Portraits: Billy Goodnick, Landscape Architect | Educator | Author

Billy Goodnick is a Landscape Architect, Educator, and Author in California. He has been creating beautiful landscapes in the Santa Barbara area since 1976. 

Billy first experienced the joy of plants through bonsai and Japanese gardens while he was a musician and decided to pursue a degree in horticulture.

“I was a full-time musician and starting to fall out of love with music and said I need to find something else to do and I loved the bonsai…I started messing around with houseplants…”

Thankfully he is willing to share his own expertise in a fun and creative way. He wrote and published a book titled Yards: Turn Any Outdoor Space into the Garden of Your Dreams which shows regular homeowners how they can easily design their own space. 

Billy is also the founder of the Facebook group Crimes Against Horticulture: When Bad Taste Meets Power Tools, a group in which he shares photo evidence of poor design choices or overzealous pruning people have done. These hilarious photos are some that he finds himself or photos sent in by others. Each post gets quite a bit of attention and discussion from those who follow the group.

Overall, Billy uses his gifts of humor and entertainment to educate people on horticulture to the benefit of countless households.

“I have an acronym - B.U.S. Gardens need to be beautiful, they need to be useful, and they need to be sustainable.”

For more information, visit Billy’s website. Check out the Crimes Against Horticulture Facebook page.

This episode was filmed by Leon Guanzon and edited by Josh Wingard. Art is by Matthew Gillin.