FAQs
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
It was the summer of 1979 as my sister and I nestled into the plush, baby-blue backseat of my parents’ Buick and watched the blur of evergreens and maples outside the car’s mammoth-sized windows. We drove on, mile after mile, to our family’s cabin and garden in the once sleepy country town we cherished. This little treasure was the start of my love for gardens and landscapes. In 1919, my grandparents made the long journey to America from Sicily and called New York City their home. Not only did they bring their aspirations for a new life of prosperity, they brought their passion for organic, self-sustainable kitchen gardens and landscape design. They cherished their private, manicured spaces of flowering and edible plants much like my parents today. There they could comfortably sit and admire what nature and their hands had created. After leaving home for university, a successful career of 20 plus years in graphic design and time spent traveling the world, I found myself, spending more time outside and in the garden. I felt the need to bring nature closer to encourage bee and wildlife populations, to protect the environment and the organic way of life for me and my family. I soon rediscovered the passion for gardens and landscape designs – an integration of life and landscapes with purpose, personality and mood.
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
I believed spaces could become outdoor ‘rooms’ comprised of grasses, flowers, stout shrubs and stately trees. I wanted to build little sanctums that each home could incorporate and share with their loved ones. My dreams were soon filled with designs both naturalistic and formal, full of colors and organic textures…much like my family and the Crosses taught me. The gardens of those who came before me have inspired the way I design landscapes and gardens. My parents and others close to me unknowingly ‘planted’ my love for something that transcends time. The love for something that has moved through the generations in my family and those of others. We broke ground with a single Jahkomo design. We incorporated our vision of gardens and landscapes with purpose, beauty, personality, mood and practicality – an integration of life and garden with landscapes that are more connected to our daily lives.