Planting a seed

The first *official* Living Landscapes letter.

A garden door at Hollister House to invite you in.

Welcome to Living Landscapes.

Friends, I am thrilled that you’re here. I must begin by telling you I am a writer—not a professional gardener. (If we’re being honest, I’d call myself a novice gardener at best.) I’ve spent most of my career working at magazines, covering every aspect of our homes. I’ve also written a couple books. But it wasn’t until the last few years that I became keenly interested in plants, gardens, and landscapes—obsessed even.

Garden writing called to me both because I’d had an awakening about the powerful impact landscapes and gardens can have on the simultaneous crises we face—climate, biodiversity, pollution—which are all very much on my mind in the wake of the wildfires in California and recent rollbacks to environmental protections. But also because I personally wanted to spend more time in gardens (hello, mid-40s). In climate-friendly gardens, I saw new and important stories that I was excited to tell.

Many of you know, I write a weekly newsletter about living small and sustainably, but my stories about gardens felt like they needed their own home and their own community. So I decided to make Living Landscapes as its own newsletter: A space to explore all the things I—and you!—are discovering in our education as gardeners. For now, Living Landscapes will arrive in your inbox roughly every other week.

You’ll hear a lot in this newsletter about planting native and climate-adapted plants, avoiding pesticides, and conserving water, but I promise not to be dogmatic. My heart sings for peonies and Japanese anemone too. Gardens are, of course, also places where people live and connect with others. Finding balance between aesthetics, lifestyle, and ecology is one of the things I’m most interested in exploring with you.

In this newsletter I’ll share:

→ Books that I find inspiring and interview their authors, like I did in this feature on the book Tiny + Wild by Graham Laird Gardner.

Making mini meadows with Graham Laird Gardner

→ Sometimes I’ll ask a group of trusted garden experts to weigh in on a burning question, similar to my queries about whether “lazy” gardening was the most sustainable gardening of all.

Embrace Lazy Gardening For Sustainability

→ Other times, I’ll introduce you to gardeners who are doing interesting things and share their tips, much like this profile of Shanti Nagel, who designs and plants pocket gardens in New York City.

Dreaming of sidewalk gardens and pocket prairies

January might feel like a funny time to start a garden newsletter, but now is the time when gardeners rest and dream—and maybe have a little more time to read. It’s also been, quite frankly, a dark January, and this project feels like a little speck of light. To that end, in each edition of Living Landscapes, I will share some of the wonderful stories I have read (and sometimes written!). Here are a few recent favorites:

📗 Bookmarked

1. Reporting for Gardenista, I asked garden pros to forecast what’s ahead for the gardening world in 2025. They had tons of ideas (many of them sustainably-minded). Landscape designer Stefano Marinaz offered some predictions to Garden Illustrated, if you want even more insights.

2. If anyone tells you a small garden can’t make a difference, a recent study published in the journal Ecological Entomology, showed that small urban patches of wildflowers can be a good substitute for natural meadows, especially for bees and hoverflies (butterflies preferred the country). Another study out of Chicago showed that patches of milkweed in cities helped monarchs.

3. Ferns are “trending,” according to the Financial Times, “The resilient, low-maintenance plant with a primordial pedigree (250mn years) is being reappreciated for its ability to temper, texture and ‘add oomph’ — especially in winter.” As a fern lover, I think this is great news.

4. Scientists are studying how nature can provide a tonic for loneliness. Makes perfect sense that time spent outside with others is good for our mental health, no?

5. I loved this interview with Lindsey Taylor on PRFCT Earth Project’s site. I first knew Lindsey’s work through her floral design column in the Wall Street Journal, but her garden design is right in line with what excites me right now: It’s loose and a little bit wild, and completely grounded in place.

And I can’t wait to see this!

A note about links: I try to include a healthy selection of free and gifted articles in the newsletter, but a few do come from premium publications. As a journalist, I enthusiastically endorse paying for quality information—especially in today's media landscape.

🌿 Pinned

Garden of the week: This little south London garden by Studio Cullis is one of 30 shortlisted for the Society of Garden Designers annual awards. I loved how they made the most of a small space, used small trees like serviceberry and cherry to work, and added new privacy fencing on the old walls.

Currently admiring: This minimalist bud vase by Klong, which I discovered through The Glass House’s amazing gift shop.

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👋 What would you like to read about here? Please tell me in the comments, and if you’re up for it, introduce yourself. I’d love to know more about this community we’re gathering.

Sincerely,
Laura

“If we want a garden, we're gonna have to sow the seed
Plant a little happiness, let the roots run deep” —Brandi Carlisle