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 book cover
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.

The American Meadow Garden book cover
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 book cover
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 book cover
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 book cover
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 book cover
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.

Easy Lawns book cover
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 book cover
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 book cover
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 cover
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 book cover
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