Meet Our Community: Laurin Lindsey and Shawn Michael, Houston designers and yaupon fans

 

Let's get to know each other!

Since we're not able to meet up in person this year, let's meet online. Every week we're introducing a member of our Fling community* here and on Instagram, in their own words. We're excited to see what everyone's talking about and sharing with their followers!

(*Any garden blogger, vlogger, podcaster, or Instagrammer who follows our Instagram or is a member of our Facebook group. If you'd like to be considered or recommend someone for a Meet Our Community profile, email us.)

Laurin Lindsey & Shawn Michael

Our home garden

We’re a husband-and-wife team who own a small landscape design/installation company in Houston called Ravenscourt, which is named after a London park and Tube station near where Laurin lived during a year abroad.

We met 13 years ago and are going into our 12th spring as business partners. We work on city residential gardens and challenge ourselves with creating gardens that invite you in, offer seasonal interest, and support wildlife. This winter provided a new adventure, as we are learning what can survive a sustained freeze and a low temperature of 11 F – in Houston! Our own garden is a pollinator/collector’s/trial garden - a hot mess that’s actually pretty if you like plants.

Our favorite plant is yaupon holly, in all its forms, because it’s bulletproof and beautiful and wildlife use it for nesting and food. Laurin’s favorite garden is RHS Garden Wisley, in Surrey outside of London, which she visited 3 times a year over a 10-year period, even after she moved back to the U.S. Shawn’s favorite “garden” is Muir Woods National Monument for its trees and feeling of tranquility. It is a place of deep communion for him. 

One of our design installations

We mostly post on Facebook and Instagram because it’s quick. But on our blog, Ravenscourt Gardens, we share personal tours and plants that do well in Houston, including plants you don’t see everywhere and those that support wildlife. On our business website we share our work and gardening info. We also share project photos on Houzz.

We believe gardening has something to offer everyone. And no matter our differences, gardening is a bridge that connects us all.

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Thanks for sharing your work and gardening passions with us, Laurin and Shawn! You can follow them on their blog, Ravenscourt Gardens; their website Ravenscourt Landscaping & Design; Houzz; Laurin's Instagram and Ravenscourt's Instagram; Pinterest; and their Facebook business page and home page. 

Photographs courtesy of Laurin Lindsey and Shawn Michael.