I remember it like it was yesterday! I was about 12 years old, living with my parents in a home in Studio City, California. Our elderly neighbor, David Davidge, caught my attention one day as he was digging up his entire front lawn area. I remember thinking to myself, "What is he doing? And better yet, what is he going to do next?" The house was quaint and charming, painted an unusual mint green color, reminiscent of an English cottage.
Over the next few days, he meticulously graded the dirt, transforming it into a flat, perfect surface. I thought it was a remarkable improvement compared to his old lawn overrun with weeds. A couple of days later, I watched him use a lawn fertilizer spreader to sow what he called 'Annual Rye Grass' seed. He laid it in two opposite directions, covering the ground solidly. Then, he explained that he was applying Steer Manure as a top seed covering, which would radiate heat into the ground and aid in the germination process over the next 3-4 weeks.
My Inspiration
I asked him when we would start to see the lawn blades emerge, to which he replied, "In about 7-10 days, you'll see tiny blades of grass popping through the manure." Curious about the timeline for a beautiful lawn, I asked him how long it would take. He assured me to wait and witness the incredible transformation from dirt to a lush green lawn. I checked every day, amazed at how quickly the grass blades germinated. Within a month, the lawn had become so thick that I couldn't believe it. One day, returning from school, I was astonished to see that he had just mowed the lawn, leaving it looking like a breathtaking carpet of light green.
As I admired his front yard, I noticed the various shades of green contrasting beautifully with the plants behind the lawn, against the house. The composition of darker greens against the lighter new lush lawn was simply gorgeous, leaving me in awe of the overall beauty of his front yard.
This experience was all I needed to know that, at 12 years old, I wanted to become a Landscape Designer. By 16, I began designing small residential gardens, and by 18, I was making a decent part-time living. This deep inspiration led me to work in nurseries and eventually earn my BSLA degree from Cal Poly Pomona in June 1981. Immediately after, I founded my firm, the Mark David Levine Design Group, which has since been reimagined as "Land Arts by MDL: Gardens of Distinction."
