Evolving creatively

Ever since I was a little girl, the arrival of spring meant the promise of the garden coming to life. I remember sitting at the kitchen table in the middle of winter with my mom, flipping through seed catalogs and begging her to order rose bushes – just dreaming of giant, beautiful flowers surrounding our house. She let me choose one (the stress of picking just one!), and when it arrived, I took such good care of it.

I helped my dad plant geraniums and all kinds of flowers every summer, and I have the best memories of being out there digging in the dirt. During college breaks, I worked at a landscape nursery. In my steel-toed boots and dirty jeans back in the early ’90s, I was the only female there helping people load their cars with heavy bags of rocks, mulch, trees, and flats of annuals. There was so much life and good energy all around and I loved walking down the rows with my hose watering everything, pulling off the deadheads, and keeping everything alive.

Every place I’ve lived I’ve planted gardens and I still drive by some of them and see pieces of what I planted years ago, still blooming.

Here at my home and studio, I’ve created a pond and garden that makes me smile every day! This landscape has evolved alongside me over the years. It’s been the backdrop for countless photos and life events, a fun place for our girls and pets to play, a place to just stare at and daydream and it continues to bring me so much joy in every season.

So it doesn’t surprise me that I’m now stepping into something new while bringing all of this experience and history, along with my design eye, into landscape consulting for a friend’s business. It comes to me naturally, and it feels so right and natural. So excited to learn more, to create in a different way, and to share my joy as this evolves.

(Don’t worry – I’ll always still be a photographer too.)