A successful landscape begins with putting the right plant in the right place—with room to grow. Proper spacing creates healthier plants, reduces maintenance, minimizes disease problems, and allows gardens to become more beautiful with every passing year. KC's extensive plant knowledge, combined with decades of hands-on maintenance experience, brings a practical perspective that is uncommon in the landscape industry—creating gardens designed not just to look beautiful on planting day, but to thrive for years to come.
With more than thirty years' experience working with perennials and water features, KC is a sought after landscape designer, lecturer and writer. She speaks on the creative use of perennials in landscapes, bird gardening, water features, year-round containers, bringing practical, hands-on solutions that make perennial gardening approachable and rewarding.
KC honed her expertise as founder and owner of Hawk's Nest Nursery, where she and her husband Craig built a distinctive destination for gardeners looking for perennials and aquatic plants. She now leads Gardening Matters, a design-and-education practice centered on inventive perennial combinations and maintenance techniques developed over decades in the garden.
Her design work received national recognition when her 2003 GROUND ZERO submission placed in the second tier out of 13,000 entries—a testament to her innovative approach to garden design.
KC's popular workshops—such as Spring Into Action: 5 Steps to Maintenance-Free Gardens and The Four Season Garden—focus on clear, easy-to-apply methods. Her horticultural articles appear in numerous publications, helping gardeners turn their ideas into flourishing reality.
"At the core of my being is a gardener and a teacher, seeing new gardeners light up with joy over their gardens is a real 'lift of the heart.'"
— KC
Every garden has its own possibilities—and its own challenges. Drawing on decades of hands-on horticultural and design experience, KC offers practical guidance tailored to your property, priorities, and lifestyle. Whether you need help solving a specific problem or planning your landscape as a whole, let's create a garden that is beautiful, resilient, and easier to enjoy.
