Gardens worth knowing.
Naturalistic, English-cottage inspired, ecologically focused gardens — designed, planted and faithfully kept by one pair of hands.
Begin the conversation→This is not lawn maintenance. It is attentive, expert stewardship — conscious of the minute changes, anticipating what the next season will demand, building a relationship with your land that compounds over the years.
Garden DesignFrom a single border to a whole property
Gardens rooted in place, ecological in principle, and beautiful in every season — drawn by hand, planted by the person who drew them.
- Site & soil assessment
- Planting plans
- Seasonal sequencing
- Installation
Ongoing CareFor gardens that want to be known and kept
Ongoing, hands-on horticultural care on retainer. Visit reports after every call. A direct line to Tray. This is the heart of the practice — and where gardens genuinely compound.
- Regular scheduled visits
- Written visit reports
- Selective hand pruning
- Soil & season planning
ConsultationOne hour that changes how you see it
An hour with Tray, on site or online — ask anything at all. You leave with a one-page written roundup of everything covered.
- From $100 an hour
- Ask absolutely anything
- One-page written roundup
- A prioritised path forward
A garden kept by the same hands gets better and cheaper every year.
Anyone can install a garden. What changes a property is what happens in the seven years afterward — and that only compounds if somebody remembers the whole story.
Most of the value in this work lands after year three — which is exactly why we take a limited number of gardens and stay with them.
See what it costs→
A great garden thrives where it was always intended to grow.
Just as looking at artwork inspires a new perspective depending on the season of life you are in, so do gardens. Your perspective grows with the garden.
We design with native and non-invasive, regionally appropriate plants wherever possible, build healthy soil as a foundation, and think in seasons and years rather than visits and invoices.
- IEcological Stewardship
Gardens tended as living ecosystems — plants selected for place, soil built rather than fed, decades rather than seasons.
- IISeasonal Attunement
Working with the rhythm of the year, anticipating what each season asks before problems arrive.
- IIIDeep Plant Knowledge
Horticultural expertise as the foundation: the right plant, in the right place, for the right reasons.
- IVArtistry & Design
A designer's eye at every visit — not only at installation, but in the ongoing edit of a garden through its seasons.
A garden cared for over years becomes something entirely different from one maintained by strangers.Tray Simpson
Ten years learning what actually thrives here.
Tray Simpson is a sustainable garden designer and ecological steward rooted in Augusta, Georgia. With over a decade of hands-on experience working in and around some of the finest gardens and growing operations in the CSRA, he founded Tray Simpson Garden Design to offer something this market rarely provides — a deeply personal, expert, ecologically grounded approach for people who genuinely love plants and the land they grow on.
For ten years Tray served as General Manager of Bedford Greenhouses, one of Augusta's oldest and most beloved plant nurseries, where he developed an intimate knowledge of what thrives in this region, what struggles, and what makes a landscape genuinely come alive.
That experience — combined with a lifelong passion for rare plants, native ecology, and the art of garden making — is now fully devoted to the gardens of the Southeast.
- Experience
- 10+ years
- Previously
- GM, Bedford Greenhouses
- Founded
- 2025
— Tray
Start with an hour. Stay for the decade.
An hour with Tray is the simplest way in, and it stands on its own — you keep the written roundup whether or not we ever speak again. Everything beyond it is quoted honestly, per project.
✻ Every consultation includes a full hour with Tray and a one-page written roundup of everything covered, sent afterward — yours to keep and act on however you like.
A courtyard border and a five-acre property are not the same job. These are scoped and priced after we have seen the ground.
Let's begin the conversation.
Whether you are interested in a stewardship retainer, a garden design, a consultation, or simply want to talk about what your garden could become — reach out. We would love to come and see the canvas we could work with.