She is a Wild Ones Business Member.
How working on New York City’s Iconic High Line Garden helped to inspire a career in ecological gardening with mostly native plants
Please visit her website, mayapplegardening.com, for start to finish photos of some of her garden projects. It includes this poetic rhetorical question:
“For what is a garden without bees buzzing, birds chirping, moles burrowing, and frogs hopping! The blooms, the color, the smells, the shade, the light, the glory of a garden we seek is multi layered and dynamic. but we can’t have it if we don’t provide a home for all these friends to find! Let’s create spaces together for all of us to share in the beauty and infinite wisdom nature brings.”
The greatest opportunities may be to lovingly open the eyes and the other senses of those who might be pushing back, say I!
She had the unique experience of working on the High Line Garden in New York City from it’s first year including direct interaction with the great Dutch ecological landscape designer Piet Oudolf.
Having owned and and worked on an organic farm prepared her to incorporate edible and healing plants into clients’ plans if they desire.
She chose the name Mayapple many years after reading in her mother’s copy of Euell Gibbons’ Stalking the Wild Asparagus that box turtles eat the fruits.
BTW, Mayapples may cause contact dermatitis and all parts are poisonous to eat, except for the pulp of fully ripe fruits. Critters eat most of them anyway.
From her Phipps Conservatory Instructor Bio:
“She does garden design, installation and fosters the creation and preservation of natural and built space in diverse environments both in the city (Pittsburgh) and outlying areas.”
She will use 100 % native plants if clients are agreeable.
She often works closely with them in collaborative ways with significant design input and “sweat equity” from them.
She co-creates “environments that benefit nature and you”.
Helping people to understand how they can benefit personally is crucial to growing our more natural landcare movement.
People report to her of “feasting on the beauty, the flowers, the colors, the textures that are all so much more dynamic and interesting than lawns and tightly pruned shrubbery”.
As I will elaborate on in other blogs, there are also bragging rights, saving time and or money, and increased property values, especially from mature trees.
She strives “to make all designs a high fine gardening experience. I’m not a wild style sloppy gardener. . . I like a vision, a story, a well curated experience where everything fits together nicely and everyone has a seat at the table. The installation of the garden is just the beginning of the journey.” She models her work after native habitats in the wild where one “will often see the natural world arrange itself just so perfectly”.
Her business is unlikely to take on clients who want only maintenance of their existing gardens.
She studied painting, sculpture, installation art and poetry at CMU which has prepared her for the fine art of gardening.
“At heart I am an artist just trying to find a way to be creative and reflect the beauty I see in the world and make a living doing so.”
She has taught and practiced yoga.This has helped her in many ways including being steady and calm while dealing with constant change in several factors. Being a mom has helped her in similar ways!
Like many natural landcare professionals, her career path has been individualistic. I asked her for general advice that she might give to people planning to become one.
“I would say follow your interests, and they will lead you to the right fit for you. Try a lot of different jobs and training and classes.” Based on these experiences, she recommends being intentional about choosing potential mentors.
Mentoring younger people is one of the most impactful things that more experienced people can do. Therefore, many people would feel honored and energized by being approached.
“One thing I wish I had done is take classes on small business.” This might include perspectives from lawyers, accountants, etc.
I would like for anyone reading this blog to consider how much benefit that Meg and other people in the more natural landcare field have and will continue to have for clients and every other being on our planet. They are literally creating living legacies!
Ed Wrenn