Focus — The Pros at Home

ing as a lawn care tech at McGinty and ChemLawn. He worked as a project manager at RikRock and then became a certified arborist for The Davey Tree Expert Company where he worked for over seven years. During that time he gained knowledge in tree care and landscape design and installation.

“I bought a house in Cary in 2001 and did a landscape design for it and then began designing with a friend. I met Michael Perkaus from Aquatic Ecosystems management and he fed me small repair jobs. Perkaus was asked about doing a bioswale and we did a big outcropping wall for him.” After that, he got a call from Mariani Landscape. “From that 20,000-square-foot pond [project], things took off. It was all just networking with ILCA members.”

Flower Power meets Ponds

Carnes worked on exhibits for the Chicago Flower and Garden show starting in 2009 when he teamed up with Aquascape to build a pond-less waterfall. “In 2011, I did the first garden show exhibit on my own.” At the 2014 show he introduced a new concept for backyard swimming pools that featured a natural, lagoonlike swimming experience. The system was revolutionary in that the plants clean and filter the water and remove impurities, completely eliminating the use of chlorine and other harsh chemicals. He later worked with Scott Stewart of Chicago’s Lurie Garden on another flower show exhibit.

Carnes credits several mentors for his success. “When I was in college, it was Greg Piercall’s books. I learned a lot from John Mariani and I was influenced by being on a Scott Byron property for Davey Tree. And, Anthony Archer-Wills—the Water Gardener— he’s like the godfather of our industry and a cool guy.”

Walking trails with his dog, Remington, and seeing grasses and shrubs in prairies provides him with design inspiration. He also credit’s Piet