In my family, you’re either a doctor, lawyer or businessperson. Since my older sisters had already claimed the first two professions, I went to business school. I ended up working in technology and marketing for years, but always felt something was missing.

When the dot-com bust happened, I said “That’s it. I’m done.”

I decided I wanted to do something that was creative, outdoors, and involved my love of working with people. Problem was, after a few months went by I still couldn’t figure out exactly what that was.

Gardening as a Distraction

I started to worry – wondering if it was a good decision to have left my career, if I had just blown my time in business school. I needed a distraction. So, I put up a sign in a coffee shop saying, ‘Gardener Available with a Creative Streak. Cheap!” See, I’d always loved to garden as a way to calm my mind. I figured I could garden while I figured out what to do with my life.

I ended up getting a few calls from that sign. My first client was Nan. She welcomed me into her home and told me to ‘do what I wanted’. I thought, ‘this isn’t how it’s supposed to work!’ but I was excited and got right to work. I still have pictures of the weekend I pulled out her weeds and put in the new plants – I look absolutely joyful covered in dirt!

Gardening as a Career

That day in Nan’s garden, my true passion was born.

As I worked with my clients to achieve their visions of beautiful gardens, I realized I couldn’t express myself visually. So I attended a landscape architecture school at night and took a part-time job at a nursery to learn about plants. I bought gardening books and magazines and poured over the pictures. I was hooked!

While gardening, it became clear to that my clients are the ones who live in the gardens I design—not me. I began working even more collaboratively with my clients, helping them select plants they like, choose the right color palette—right down to picking out a mailbox that would fit their style.

I developed a customizable process to zero in on their ‘vision.’ Because when it comes down to it, it’s these little things coming together that make a garden your own.

Moving Landscape Design Online

The problem is not everyone gets to hire a professional designer. Strongly believing that everyone deserves a beautiful garden, I set out to share my knowledge, design skills and straight-forward process with everybody.

Habitat Design is the product of that belief. I’ve taken my landscape design and customization process and put it online, using video clips to walk you through the processes I would do in-person with my clients.

Isn’t it ironic that after leaving technology, I’m back again—combining my passion for gardens with the internet?

And to think that none of this would have been possible without my first client, Nan.

Thanks Nan for taking that chance on me.

Bonnie’s Story – Co-founder