About Amanda Kupsti

I didn't set out to design gardens. I set out to stop watering a lawn. The first house I owned in Omaha came with a front yard of bluegrass that turned straw-colored every August, no matter how often the sprinkler ran. One fall I covered a corner of it with cardboard and mulch, and the next spring I planted it with a handful of coneflowers, black-eyed Susans and little bluestem from a neighborhood plant sale.

That first summer, the bed didn't look like much — native plants spend their first year growing roots. But people stopped on the sidewalk anyway. What is that? Does it need watering? Won't the rabbits eat it? By the second summer, the corner was full of flowers and bees, and I'd answered those questions so many times that I started writing the answers down.

Those notes became sketches for neighbors' yards, then planting plans, and eventually the small garden-design practice I run today.

A good garden suits the place it's planted. In Omaha that means heavy clay, hot and windy summers, cold winters and rainfall that comes in bursts. Plants that evolved on the prairies around us already know how to handle all of that. My job is mostly to choose the right ones for each spot and arrange them so they look like a garden, not a vacant lot.

I also believe a garden has to fit the life of the people who own it. A beautiful design that needs ten hours a week isn't a good design for a family with two jobs and three kids. I'd rather plan one bed you'll love and keep up with than a whole yard you'll resent by July.

And I think gardens should be honest about time. Native plantings take a season or two to fill in. I'd rather tell you that up front than sell you on an instant result.

Most of my projects are small: a front-yard bed, a pollinator strip along a fence, a shady side yard, a parkway planting. I start by listening — how you use the yard, what you see from your windows, what you want it to do — and then by looking closely at light, soil, water and what's already growing.

From there I sketch the structure first — edges, paths, bed shapes — and only then choose plants: a short, repeated palette matched to the site and planned for all four seasons. Every plan comes with practical notes on preparing the ground, planting and getting through the first year.

I write the articles on this site for the same reason I started: most people asking about native gardens just need clear, local answers. If they help you plant a bed on your own, that's a good outcome.