Wanda Metz Chase, by Anne Butler
Mrs. Chase is the third generation of her family to own and operate one of Baton Rouge’s oldest and largest landscape contracting businesses, begun on a shoestring by her grandfather, Mr. James M. Imahara, shortly after World War II.
Wanda Metz Chase is a 1984 graduate of LSU School of Landscape Architecture. Upon graduation, when she received the Excellence in Plants award, Mrs. Chase worked several years as a landscape accounts manager with the J. R. Ross Company in Dallas, then moved to Woodbine, Maryland, as marketing representative for Chapel Valley Landscape.
In 1987 she returned to Baton Rouge to join her uncle Walter Imahara at Imahara’s Landscape Company. She introduced new business concepts and youthful enthusiasm, leading the Company to become a “design, install and maintenance” business. She is a licensed Landscape Architect and past president of the Baton Rouge Landscape Association. Among many civic commitments, she accepted an appointment by the mayor to the East Baton Rouge City-Parish Tree Commission, and served as Louisiana’s lobbyist to the American Nursery and Landscape Association (1993-2007), representing state horticultural and agricultural interests in Washington, D.C.
In 1993, Mrs. Chase received recognition as the Louisiana Nursery and Landscape Association’s Young Nurseryperson of the Year, and in 1995 was honored with the Distinguished David Laird Award from the Southern Nurserymen’s Association, the first Louisianian and first female to receive this award presented by the sixteen states of the southeast regional association.
In January, 2000, she was honored as the 2000 Louisiana Nurseryperson of the Year at the Gulf States Horticultural Exposition in Mobile, Alabama. She served as the Education chairperson for the Southern Nurserymen’s Association 1999-2007, and is an industry spokesperson on gardening, design and business management within the profession. Mrs. Chase served as the first female and youngest president of the Louisiana Nursery and Landscape Association, representing a $1.3-billion industry of state growers, retailers and contractors, as climbed the ranks to Presidency in 2007 of the National Landscape Association in Washington D.C..
Wanda Metz Chase is married to Don Chase, a licensed Civil Engineer employed by Entergy River Bend Station Nuclear Power facility. They live in Baton Rouge and are actively involved in their church Woodlawn Baptist. She is the daughter of Lily and J.C. Metz of St. Francisville, and is one of seven children.
A devout born-again Christian, she strives to follow her grandfather Imahara’s advice given her as a 16-year old. “Stand firm in your convictions.” She proudly displays a Japanese calligraphy carving created by the elder Imahara which reads “Keep a soft face and a strong heart.”
Wanda Metz Chase, by Anne Butler
Mrs. Chase is the third generation of her family to own and operate one of Baton Rouge’s oldest and largest landscape contracting businesses, begun on a shoestring by her grandfather, Mr. James M. Imahara, shortly after World War II.
Wanda Metz Chase is a 1984 graduate of LSU School of Landscape Architecture. Upon graduation, when she received the Excellence in Plants award, Mrs. Chase worked several years as a landscape accounts manager with the J. R. Ross Company in Dallas, then moved to Woodbine, Maryland, as marketing representative for Chapel Valley Landscape.
In 1987 she returned to Baton Rouge to join her uncle Walter Imahara at Imahara’s Landscape Company. She introduced new business concepts and youthful enthusiasm, leading the Company to become a “design, install and maintenance” business. She is a licensed Landscape Architect and past president of the Baton Rouge Landscape Association. Among many civic commitments, she accepted an appointment by the mayor to the East Baton Rouge City-Parish Tree Commission, and served as Louisiana’s lobbyist to the American Nursery and Landscape Association (1993-2007), representing state horticultural and agricultural interests in Washington, D.C.
In 1993, Mrs. Chase received recognition as the Louisiana Nursery and Landscape Association’s Young Nurseryperson of the Year, and in 1995 was honored with the Distinguished David Laird Award from the Southern Nurserymen’s Association, the first Louisianian and first female to receive this award presented by the sixteen states of the southeast regional association.
In January, 2000, she was honored as the 2000 Louisiana Nurseryperson of the Year at the Gulf States Horticultural Exposition in Mobile, Alabama. She served as the Education chairperson for the Southern Nurserymen’s Association 1999-2007, and is an industry spokesperson on gardening, design and business management within the profession. Mrs. Chase served as the first female and youngest president of the Louisiana Nursery and Landscape Association, representing a $1.3-billion industry of state growers, retailers and contractors, as climbed the ranks to Presidency in 2007 of the National Landscape Association in Washington D.C..
Wanda Metz Chase is married to Don Chase, a licensed Civil Engineer employed by Entergy River Bend Station Nuclear Power facility. They live in Baton Rouge and are actively involved in their church Woodlawn Baptist. She is the daughter of Lily and J.C. Metz of St. Francisville, and is one of seven children.
A devout born-again Christian, she strives to follow her grandfather Imahara’s advice given her as a 16-year old. “Stand firm in your convictions.” She proudly displays a Japanese calligraphy carving created by the elder Imahara which reads “Keep a soft face and a strong heart.”