Our Approach
Beautiful, Balanced Plant Communities
We design contemporary, ecological plantings that support local ecosystems while maintaining a refined appearance. Our approach creates lush, layered, and densely planted gardens that are dynamic, resilient, and thrive with minimal maintenance.
Ecological landscape design applies the concepts of plant ecology to classic, timeless garden design principles. A deep understanding of plant behaviour and competition is essential. We carefully consider how different species behave and interact over time both above and within the soil to create balanced, functional, and abundant plant communities that are allowed and expected to change throughout the years.
Our focus is on native and near native plants, which we source from trusted nurseries including our own micro-nursery. Perennials, shrubs, trees, grasses, sedges, rushes, and ferns are chosen based on careful analysis of your site conditions and micro-climates, ensuring they will thrive.
For each design, we carefully choose plant combinations that will support a rich diversity of wildlife such as native bees, butterflies, moths, dragonflies, hummingbirds, songbirds, and amphibians. Plants are also selected for functional ecosystem services such as mitigating water run-off and soil erosion.
We also consider pleasing combinations of plants for their flower colour, shape, and scent as well as for their leaf structure, texture, seasonal colour, shape, form, and size. Plants of various heights are included in each design to create a layered composition that is both elegant and ecologically sound.
Finally, each of these details is balanced with your vision, aesthetic preferences, and functional goals for the space.
Land Acknowledgement
I acknowledge that the land where I live and work, including the gardens I design and plant, is on the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people. I recognize their enduring stewardship of this land, and I am committed to honouring their ongoing relationship with it.
My work is guided by the teachings of Indigenous leaders such as Dr. Jennifer Grenz and Robin Wall Kimmerer, as well as many Māori teachers in Ōtautahi, Aotearoa. Indigenous approaches honour deep connections between the natural and human worlds, and seek to bring healing to that relationship through reciprocity and the fostering of mutual reliance.
I strive to centre Indigenous perspectives on landscapes, and I hope that my designs will contribute to this healing for my clients, the land, and the wider community.
Ko au the whenua, te whenua ko au.
I am the land, the land is me
“A nature-inspired garden is a collection of beautiful and functional plant species whose very natures are harnessed to create a stylized, interpreted wildness that supports local biodiversity and that works in a more structured home garden.”
— Benjamin Vogt, Prairie Up