Relished Garden

Transforming an Asphalt Driveway into a Garden Courtyard (Live Garden Design Coaching), Part 1

Last summer, I sat down with Nicole, our marketing director and the producer of this podcast, to work through a front yard project that had been stalling for years. She had a vision. She had a graphic design degree and a huge artistic background. And she was completely stuck.
Having an eye for design and knowing how to apply it in your own garden are two completely different things. Nicole knew what she wanted the space to feel like, but every time she started making decisions, she'd hit a logistical wall and shut the whole thing down. So we decided to record the whole process, start to finish. This is Part 1.
In this episode, I cover:
Why garden projects stall before they start, and what the pattern of indecision is usually telling you
How to diagnose a flow problem in your outdoor space, because when the shortest paths are all in the wrong places, no amount of planting fixes it
The single decision that was blocking everything else in Nicole's courtyard, and why you can't move forward until that one thing is resolved
Why moving raised beds or existing garden elements can feel like a loss, even when you know the change is the right call
How to think about a courtyard space that needs to work for grilling, kids, dogs, and guests without turning into a renovation you never finish
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Relish Gardens Website
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If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with your gardening friends.
Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.

25: Where to Start When Your Spring Garden Feels Overwhelming

One year ago this week, I sat down to record the first episode of this podcast. This episode has been sitting in the vault for exactly one year. It was the first one I ever recorded, back when we had a plan and an idea and genuinely no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We didn't even have a real mic yet. So here we are, one year later, right back in that same moment. And everything I said still holds.
If you've ever walked outside in April and felt your stomach drop a little at everything staring back at you, this one's for you. Spring has a way of making us feel like we're already behind, like we woke up late and now we have to make up for it. But gardens don't actually work that way, and this episode is my case for slowing down, picking a corner, and letting the rest wait.
In this episode, I cover:
Why spring overwhelm is so common, and why the "this is the year I transform everything" mindset sets you up for more stress than satisfaction
The case for working in sections, starting with your entry points and the spaces where you actually live, rather than trying to tackle it all at once
Why weeding a little every day is one of the highest-return things you can do this spring, and how it can actually feel good once you get out of your own head about it
Practical spring tasks to focus on now, including mulching areas you won't get to, lawn care in the Pacific Northwest, and soil pH basics for grass and moss
How designing over time leads to better choices, less rework, and a lot less overwhelm
Resources
If you need more help knowing where to start in your spring garden, download our free Spring Gardening Guide.
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Relish Gardens Website
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If you loved this conversation, make sure to subscribe. We've got new episodes every week. And if you know a gardening friend who'd love this, send it their way. Sharing the show helps grow our little garden-loving community.
Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.
 

24: How Place and Landscape Shape the Gardens We Design with John Coghlan

After years of crossing paths at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show and never quite having enough time, we finally got to sit down for a real conversation with John (from Vashon), and I'm so glad we did. John Coghlan is a landscape designer and gardener based on Vashon Island, where he runs HomeGrown Organics, and this one is good. We get into his love of Vashon, what shaped his plant palette, and the winding road that led him to where he is today.
In this episode, we discuss:
How the landscapes John has lived in, from the Pacific Northwest to Southern California to the highlands of Guatemala, show up directly in his plant palette, and why you can see that progression clearly when you look back at his show gardens over the years
How sedges caught John's attention early in his landscaping career through Seattle's RainWise program, digging out lawns and redirecting water back to where it wanted to be, and how that early love culminated in his 2026 Northwest Flower and Garden Show garden, uplifting sedges into something truly special
John's deep love of Vashon after moving there with his family 13 years ago, the island's incredible horticultural history and roots, from the Beall Greenhouses, once one of the most well-respected orchid growers in the world that sheltered Kew Gardens specimens during World War II, to Mukai Farm and Garden, to the magic of the Whispering Firs Bog, one of only three intact peat bogs left in the lower Puget Sound
The gift John hopes to give every client through their garden, getting them outside and actually in their space, wandering around with no agenda, noticing things, and knowing he's done his job when someone texts him a photo of the morning light hitting their plants from their coffee cup
How we tend to overlook the beauty right in our own backyard and find it instead in the places we travel, from Claire growing up annoyed by manzanita everywhere to people in Guatemala pulling orchids out of trees like weeds, to John coming home from an International Oaks Society trip with a whole new appreciation for the plants that are abundant in his own backyard
Resources: 
John Coghlan
HomeGrown Organics
HomeGrown Organics on Instagram
HomeGrown Organics on Facebook
Places mention:
Mukai Farm and Garden
Beall Greenhouses
Whispering Firs Bog
Maury Island Marine Park
North Creek Park Boardwalk
Connect with Us
Relish Gardens Website
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If you loved this conversation, make sure to subscribe. We've got new episodes every week. And if you know a gardening friend who'd love this, send it their way. Sharing the show helps grow our little garden-loving community.
Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.

