Impact of the tended to garden

Walk with me for a moment.

Imagine yourself walking through one of your favorite neighborhoods. Imagine the colors, the sights, smells, and, mostly importantly, how it makes you feel.

When we walk through neighborhoods that have tended-to gardens it makes us feel different than walking through a neighborhood where there are been obvious neglect. When plants have been cared for it makes you feel that there is a level of intentional awareness and care given to the environment. It gives you the sense that the tender of the garden has a sense of respect for the property and, further extending, for their own self. This is turn makes us as the guest in the garden feel a sense of peace and safety. For most of us this process is entirely unconscious. You may have a feeling about a specific place or be drawn here or there or feel better in this neighborhood than that one. I believe a lot of it comes down to this feeling of safety and all the subtleties our subconscious picks up to let us know if we are in the right place or not.

I find that when a few neighbors begin to care about their gardens other neighbors often begin to care as well. There is a sense of inspiration when you see another person outside working and giving space and time to care for their land and the in plants in it. It is also an inherently communal act to garden in a neighborhood. Yes it is your own garden, but others including wildlife will see it and visit it. Also when we plant gardens we plant with years in mind. Many of the plants we plant will outlive even our own lives. This is much different than tending to the inside of the house which is also highly important but the inside will inherently have less visitors than the outside of the property.

We are in a time where being aware of the environment and tending to it is of the utmost importance and for most of us the most simple first step to caring for our environment is simply tuning in to our own backyards.

The garden is like setting the backdrop for the story of our lives. What about our lives do we want reflected in our landscape? What kind of memories would we like to create in the space? These are important questions to ask yourself when looking at your landscape. The gardens I work on generally focus on bringing flowers, edible, and native plants to the landscape. People who want a real connection with their garden and connection with where their food comes from. It's also people who deeply enjoy and appreciate pollinators like butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees.

All the garden designs I create are naturalist and ecologically focused. This means that in each design I work with the land, taking into account, the qualities about it including the light and soil conditions and work to make it a healthier and more balanced ecology while bringing beauty to the landscape. The goal of the design and maintenance of the gardens I create are not to be "perfect", but to bring a biodiverse and balanced sense of peace to the landscape and to the people that visit it. That they can feel the care and love that has been planted into the space and feel comfortable, safe, and excited to spend time in it. There is a sense of artistry - order, harmony, and ingenuity.

If you need support getting into your garden or have interest in design feel free to reach out through the contact form.