It Starts With Beauty Brookfield, WI

This garden began with the simple goal of providing a beautiful, private place for the family to enjoy eating and being together outside. A new retaining wall and fire pit created an opportunity for the planting to envelope and unite these various spaces.

A simple cosmopolitan plant palette was selected for low maintenance and four-season interest. Even before the plants were in the ground the pollinators arrived with bumblebees and swallowtails visiting the flowers of the Alliums and Agastache before they were set out. The biggest surprise came the following year when a (then listed as threatened) Butler's garter snake moved in from the grassland behind the property.  

Designed as an oasis for humans, it became one for wildlife as well. Although the family has since moved, their passion for wildlife remains and they now advocate for habitat and ecological design in their new community.

I look forward to consulting on a 'soft landings' project for their new neighborhood.