Landscape experts help your garden grow

Dec 19, 2023

From virtual design to garden consultations, niche landscape experts bring new life to your outdoor spaces, and help local wildlife, too

Pam Salustro is a visual learner.

"I’m dyslexic. I grew up that way," says Salustro. "Looking at things and seeing things is so simple to me. That's how I fell into design."

A lover of nature, Salustro started as a gardener working in nurseries, eventually branching out to do containers, window boxes, and then her landscape business, Outerior Design. But from the beginning, she found her clients had a hard time visualizing plants and outdoor concepts when she’d explain them.

"Architects can draw circles and lines and people will pay a lot of money for that, but they [the clients] still don't know what it will look like," Salustro says. "In my research, it shows that 80–85 percent of people are visual learners. So many of my clients would say, ‘I can hear what you’re saying, but I just can't picture it.’"

So Salustro found a solution. Utilizing similar technology prized by interior designers, Salustro discovered a program that would allow her to provide virtual walkthroughs of potential exterior designs. She quickly trained herself, and now offers photo stills, videos, and even drone perspectives of her landscape designs.

An hour-long site visit provides Salustro with the photos and client preferences she needs to create. Her virtual designs come with detailed plant lists and cost estimates, as well as recommendations for installation companies to implement the design.

As far as garden trends, Salustro says modern, low-maintenance landscapes are the rage these days. She designs a lot of hardscapes with rock features, filling in with topiary and other easy-care evergreens that look nice in winter and accent modern housing tones, which are typically black and white.

"I love what I do," Salustro says. "I’m really just making people happy with beautiful things."

For more information, visit outeriordesign.net.

Amy Henderson is also passionate about helping people enjoy natural spaces, particularly when it comes to incorporating native plants.

A graphic designer by trade, Henderson delved into landscape design through classes at the New York Botanical Garden before moving South and immersing herself in a completely different plant climate. While Henderson will take the odd design job, she leans more toward garden consultation and coaching, opening people's eyes to the details of plants and connecting them to nature.

"A garden isn't just a collection of pretty plants," Henderson says. "It's part of nature. We know that native plants contribute more ecological value than traditional lawns and landscapes—more wildlife habitat, biodiversity, support for threatened pollinators, and foundational food for the food web."

Through her work, Henderson attests to a rising interest for more relaxed, naturalistic landscapes like New York City's High Line or Chicago's Lurie Garden, which implement grasses and perennials that happen to be native. But she's also adamant that native plants don't have to look wild. Native oaks, red buds, and black gums (beloved by pollinators) are lovely, easy focal points to add, and evergreens like yaupon holly can provide winter interest.

"I think people are hankering for nature—more life in their landscape," Henderson says. "Native plants just look right, bringing an authentic sense of place that celebrates the rich natural heritage of our region."

Reach Henderson via email at [email protected]

For native plant design inspiration, Henderson recommends strolling through Unity Park. "The parking area and river banks feature native trees, shrubs, and glorious masses of ornamental grasses and flowering perennials," she says. "The dense plantings support wildlife, manage stormwater, and filter pollutants before they enter the Reedy River. . . . All of these plants are available and would make excellent additions to your home landscape."

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