Relished Garden

Last summer, I sat down with Nicole, our marketing director and the producer of this podcast, to work through a front yard project that had been stalling for years. She had a vision. She had a graphic design degree and a huge artistic background. And she was completely stuck. Having an eye for design and knowing how to apply it in your own garden are two completely different things. Nicole knew wh...

One year ago this week, I sat down to record the first episode of this podcast. This episode has been sitting in the vault for exactly one year. It was the first one I ever recorded, back when we had a plan and an idea and genuinely no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We didn't even have a real mic yet. So here we are, one year later, right back in that same moment. And everything I said...

After years of crossing paths at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show and never quite having enough time, we finally got to sit down for a real conversation with John (from Vashon), and I'm so glad we did. John Coghlan is a landscape designer and gardener based on Vashon Island, where he runs HomeGrown Organics, and this one is good. We get into his love of Vashon, what shaped his plant palette, a...

Spring is here, and this year it arrived on its own timeline. After a winter that felt more like spring, winter finally arrived and brought snow before we officially said hello to the new season. We spent a lot of time waiting, watching, and letting the garden tell us what it needed before we jumped in. That kind of patience is its own form of care. In this episode, Stevie and I are talking about...

Lisa Nunamaker is a landscape architect, educator, and the founder of Paper Garden Workshop , where she teaches garden design and landscape graphics to aspiring designers and curious homeowners alike. What I love about Lisa is that she doesn't just teach you what to do in your garden. She teaches you how to think about it. In this conversation, we get into the idea of designing for people first, h...

Over the next few weeks, we're walking through the process I use when designing spaces for my clients. It’s all about acknowledging people, developing priorities, and setting parameters, and how to use those three things to design a space that's actually designed around your life. If you've ever looked at your garden and felt like something was off, or you couldn't quite put your finger on why, or...

Today I want to pull the curtain back on our 2026 Northwest Flower & Garden Show garden, the Preserver's Jewel Box. You might already know the general concept, but today we're going deeper. I want to talk about what this garden actually is, where the inspiration came from, and how the design evolved as we got closer to build week. We'll dig into the parameters, the pivots, the key features, an...

With only 72 hours to transform a design concept into a finished garden, the build for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show is intense.  Stevie has been with me since the beginning, from volunteering in other’s gardens, to now our third year under Relish Gardens. In this episode, we talk about what actually happens behind the scenes during those three days. There’s something about the choreograp...

I'm so excited about today's conversation. I'm sitting down with Kate from Hello Gardens. Kate and I run in the same circles. We see each other at industry events and across the convention center floor. We wave, but we don't really get time to sit down and talk.  We intended to talk just about the show, but this conversation wove in and out because that's what happens when you're in the same world...

Ever wondered what it takes to pull off one of the biggest garden events in the Pacific Northwest? This week, I sat down with Lloyd Glasscock, Garden Coordinator for the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, to get the inside scoop on everything that happens behind the curtain. Lloyd has built 36 gardens since 1990 and now coordinates the entire show. He's seen just about everything that can go right...

Long before I was a designer at the Northwest Flower and Garden show, I started as an attendee, marking up my catalog and planning my day around seminars and show gardens. I then became a volunteer, shadowing Lloyd and helping out wherever was needed. Eventually I stepped into designing show gardens, and this year I'm doing something new again. I'm speaking at the event for the first time and comp...

It's early January. The days are short, it's cold, and there's often a desire to close the door on the garden until spring. But winter isn't a season to hide from. It's a season to work with on your terms, at your pace, and with intention. The time you spend now makes everything easier come spring. It makes your garden healthier and more beautiful. And even just getting out there for a little bit...

I've been thinking a lot about where inspiration actually comes from. Not just where I find it, but where anyone finds it. And here's what I keep coming back to: garden design inspiration doesn't have to come from other gardens or even from plants. Some of my favorite inspiration comes from totally unexpected places. A dress. A meal. A painting hanging in someone's living room. Because at the end...

