Our Story

 
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Hi, my name is Alysia! I grew up on a farm in Rockford, Michigan and have lived in Kalamazoo for over 25 years and now, recently branched out to Grand Rapids. I am an Advanced Master Gardener, Conservation Steward and Master Naturalist.  I completed the Field Botany Class in 2022. I also have a Master's Degree in Education.


I am a member of:

  • River City Wild Ones

  • Wildflower Association of Michigan

  • Kalamazoo Master Gardeners Association  

  • Native Plant Guild

    Read more | Contact me

 
 
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I have always been an advocate for nature and find nature's beauty everyday. I believe in getting your hands dirty, never trust a gardener with clean fingernails, and putting in hard work to build native plant gardens.

I took the Master Gardener Class in 2016 and began my volunteer work on the Kal-Haven Trail with the Wildflower Restoration Project. Through this, I discovered I had a passion for restoring native plants and when the opportunity to work on the 10th Street Caboose Native Gardens came, I eagerly volunteered. Thus, creating a Monarch Way Station native plant garden within that year.

This ignited my own business opportunity and started gardening for others in 2013.  Realizing how much I enjoyed it and getting more referrals I decided to go full time in 2018.  I continue to learn and “grow” and most importantly listen to customers' ideas, concerns and wants. For example, it became apparent to me that we needed to provide more non-chemical approaches to gardening, particularly invasive removal.  I cringe hearing the word “herbicide” as a technique for grass or invasive ground cover removal. I adopted an effective and non hazardous technique, cardboard! It smothers weeds and invasives, all while being good for the environment (the cardboard eventually breaks down into organic matter) and cost effective.

In 2017, I became a Conservation Steward!  The things I learned during the course, coupled with my experience on the trail, led me to specialize in native plant gardens and how they benefit communities around them. My goal is for every home to have at least one native garden, no matter how small, to increase safe havens for pollinators and decrease the effects of climate change. My goals may be lofty, but one has to start somewhere!