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Lisa Nunamaker is a landscape architect, educator, and the founder of Paper Garden Workshop, where she teaches garden design and landscape graphics to aspiring designers and curious homeowners alike. What I love about Lisa is that she doesn’t just teach you what to do in your garden. She teaches you how to think about it. In this conversation, we get into the idea of designing for people first, how constraints actually unlock creativity, and a concept from a book that genuinely stopped me in my tracks: celebratory beacons. We also talk about drawing, digital tools, dogs, and why slowing down before you start is almost always the right move.

The Collective Bootcamp registration is now open and begins on March 23. Learn more and register here.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Lisa found her way into landscape architecture, and why the path was anything but direct
• Why constraints make you more creative, and how taking two completely unrelated ideas and smashing them together can unlock a garden design you’d never find otherwise
• Getting comfortable with drawing before going digital, the tools that make the transition easier, and low-tech ways to start planning your space with things you already have
• Celebratory beacons, what they are, why every garden needs at least one, and the book that changed how Lisa thinks about designing spaces for people
• Why spatial design comes before planting design, and what happens when you flip that order
• How slowing down and observing how you actually use your space, dogs, traffic patterns, and all, leads to better decisions than jumping straight to a plan

Resources and Links

Lisa Nunamaker / Paper Garden Workshop

• Paper Garden Workshop
• The Pencil Case — Lisa’s free newsletter on garden design and landscape graphics you can view all past newsletters here.
• The Collective Bootcamp — begins March 23
• Garden Design Collective — monthly design membership, opens late March
• The Peanut Butter and Jelly Garden — free e-book
• The Lunchbox Project — A sample of drawings from Lisa’s year-long daily drawing project.

Books Mentioned

• Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee
• Conversation Gardens: Where Conversations Flow and Relationships Grow by Lynn Kuhn
• Residential Landscape Architecture: Design Process for the Private Residence by Norman K. Booth and James E. Hiss

Educators Mentioned

• Amy Fedele / Pretty Purple Door — Procreate for landscape designers
• Henry Gao / Draw With Gao — Morpholio Trace for designers
• Kelly D. Norris — ecological horticulture and the New Naturalism Academy

Digital Drawing + Tools

• Morpholio Trace
• Procreate
• Paperlike
• Lines of Force

Connect with Us

• Relish Gardens Website
• Follow us on Instagram
• Follow us on YouTube

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and send it to a friend who loves thinking about their garden as much as you do. Sharing the show helps grow our little garden-loving community.

Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.

Listen now:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Youtube | Amazon Music | More Players