My passions have always been doing restoration of Hawaiian habitats, growing plants, creating and designing gardens, and collecting seeds. It is a great pleasure to create gardens for landowners. I like to think big. I tend to be like the painters who like large canvases. I like large spaces, partly because I love large trees and also because I like creating different elements in a large garden. Preferably 100 acres, but I will occasionally work in a small one acre property if the site moves me and inspires me.

Most of my projects are three to five year projects. In the first year I walk the property a lot. I stand in places and feel what the plants and topography express. I look at the slopes of the terrain and imagine creating a particular feeling with a space. In Hawaii, the topography of the land informs design. It takes time and I spend months just looking and planning. I don’t usually draw detailed maps but I make sketches, species lists, and refine them over the first six months. Then my crew begins clearing weeds and preparing the property for the vision. I begin propagation and work in the nursery for six months to a year. Planting begins in the second year. Infrastructure and big trees are planted, small areas are delineated. Things start to take shape. By the third year the garden looks exciting, and the plan emerges. People enjoy watching the process, especially if they can trust. I collaborate with landowners by listening to their ideas and developing them. The landowners I work with trust me and enjoy talking about the process and watching it unfold. I have expertise in native Hawaiian ecosystems, hardwood trees, unusual tropical trees, plant medicines, cactus and succulents, orchids, and ponds. Sometimes I combine aspects of these elements, other times I create a garden with one element. I tend to have a light touch. I don’t like heavy plants and a heavy landscape. I like space.