Nathan Smith
Nathan is an experienced horticulturist and designer with more than 10 years experience in the field. Nathan Smith Landscape Design is focused on creating beautiful, sustainable, low maintenance landscapes, through thoughtful planning, insightful spatial understanding, superior plant selection, and refined aesthetic sensibility.
Professional Experience
Nathan Smith Landscape Design has designed and installed landscapes in residential settings from the southern California coastal communities of Del Mar and La Jolla to more distant areas including Santa Barbara, Sausalito, Beverly Hills, Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco. Nathan currently serves as on the board of the San Diego district of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. Nathan has worked as a nurseryman and horticulturist at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. He has served as the museum scientist/ horticulturist responsible for the 14 acre California collection at the University of California Botanical Garden and managed the Garden’s outstanding volunteer propagation program and plant sales. Nathan has written on botanical and horticultural subjects for a number of publications including Pacific Horticulture, Fremontia, and the Sierra Club Yodeler. He has served on the board of the East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. He has given popular lectures on gardening at various venues including the Quail Botanical Garden, The University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, and the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show.
Education
Nathan received bachelor’s degrees in Environmental Studies and Latin American/Iberian Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara.
He has studied landscape design at UC Berkeley Extension and has benefitted from long relationships with a rich and varied community of clients, horticulturists, designers and botanists from UC Berkeley, public gardens and the private sector.