates
Mia Lehrer + Associates
Moynihan & Associates
Nancy Goslee Power & Associates
Pamela Burton & Company
Thomas Wolz
Thuilot Associates
Walt Disney Imagineering
Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture
Peter Walker & Partners Landscape Architecture
HM White Site Architects
SWA Group
Topher Delaney
Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architecture
Bernard Trainor & Associates
OLIN & Partners (confidential projects in London - Ohio & Cupertino)
James Corner Field Operations (JCFO)
Paul Comstock Landscape Architecture
SLA Architects
Krehbiel Family Residence (PalmSprings and Florida)
RCH Studios
EinwillerKuehl Landscape Architecture
Corporate, Government, and Non-Profit Clients
Bonfante Gardens - Gilroy, California
City of Irvine - California
Disneyland - California
Furnace Creek Inn - Death Valley, California
Gene Autry Museum - California
Getty Center - Los Angeles, California
Getty Villa - Malibu, California
Huntington Botanical Garden
Irvine Co - Shady Canyon, California
Lego-Land - California
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust - Los Angeles, California
The Mirage Hotel - Nevada
Mission Viejo - Colorado
City of Newport Beach - California
Art Center - Pasadena, California
The Norton Simon Museum - Pasadena, California
Hess Winery - Napa, California
Chappellet Winery - Napa, California
Quixote Winery - Napa, California
Paul Hobbs Winery - Sonoma, California
Zaca Mesa Winery - Santa Ynez, California
Cornerstone Gardens - Sonoma, California
Tongva Park with JCFO - Santa Monica, California
New York Times - New York
Moffett Towers - Sunnyvale, California
Lead Designer for the 2014 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show
Oyster Point, Pier 70, Presidio/Crissy Fields with JCFO - San Francisco, California
Mission San Jose - Fremont, California
Uptown Station Rooftop Garden - Oakland, California
23 & Me - Sunnyvale, California
Stauden-Peters, GmbH - Kranenburg, Germany
The Gardens of Appeltern - Horssen, Netherlands
Private Clients
Over the last 35 years, we have worked with an extensive list of private clients. Out of respect for their privacy, the following list only includes anonymous projects highlighted in our portfolio.
John Greenlee's Writing
The Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses
By John Greenlee
This book was the first complete encyclopedia of ornamental grasses published in America. This book opened doors for me across the country in the extremely active lecture circuit in horticulture and allowed me to meet others interested in grasses and to see grasses in nature around the country and across the pond, in England.
It still holds up well today.
Meadows By Design: The American Meadow Garden
By John Greenlee
This book explores my transition from being an “expert” on ornamental grasses to becoming a designer focusing on creating grass ecology. While this book holds up well to this day, we're ready to create book number three. Stay tuned.
Featured Contributions
Reimagining the California Lawn: Water-Conserving Plants, Practices, and Designs
By Carol Bornstein, David Fross, Bart O'Brien
This book should be on every California gardener's shelf. Don't just look at the pictures - read the text!
What Gardeners Grow: Bloom Gardener's Guide: 600 plants chosen by the world's greatest plants people
By Bloom, Melanie Gandyra (Illustrator)
This book is incredibly inspirational. A lively read. You'll like my contribution.
The Essential Garden Book: Getting Back to Basics
By Terence Conran and Dan Pearson
I consider this book to be one of the very best books on garden design. I really don't think anyone else has come close to this compendium of gardening ideas.
The Authentic Garden: Naturalistic and Contemporary Landscape Design
By Richard Hartlage and Sandy Fischer
I was honored to be included in this book as a garden designer, not just a plantsman.
21st Century Gardening Series - Brooklyn Botanic Garden Easy Lawns: Low Maintenance Native Grasses For Gardeners Everywhere
By Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Stevie Daniels (Guest Editor)
This little book is small but mighty. And basically covers meadow gardening across the country. This book came out in 1999 and designers are just now realizing the importance of sedges.
Pamela Burton Landscapes
By Pamela Burton
Although none of the gardens in this book were direct consultations, I've enjoyed working with Pamela Burton's firm over the years and I think she's one of the best designers working with grasses on the West Coast.