23: Spring in the Garden: Tending, Observing, and Connecting with Community

Spring is here, and this year it arrived on its own timeline. After a winter that felt more like spring, winter finally arrived and brought snow before we officially said hello to the new season. We spent a lot of time waiting, watching, and letting the garden tell us what it needed before we jumped in. That kind of patience is its own form of care. In this episode, Stevie and I are talking about what it really means to tend a garden well, the work we are doing right now across our client properties, and why this season has a way of pulling the gardening community together in the best possible way.
In this episode, I cover:
Why this spring has felt different, and how watching and waiting is sometimes the most important work you can do in the garden
Why maintenance sometimes gets a bad reputation, and how shifting the way you think about it, from ongoing chore to actively attending to your space, changes the way you show up for your garden and the work you do in it
The hands-on work of spring: what to observe on your walk-through, how to handle voracious spreaders, and how containers can act as your own personal nursery
What to do when spring feels overwhelming, or your garden is not where you want it to be. How to get out of your head, get something on paper, and find a way to participate in your space right now
Why spring is the season gardeners find each other, and how plant sales, garden tours, and even a bouquet on a neighbor's doorstep can turn a solitary act into something shared
Resources:
Free Spring Gardening Guide
Lake Washington Tech Plant Sale - April 24 - 25, 2026
Episode 6: Plant Propagation and Divisions
Connect with Us:
Relish Gardens Website
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on YouTube
If you loved this conversation, make sure to subscribe. We have got new episodes every week. And if you know a gardening friend who would love this, send it their way. Sharing the show helps grow our little garden-loving community.
Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.

22: Start with People: Designing Joyful Gardens with Lisa Nunamaker

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 in 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.

21: My Process for Designing Personalized Gardens that Fit Your Life

Over the next few weeks, we're walking through the process I use when designing spaces for my clients. It’s all about acknowledging people, developing priorities, and setting parameters, and how to use those three things to design a space that's actually designed around your life.
If you've ever looked at your garden and felt like something was off, or you couldn't quite put your finger on why, or you're not even sure where to begin, this series is for you.
In this episode, we cover:
Why the garden you're imagining and the garden you end up with are often so different, and what's actually standing in the way of having a garden that feels like you
Why starting with plants and inspiration before doing the foundational thinking is where most gardens get stuck, and what to do instead
Why we often forget to acknowledge our own needs in a garden, assume we'll figure it out later, and end up with clutter piling up because the space isn't actually serving how we live
Why gardens are only as beautiful as they are maintained, and why most people don't think about upkeep and ongoing care when they're creating new spaces
How defined parameters and a no list reduce decision fatigue, make plant shopping less overwhelming, and are what turn a collection of beautiful plants into a cohesive space with a real point of view
Connect with Us
Relish Gardens Website
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If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with your gardening friends. 
Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.
 

20: The Preserver's Jewel Box: Inside Our 2026 Show Garden

Today I want to pull the curtain back on our 2026 Northwest Flower & Garden Show garden, the Preserver's Jewel Box. You might already know the general concept, but today we're going deeper. I want to talk about what this garden actually is, where the inspiration came from, and how the design evolved as we got closer to build week. We'll dig into the parameters, the pivots, the key features, and yes, the plants.
The concept came from the way I've always thought about the preserves I put up from my garden. In winter, when nothing's producing, those jars on the shelf, the jams, the pickled things, the preserved tomatoes, those are the jewels. The garden keeps giving back to you. That's the whole heart of this garden.
In this episode, I cover:
How the concept of a jewel box shaped the layout, the structure, and the story we're trying to tell
The inspiration behind our color palette, from picking up on the hues of preserved foods to the patina in the copper, and how that informed our bloom color.
The key design features: the river of jars, the custom arbor, and the table (including the $16,000 one that didn't make the cut)
How much you can actually grow in a small footprint, and what it looks like to treat edible plants with the same intention and beauty we bring to ornamental gardening
The hardscape materials running through this garden, the salvaged copper, the brick, and why I'm having a total moment with brick right now
Resources & Partners
Raintree Nursery, specialty fruit trees and edible plants by mail order, including the papaya, blueberries, and many of the incredible plants in this garden. Use code RAINTREEXRELISH26 at checkout for 10% off your order: raintreenursery.com
Rainy Day Bees, does hive housing in the greater Seattle region. We hosted four of their hives in this garden, which were custom-painted by Asha to match our garden. If you want honey, we recommend their creamed honey trio, it’s genuinely incredible.
Thanks to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show Sponsors:
Hardscape Materials: Mutual Materials
Mulch: Pacific Topsoils
Plant material: 
T & L Nursery
Northwest Nurseries
Easy Elegance Roses
Pots: 
Potteryland
Construction:
Arbor Construction: Modern Outdoor Oasis
Construction / Tear down support: Green Horizon Landscape & Construction
Volunteers:
A huge thank you to our volunteers from Lake Washington Tech Horticulture Program. 
Plants
For the full plant list from this garden, visit relish-gardens.com/plant
Connect with Us
Relish Gardens Website
Follow us on Instagram: @relish.gardens
Follow us on YouTube
If you loved this episode, subscribe and pass it along to a gardening friend. Sharing the show helps grow our little garden-loving community.
Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.

