Design
Business Member Profiles
PRIDE + JOY LANDSCAPES
Specialty
Pride + Joy Landscapes is a queer, woman-owned garden design and installation business in Portland, OR. We create landscapes that balance habitat and human-centered design; detailed plantings, hardscapes, and built structures. We emphasize functionality and beauty while using sustainable and thoughtful material resourcing.”
Region Served
Oregon
In Their Own Words...
Member Spotlight
Inspiring beautiful gardens. Building climate resilience. And creating biodiverse habitats that support humans and wildlife alike
What's the best gardening advice you ever received?
There are two things that come to mind- First is to PAY ATTENTION! Watch and learn from the site throughout the seasons- what’s working and what isn’t, what resources are already available here? And second is a permaculture principle “The problem is your solution” that is perhaps best described by Bill Mollison (permaculture’s founder) who said “You don’t have a snail (or slug) problem, you have a duck deficiency!” A ew spot in your landscape for example would be a great place to locate a small (or large!) pond. Noticing what is and working from that point rather than enforcing our vision regardless of what the space in front of us is presenting.
Where do you find Inspiration?
Nature! Everyone at pride + joy revels in finding patterns and processes in nature that inspire our work. Jesse Bloom’s permaculture work and Nigel Dunnets work with urban meadowscapes are the most recent topics of conversation that inspire us.
What is something surprising about your history?
Landscaping has always been the undercurrent of my varied careers. I’ve put myself through two higher education degrees with gardening work. I was an educator (still am) and an Emergency Room Nurse and at the heart of both was my tendency toward tending and growing. Finally I’ve embraced my true love and Pride + Joy has exploded.
What are you most proud of?
We go the extra mile in implementing designs that consider bloom-times and wildlife patterns AND we prioritize the use of sustainable products (like juniper lumber) and re-using materials at every opportunity.
What educational resources do you share?
We rely on the research of Oregon State University and resources shared by the Backyard Habitat program here in Portland. We are an EcoBiz member and utilize those resources to educate and promote environmentally friendly landscape practices.