Rooted in
the land.
I grew up around plants. Over time, I learned to see the landscape as a living place and a design problem worth getting right.
I grew up on my family’s nursery farm in Granville, New York. Plants were not something I encountered only in a classroom or on a drawing. I saw how they grew, how they were cared for, and what it took to make a landscape last beyond the day it was installed.
That experience still shapes the way I work. I enjoy the visual side of design, but I also want to know whether the idea makes sense for the site, for the people who will use it, and for the people who will maintain it.
Learning the plant.
Learning the place.
At Cornell University, I studied plant science before earning my Master of Landscape Architecture. Studying with Nina Bassuk deepened my understanding of how trees and other plants perform in challenging landscapes. Studying with Valerie Aymer helped me develop the design side of my practice: asking better questions about a site, representing ideas clearly, and making spatial decisions with purpose.
Plant science and landscape architecture gave me two ways of looking at the same problem. One asks what will grow and endure. The other asks how the place can work and what it can feel like. I still rely on both.
Designing at
a larger scale.
After Cornell, I worked at The LA Group on a range of public and private projects. My work included planting design for Empire State University, design documentation at Fort Montgomery State Historic Site, and visual evaluations for proposed solar fields. I also worked on parks, campuses, and other complex sites as part of multidisciplinary teams.
Those years taught me to move between a broad idea and a precise drawing. A concept needs to make sense to a client, but it also has to survive grading, accessibility, construction details, budgets, and the realities of a site. Working with other designers and specialists made me more careful about both the vision and the details.
I worked toward professional licensure while building that experience and became a New York State Registered Landscape Architect in 2025. The credential matters to me because it reflects years of education, practice, examination, and responsibility to the people who rely on my work.
Back to the
family business.
Eventually I returned to my family’s nursery business, where I now help lead service operations and stay close to the work of turning plans into built landscapes. It brought me back to the practical side of design I first knew as a kid, with a much broader view of what a project can become.
I also maintain an independent, design-only landscape architecture practice. For those clients, my role is to develop a clear plan they can take forward on their own terms, whether they build in phases, work with a contractor, or simply need to understand the possibilities before making a large investment.
Tell me what your site could become.
If you have a property, campus, or community space that needs a thoughtful plan, I would be glad to hear about it.