Lee Schneller

Before starting my garden design/build business in 1995 I had a career in Asian studies (beginning with my first trip to Japan as an exchange student in 1974). I studied Chinese language and Asian history in college, lived in Japan in the 1980s and became a technical Japanese translator. Ten years later it was time for a career change. I had a naive idea that it would be kind of idyllic if you could make a living as a gardener. After getting fired from my first job as a fine gardener after only two weeks (on my birthday) I decided I must be unemployable (after all my years working virtually alone) and went into business for myself.

I am especially grateful to several early clients who were willing to give me a chance even when I didn't have much experience (I didn't tell them I'd been fired from my first job). One of the first design projects I had was at a beauty salon where the garden was seen by a lot of women (who had gardens) and this led to numerous referrals, the development of my continuously blooming garden design technique and, finally, my book The Ever-Blooming Flower Garden (Storey Publishing, 2009).

I've now designed over 250 gardens in Maine (where I've enjoyed living for the past 30 years) and have been lucky enough to travel from New Jersey to California signing books and giving talks about continuously blooming garden design.

My other specialty, which is about as different as possible from "continuously blooming", is Japanese-inspired gardens. I design and build them mostly using native New England plants so they fit harmoniously into the landscape (an important principle of Japanese garden design). I love giving talks about Japanese garden design and history, which gives me an excuse to go back to Japan regularly to visit and research gardens. In recent years I've taken my gardening crew with me on two of these trips so they can enjoy, appreciate and learn about the gardens I've been privileged to enjoy.

Please feel free to visit my website at www.LeeSchneller.com to see some pictures of gardens we've done and to see my touring schedule.

Author photo by Deborah W. Smith