Smack dab in a neighborhood of cookie-cutter homes is a vibrant garden bursting with biodiversity, pollinators flitting about, and new ideas. Abutted by tightly mown lawns, this garden forces one to question what a yard can be.

Shelby began converting her front lawn in September 2023, immediately upon returning home from a summer garden assistant position in Washington, D.C. After assisting in model residential gardens designed by Phyto Studio and Oehme, van Sweden, as well as submitting a design proposal for restoring part of the gardens, she went full steam ahead for the conversion. Her goals were to create a landscape that would act as a living laboratory for growing new plants, testing combinations, editing techniques, and conservation. She closes the loop by repurposing all vegetation for mulch, habitat, pathways, and compost. And as for why the garden began in the front yard instead of the back, the backyard is for the dogs, nursery, vegetable garden, and future garden beds (of course), but truthfully, the front yard is much more provocative!

The garden is almost entirely central-to-north Florida native plants and southeastern U.S. natives with some non-natives sprinkled throughout for ornamental and sentimental value. Ocala (and Marion County as a whole) is one of the fastest growing places in the nation and with that comes compounding habitat loss and loss of appreciation for native flora and fauna. The botanical makeup of this garden is inspired by protected prairies, pine savannas, white sand scrub, roadside tree lines, overgrown parking lots, and rural ditches throughout Marion County. Most of the plant species featured in this garden can be found naturally occurring within a 25-mile radius; a dozen or two propagated from species found in wild spaces at the edges of the neighborhood and an old cattle field down the street. Putting these overlooked and disappearing plants into an ornamental context demonstrates the value they provide and challenges people to see them in a new light, or to see them at all. This is the foundation of the Living Lab’s sense of place.

As it should, the garden subtly changes every day. These changes are less subtle week to week, clearer from month to month, and the contrast from one season to the next is stark. Each and every stage of a plant’s lifecycle is valued here as it impacts the fabric, or how the landscape fits together, and invites one to see the beauty of a plant when it isn’t in full-flower. It is through constant observation as well as additions and subtractions that inform Shelby’s approach to design and stewardship; an approach that is full of wonder, play, and moving the needle forward in Florida planting design.