Secret Gardens of Hollywood: And Other Private Oases in Los Angeles
By Adele Cygelman
Despite the title being about Hollywood gardens, I was pleased to see my old Malibu nursery included in this book. The Malibu nursery, a nursery designed as a garden, does not exist anymore. But, for many designers it was their first exposure to ornamental and native grasses.
The New American Landscape: Leading Voices on the Future of Sustainable Gardening
By Thomas Christopher (Editor)
This book, published in 2011, is still incredibly relevant and important.
Private Gardens of the Bay Area
By Susan Lowry and Marion Brenner, Photographs by Marion Brenner
This book is one of the best books on the private gardens of the Bay Area, as advertised in the title. The Sky Hill garden (p 219) was one of my first large private gardens and I had the freedom to create many new plant combinations. I was tickled to have many of my consultations with other designers featured in the book. You'll find my contributions in the Kate and Yaz (p 177) and the Courtyard Garden (p 171)
There is a wonderful shot of one of the first Carex pansa meadows I made, for Molly Chappellet, on page 162 and 163, overlooking Lake Hennessey.
Notable Plant Expeditions
Netherlands - 2019
China - 2019
London, United Kingdom - 2018
Sweden - 2017
England & Holland - 2013
Mexico - 2008
Chile - 2006
Egypt - 2005
Southern France - 2000
Italy - 1999
Brazil - 1984
Press Appearances
Magazines
Architectural Digest
California Interiors
California Gardener
Fine Gardening
Garden Compass
Garden Design, April and May issues, 2009
Greenhouse Manager
Horticulture
House & Garden
Los Angeles Magazine
Metropolitan Home
New Yorker
Pacific Coast Nurseryman
Pacific Horticulture
Sunset
USA Today Sunday Magazine
Western Interiors
Los Angeles Times
New York Times
St Louis Dispatch
Sacramento Bee
San Francisco Chronicle
San Jose Mercury News
Seattle Times
Vancouver Sun
The Nursery Pro, “Grass Attack” - 2001
Los Angeles Times, “California Sedge” - 1999
Garden Design, “5 Rules to Design By”
Easy Lawns: Low Maintenance Native Grasses for Gardeners Everywhere, “Sedge Lawns for Every Landscape” - 1999
Sunset Magazine, “How to Optimize a Landscape for Fall Color” and “Late Bloomer” - October 2018
Punch Magazine, Elements: Design & Style, “Backyard Bliss” (features backyard meadow with wine cellar designed along with David Wollney, Landscape Architect)
The American Gardener, “Success with Sedges” - August 2020
Television
Host: PBS The New Garden - Houston, Texas
Host: HGTV Way to Grow (56 episodes), Grow-It - A Gardening Guide
Featured Guest: San Francisco: Eye on the Bay, Henry's Garden, Huell Howser's California Gold
Radio
Featured Guest: Michael Krasny, NPR
Lecture Appearances
Since 1992, John Greenlee has delivered an average of ten lectures each year to groups around the world such as the following:
American Association of Landscape Architects
American Horticultural Association
American Zoo Horticulture
Art in Bloom - Canada
Atlanta Flower Show
California Association of Nurserymen
Chicago Botanic Garden
Cheekwood Botanical Society - Tennessee
Denver Botanic Garden
Desert Green - Phoenix
The Garden Conservancy
Garden Writers of America
Greater Cleveland Garden Center
Hardy Plant Society
International Plant Propagators Society
Los Angeles Arboretum
New York Botanic Garden
Perennial Plant Association
Red Butte Garden - Salt Lake City, Utah
San Francisco Botanical Garden, Strybing Arboretum
San Francisco Flower and Garden Show
San Francisco Horticultural Society
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
Seattle Garden Show
Sol y Sombra - Italy
University of Cairo - Egypt
Vancouver Botanic Garden - Canada
Beijing Landscape Expo 2019 - Beijing, China
Urban Growth: Perennial Planting Beyond Nature - Lund, Sweden