Old Florida Garden Design and Nursery: Rewilding Florida and Ourselves

About Us

“There is new life in the soil for every man.  There is healing in the trees for tired minds and for our overburdened spirits, there is strength in the hills, if only we lift up our eyes.  Remember that nature is your great restorer.”  -Calvin Coolidge 

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Welcome!  I’m Emily, the owner and designer at Old Florida Gardens and Nursery.  I have been designing gardens for nearly a decade.   I happened upon gardening in my college years.  While working on my gerontology and biology degrees with the intent to pursue a career in medicine, I took an environmental science course.  The class inspired me to start a vegetable and herb garden to eat a little cleaner and grow food more responsibly.  Well, that was it.  Two garden boxes later and I was hooked.  In the beginning, I made so many mistakes.  I purchased so many products that I later regretted spending money on, planted so many seedlings that never made it to maturity.  I loved gardening and wanted so desperately to be successful.  So I read...and read and read some more.  I would spend my free time trying out new techniques and absorbing as much information as I could from those more experienced than me.  The more I learned the more my passion grew.  I studied botany, mycology, entomology, Florida’s ecosystems, ancient growing techniques, permaculture, urban gardening, forest bathing, sensory gardens, horticulture and food security.  My love of gardening extends well beyond my love of plants and nature.  Gardening is therapeutic.  Gardens are a place to rest your mind, to find joy, to center yourself and reconnect with the simpler, subtler gifts life has to offer.  A beautiful garden can bring family and friends together.  It can help a community reconnect and bond over a shared interest.  An edible garden or food forest can provide your family with food security and decrease household financial expenditures.  A native garden provides desperately needed habitat for our local wildlife that are under increased pressure from the massive amount of development Florida is undergoing.  When you hire me to help you with your garden, I help you reconnect with your land.  There will be new life and a renewed energy in your landscape. It is my sincere wish to bring you a source of lifelong joy when I design your garden.