When I think about designing spaces, my focus gravitates towards capturing mood and ambiance. Beyond how a plant looks on its own: I consider how light contrasts and diffuses through certain material, how the landscape bed looks from up close and far away, and of course, how the plantscape transforms in the dormancy of winter.

My interest in creating atmosphere started when I first studied film in Florida in the mid 2000’s, where I excelled in the area of set design. Once I went back to school for horticulture at Johnson County Community College, I found that plants were an intellectually stimulating medium to work with. Orchestrating beauty through four seasons of color palettes and textures provides the ultimate problem-solving challenge. My time as a horticulturist for The Kauffman Memorial Garden, Starlight Theatre, and The Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens has given me an eye for design that thinks outside the box of the typical residential landscape. My retail experience with Suburban Lawn & Garden and Freestate Growers has taught me the importance of educating clients on some of the popular misconceptions perpetuated by the mainstream landscape industry. Interning with Fine Line Design gave me the technical skills to help translate my design ideas and bring them to life.

Xeriscaping is a term used to describe a philosophy of landscaping or gardening that minimizes unnecessary water use and recently has stretched to incorporate practices that reduce carbon emissions and the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Xeriscapes do not strictly use native plants however, though they are reliable workhorses to have on hand in any design. Many foreign plants manage to provide biological functions (ie: foodsource for wildlife) and naturalize easily without becoming noxious.

Generally, my designs place more emphasis on flowering herbaceous plants than woody shrubs. The benefits of utilizing more herbaceous plants in designs is often understated. These types of plants tend to be full grown by the third growing season, or sometimes sooner, thus covering bareground more quickly and crowding out weeds. They also allow more for moments of interest throughout the growing season, and eventually, become self-perpetuating requiring minimal maintenance.

My botanical inspirations come from a variety of places: from the meditative minimalism of Asian gardens, to the vibrant drifts of the European new perennial movement, and above all, from nature herself. Gardens and landscapes tend to work best when they are stylish imitations of the natural world. Though we tend to find that much of the modern landscaping industry seems to treat outdoors more like interior design, with a block of this here and a strip of that there. Often a plant is chosen merely based on aesthetic and nothing else. It is no surprise that property owners come back disappointed when a design has not returned with the same visual splendor years after its initial installation. When we decide to work with nature, we find we can maximize the beauty of a space with minimal effort. I look forward to helping you bring your landscape potential to life