Strategic Visioning
Master Planning
Community Process
Fundraising Support
Sustainable Design
Planting Design
The JMMDS Team
Julie Moir Messervy
Julie’s vision for composing landscapes of beauty and meaning is furthering the evolution of landscape design and changing the way people create and enjoy their outdoor surroundings. With over three decades of experience, eight books, and numerous high-profile lectures, Messervy is an innovative leader in landscape and garden design theory and practice.
An acclaimed author, Messervy’s most recent is a landscape inspiration book, Landscaping Ideas That Work, (Taunton Press, January 2014). The Toronto Music Garden: Inspired by Bach, is an in-depth guide to the conception and creation of this award-winning public garden.
Her 2009 book, Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love, received the Garden Writers Association 2010 Gold Medal for Best Book Writing. In 2006, Messervy partnered with architect Sarah Susanka to write Outside the Not So Big House. Messervy has also authored The Magic Land, The Inward Garden, and Contemplative Gardens, named one of the ten best garden books of the year by The New York Times.
Her industry expertise, work and books have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, House & Garden, Elle Decor, Vogue, Garden Design and numerous other leading print and online media around the world. She is “The New Homestead” columnist for Organic Gardening magazine, and formerly she was the popular columnist of “Inspired Design” for Fine Gardening magazine. Messervy has lectured at distinguished venues such as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Geographic Society, and the Getty Museum.
Messervy studied landscape design with eminent Japanese garden master Kinsaku Nakane in Kyoto, Japan, first as a Henry Luce Scholar, and then as a Japan Foundation Fellow. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College and Master of Architecture and Master in City Planning degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Messervy is the principal of Julie Moir Messervy Design Studio (JMMDS) in Saxtons River, Vermont.
In the Studio
Jana Bryan - Licensed Landscape Architect
Jana works at JMMDS as a landscape architect and team designer on many projects. She holds degrees in Fine Arts and Landscape Architecture from Rhode Island School of Design. She finds creative inspiration from patterns and colors in nature, gardens, weaving and other fiber arts.
Erica Bowman - Licensed Landscape Architect
Erica came to JMMDS in 2007 with an MLA from Cornell and a specialization in Ecological Design. A fully licensed landscape architect and surveyor, Erica is a horticulturalist at heart; her favorite projects are plant-centric designs. She also writes for Horticulture Magazine. Erica manages JMMDS projects in the New England area and beyond.
Samantha Anderson - Licensed Landscape Architect
Samantha is a licensed landscape architect, focusing on residential and institutional projects at JMMDS. With a background in the arts as well as science, Samantha brings both creativity and technical expertise to her landscape design projects. Samantha enjoys painting, pottery, gardening, and tree identification and holds an MLA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst as well as a certificate in Advanced Permaculture Design.
Bethany Gracia - Project Manager / Landscape Designer / Graphics
A seasoned landscape designer and New England gardener, Bethany applies her Art/Architecture degree from Smith College to eco-sensitive landscape designs, website design and management, graphic content for the JMMDS and Home Outside websites and marketing, layout manager of JMMDS books including Landscaping Ideas That Work, and designing the Home Outside Palette app graphics as well as the app’s user and admin interfaces.
Jennifer Silver - Marketing & Communications Manager
Jennifer has a degree in English from Dartmouth College and has held a variety of teaching, writing, and editing positions. When not doing marketing and communications tasks at JMMDS, she can usually be found in the garden, in a kayak, or in her hammock with a book.