Landscape Love
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xoxo


Once upon a time...

On a balmy July evening in the summer of 2005, a curly haired boy biked up to a girl sitting outside a cafe in downtown Minneapolis. Some serendipitous combination of extreme humidity and romantic infatuation temporarily shut down the boy's better judgment centers and he suddenly stopped his bike and told the girl that he thought they needed to know each other. By some minor miracle, she agreed...In short order the boy and girl fell fast in love with each other and fast out of love with their indoor desk jobs. Flush with the confidence of love, they rekindled the gardening business that the girl and her sister had started while in college. They tacked up homemade flyers around the lakes in Minneapolis, took out a long-term lease on their parents gardening tools, and Landscape Love was born.

Much has changed since that first season; we've gotten married, traveled the world, planted hundreds of gardens, created dozens of patios, earned a master's degree, and given our parents back their, ahem, borrowed tools. But the heart of Landscape Love hasn't changed...we still believe, as one of our very first clients told us, that "being creative is creating the life you want to live." We love living this life full of dirt under our fingernails and sunshine on our faces. But more than that, we feel lucky and grateful for every opportunity we have to add more love and life to people's homes and outdoor spaces. It is a great feeling to watch not just the gardens but also the relationships with the many people and families we've been fortunate enough to work with continue to blossom and grow!

nan
flower girl, lunch maker, heavy lifting specialist

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First Garden Experience? My first actual entrepreneurial garden experience was loading up my wagon when I was about 5 years old with Maple tree seeds a.k.a. helicopters and going around the neighborhood door-to-door selling them for 5¢ a piece. 

How did you become interested in landscaping/gardening? When I was in college, my sister and I hung flyers and weeded gardens for the summers. We were happy because we worked when we wanted, got a tan, and got to hang out with each other singing oldies tunes. But little by little, people would ask us to plant gardens for them and sure enough we became legit gardeners. Now 10 years later I can't remember a time when gardening didn't consume most of my thoughts. 


Favorite type of project? I love garden makeovers! I love working HGTV-style. Let's say someone throws out a budget and then just let's me go crazy doing as much as I can for that amount to makeover their yard. It frees up my creativity and allows me to treat the project as if it were my own house. I love the little touches, as my auntie Abby calls it, "merchandising." 


Favorite plant? Can't pick just one. Here are a few favorites: Any and all succulents and sedums. Lady's Mantle, Russian Sage, Clematis, Climbing Honeysuckle, River Birch trees. 


Favorite Garden tool? Besides garden gloved hands...the straight up garden spade. Or if it counts, the radio...there's no hole too deep to dig when rocking out to the Current. 


What do you do outside of garden season? I teach yoga and have a really fun project with my friend Jessica called Gorilla Yogis www.gorillayogis.com. I also cater parties. And love to travel. Work as hard as I can all summer so that I can escape the tundra in the winter!


Post workday beverage? A Jamaican Rum Rhumba...one of Steele's creations..it's like a Dark 'n Stormy...Lime, Gingerbeer+Rum...yum!


Favorite thing about Landscape Love? So many... here's a few: 
1. Getting to work hard with my hubby Steele 
2. Watering at the end of the day means the project is done!
3. Being outside day in and day out through sun, rain, suburb+city
4. The wonderful clients we meet, their big smiles  and the dinners we often have with clients when the project is complete. They all feel like part of our family.
5. Lunches delivered by my mom! Or the speck sandwich at France 44
6. All of the lovely and fascinating people we encounter at many of our various garden haunts like Gertens+Kliers
7. What's better than playing in the dirt?

steele
stone guy, waterfall wonderkid, driver extraordinairre

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First Garden Experience? Growing carrots in the backyard of my family's home on 54th & 13th ave. in south Minneapolis...I remember turning to my mom and looking at her with shock to explain why these carrots had dirt on them!

How did you become interested in landscaping/gardening?Beyond the carrots--my interest in playing with the earth probably began at a cabin on the north shore of Lake Superior... One day my uncle JT let me help him build a stone and mortar railing down to the lake out of stones from the shoreline--I was hooked! Time flew as we hunted for the perfect stone and put the puzzle of the stairs together. The feeling of literally moving the earth was so exciting and engaging.


Favorite type of project? I really enjoy working with stone and perennials together...the complementary textures of the stone alongside the color bursts and heights of the perennials create miniature worlds to keep exploring.


Favorite plant? I love Russian Sage for its lavender/sage scent and the way it blows in the wind..I also like how it takes its time blooming, it makes sure to let summer arrive before its purple blossoms pop! I'm also fascinated by the unending varieties of sedum. My favorite sedum is hens & chicks--the closest thing we can get to a lotus flower in Minnesota...


Favorite Garden tool? I lust after the Toro Dingo...so much lowerback-saving shoveling and rock-moving power! But until then...the square-point shovel will have to do for me.


What do you do outside of garden season? Besides hibernating I keep busy going to graduate school, playing a bit of music, and eating Nan's exceptional cooking! 


Post workday beverage? Although the Jamaican Rum Rhumba is one of the more refreshing summer nips...I'm partial to Avery's Maharaja India Pale Ale.


Favorite thing about Landscape Love? I love the adventure of each day...pairing perennials, picking up and planting spring-blooming trees, finding creative ways to fit two pieces of stone together, and working with our awesome clients to help deliver the outdoor space they're dreaming of. 


I love working with my creative superstar wife and am impressed every time she pulls a pot or plot together...


I love the people that I meet doing this work--the committed crews who help us load up and get on our way, the shop owners who give us veggies from their gardens when we stop in on Sundays, the guys at the dump who laugh and tease us every time they see the "Landcape Love" truck pulling in.


tucker
dirt lover, fierce protector, landscape dog

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