John Black is a dad of twins and a residential landscape designer in Palo Alto, Calif. While his work has earned local acclaim and national exposure on HGTV and MarketWatch.com, John didn’t start out designing gardens. With a Bachelor's degree in communication and a Master's in sociology from Stanford University, he spent the first part of his career in advertising, building up brands such as Kimberly-Clark, C|NET and Saturn Corporation. After a brief turn founding a non-profit arts agency, in 2001 John realigned his work with his lifelong interest in the natural world: “I loved the creativity of advertising and the arts, and I wanted to channel that into directly enriching people’s lives,” he says. He enrolled in the horticulture program at a local college, and today is the principal of Verdance Fine Garden Design.

The flexibility of self-employment allows John to divide his days between his family and his work, while at night he pursues his career certificate in landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. He still finds time to write a widely-read blog, "A Verdant Life," as well as lead classes on "kidscaping" — designing yards that not only are fun and safe for children but also foster emotional and psychological development. “My hope is that parents recognize the importance of being connected with nature," he says. "These courses help us all create safely chaotic spaces to encourage play, creativity and self-awareness in their children.” John is a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, the California Landscape Contractors Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and of course Mid-Peninsula Parents of Multiples.