One of the best things about working at L&L is our crack design team. They win lots of awards and make the stories we write come alive on the page (and in our app).

Landscapers don’t often hire graphic designers, but they need them more than you might think. Great logos, truck decals and business cards and the like help build a brand and make you stand out in the minds of prospective customers.

So how do you get great design without hiring a whole designer?

I was talking with Jim McCutcheon the other day, and he recommended Design Outpost. It’s a sort of crowdsourced design site that lets you submit your idea or request for a logo, say, and have it picked up by freelance designers from around the world.

It’s how Jim got a logo for his KnowWater program (above) in just a few days for a couple hundred bucks.

It’s definitely worth looking at if you need something designed fast and cheap, and don’t have the time or resources to keep a design team on retainer.

For your winter reading list and gift-giving pleasure, here’s a comprehensive list of 100 books on landscape architecture and design.

Here’s the latest cool stuff we found online this week. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

• A good national round-up of water headlines from @EwingIrrigation
• The difference between PR and advertising.
• The secret formula for great customer service.
• Jeff Korhan on personal vs. business social media accounts.
• Design inspiration from Burle Marx.
• Richard Restuccia will speak on how to green your grounds program next week.
• Stewcare has a pretty robust YouTube channel.
• Above: How Bill Murray, tuxedos and a network of chubby rodents made Groundhog Day a national holiday.

If you are, you should totally follow Leaf Magazine. They focus more on home and garden stuff, and would be a great resource for new products at high-end homes and design ideas.

They also have this photo of the Duke of Windsor working in his gardens in wing tips. So there’s that.

The magazine’s founders, landscape designers Rochelle Greayer and Susan Cohen, are on the vowel-challenged blogging platform as well.