If you’re a new gardener and looking for inspiration – plus the right gardening tools from someone who actually uses their products – to get your at-home garden going, you’re in for a treat today. We have a personal interview with Laura Hooper Design House founder, Laura Hooper, about her Foxhill Garden. Laura is sharing everything from her tried and true favorite garden tools to helpful tips from someone who has been there and done that when it comes to growing a garden from nothing.

Laura Hooper Design House (LHDH) is dedicated to artful living, whether planning a beautiful wedding or event with their creative custom stationery, helping students learn the art of calligraphy with their calligraphy courses and supplies, or spending time outside in the great outdoors. Foxhill Garden is Laura’s home garden inspired by lush wedding flowers that she’s grown from the ground up with love and lots of patience.

Gardening has the power to get us through almost anything

Like everything at LHDH, Foxhill Garden was born out of Laura’s creative passion. And it’s this love of beauty that inspires the LHDH Foxhill Garden gardening product line, which offers a curated selection of gardening tools and accessories, floral arrangements, and live plants and bulbs. 

We sat with Laura to talk about her love of gardening and its impact on her life and her business. Let’s hear from Laura, in her own words, plus get a few tips for newbie gardeners who are just starting, and looking to grow their gardening skills from hobby to passion.

When did gardening become a true love for you?

I first started gardening as a child with my mom in California. We would go to the nursery every planting season to buy plants, and I’d help her plant them. 

But my true passion for gardening emerged when we moved to Mount Vernon, Virginia. We had 0.5 acres of grass that needed flowers, plants, and flowering trees, at least in my opinion! And then it required more flowers…and more flowers.

I wanted the flower varieties that I saw at the weddings and events we worked on with our custom stationery and in our calligraphy work over the years. But, it was almost impossible to find those lush wedding-like flowers for our home garden at our local nurseries or Home Depot, so I started to source flowers and plants myself, filling my yard with them!

Here are a few beautiful photographs of the before and after of our Foxhill Garden:

Is that how your Foxhill Garden product line emerged?

Yes, we’ve grown – and continue to curate – our gardening product line because there was a hole in the market. The best thing about the Foxhill Garden shop is that it comes from my experience. Like everything else with our custom stationery and calligraphy business, the garden product line is the curated selection of items and plants I wished I had access to when my green thumb turned into a green obsession.  

I have the plants that we sell in the shop in my own garden.  I use the gear and tools we sell almost daily during growing seasons.

What do you like most about gardening?

I love seeing how barren dirt in the winter will transform into lush springtime flowers. Watching it all fill out is so wonderful!

Flowers are just so unique! I love my flowers when they bloom.  I often think, “I can’t believe I grew this.”

Has gardening changed your approach to life or your health?

It has changed my approach to life and gardening has improved my well-being. Gardening helped me during the pandemic. It was a tough time, but I could retreat to my garden. I’d spend hours every day working in my garden.  

Gardening is hard work, and it’s a great workout too.  It creates a beautiful body-mind connection. 

What has gardening taught you?

Gardening has taught me patience.  

With gardening, you’re always going to get something wrong, but there’s always the opportunity to try again.  But there’s a catch to gardening that is unlike any other hobby because once you’ve realized or learned your mistake, you’ve usually passed the window of opportunity for a particular gardening plan. You must wait an entire planting season to implement what you’ve learned.

Gardening is not about instant gratification.  It’s about the long-term process.

What does a perfect day in the garden look like for you?

I’m very focused on maintaining my garden, so there’s always a big project on my list of to-dos, which I love.  But I also really appreciate the daily tasks of keeping your garden healthy.  I love walking around the park with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, my favorite pair of gardening clippers in hand, just dead-heading or pulling out weeds.  

In the spring, there are so many plants popping up daily.  It’s such a delight to see.  

I like photographing my garden. Documenting the process isn’t just satisfying. It helps me keep track of what I’ve done to help me plan my garden development. Again, it’s the process that’s so lovely.

What does your ideal garden look like?

Firstly, a garden is always a work in progress. It’s never about perfection.  We’d all love to have a garden in full bloom – no weeds, no bugs or black spot disease, no humidity – but that’s not realistic.  

I see my garden as an ongoing project that’s constantly changing and constantly getting better.

Every year, there is a new variety of plants or flowers available, and we make a note to add them to the garden if desired. And that’s part of the fun. But there’s also a new experiment, which may or may not work out.

What advice would you give someone new to gardening?

If you’re new to gardening, my best advice is to start slow and don’t try everything at once. Pick an area or two in your yard and expand. Select only a few plants at first. Learn about how they grow in your climate and what they need to thrive. 

For example, many people love a gorgeous garden rose. I adore them, but they’re super difficult to maintain here in hot and humid Virginia summers. On the other hand, they do fantastically well in fall and spring. 

So, I make sure to time my planting according to the needs of my flowers and the shifts in my garden’s climate.

Most importantly, I always have very realistic expectations about the outcomes.  That’s a must in gardening!

Trying to grow every annual plant you see on Instagram will make you want to pull your hair out! There’s no way you could grow 25 varieties of annuals from seed when you’re just starting your garden — that would be an exercise in frustration. 

Gardening should be fun, not frustrating. So, I’d recommend picking three to four plants first.  Then add more next year if desired and eliminate the ones that did not work for you.

Focus on a few choice perennials and add a few of your favorite annuals. Seeing how they work in your unique garden and climate will give you great insight into what to do next.

Also, remember that perennials are an investment. But once they mature, you’ll be happy to have them in your garden.  Reaping the rewards might take a few years, but trust me —it’s worth it!

Gardening is iterative and specific to your circumstances, so focus on learning.  Pay attention to what your garden teaches you.

What’s next for the FoxHill Garden product line?

Like gardening, everything is iterative.

We are constantly curating new products and tools for customers in our online garden shop.  We also offer floral arrangements and garden consultation (in person and remote). We offer new varieties of flowers every season too.

Our new line of garden tools just launched last fall. Keep them in mind when you plant your Dahlia tubers this spring! And I’m very excited about the leather tool gardening belt because it is super nice and keeps all my essential garden tools on my person while gardening.

For more, you can also visit the Foxhill Garden’s online garden shop to see our curated selection of the latest garden products and plants.

Get the free garden calendar

That’s it for our interview with Laura. We hope that you were inspired to get outside and create your garden oasis!

If you are looking for more garden inspiration and help, be sure to get our free Foxhill Garden’s Garden Planning Calendar. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to enjoy the journey of a life-long (and maybe longer-living) gardener.

And don’t forget to shop our own, tried and tested favorite gardening tools, supplies and bulbs in our curated online garden shop.

Laura Hooper Design House was established in 2002, to create classic and timeless stationery, specializing in graceful calligraphy and hand drawn illustrations, offering full-service wedding and event stationery design and production. When not designing stationery or teaching calligraphy classes, Laura is also the head gardener at her own Foxhill Garden. Shop her personally curated collection of unique and high quality gardening tools, accessories and floral bulbs to enhance the beauty and ease of your garden.