We're in planning season, and this is when I pull out all my books and start developing ideas for the year ahead. I'm not a coffee table book kind of person. My books are dog-eared, written in, stuffed with pieces of paper. They're used and loved. Some came from my grandpa's collection, others I've picked up over the years, but if a book stays on my shelf, it's because I refer to it over and over,...

There's something really grounding about returning to the same rhythms year after year. Showing up for the season. Showing up for yourself and the people around you. We set out to talk about seasonal rhythms in the garden, but what we ended up exploring is how those rhythms actually inform life, how repetition becomes ritual, and how those rituals anchor us through time. In this episode, Nicole (m...

Living in the Pacific Northwest has taught me to pay attention to the light, or really, the lack of it. Growing up in California, I had no idea how intensely the seasons could shift until I moved to Seattle, where dusk feels like it hits at 3:30 and some days the sun barely seems to come up at all. It took me years to adjust to the rhythm of it. As a gardener, so much of what we do is tied to the...

Have you ever had the feeling that you love your plants, but your garden doesn't quite reflect the story you were trying to tell? We collect plants we love, we're gifted things, we bring home treasures from the nursery, and over time, the garden can start to feel muddled. That's where editing comes in. It's the missing piece we don't talk about enough in garden design. Just like any creative work,...

Mature gardens become collections over time. Pots, plants, benches, impulse buys, inherited pieces, and at some point, that collection either feels magical or it just feels muddled. In this episode, I walk through how I use design parameters to guide every garden I design, why limitations actually make gardens better, and how they can reduce decision fatigue. In this episode, I cover: How strong d...

Winter gardening doesn’t have to be miserable—or overwhelming. In this episode, Stevie and I share what gear we rely on to help maintain our clients’ gardens year-round. We will share how creating an essential gear kit doesn't have to take up your entire house, and what gear makes cold-weather gardening not just doable, but genuinely enjoyable.  We dig into the stuff we actually use, the habits th...

In this episode, I’m joined by horticulturist Maggie Rutherford, someone who shares my obsession with the weird, wonderful world of uncommon edible plants. We talk about blending ornamental and edible plants in the garden, the joy of preserving to capture each individual season, and how small-batch preserving can be a source of creativity and delight. Maggie shares why she can't stop talking about...

This week, Stevie and I are talking about one of my all-time favorite low-effort, high-reward garden moves: dividing and transplanting perennials in the fall. Whether you're trying to fill out a new bed, edit what’s not working, or just want more of that one plant that always thrives—this episode is all about using what you already have to grow the garden you want. If you’ve ever wondered when to...

Fall is an ideal time to consider adding trees to your garden. It also happens to be one of the best planting windows, giving roots a head start before summer heat kicks in. I can’t tell you the perfect tree for every site, but I can offer the kinds of questions and considerations that lead to better decisions, both aesthetically and horticulturally. In this episode, I walk through the criteria I...

If you’ve ever found yourself dreading garden maintenance or wondering why it’s starting to feel like a burden, you’re not alone. In this episode, I’m talking about what happens when we shift the way we think about maintenance and why it doesn’t have to feel like a never-ending to-do list. Instead of aiming for perfection or pretending you’ll suddenly have hours every weekend, I want to help you b...

Have you ever stood in your garden and thought, “Something feels off" or "This just isn’t working anymore”? Whether it’s subtle discontent or full-on frustration, that nagging feeling is often a sign that something needs to shift. In this episode, we’re diving into how to observe your space more critically, using both aesthetic cues and horticultural data, to understand what’s not serving you and...

Welcome back to The Relished Garden Podcast. Today I’m joined by Stevie, my right hand and a horticulturalist at Relish Gardens, as we talk about why fall isn’t the end of the gardening season, and is actually the start of next year's garden. We’re sharing insights from the gardens we care for, how we approach seasonal transitions, and what you can do now to shape your garden for next spring. Thin...