Hi, I’m Natalie DeNormandie. I design gardens full of beautiful edible plants.

Plants are a silver thread woven through my life. After my first job working at a local nursery, I studied botany. We trekked around Utah’s Wasatch front to study plants in distinct habitats. I saw that some plants are generalists and will live almost anywhere; others are quite particular. This was the foundation for an alternating, strengthening thread: ecological pattern in scales large and small.

I finished my undergraduate work in landscape architecture and environmental planning at Utah State University, followed by work in Canada on large-scale forest ecology and with First Nation tribes, designing an interpretive landscape at a winery. At the time, I didn’t realize I was immersed in native herbalism while researching the ethnobotanical significance of the area for the winery project. I moved to Massachusetts, where I studied native plants at the Native Plant Trust and completed graduate studies in landscape architecture and ecology at the Harvard Design School.

I started my design practice, SegoDesign, in 2005 with a focus on edible gardens – As families engaged with their land, my heart lit up and my creative engine was fed. In 2009, I contracted Lyme Disease and became increasingly interested in health. I studied herbalism at the Boston School of Herbal Studies and continued to learn how to weave plants even more fully into my life, becoming part of the faculty to aid them in structuring their plant studies curriculum.
These two threads, plants and pattern, create a broad tapestry of interest. I pull them together into a practice I call Ecological Herbalism, where I design gardens with my clients to support optimal health for body and soul. This website is my answer to the clients that would like a resource for continued learning to steward lands that we’ve worked on together.

“Eco” means house and “Ecology” is the study of relationships between life and the environment. “Logic” is about thinking and validating, and “Herbalism” is the practice of using plants. Where we live and how we think about our behavior and interactions with our place on the land is what continues to hold my interest and informs my work.
I design to weave plants fully into my clients lives: through their gardens, kitchens, medicine cabinets, celebrations. You can see more of my work here.

To your health and happiness and the feeding of all around you! —Natalie