Nancy Lattanzio, landscape designer
Nancy has over fifteen years experience establishing and maintaining landscapes in the metro Boston area. Her expertise is in residential design and construction and she loves working with clients and crews on the transformational process of bringing a design from paper to reality. Nancy's love of the landscape is rooted in the garden of her childhood, where puffy pink peonies, climbing red roses, billowing crabapples and tall tomato plants appeared larger than life, transforming a simple urban backyard into a magical world. Years later this passion for nature was reawakened when she discovered the spare sandy beauty of outer Cape Cod.
Today in her design practice she likes to work with line and scale to evoke a sense of awe and serenity and to use strong forms, such as simple masses of perennial plantings or expansive walkways, to organize space. She received her formal landscape training at the Landscape Institute of the Arnold Arboretum and is a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) and the Ecological Landscape Association (ELA). An accredited member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), she is a strong advocate for using organic and sustainable horticultural techniques, and she strives to combine the art and craft of garden design with lessons learned from natural history and ecology.
Her background is in book publishing and she was the editor for WGBH Boston of The Victory Garden Kids Book, a vegetable garden primer for kids, and The City Kid’s Field Guide, a natural history of urban wildlife.
Karen Maini, Landscape Designer
Karen came to landscape design after spending a twenty year career as a Graphic Designer and then Art Director in Advertising. This work helped to develop her eye and sense of space and organization. After spending all that time in New York City- the rugged beauty of the Maine coast, New Hampshire's White Mountains and all of the exquisite green spaces of the Boston area made studying landscape design the logical next step. She studied at the Landscape Institute of the Arnold Arboretum and has been happily collaborating with Nancy for nine years. Karen is also a Fine Art Photographer and she lives to capture beauty.
Kathy Joyce, crew leader
Kathy had a rewarding career as a registered nurse while enjoying gardening as a hobby. As her children became more independent, she decided to indulge her passion and formalize her horticultural education. She attended the New England Wildflower Garden in the Woods program and after two years of study she received her certification in Native Plant Horticulture and Design. This year she has achieved the NOFA Accredited Organic Land Care Professional status. Kathy has a great interest in using and maintaining native plants in our landscapes for their great advantages both aesthetically and ecologically.
Diane D'Souza, gardener
Diane joyfully maintains beautiful landscapes, and has a passion for New England perennial gardens. She gained her formal training in plant biology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and has worked professionally in organic landscape maintenance for five years. Diane's work as an award-winning artist helps to inspire her gardening. A love of plants and wild landscapes has also followed her through work and travels in Canada, South Asia, Europe and Africa.
Janet Hamilton, gardener
A degree in Environmental Studies and a love of the natural world led Janet to gardening five years ago. Her passion is bringing native plants to suburban landscapes which in turn attract the birds, butterflies, and beneficial pollinators that depend upon our local flora. She has a Certificate in Native Plant Horticulture and Design and a Certificate in Field Botany from the New England Wildflower Society and is an Accredited Organic Land Care Professional through NOFA. An avid birder and naturalist, she enjoys vegetable and edible plant gardening as well. She loves to plant, prune, clean up and make gardens ecologically sound and beautiful.