Is the Association of Professional Landscapers 'A Dead Man Walking'?

It has been just over a year since the Association of Professional Landscapers 'new' website has gone live and I must say, as a former member and probably its greatest critic, I think they need to feel ashamed of themselves.

Despite a few recent updates, the site is boring and lacks a punch and what is more it just does not carry off the task for which is is designed.

The layout of the site is poor and it has a few howlers in the text.

One in particular is the title 'why choose a landscapper', can you spot the mistake?

Moving onto the page concerning commercial landscaping I find that links are non existent.

"Many of our members can also help to maintain commercial landscaping in a pristine condition by providing a maintenance service. Click here to view images of commercial landscaping projects.

To find an APL member that can provide you with commercial landscaping services please click here."

The gallery section is rather embarrassing too and needs urgent attention in my opinion.

The awards section is supposed to link back to the gallery but you can see that the link back is non existent.

"The APL awards are a must for any landscape business serious about on going development. Email us to find out more, or view the gallery of past award winners."

Taking a simple section from the awards I am finding a lack of inspiration at the end of it. This example of an award for 'maintenance' by Crowther Landscapes is met with a single, no explanatory photograph and absolutely no text whatsoever.

Come on guys and gals! this should be a celebration of your members' work, not an epitaph. Get up on the soap box and sing their praises for heavens sake. It will take someone from the marketing department less than a day to write a few paragraphs, together with some quotes and a few extra photographs to get the message across.

We could at least link across to the the Crowther Landscapes site.

Ken Crowther, proudly photographed against one of his smart vans, displaying the Association of Professional Landscapers and Trustmark logo, would be so pleased to have a potential APL customer, who visits the APL site, glean some information on his business and why he won the award.

After all, Ken will be paying a fair chunk of money for APL membership and will be rightly proud of his company's achievement.

For those that are not aware, Crowther Landscapes is based in Essex, servicing over one hundred gardens for 51 weeks of the year and had been operating since 1966.

Ken Crowther, the owner of Crowther Landscapes, is also a regular gardening presenter for BBC Radio Essex, keeps a regular garden maintenance blog, and has even written a novel titled Jack the Gardener..

You see, it is not difficult is it? I have taken just ten minutes of my time to link back and write a few lines on Ken and his business - by the way, well done Ken on your recognition - by me at least.

The awards page also lacks consistency. The format differs from page to page and in contrast to Ken Crowther, Notcutts Landscapes has a whole paragraph of text dedicated to their award!

The shows and events is keen to advertise a few RHS shows but fails to advertise the APL's own program - are there not any seminars or landscaping awards this year?

I can tell you what is happening this year. Amanda Patton, a Garden Designer and proud APL member has had her design chosen for the 2008 Hampton Court Flower Show in July.

Amanda is quoted on the APL site as saying “I am on cloud nine and just can’t wait to get started. At first I didn’t know where to start and had hundreds of ideas but all at once it just came together and I knew I had the right design.”

The Bradstone sponsored garden will be built by a 'Super Team' of carefully selected APL members. The only problem is the world does not know about it.

I have said many times before, if a landscaping or horticultural based business wants to expand in this challenging environment, it will have to think out of the box and the last thing they need to contend with is shoddy representations by the body that is supposed to be catering for their needs.

The Association of Professional Landscapers, does not seem to care, has no direction or quality control and needs to get it's house in order - NOW!

I will be back in one month to pick up on any improvements.

Do you think I am being unfair? - please feel free to leave a comment.