ABOUT US

It all started when…

Garden sPOTS was born in 2018 when Deborah and Michaelle met in a class on landscape management.  As Michaelle likes to say, it was as if we were living parallel lives.  Both of us had earned masters’ degrees earlier in our lives but were tired of careers that kept us sitting behind computers all day. Both of us were life-long gardening enthusiasts. With our grown kids out of the house (mostly) we were both looking for something that would allow us to combine our gardening passions with a next-act career.

While completing classes, we were also sampling different aspects of horticulture to help us decide on a new direction.  Deborah gained experience with plant care working with a landscape designer/installer and in a professional greenhouse.  She also heard regularly from Montgomery County residents about their landscaping concerns while volunteering as a University of Maryland Extension Program Master Gardener. Michaelle worked at a popular garden center, learning about customer preferences and goals while helping them choose the right plants for the right places in their landscapes. Along the way, she earned a certification from Proven Winners. We both earned the Certified Professional Horticulturist designation from the Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association.  

At first, our idea for Garden sPOTS was as an online business designing and installing planter gardens. After 4 years of delivering custom planters locally, we realized that there is a growing desire across the country for the easy-care, small footprint afforded by gardening in planters. We’ve used our education and experiences to refocus Garden sPOTS on helping gardeners everywhere create container gardens ideally suited to fit beautiful plants into their busy lifestyles.