The Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) is dedicated to advancing the profession of landscape design and to promoting the recognition of landscape designers as qualified and dedicated professionals. This year, APLD's programs and initiatives promoted the industry in a variety of ways.

 
This year, the association's International Landscape Design Awards program honored designers from around the world for their creativity and craftsmanship. APLD named Kathryn Prideaux of Prideaux Design in Tucson, Arizona, the 2023 Landscape Designer of the Year for her Perfect Skew project. The judges appreciated the site-appropriate plant and materials selection, water conservation and attention to detail. They praised the creative modification of the existing swimming pool to lighten the overall footprint of the project. Prideaux layered the strong-lined hardscape adding depth to the composition and was very effective in minimizing the once-looming neighboring home.
APLD's Best of Show Award went to Jim Douthit of a Blade of Grass in Sudbury, Massachusetts. He was awarded for his amazing transformation of a residential project, Form to Table, which is located in Carlisle, Massachusetts. Douthit's design realized beautiful connections with the ramped lawn, grass steps, stone stairs, and walls. The judges said that it was, "interesting and diverse." The garden featured beautiful edible areas with espalier fruit trees and immaculate beds, a grand site design and implementation with perfect materials and construction in the large, connected spaces.
APLD is also committed to environmental stewardship; and promotes sustainable landscape design and management, as well as the conservation of energy and resources. APLD's Healthy Pots, Healthy Planet is a grassroots initiative that advocates for an affordable sustainable alternative to plastic horticultural pots that contribute to the proliferation of plastic pollution. APLD is working to raise awareness about the dangers of plastic horticultural pots to our earth and it is asking individuals, businesses and non-profit organizations to sign its names in support for more sustainable alternatives. To learn more and to join the coalition, visit www.healthypotshealthyplanet.org.
APLD's certification program allows landscape designers to set themselves apart from the competition. Earning the "Certified Professional Landscape Designer" CPLD credential is a standard of excellence that is available for APLD members and non-members who have been practicing landscape design for a minimum of two years. Candidates for certification agree to comply with the APLD Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and have their work vetted by trained Review Panel Experts to ensure that they are using best practices and are competent and highly capable in landscape design.
For more information on APLD, visit www.apld.org.