About Me

Hi!

I am Maripat Monterubio, a native Louisian.

My desire  to express artistically my love of nature has propelled me to explore the landscape from the perspectives of  a landscape designer, an artist and  earth healer.  I never remember not loving the outdoors or for that matter drawing and painting.  Combining my two passions  and sharing them with others has long been a dream of mine. One I have fulfilled and continue to love expanding in my clients gardens.

I received my practical gardening experience while my husband and I were raising  our two sons on a lovely four acre property in Frontenac, Missouri. My husband and I were sharing a home with Dr. French Hansel, a close family friend. A retired physician and avid gardener with decades of gardening experience, he became my mentor and provided me with sound practical gardening technique. We had quite a truck garden, growing a wide range of vegetables and herbs located right in our front yard!

It was at this time I began volunteering as a docent at the Missouri Botanical Garden.  Friends began asking me to design their gardens and with the occasional help of my young sons the business began in 1989. While I had a solid background in Fine Arts receiving my B.A. cum laude from St. Louis University and Master level course work at Washington University, I began to acquire additional knowledge from other sources beginning with courses  in Horticulture at Meramec Community College. Two years later, I had the opportunity to spend the summer in Aspen, Colorado taking a comprehensive course given by the English College of Garden Design of Cothelstone, England. Lucy Huntington and Robin Williams were my brilliant  teachers as well as being  internationally known Garden Designers. They blended  Classic English Garden Design with practical hardscape construction.  It was quite arduous but well worth the effort. In 1994, I studied gardening from a metaphysical perspective with Machaelle Wright at her Co-creative Perelandra Garden in Virginia. Machaelle is known for her  intuitive production and healing usage of Flower Essences. I  gained experience in the uses of and  application of earth energy cleansing techniques. I supplement my designs with an extensive knowledge of the principles of Feng  Shui that  I have studied and applied these principles over the last fifteen years.

I specialize  Residential Landscape Design yet offer a wide range of unique gardens designs and products.   A list of these can be found on my service page.

Over the past years I have had the opportunity to design and install many beautiful and inspiring gardens. I am particularly proud of the Sept. 11th Memorial Garden that I designed for the DuPont Corporation. My design and installation of a condominium entrance won me a Beautification Award from the City of Chesterfield.. My Outdoor Train Garden was featured in an article written by Lucyanne Boston for St. Louis Magazine appearing  in the December 2003 issue. It was also highlighted on the first  Annual Chesterfield  Garden Tour.

I am available to lecture on a variety of horticultural topics. Previous lectures include” The Herb Garden A to Z” given at the Junior League of St. Louis and “Container Gardening for Seniors” given at St. Clare of Assisi Catholic Church in Ellisville, Missouri. My interview and discussion entitled “The Use of Feng Shui in the Garden” was aired locally on 88.1 KDHX radio station.

I am looking forward to conducting Art and Craft classes .  You can learn more about that by checking out  my Seasonal Creations page on Facebook.