About

We envision a world in which human-centered spaces exist directly alongside and intermingled with healthy living communities of the many diverse organisms who also call our neighborhoods home. Moving toward this healthier world means rehabilitating enormous swaths of lawn and degraded habitat—and working with such large areas requires thoughtful design and different approaches to imagining and managing our outdoor landscape.

Untamed Gardens was founded in 2021 to bridge the divide between traditional landscaping and ecological restoration. Guided by both ecological and functional design considerations we create easy transitions between formal and wild spaces, integrating your outdoor living space with meaningful habitat. We dramatically expand the footprint of the typical garden by mixing curated native plantings with more lightly managed plant communities including meadows, woodlands, and shrub borders.

We believe all land is precious and that sharing our space—no matter how large or small—with our broader living community makes our lives healthier and more enriching. Contact us today and let’s set up a time to envision how you and your own home space can flourish.

Chris Erickson

Chris started Untamed Gardens after a career in horticulture that bounced between natural areas management and traditional landscaping outfits. They have worked as a technician on Minnesota prairie restorations, an arborist in an urban park system, a gardener in a 4,000-acre public park with native-only landscaping, and as the manager of a green roof maintenance portfolio in New York City.

A childhood in Kentucky spent exploring every creek, pond, and backyard woodlot they could find started a lifelong interest in the complex experiences—emotional, mental, and physical—that different landscapes inspire in people. Their work as a designer, gardener, and horticulturist is in pursuit of fostering richer lives for people by finding better ways for us to live among the other living things around us.