How One Gardener Designed Her Home for Sharing
What does it look like to design a home and garden around community? In this Q&A, we explore how one East Van gardener has done exactly that.
Hello friend,
I blinked, and somehow The Wild & Free Garden is already launching NEXT week. How did we get here so fast?
I’ve been busy on my press tour to launch the book. You can listen to me talk about a buy nothing garden on the Growing Joy with Marie podcast, and then this Monday, I’ll be on the CTV Your Morning show. Plus plenty more interviews to come, as well as the book launch.
It’s a busy, beautiful week around here. Equal parts exhilarating and slightly wild. But that’s just staying on theme, isn’t it?
If you’ve been thinking about coming to the book launch, there are still a few tickets left. With a ticket, you get one signed copy of my book, two admission tickets, after-hours access to the museum venue, and extra garden goodies.
I have a couple of sets of community tickets to give away for the book launch, which include admission to the event (but no copy of the book itself). If you’re in the area and would like to attend, reply to this email to enter! I’ll randomly choose a winner on Monday, February 23.
On the blog this week, you’ll find an extra special garden tour and Q&A with one of the gardeners featured in the book, Karen Reed. Our talk was just so special that I couldn’t fit all of it in the book. So you get to read the highlights right here!
Grab a cup of tea, and come along for a little virtual garden wander.
What’s in Season
More ideas for garden therapy this week, based on What’s in Season.
Yarrow Guide: The Low-Maintenance, Powerhouse Flower
Creamy Earl Grey Infused Bergamot Soap Recipe
Make a Simple Organic Fertilizer for Healthy Indoor Plants
Make Your Own Natural Perfume Blend—Romantic and Fresh Recipes!
How to Make a Little Seed Library in Your Community
How to Revive a Sick Air Plant
Maximize Your Space and Effort With a Layered Garden
10 Tasks to Prepare Your Spring Garden
Paid subscribers can view this week’s new post below, completely ad-free. Free subscribers can head to Garden Therapy to read my interview and garden tour with Karen Reed.
How One Gardener Designed Her Home for Sharing
There’s a house in East Van I’ve admired for years. Not because of its size or its beauty, but because of a game of Jenga.
Out front, tucked beneath the street trees, there’s a tiny patio with two chairs and a garden pot full of wooden blocks. On it, a handwritten message inviting passersby to sit down, relax, and play a game. It’s simple, generous, and quietly radical.
The first time I saw the house listed on a local gardening tour, I felt a jolt of excitement. It meant I would get to meet the owner of this fabulous house.
Her name is Karen Reed. When we met on the tour, I told her how much I admired what she’d created. Not just a garden but a space designed for connection.
Karen owns and lives in a six-bedroom community home where both the house and the garden are intentionally set up for sharing. Every path, planting bed, and sitting area reflects that ethos. It’s a home built with community in mind.
Later, I had the chance to interview Karen and photograph her garden for my book, The Wild & Free Garden. Our conversation was so rich and inspiring that I couldn’t fit it all on the page.
Here you’ll find more of that conversation, full of Karen’s advice and her story, as well as photographs to help inspire you too.
This interview has been edited for flow and clarity.
