“I want people to walk into their yards and feel like they are looking at a photo from Sunset Magazine or Pacific Horticulture.
That’s my goal – it doesn't matter if it's a large or small budget job.”
When Landscape Designer Steve Harbour meets landscape clients in the San Diego area, he brings over 40 years of professional design and horticultural experience. Steve is one of only a handful of Certified Landscape Designers working in San Diego County. The Certified Designer classification is the highest category of professionalism recognized by the international Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD). Steve’s thoughtful, unique landscapes have garnered much acclaim and many awards including top honors at the San Diego Home and Garden Show Garden Masters competition, as well as design trophies in the annual California Landscape Contractors Association (CLCA) Beautification Awards. Notably, he has also worked in the past as an ISA Certified Arborist and CAN California Certified Nurseryman. Steve is a published author and photographer, and his landscape designs have been written about in both books and magazines.. He treats each new project as an artistic, practical composition. He is passionate and dedicated to serving his clients.
Beginning in 1980 as a student at Sonoma State University, he began working part-time at a local wholesale nursery. “I enrolled to get a B.A. in English with a minor in writing, but gardening and plant collecting consumed my leisure hours. I literally learned this business from the ground up, starting with mixing soil, planting plants, and driving a delivery truck.”
Steve returned to Southern California after graduation and moved to San Diego, where he took a job as manager of a retail garden center. Garden design became a byproduct of helping customers. He remembers, “Half my customers had a napkin sketch and a photo of their backyard. We would develop an entire landscape plan right there at the nursery.”
The move to full-time landscape designer occurred when Steve reenrolled in college to study landscape design, then got an offer to work in the fledgling design-build department of Anderson’s La Costa Nursery in 1997. “It was a great learning experience,” he says. “The jobs weren’t necessarily large, but I designed close to one hundred landscapes a year.” The small department grew until three designers and several installation crews worked full-time to handle customer interest.
Steve moved across town to Bradley Landscape Development, a residential design-build landscape firm. “I immediately went from the minor to major leagues” he relates. “When I arrived at Bradley, the company was installing a landscape job that is quite possibly the largest, most complex residential landscape ever completed in San Diego County. It literally took two years to install!” Steve worked at Bradley for twelve years, designing and managing the installation of many notable landscapes and garnering a wealth of design awards as a result.
The opportunity arose to work closer to his home in the San Diego area. He says “I don’t miss those commutes to Encinitas. “I am continually inspired by my clients to create new and novel landscape designs.” My clients drive the design work, it never gets old or tiring. And we often remain friends long after the project is completed. I welcome everyone to stay in touch."
Steve is an avid gardener and uses his downtime to care for his one-half acre home landscape in Alpine. The property has several hundred species of plants, including a large cactus and succulent garden, a fruit and vegetable garden, and several separate themed garden rooms which include dozens of California natives mixed with hundreds of other plant species. “My home is located where the chaparral and oak woodland meet,” he says. “Even though the property was bare dirt when I moved in, some of the native species have simply planted themselves. I leave them to grow whenever I can.”
His own landscape has been featured on home and garden tours and is designated as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Steve also enjoys writing, reading, and nature photography. In addition to collecting plants, he collects California Plein Air paintings. For physical recreation, Steve can be found hiking, mountain biking, or kayaking and offers this last piece of advice, “Regular visits to our San Diego County backcountry and beaches are a terrific way of reinvigorating the senses and finding inspiration for garden design. It resets the clock.”
To discuss a potential landscape project, please call 619-922-9735.
Beginning in 1980 as a student at Sonoma State University, he began working part-time at a local wholesale nursery. “I enrolled to get a B.A. in English with a minor in writing, but gardening and plant collecting consumed my leisure hours. I literally learned this business from the ground up, starting with mixing soil, planting plants, and driving a delivery truck.”
Steve returned to Southern California after graduation and moved to San Diego, where he took a job as manager of a retail garden center. Garden design became a byproduct of helping customers. He remembers, “Half my customers had a napkin sketch and a photo of their backyard. We would develop an entire landscape plan right there at the nursery.”
The move to full-time landscape designer occurred when Steve reenrolled in college to study landscape design, then got an offer to work in the fledgling design-build department of Anderson’s La Costa Nursery in 1997. “It was a great learning experience,” he says. “The jobs weren’t necessarily large, but I designed close to one hundred landscapes a year.” The small department grew until three designers and several installation crews worked full-time to handle customer interest.
Steve moved across town to Bradley Landscape Development, a residential design-build landscape firm. “I immediately went from the minor to major leagues” he relates. “When I arrived at Bradley, the company was installing a landscape job that is quite possibly the largest, most complex residential landscape ever completed in San Diego County. It literally took two years to install!” Steve worked at Bradley for twelve years, designing and managing the installation of many notable landscapes and garnering a wealth of design awards as a result.
The opportunity arose to work closer to his home in the San Diego area. He says “I don’t miss those commutes to Encinitas. “I am continually inspired by my clients to create new and novel landscape designs.” My clients drive the design work, it never gets old or tiring. And we often remain friends long after the project is completed. I welcome everyone to stay in touch."
Steve is an avid gardener and uses his downtime to care for his one-half acre home landscape in Alpine. The property has several hundred species of plants, including a large cactus and succulent garden, a fruit and vegetable garden, and several separate themed garden rooms which include dozens of California natives mixed with hundreds of other plant species. “My home is located where the chaparral and oak woodland meet,” he says. “Even though the property was bare dirt when I moved in, some of the native species have simply planted themselves. I leave them to grow whenever I can.”
His own landscape has been featured on home and garden tours and is designated as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Steve also enjoys writing, reading, and nature photography. In addition to collecting plants, he collects California Plein Air paintings. For physical recreation, Steve can be found hiking, mountain biking, or kayaking and offers this last piece of advice, “Regular visits to our San Diego County backcountry and beaches are a terrific way of reinvigorating the senses and finding inspiration for garden design. It resets the clock.”
To discuss a potential landscape project, please call 619-922-9735.