Veronica Tyson-Strait

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT VERONICA TYSON-STRAIT

I am a landscape and garden designer, horticulturist and fine artist with an earlier career as a producer in the advertising industry. I experienced landscapes of rolling hills with teak and samaan trees, fields of sugarcane, dense rainforest and winding rivers long before being inspired by vistas in England, Wales, New York and New England. My passion for plants began as a child with wickedly colorful blossoms grown by my industrious and resourceful mother, later leading me to Massachusetts and then to New York. Born and raised in the Caribbean but having lived most of my life in Brooklyn and Manhattan, I am a New Yorker. I design and garden throughout the city, envision landscape solutions to communities at risk and the transformation of varied terrains while growing tropical food crops in a tiny spot in Harlem from Spring through Fall. Perfectly at home with clipped spherical boxwood and hedges, I am drawn to meadows, woodlands, landscapes teeming with butterflies, birds and bees and plant communities that thrive without pesticides or intensive maintenance. Trees and plants that perform as filters, absorb contaminants, create habitats and look great too - whoa! I am a plant geek with an eye for detail, interested in botany, ecology, lepidopterology and plants native to the north east, while constantly experimenting with flora from warmer regions. A serial optimist, I believe we can (at least attempt to) slow down climate change by editing our plant palettes, creating landscapes that inspire curiosity and learning and by altering the way we manage public and industrial landscapes. We can also revise our perception of residential landscapes and expand on our ideas for connecting city dwellers to the natural world. I teach gardening, basic botany and environmental awareness. Check out my blogs - Land and Artscapes and My Life in Gardens at https://veronicatsgardens.blogspot.com/