Articles and pictures by Julie Snell, co-owner, Redbud Native Plant Nursery & co-founder, TEND landscape architects
On Friday , March 13, 2020, my business partner, Lisa, and I were at the bank signing the papers making us the new owners of our second business, Redbud Native Plant Nursery, just days before the Covid shutdown. Imagine our shock at being first time retail owners as the economy shifted and we faced the uncertainty of the pandemic. In hindsight, this moment marked the beginning of a rewarding journey, even though it was difficult to see at the time.
Lisa McDonald Hanes and I met almost 20 years before while working at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for the Philadelphia Green program with a mission to create community through horticulture. We gleaned a fantastic education at PHS from a close-knit family of co-workers from all walks of life, many of whom were community organizers and plantspeople. Lisa and I, both trained as landscape architects, managed urban projects aimed at improving the quality of green spaces in the City. Lisa operated on the landscape design side developing and documenting improvements to parks, vacant lots and community gardens. I was on the landscape management side on high profile projects in the public realm. We both gained first-hand experience in seeing significant projects develop and flourish first through a community design process, then by working with agencies and contractors during the bidding and installation process, and finally with the owners, landscape contractors and volunteers tasked with caring for the projects beyond the ribbon cutting. By being a key part of these park and public landscape projects, we saw how green places were vital to people’s health and wellbeing, especially those who lived and worked in the city. It was inspiring to us. So much that when we ventured out on our own in 2013 to start our professional design firm, TEND landscape architects, we took all those lessons to heart. 
The goal for TEND has always been to specialize in the living systems and performance of landscape projects from design and specifications through landscape management. Our philosophy is based in ecological sustainability and stewardship. We believe that continuity and connection between design intent and how the landscape is ultimately cared for is essential to a project’s long-term success.
We frequently work with homeowners to amend their existing landscape with the intention of shifting to an ecological focused landscape dominated by native plants. We use the metric Doug Tallamy has suggested, a 70:30 ratio of native plants to non-native plants in your yard. The first diagram shows how an existing front yard can be edited to incorporate new plants.
The second diagram shows plant selection to provide structure and extend seasonal interest, providing more blooms and host foliage through the season for pollinators and caterpillars. These moves also improve views from the inside of the house and create more habitable space within the garden.
TEND worked on an amazing portfolio of public projects like the garden redesign of Rittenhouse Square, public schoolyard transformations in Philadelphia neighborhoods and parks in Hoboken, New Jersey. But during those years, spending hours at a desk ironically created a distance between us and the tools of our trade—plants. So back to that day at the bank, where the ‘trowel’ was being passed from Catherine Smith, who founded Redbud in 2002, to us in 2020. A few months earlier, we had learned that Redbud would be for sale, and it dawned on us to make a change. Wouldn’t running a garden center be the best way to get us closer to plants? Lisa was all in from the jump. Having worked various retail jobs and vowing never to do it again, I was hesitant. But as it turns out, besides getting our wish to spend our days with plants, one of the most rewarding gifts this retail nursery has given us has been the opportunity to meet so many truly lovely people and to build relationships around learning and sharing plant and ecological curiosity and knowledge.
Twenty years ago, it was difficult to find native plants at a retail garden center. And if you were lucky enough to, the plants were likely not tagged as native plants. Native plants could be sourced by mail order, but they would typically be small, bareroot stock and arriving in a box looking depleted. Catherine’s idea was to elevate native plants from conservation grade to retail ready stock and have a nursery where people could see, touch, smell, and really experience the native plants. In her 18 years as owner, Catherine did the leg work that grew into what we call the Redbud faithful—a community of folks who really cared about native plants. We are continuing that legacy with our two businesses co-located at the nursery in Media, PA. We’ve seen this community broaden, maybe one of the unanticipated rewards of having two businesses in a suburban area, much of our demographic consists of Subaru-driving folks of a certain age, but we also see young first time home owners who visit with a list of questions and we are attracting city residents who drive the extra half hour to Redbud for advice on what to plant in their container or find something suitable for their postage stamp concrete pad back yard. We meet folks who have never heard of Doug Tallamy or can’t recognize a coneflower, as well as the ecological devotees involved in garden clubs and other long-time gardeners. We offer a modest discount to folks in the trade and appreciate that we’ve established relationships with folks running their own garden design, installation, and maintenance companies as well as the professionals who work at the nearby arboreta or public gardens that abound in our area. It’s an amazing mixed bag that continues to broaden and diversify. I love helping folks select a tree and always get a thrill when a Quercus alba leaves the lot. I’ve also learned you can fit a lot into a Subaru. 
