My name is Avery and I'm a lifelong gardener, both professionally and personally. I'm formally educated in ecology and have participated in labs examining the impact of climate change on keystone plants and in studies of pollinator use on landscape flowers both native and exotic. I have worked as the gardener for several acres in a large botanical garden with a specialty in wildlife-attracting plants for high-pH and salty environments as well as frost-tolerant epiphytes (bromeliads and orchids). I have gardened in clay (rural Georgia and Austin) and sand (Northeast Florida). 

 I only garden organically. In all my pictures, the results are free of pesticides and fertilizer (yes, even when I gardened in Florida sand I did not use fertilizer). This is possible because I'm not in the business of creating high-maintenance landscapes (though that would certainly be more profitable), I'm much more interested in unlocking the potential of the average homeowner's backyard habitat. This ethos is why I left academia for horticulture. The basic reality is that in the United States most land is privately held and many habitats have been severely fragmented and reduced. 

Fortunately, many of our most imperiled species are ones that can co-exist easily even in suburban areas as long as we plant the right plants and avoid toxic chemicals. Meaning, if you have a yard, you can be part of the solution. My aim is to facilitate this. 

Everything I know about plants is the result of research and experience. I don't stop at what a tag says, I thoroughly look into a plant's natural growing conditions in habitat to understand how it will best perform in a human landscape and how it will interact with the larger ecosystem.   In ecological science, ecosystem not only refers to the living beings (the community) but also "abiotic factors" (e.g. rocks and minerals, climate). I approach gardening through this systemic lens as too often I see people treat plants as static pieces of furniture rather than living beings interfacing with the wider world. Not everyone has this background, so my role is to help bridge that gap whether it is going to the nursery with a client to assist in plant selection, drawing out a garden plan,  installing drought-tolerant species, or simply caring for existing plants properly and writing up exactly what I did and why. I pride myself in sustainability and in pleasing, but practical, designs.

If you have a project in mind, feel free to connect with me.