Garden Design

A good garden design is complex and elegant.

I learned much at the University of Minnesota were I earned a degree in Landscape Architecture in 2006. Much I learned from Permaculture practices. Ultimately, its good old, hands on experience.

To create a solid plan many layers are considered. Spatially the size of beds, property lines, window heights and vista lines all come into play. Environmentally sunlight exposure, moisture averages, soil types and micro climates need to be considered. Visually anticipating the colors of flower and foliage, the season they bloom, texture, form and size at maturity are all thought through when choosing species and placement.

When we plant new gardens on our property we are adding to the overall ecosystem. This is why it’s exciting to us native species. These species are found here naturally, they thrive in our local conditions, they feed pollinators, butterflies and birds. They create habitat. They encourage the expansion of species that have become less common then we’d like. If you’d like native species planted on your property, reach out and we can start a conversation of doing just that.

Practicing Permaculture

Permaculture is a philosophy that informs sustainable practices

Comprised of principles that reinforce a conscious effort to create a permanent culture for humans on this precious planet. It is ecological, social, economic and all things designed by human minds and human hands. To practice Permaculture one observes and studies nature. It is in mimicking nature’s patterns, nature’s laws and complex perfection that we become Permaculturists.

I had the awesome opportunity to teach Permaculture Design Courses (PDC) in Kenya and Haiti to farmers who feed and support their families with their land and their hands. I meet some of the most exuberant and hard working friends over these 6 week trips with the NGO, Mindful Generations. Blessed to experience wildly different ways of life, while remembering in the end, we’re all one big family.

Permaculture principles inform my gardening. Concepts such as “catching and storing energy” can be seen while sculpting the soil around plants to collect rain water. Mulching with plant material to reduce water evaporation, suppress weeds and promote beneficial mycorrhizal growth. Even cultivating strong professional relationships with individuals in need of healthy, gardening services.

Gardening Service

In 2019 Garden Legacy has a printed ad for gardening services in the Northern Gardener Magazine.

This beautiful and informative publication is one of the only cold hearty magazines for garden enthusiasts in the zone 3 regions. Sent to over 11,500 subscribers, I am looking forward to the new voices in the community I may encounter during the 6 months the advertisement runs.

Flower Essence, Inspiration

The idea that plants have the ability to effect our mood, uplift our spirit and direct us towards healing is explained in the work of Dr. Edward Bach.

He created Flower Essences in the 1930's having stated there is healing properties on the dew found upon a flower. Dr. Bach believed not in struggling to improve upon a negative characteristic, but rather give attention to the opposite/positive aspect of that troubled habit.  

In studying and sensing the subtle energetics of a particular flower we can effect our emotions and ultimately our health. Dr. Bach was a great leader in the work of plants as consciousness shifters. Studying, making and using flower essence is a lovely tool to have in ones chest.

Permaculture, Inspiration

Permaculture is the practice of mimicking nature.

Through observation we understand the relationships between soil, plants, the elements and seasons. These understandings become a the backbone in environmentally sound garden design.

Permaculture was created by Bill Mollison in the 1970's. He was inspired by the unifying practices shared by aboriginal societies all around the world. 

Examples of Permaculture are using companion plants that occupy separate niches in an ecosystem, while also working together forming symbiotic relationships, (ie, producing mulch, attracting beneficial birds and insects, creating shade and protection, fixing nitrogen)