We employ simple, clear graphics on top of site photos to convey our landscape improvement recommendations. Our landscape consultation reports function as a roadmap with general guidelines as well as specific tasks. Homeowners find the reports help them feel less overwhelmed and they feel confident tackling one project area and then then next. And we get to know them and their yards as they return to the nursery season after season with new questions and when they need more plants!
In addition to our newly found expertise in loading plants into hatchbacks, the TEND and Redbud staff possess years of combined experience and knowledge in horticulture, design, art, and arboriculture. TEND still works on public projects but we have adapted our services to the needs of the residential customers who visit us at Redbud. With our experience as public project managers and designers, Lisa and I have tailored a range of design services especially for the residential nursery customers.
With our range of services developed for our Redbud customers, we aim to make a natural flow between buying plants and engaging design services. Most of our customers need some level of guidance, validation or confirmation as indicated by their pulling out their phone to show us a photo of their property and the projects they want to do or have done when they visit the nursery. Our services range from garden coaching involving a conversation in the garden to help with direction, to full landscape design from concept development to installation drawings. Many of our customers live in properties with inherited landscapes that are mature and often overgrown with non-native species, and they are looking for direction to make changes over time. Our landscape consultation service includes a site visit and report that addresses their goals and gives step by step instruction for tackling their priority areas in the garden. We have found that our services need to be flexible to be compatible with a range of budgets and planting schedules so while the general services can be found here on our website, we also can hybridize them to better meet the needs of our customers.
TEND landscape architects front yard planting plan
A third hat we wear is promoting the work of the Ecological Landscape Alliance. The mission of ELA is to educate, inspire and empower people to value biodiverse landscape and employ ecological practices. It is fair to say Redbud and TEND align pretty closely with these goals. ELA has been an important resource in our professional development; we have attended and participated in various programs and conferences over the years. ELA has plugged us into a vital network of folks doing this work and is the conduit for our community. Since 2019 I’ve had the honor to serve on the ELA board of trustees and currently act at the board vice present.
With all our services, the goal is to get high quality, eastern grown, native plants into gardens to support insect and bird populations as well as to create beautiful places for people. If you’re ever in Southeastern PA, stop by for a visit. I’d be happy to show you around the nursery.
Julie Snell holds an MLA in Landscape Architecture, and is an ISA certified arborist, co-owner/operator of Redbud Native Plant Nursery and a founding principal of TEND landscape inc. Prior to forming TEND, Julie’s work focused on landscape management, developing her expertise over 14 years as project manager of high-profile public spaces in Philadelphia with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Julie has worked closely with city agencies, corporations, volunteers, and other nonprofit entities to advise on the daily operations of the landscapes under their purview. With TEND she continues to focus on the bridge between design and landscape management. With Redbud, she has had the opportunity to work with people mostly in the residential realm to see their gardens and yards as habitats that can be both beautiful spaces for people and support native plants and wildlife.
Lisa McDonald Hanes is a registered Landscape Architect, co-owner/operator of Redbud Native Plant Nursery and a founding principal of TEND landscape inc. Over more than twenty years, Lisa’s work has been focused on fostering connections between people and their environments. With a land ethic formed from her family’s farming heritage, Lisa is engaged in improving quality of life by altering how we perceive, value and care for landscapes. Working directly with individuals, community groups, municipal agencies, and a wide range of design professionals, she cultivates landscapes like our health depends on it. Hands-on knowledge of plants—their performance and suitability in diverse environments – influences her design work.