Our work

Projects we're proud of.

Every yard here was a lawn not long ago. Here's what happened next.

Kansas City, MO·2024

Brookside Front Yard Conversion

Native garden designInstallation

A 900 sq ft front lawn replaced with a layered native planting — little bluestem, wild bergamot, and rattlesnake master anchoring the back, black-eyed Susans and prairie dropseed filling the middle, and creeping thyme along the path edge. The homeowners wanted something that looked intentional from the street and required no irrigation after establishment.

Plants used

Little bluestemWild bergamotRattlesnake masterBlack-eyed SusanPrairie dropseedCreeping thyme

Stone: Dry-stacked limestone border along the sidewalk edge

We'd been mowing this strip for 12 years and hating it. Lydia walked the yard for 45 minutes before she came up with a plan & we were impressed how she catered to our needs while educating us."
— Homeowner

Completed rain garden with native sedges and path

Kansas City, MO·2024

Waldo Backyard Rain Garden

Native garden designInstallationLimestone hardscaping

This backyard had a persistent drainage problem — water pooled against the foundation after every rain. We graded a shallow rain garden basin, lined it with native sedges and blue wild indigo, and built a flagstone path that directs runoff into the basin instead of toward the house. No more standing water, and the basin is full of fireflies by June.

Plants used

Blue wild indigoPrairie sedgeFox sedgeBlue flag irisCardinal flower

Stone: Flagstone path with limestone step-down into basin

Dana figured out the drainage solution in about ten minutes. We'd had three other contractors look at it and none of them suggested anything like this. The path looks like it's always been there.
— Homeowner

Coneflower and native prairie planting in bloom

Lee's Summit, MO·2025

Lee's Summit Pollinator Border

Native garden designInstallation

A 60-foot border along an existing limestone retaining wall, planted specifically for pollinators across a long bloom season — from early wild columbine in April through late-season asters in October. The homeowner wanted to see monarchs. By the second summer, they were counting them.

Plants used

Wild columbinePurple coneflowerWild bergamotIronweedNew England asterGoldenrod

Stone: Existing dry-stacked limestone wall retained and repointed

I told Marcus I wanted monarchs. He didn't promise anything — he just said 'plant the right things and they'll find you.' He was right. We counted eleven on one afternoon last August.
— Homeowner

From the field

Things we've learned worth sharing

Not a blog. Just notes from years of working in KC yards — what works, what doesn't, and why.

Plant selection

Why we almost never plant purple coneflower first

Purple coneflower is the gateway drug of native gardening, and that's mostly fine — it's beautiful, it's tough, and it blooms for months. But it's also the plant everyone already knows, which means clients sometimes want a yard that's mostly coneflower. The problem is that a monoculture of any single species, even a native one, doesn't do much for the ecosystem. We use coneflower as a supporting player, not a headliner. The real workhorses in a KC native garden are the grasses — little bluestem, prairie dropseed, sideoats grama — because they provide structure, winter interest, and nesting habitat that forbs alone can't. We usually start a design with the grasses and let the flowering plants fill in around them.

Marcus Webb

Lead Designer

Hardscape

What dry-stacked limestone does that mortared stone can't

Mortared stone walls look cleaner, and clients sometimes ask for them. We almost always talk them out of it. Dry-stacked walls move with the freeze-thaw cycle instead of cracking under it — in a KC winter, that matters. They also let water pass through rather than redirecting it, which is important when you're building near a rain garden or a slope. And the gaps are habitat. We've had clients send us photos of fence lizards living in walls we built, and native bees nesting in the crevices. A mortared wall is a surface. A dry-stacked wall is a small ecosystem. The trade-off is that dry-stacking takes longer and requires more skill to do right — the stones have to be chosen and placed so the wall is stable without any binding agent. That's the part we've spent years getting good at.

Dana Reyes

Hardscape Lead

Establishment

The first summer is the hardest. Here's what to expect.

Native plants spend their first growing season building roots, not putting on a show. A plant that looks like it's doing nothing above ground in June is probably doing a lot below it. We tell every client: the first summer, water during dry spells and don't panic. The second summer, things start to fill in. The third summer, you'll wonder why you waited so long. The mistake we see most often is clients pulling plants they think have died when they've actually just gone dormant or are establishing slowly. If you're not sure whether something is dead, scratch the stem near the base — if it's green underneath, it's alive. Give it another month before you make any decisions. We include a care guide with every installation that walks through what to expect season by season, because the establishment period is when most native gardens either succeed or get abandoned.

Marcus Webb

Lead Designer

Your yard could be next.

No commitment. We'll walk the yard together and see what's possible.

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