19: From Design to Install: Behind the Show Garden Build (NWFGS Part 4)

With only 72 hours to transform a design concept into a finished garden, the build for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show is intense. 
Stevie has been with me since the beginning, from volunteering in other’s gardens, to now our third year under Relish Gardens. In this episode, we talk about what actually happens behind the scenes during those three days. There’s something about the choreography of it all, the coordination, the problem-solving, the late nights, those make it work moments. 
Giveaway Alert! We're giving away two tickets to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show each week. Visit https://relish-gardens.com/nwfgs-2026-ticket-giveaway/ to enter.
In this episode, we discuss:
The reality of build week logistics and timeline - What actually happens during those 72 hours, from late nights to tight deadlines, and how the experience feels like we are in a reality TV show. 
Planning for pivots and adapting designs in real time - Why you come in with a solid plan but need to stay flexible when materials don't cooperate, structural issues pop up, or designs need on-the-fly adjustments to actually work
The choreography and coordination of construction - Managing the to-do list, orchestrating multiple tasks and people, and the careful dance of getting everything done in the right order under serious time constraints
Opening day and engaging with the public - The rewarding shift from exhausted builder to garden host, answering visitor questions, sharing the work, and experiencing how people interact with what you've created
The post-show moment and why we're excited for 2026 - That familiar "never again" feeling that hits after build week, and what's pulling us back this year despite knowing exactly how hard it will be
Resources
Northwest Flower & Garden Show FREE Ticket Giveaway
Purchase discount tickets for the show
Connect with Us
Relish Gardens Website
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on YouTube
If you loved this conversation, make sure to subscribe. We've got new episodes every week. And if you know a gardening friend who'd love this, send it their way. Sharing the show helps grow our little garden-loving community.
Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.

18: Designing Show Gardens with Kate David from Hello Garden (NWFGS Part 3)

I'm so excited about today's conversation. I'm sitting down with Kate from Hello Gardens. Kate and I run in the same circles. We see each other at industry events and across the convention center floor. We wave, but we don't really get time to sit down and talk. 
We intended to talk just about the show, but this conversation wove in and out because that's what happens when you're in the same world and you never get enough time to connect. 
Giveaway Alert! We're giving away two tickets to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show each week. Visit https://relish-gardens.com/nwfgs-2026-ticket-giveaway/ to enter.
In this episode, we discuss:
Kate's journey from attending the show for almost 25 years to finally designing her first garden, and the surprising thing that finally made her reach out to Lloyd.
The stories behind her first three show gardens, plus a sneak peak at both of our plans for this year's gardens. 
Why the Northwest Flower & Garden Show feels like New Year's Day for the gardening community, and how it creates a ripple effect across the entire industry
The behind-the-scenes reality of designing show gardens, contending with weather, and what happens when your entire color palette has to change 2 weeks out from the show.
Resources
Hello Garden YouTube Channel
Françoise Weeks
Northwest Flower & Garden Show FREE Ticket Giveaway
Purchase discount tickets for the show
Connect with Us
Relish Gardens Website
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on YouTube
If you loved this conversation, make sure to subscribe. We've got new episodes every week. And if you know a gardening friend who'd love this, send it their way. Sharing the show helps grow our little garden-loving community.
Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.

17: Producing 20 Gardens in 3 Days with Lloyd Glasscock (NWFGS Part 2)

Ever wondered what it takes to pull off one of the biggest garden events in the Pacific Northwest? This week, I sat down with Lloyd Glasscock, Garden Coordinator for the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, to get the inside scoop on everything that happens behind the curtain.
Lloyd has built 36 gardens since 1990 and now coordinates the entire show. He's seen just about everything that can go right and wrong when you're transforming a convention center into a garden paradise in just days. 
Giveaway Alert! We're giving away two tickets to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show each week. Visit https://relish-gardens.com/nwfgs-2026-ticket-giveaway/ to enter.
 
In this episode, we discuss:
Lloyd's 30+ year journey at the show, from building his first garden in 1990 to coordinating the entire event.
What the weeks leading up to the event look like, from managing gardener questions, coordinating logistics between two back-to-back shows, and the calm before the storm
The surprisingly small team that helps pull together 20 gardens, 300 booth spaces, and 100 seminars for over 50,000 people—and what build days look like for Lloyd as he's often clocking between 20,000 - 50,000 steps a day.
Why the show is so great for getting new work, and how even people who say they are not looking for a landscaper can be swayed by the gardens they see.
Resources
Northwest Flower & Garden Show FREE Ticket Giveaway
Purchase discount tickets for the show
Connect with Us
Relish Gardens Website
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on YouTube
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with your gardening friends. 
Until next time, I hope you find something in your garden to truly relish.