Garden Lab

It’s important to me to try the designs I recommend to clients in my own garden. I want to personally experience the highs and lows of different plants, planting styles, and the real maintenance cost behind beautiful designs. The experiments aren’t always pretty, but they are always informative!

So far, I’ve converted weedy lawn to soil using the lasagna method and ChipDrop, installed a native meadow lawn, maintained a cut flower garden, rehabilitated two abandoned rain beds, installed a cattle panel trellis, set up extra high raised beds for crops, converted a hellstrip into planting beds and walking paths, installed and removed a wildflower strip, grown perennials from seed, built a raised bed with a trellis for a terrace, established climbing roses, and incorporated edibles into the landscape.

I’m looking forward to the next experiments in my Garden Lab. If there’s something you think I should try, reach out and let me know!

From Sticker Burr Mayhem to Tropical Haven

An abandoned backyard covered in sticker burr weeds
The sticker burr backyard transformed with a raised planter bed, new plants, and a water feature

Front Yard

  • Before Garden Lab

    Before

  • Vego Raised Beds filled with flowers and edible plants

    Raised Beds

  • Dahlia Patch

    First Flower Bed

  • Front yard in mid-transformation during the lawn lasagna process

    Lawn Lasagna

  • Lawn Lasagna completed around the dahlia patch

    Wood Chip Lawn

  • A view of the garden entering spring as the cattle panel trellis arch is installed

    The Big Chop & Cattle Panel Trellis Installation

  • The front yard as the PNW native flower meadow begins to grow

    Spring Meadow

  • Native Wildflower Meadow

    Native Wildflower Meadow & Sweet Pea Arch

  • Farewell to Spring

    Farewell to Spring Wildflowers

  • Two chairs set up under the cattle panel trellis to enjoy the shade from the sweet peas

    Trellis Bistro

  • The garden resting as it is covered in snow in the winter

    Winter Rest

  • Tulip and daffodil bulbs growing in Vego raised beds

    Our Second Spring

  • A butterfly flies over a planting bed filled with purple lupines

    Second Year Native Wildflower Meadow

  • Lupine Lawn

    Lupine Lawn

  • A large pumpkin vine has jumped from the Vego raised bed onto the cattle panel trellis arch

    The Beginning of the Pumpkin Takeover

  • two pumpkins hang from the cattle panel trellis arch surrounded by sweet peas and dahlias

    Summer Pumpkin Arch

Hellstrip Renovation

Original Hellstrip

Original Hellstrip

Overgrown Utility Access

Overgrown Utility Access

Halfway Done Hellstrip

Halfway Done Hellstrip

Temporary Wildflower Strip

Temporary Wildflower Strip

Fence Bed Year One: Giant Sunflowers

A mix of poppies, wildflowers, and sunflowers growing along a fence
a wildflower bed between a wooden fence and a concrete sidewalk
giant sunflowers soaring into the sky
A bouquet of sunflowers

Fence Bed Year Two: Nana’s Mystery Seeds

a bed of pink and red poppies along the fence and sidewalk
a bee flying to visit a pink poppy
a closeup image of the ruffly petals of a pink poppy

Rain Bed Rehab

Abandoned Stormwater Planter

Abandoned Stormwater Planter

Freshly Planted Stormwater Planter

Freshly Planted Stormwater Planter

Established Stormwater Planter

Established Stormwater Planter

Side Yard Stormwater Planter with no filtration medium

Side Yard Stormwater Planter with no filtration medium

Side Yard Stormwater Planter with flowers

Side Yard Stormwater Planter with flowers

Side Yard Stormwater Planter view from inside

Side Yard Stormwater Planter view from inside

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