Our History

My love for gardening began as a child while growing up in Holland and Belgium.  It was there that I was first acquainted with beautiful gardens and really gorgeous plants.  Since coming to the United States, I have had many wonderful experiences with gardening, including the raising and selling of cut flowers, garden writing and creating my present garden which includes many different types of garden rooms.

My passion for gardening really blossomed as I neared the ten-year mark of teaching foreign languages in Oregon schools.  I would rush home from school every evening and work on the creation of my own garden.  I would read and read some more from the wonderfully inspiring gardening books written by favorite authors.  I took classes from the local college. I planted and replanted my one acre of ground creating the many garden rooms linked by pathways, arbors and pergolas.

One of the first garden rooms, the Birch Path, with its meandering stone pathway remains a favorite of visitors during every season of the year, even when the rest of the garden is in full flush of bloom. It has been the subject of several magazine articles published about my garden (Click here to see most of the articles in the December 2003 Newsletter "Margaret's Garden Tips," page 2 ). 

At the beginning of my adventure with garden design, the selection of plants offered by local nurseries was rather limited. Many of my favorite plants were not offered and my work needed to be somewhat limited by these constraints. I grew as many as 4,000 plants from seed every year to make up for that lack. Now, nurseries here in the Pacific Northwest are offering every plant my heart could wish for and many more that are new to me.

With some heartfelt encouragement from my family and friends, I began helping others with their gardens.  Today, my design work has become a full time business.  How fortunate to be working in the same joyful endeavor where my passion fulfills me.

In 2004, I was privileged to design three commercial landscapes. One was a dental office, one a restaurant, and the third, a retail store. The owner of that store invited me to open a small nursery in the spring of 2005. My life partner and I made the decision mid-April and we opened May 1, 2005! We loved it and had a wonderful time meeting the needs of many customers. We provided special and unique plants, some of which are rare, others are brand new varieties. We also offered design services for containers and landscapes.

As a result of the success of our little nursery, we worked on moving to a larger location. But the obstacles associated with the property we found became too difficult to overcome.  In late October of 2005 we closed the nursery and brought the remaining plants home, where we care for them.  Perhaps someday we can launch a project that will encompass our vision for a destination nursery; for now, we are content to expand our two businesses: Margaret's Enchanted Gardens, Ltd. and Acorn Solutions (landscape carpentry and garden structures - click here).

We are now offering services out-of-state, traveling as a team to interview new clients, photograph and measure their landscape property, designing their gardens and arranging for construction.  We like to use artful and experienced landscape companies for the garden aspects.  Acorn Solutions (CCB #168646) provides construction for pathways, decks, arbors, trellises, pergolas, garden sheds or cottages, tea houses, and copper structures like fences, gates, arbors, trellises, and potting benches.

Contact our office to make arrangements!