An edible paradise in your own backyard. Yes you can! – Photo by Andrew Firestone

Chic designed garden business in Somerville

By Andrew Firestone

With the winter months setting in, even with this unseasonable warmth we are having, the time for harvest is over and nature falls into deep slumber. But for next season, if your garden needs jazzing up, why don’t you turn to Jocelyn Jones, owner and operator of Generous Earth Gardens? That way, you’ll get a beautifully designed, fully edible pageant of spring, and vegetables for your whole family through the summer.

Jones designs, plants and maintains beautifully designed gardens for homes all over New England, based right here in Somerville’s Davis Square. “A lot of people, they love their land, even small little plots in Somerville. They care about it,” she said.

To that end, she helps visualize and build flourishing gardens, filled with flowers of all kinds, and vegetables both annual and perennial. Tomatoes, turnips, carrots, beets, lettuces, kale, asparagus, grapes, berries and herbs of all kind are enmeshed in her clients’ personal space, creating a wonderful area for them and their families.

Talk about green business.

“A lot of young professionals are moving in,” she said of Somerville. “They’re getting to a place where they are buying properties and want to put investment into their landscape. Then comes me, this bright energetic landscape designer, who can come in and transform their landscape into a beautiful oasis.”

Jones initially studied to be a social worker, but became increasingly involved in landscaping. After gaining certification from the Harvard Landscape Institute at the Arnold Arboretum, she embarked on a career she calls a fulfillment of her art and passion.

“You’re in the moment,” she reflected of her work. “You don’t think about anything else. It’s like I go into this different world focusing on what’s happening in the soil, the science of the soil, the science of the plants, and it’s bliss.”

She says her designs are tailored to her clients aesthetic, from simple traditional gardens, to conservatories of whimsy. It is an aspect of the job she enjoys greatly.

“What’s really important to me is the educational piece,” she said. “I can come and do this to someone’s garden, but I like to work with people. During the installation, I like to be there and get out, and if they have kids, which a lot of them do, I like to have the kids come out and talk about what it is we’re planting and how we’re harvesting.”

“I’m not leaving them high and dry,” she said. “I like to have a life-time relationship with the clients.”

Jones says she carries her desire to create beautiful gardens from her grandmother, who had a farm in the south of France. She said she looked at the design process as an artistic endeavor, like using a brushstroke upon the land itself, and was thankful for finding such a positive vocation that allowed such expression.

As for her design skills, her work is intricate and very creative in utilizing space, material and texture to create such gardens. Part topography, part architecture set ups have allowed Jones to flourish with happy clients. While currently a one-person business, Jones says she hopes to expand next season.