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landscape care with a personal touch
Breathe Easy Gardening is a one-woman operation providing high quality, personalized care for your home yard or small business storefront. While large landscaping companies will often send a rotating cast of unfamiliar faces and noisy equipment, I focus on creating and maintaining relationships with my clients so that I can understand the unique needs and preferences they have for their gardens. Because I work independently, my ideal clients generally have small properties, which are often overlooked or underserved by bigger landscapers.
Read on to get to know me a bit better and discover how and why I became a gardening professional. For more detail about the services I offer, visit Residential Maintenance or Commercial Color.
Read on to get to know me a bit better and discover how and why I became a gardening professional. For more detail about the services I offer, visit Residential Maintenance or Commercial Color.
GROWING UP IN THE GARDEN: THE MEANDERING PATH TO FINDING MY DREAM
I did my first gardening project when I was three: growing radishes in my parents’ back yard. As a grade schooler, I pulled weeds with my grandma and helped my cousin pick plums from our great grandmother’s tree. In high school I took Environmental Biology and grew fascinated with the complex, delicate processes by which plants collect energy from the sun and convert it to sustenance, thereby supporting all other life on earth. The patio of my college apartment was crowded with plastic pots, which housed roses, tomatoes, and whatever else I found enchanting enough to bring home.
Then I got a job writing content for a web development company and spent a couple of years being spectacularly bored. I left that field to raise my children, once again giving me (some) time to garden. Homeownership brought the opportunity to tackle hardscaping, and I taught myself the art of building neat, functional pathways and retaining walls.
Some years later, finding myself a single mother in need of a stable full-time job, I landed a position at a plant wholesaler, and everything suddenly clicked into place.
Then I got a job writing content for a web development company and spent a couple of years being spectacularly bored. I left that field to raise my children, once again giving me (some) time to garden. Homeownership brought the opportunity to tackle hardscaping, and I taught myself the art of building neat, functional pathways and retaining walls.
Some years later, finding myself a single mother in need of a stable full-time job, I landed a position at a plant wholesaler, and everything suddenly clicked into place.
turning my passion into a profession
Over the course of my career, I have worked in retail nursery, wholesale nursery, high-end residential yard care, construction landscaping, commercial maintenance, and seasonal color. Seeing the industry from so many different angles has provided me with an invaluable wealth of knowledge, experience and perspective. It has also given me ample opportunity to discover what I’m capable of, what I’m best at, and what I love.
While looking out over the Seattle skyline as I plant containers on the roof of an expensive hotel can be an enjoyable way to earn a living (especially on a sunny day), I find far more satisfaction in the moments where I am able to connect with people and share their joy in the beauty of nature. The pressure of the commercial market to produce more-better-faster-cheaper is ultimately antithetical to what I love most about being a landscaping professional.
My goal in creating Breathe Easy Gardening is to apply what I learned while working for the elite landscaping firms of Seattle to small-scale, personal service. By working independently, I maintain control over my process and supply chain, allowing me to do the absolute best work that I’m capable of and focus my energy on creating beautiful, healthy gardens that people can enjoy and relax in and that I can be proud of.
While looking out over the Seattle skyline as I plant containers on the roof of an expensive hotel can be an enjoyable way to earn a living (especially on a sunny day), I find far more satisfaction in the moments where I am able to connect with people and share their joy in the beauty of nature. The pressure of the commercial market to produce more-better-faster-cheaper is ultimately antithetical to what I love most about being a landscaping professional.
My goal in creating Breathe Easy Gardening is to apply what I learned while working for the elite landscaping firms of Seattle to small-scale, personal service. By working independently, I maintain control over my process and supply chain, allowing me to do the absolute best work that I’m capable of and focus my energy on creating beautiful, healthy gardens that people can enjoy and relax in and that I can be proud of.