Ed Hollander first discovered his passion for plants while taking a horticulture class at Vassar, a leafy campus where he would come to be able to name every tree species. A professor, noting his enthusiasm for the field, gave some unsolicited advice: “[They said], ‘Listen, you connect to this, you relate to this. You shouldn’t be going to law school or business school. This is where your passion is,’” Hollander recalls. He listened, and ended up enrolling in the New York Botanical Garden’s horticulture program, and went on to earn a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

He eventually found his way back to New York and worked for storied landscape architecture firm Clarke & Rapuano. In 1991, he decided to open up his own firm with Maryanne Connelly, a friend from graduate school, out of an office on Lafayette Street. Over time, Hollander Design Landscape Architects grew to take on projects around the world, collaborating with industry stalwarts like Peter Pennoyer, Bunny Williams and Tom Kligerman. As the residential arm of the business grew, Hollander observed a shift in the way clients were paying attention to the way their homes made them feel. “Home became something that was enormously valuable. The term home means something to a lot of people, and our name became kind of synonymous with home,” he tells host Dennis Scully on the latest episode of The Business of Home Podcast. “Whether home is your own personal home, your home within a big condominium complex, or home at a beautiful commercial resort, that term really, really resonated with a lot of people, and I think it was something that drew people to our firm.”

Hollander’s educational background in both horticulture and landscape architecture has also proven useful in setting his firm apart. “What’s taught the least in landscape architecture schools is any kind of plants—kids get out of landscape architecture [programs] and they don’t know a Norway maple from a tulip,” he says. “And if you’re a garden designer, all you know are 17 varieties of tulips and 13 varieties of trees. [My] learning plants at the Botanical Gardens and then translating that into landscape architecture has allowed us to have a much more sophisticated approach to the way we plant things, because being a landscape architect, you’re dealing with much more complicated systems.”

Elsewhere in the episode, Hollander discusses his succession plan, how landscape design has changed since the pandemic, and his connection to King Charles.

Crucial insight: As a young man, Hollander was consistently told he would not succeed. Instead of getting discouraged, he used those messages to stay motivated. When he arrived at UPenn to study landscape architecture—a program many people in his life doubted he could get into—he learned he could outwork everybody. His competitive spirit and desire to prove everybody wrong fueled his success. “If you read my report cards, [it had every] perfect symptom of ADHD: ‘Ed can’t pay attention.’ ‘Ed can’t read.’ In today’s world, they would have been pumping me full of Adderall at age 9,” he says. “People who have ADHD and all those things, if you learn how to manage it, you can do three things at one time. So that’s incredible. You take what is a disability and make it an advantage.”

Key quote: “Every project starts with the site. What is the natural ecology of the site? What does the land look like? Where are its views? What is the topography? What’s the soil? What is the drainage? Sites and landscapes are living things—from the bedrock geology to what’s growing there, it’s all connected and it’s all alive.”

This episode is sponsored by Ernesta and Thibaut. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The Thursday Show

Host Dennis Scully and BOH executive editor Fred Nicolaus discuss the biggest news in the design world, including the latest housing numbers; designers advertising on Instagram; and why Form Kitchens has halted operations. Later, editor in chief Kaitlin Petersen and retail columnist Warren Shoulberg join the show to recap Spring High Point Market.

This episode is sponsored by Jaipur Living and Crate & Barrel. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.