April .26.2026 Why 'A Gardener's Journal' Let's Connect the dots...

You may be wondering, why 'A Gardener's Journal'. And what does this journal have to do with a lady who designs and is responsible for building outdoor living spaces as well as hand dyeing yarn.

Let's talk...

You see, I haven't had a personal garden space since my late teens. When I was a teenager I was the appointed family gardener. Responsible for our backyard garden where we grew summer vegetables and keeping our flower pots alive and florific throughout the summer.

I knew nothing of gardening. Knew nothing of garden planning. Fertilizing. Pruning. Cultivating. I knew nothing of sun versus shade plants. Plant sizes or any other horticultural requirements of a garden were unknown to me as well.

But what I lacked in horticultural schooling I made up for in observational skills and experimentation....aka curiosity. I figured out at some point that if we wanted tomatoes we needed to fertilize with flower food. Want great carrots, we needed great root-food. Greenery, such as herbs...well, we need fertilizer specializing in green leaves to get those sturdy and lush herb plants.

I asked my wise Mother for different fertilizers. She agreed. And so off to my experiments I went. Using my new fertilizers I created a schedule and formula for maximizing their growth and output based on the type of plant I was working with in the garden.

And it worked. The tomatoes were never so bountiful. The carrots grew large and deep. And the herbs sprouted more green leaves than ever before. I honed my fertilizer schedule over the next few years gaining more and more valuable information so that the next year's crop was even more grand.

And then came that summer college job working for my Uncle at his Garden Center. I was emersed daily in plants. Indoor plants, perennials, vegetables and fruits, annuals, trees and shrubs. Fertilizers, plant mixes, mulches and pesticides. Natural soil amendments, garden hoses, seed packets, trowels and wheelbarrows. It was a gardener's paradise.

Each summer I would happily head off to that garden center job. I learned so much about the basics of gardening, landscape design, indoor plant care, and caring for your plants as an investment not just a hobby.

And so by the time I was done with my University Studies in Biology I knew so much about the plant world that I left the college job at the Garden Center and moved on to being a manager at another local Garden Center.

This was my chance to run the show. It was now my Garden Center to set up, manage, maintain and advise customers about their gardening and landscape questions.

And so it continues on for several years, moving again to another nursery and garden center, then to a 500 acre tree and shrub farm, which led to a job at a local Commercial Landscape Construction firm. And finally my own business where I installed commercial landscapes and large engineered retaining walls as well as designed and built Outdoor Living Spaces for residential clients.

Along the way I managed to get back to University to Study Architecture as well as obtain my Builders License. A rather rigorous process I might add. And now over 44 years later I still happily design and build landscapes and outdoor living spaces for clients specializing in specialty gardens, backyard patios, walkways and firepits, shade casting pergolas, decks and protective pavilions plus so much more. To use my horticulture, biology and architectural design skills; both technical and creative, to create these shangri-la spaces for others, gives me great joy.

To design for special needs, such as ambulatory limitations, and vision or hearing issues provides me with such absolute heart-warming moments as I realize that my skills just improved another's quality of life. Getting people outdoors to enjoy nature, as I do, warms my heart. And at the same time improves the earth, its native wildlife and overall environment. This is why I do what I do.

And this is why this is a Gardener's Journal. Ironic as it may be that I have not had a personal garden space to tend for over 44 years, it is also been my joy and privilege to design, build and maintain gardens all over southeast Michigan that number somewhere in the hundreds if not thousands by now. From The University of Michigan to Oakland University, Meadowbrook Hall, General Motors, Ford Motors, Chrysler World Headquarters Facilities, countless municipal and commercial properties all the way to residential landscapes , back yards and small garden plots. I have had the privilege and honor to do the work I do and be part of the process.

And so you see, I am not a backyard gardener. I am a 'Master Gardener'. One who has left her mark peppered all throughout southeast Michigan and beyond through my designs, builds and maintenance.

And now...that same way of seeing ~the same vision for design~ the same curiosity~has found its way into fiber arts and yarn.

But the story of all things fiber, textiles and yarn also starts someplace earlier in my life...back somewhere between the Red Truck and the Crayon Box.