About

Our story - About My Florida Meadow 

My Florida Meadow Co. started as blog in 2011 to document the transformation of our backyard from lawn to meadow. I was a new mother then and I wanted to create a backyard that supported wildlife and to give my family that connection. Since then it’s become the ground for personal and creative transformation, and a way for me to take what I’ve learned out into the world. 

While all layers of the landscape, from ground to canopy are obviously equally important, my focus is on the under appreciated herbaceous layer. I do that through design, management and growing some of the wildflowers that are more challenging to locate for my design clients.

About Andrea 

Hello and welcome! I’m Andrea, the artist, designer and gardener behind My Florida Meadow Co. I’ve been working with my hands, and with plants, as a means of wellbeing and creativity, for most of my life. 

My first occupation was as a licensed massage therapist. I was fortunate to be one of the last graduating classes of the well known and loved, Reese Institute for Massage Therapy in Oviedo, Florida. I enjoyed a decade long immersion in the healing arts, working as a licensed massage therapist. During my practice as a LMT, I began working with the plants in the form of essential oils and flower essences, creating custom blends for my clients. My appreciation for the plants grew and eventually this love for working with them pushed me to make a career change. I wanted to work with the plants to create outside spaces of wellbeing and connection for people, wildlife and the planet. So I went back to school and earned a diploma in landscape design. 

Fast forward and I’ve now worked in the landscape industry in Florida in a wide range of capacities from CAD technician to project manager, green house assistant, retail plant associate, grower and landscape designer. I approach my projects with the experience I have from gardening in Florida since I was a teenager, the last decade focused on designing and managing biodiverse native plantings. 

I now live in Orange County with my husband and sons, and while my experience gardening in Florida is focused in the central part of the state, I’ve also called Pensacola home as a child when my family was stationed on naval air station. I have great memories of the natural areas there, swimming in the gulf and picking blackberries in the wilder areas on the navy base. Our housing was in a second floor unit on Cabannis Crescent, with two large porches that jetted out into the canopy of live oak trees. Our own screened in treehouse. 

I think as the world is going through so much change, we’re all feeling the pull to return to our animistic roots. One of the earliest homes I lived in up north was on a street named Meadow Lane. I’ve always felt like this was a reminder from the universe that no matter how chaotic some seasons seem, there is an underlying order. I also feel that a lot of us are seeing the need to place more value on land stewardship again. 

We see that the natural world wants to partner with us and give us guidance along our path. When we garden for wildlife and plant the native plants they rely upon we create and steward the space for that to happen.