About Jim Link Lanscapes

About Jim Link
Jim started his landscaping career in his early teens, pushing a lawn mower in the San Fernando Valley where he grew up. Jim has always had a love for the outdoors and things that grow. After completing high school, Jim worked in the California Conservation Corps (CCC) where he was responsible for planning, planting and maintaining a one-acre vegetable garden which helped to feed the other corps members. Jim also spent a season as a wild-lands fire fighter with the California Department of Forestry while with the CCC.

After graduation from the CCC, Jim moved to Northern California to pursue an education in the Department of Conservation and Resource Studies at the University of California, at Berkeley. Jim graduated in 1986 with an emphasis in Wild Land Resource Management. During his last semester, Jim enrolled in a history class in the Department of Landscape Architecture. Thus began Jim's love affair with designing landscapes! Unable to obtain a double major as an undergraduate, he returned to UC Berkeley three years later to study for a Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture. Jim completed the three-year program in 1992, with an emphasis in landscape design.

Between college and graduate school, Jim worked as a supervisor for the San Francisco Conservation Corps (SFCC), where he trained at-risk, inner-city youth in construction skills. Jim built many mini-parks and play grounds throughout San Francisco with the SFCC. Later, he worked as a Park Ranger with the East Bay Regional Park District for a year as well.

Jim obtained a position with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as a Landscape Architect, designing plantings and irrigation plans.

In 1995, Jim left Caltrans to open Jim Link Landscapes, a design/build landscape firm. Jim's work not only allows him to pursue his interest in plants and planting design, but also his love of construction skills and techniques. Jim's work focuses on construction details be it carpentry, masonry or plumbing. He is a licensed landscape contractor and has been a member of the California Landscape Contractors Association since 1997. Jim Link Landscapes is fully insured with both liability and workers compensation. Currently, Jim is a member of the board of directors of the California Landscape Contractors Association, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (CLCA-SFBA). He was also the San Francisco Flower and Garden Chair for the chapter in 2006.

Jim has been a guest lecturer at UC Berkeley in the Department of Landscape Architecture and taught Landscape Design at the City College of San Francisco. His work has been featured on HGTV's television program "Landscape Smart".