gravel garden PARKWAY & FRONT garden

Installed June 2024 / Images from August 2025 & June 2026

This garden functions as a highly diverse and beneficial lawn alternative. What was formally grass is now home to 20+ varieties of flowering perennials. The color pallet for this design was sea foam green, blue hues, and vibrant purples including White Sagebush, Artemisia Silver Lining‘, Salvia, Salvia nemorosa Rose Wine, Flowering Oregano, Origanum laevigatum Herrenhausen, Little Bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium, among many others.

Designer: Cela PG & Julia K

FRONT LAWN ALTERNATIVE

Installed July 2025 / Images from August 2026

This garden was once wall-to-wall lawn. Drawing on influences from the Oak Trail at Illinois Beach State Park, this blend of natives were selected to form a community of plants that welcome an array of insects and birds. Highlighted species include: Purple Love Grass, Eragrostis spectabilis, Nodding Onion, Allium cernuum, Ohio Goldenrod, Solidago ohioensis, Purple Coneflower, Echinacea Purpurea, and Sideoats Gramma, Bouteloua curtipendula.

Designer: Julia K

BACKYARD garden & Raised beds

Installed May 2024 / Images from August 2025 & June 2026

The goal for this garden design was to create a private park for our client. Positioned underneath a massive old growth tree is a dense planting of shrubs and perennials. Species thriving in the understory include an Eastern Redbud Tree, Cercis canadensis, Bottlebrush Buckeye, Aesculus parviflora, Black Chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa, Hairy Alumroot, Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’, and and 15 additional species. Other elements of this design are a bluechip gravel path and three large custom raised beds for the homeowner’s vegetable and herb cultivation.

Designer: Julia K

PART SUN PARKWAY & Front garden

Installed June 2026 / Images from August 2026

This parkway was transformed from an uninspired, underutilized lawn into a home for pollinators. This garden includes a blend of Midwest natives and other drought-tolerant perennials. Blooms begin in the Spring with Ornamental Onion, Allium schoenoprasum ‘chivette’, followed by Eastern Bee Balm, Monarda bradburiana. Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea and Cardinal Flower, Lobelia sipihilitica hit their peak in July and August, with Mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum and Woodland Aster, Eurybia divaricata blooming into the Fall. A boulder and path were added for the client’s curious kid.

Designer: Cela PG

native, SHADE garden

Installed August 2023 / Images from October 2024

Direct sunlight is sparse in this front garden due to mature parkway trees. As a lawn alternative – this garden includes some of our most adored woodland perennials: White Wood Aster, Eurybia divaricata, Virginia Strawberry, Fragaria virginiana, Christmas Fern, Polystichum acrostichoides, Woodland Stonecrop, Sedum ternatum and other hardy sedges: Gray Carex, Carex flacca, Whitetinge sedge, Carex albicans, etc. A bench is located in the garden to create a resting spot within nature for the homeowner to enjoy.

Designer: Julia K

Partial sun GARDEN

Installed September 2023 / Images from July 2024

This garden features a collection of blooms with a colorful pastel pallet: Coreopsis, Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam‘, Early Bird Catmint, Nepeta faassenii ‘Early Bird’, and Ornamental Onion, Allium x “Lavender Bubbles”. A high volume of sedges creates a river between their flowering neighbors, providing habitat, winter interest as well as weed suppression.

Designer: Cela PG

pollinator & BIRD garden

Installed May 2021 / Images from July 2024

This sunny corner is filled with Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca, Coneflower, Echinacea magnus, Primrose, Oenothera elata, and other perennials which benefit local wildlife. As a good partner to nature, we leave all seedheads and plant material standing throughout winter for birds and bees to consume and use for their habitat. Inspiration for this garden design was taken from the bounty of tall blooms on the sides of the highway and local conservation sites.

Designer: Julia K

dry, shade PARKWAY

Installed August 2023 / Images from August 2024

With the correct plants, the base of a mature tree can house a great degree of life. This planting brings excitement to the often barren parkway, featuring a collection of blooming species such as Eastern Beebalm, Monarda bradburiana, Foxglove Beardtongue, Penstemon digitalis and Limelight Hydrangea, Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’. The bright foliage of several Hosta varieties creates accent points in the space.

Designer: Julia K

full sun perennial, pollinator garden

Stewardship beginning June 2023 / Images from August 2025

Since taking over maintenance in 2023, we have continued to care for and enhance the existing landscape. We’ve introduced valuable new plantings and have enriched the space with thoughtful additions that add new charm to a garden with a ton of character already. This lush garden thrives as a vibrant habitat, attracting a diverse array of insects and birds. Highlighted species include: Butterfly Milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa, Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca, Dill, Anethum graveolens, and Verbena, Verbena bonariensis.