Calder Garden Studio · Kelowna, BC

Gardens that grow more beautiful every year

Beautiful, flower-filled gardens for Okanagan homes. Real planting. Inspired naturalism. Designed for the outdoor life you want to live.

Designed for living outside

Most Kelowna gardens are designed to be easy to install. Not beautiful to live in. I take a different approach. Dense planting. Seasonal colour. Plants chosen for Okanagan summers, deer, and the dry or shady spots in your yard. I design for the life you actually want to live outside.

I bring Okanagan gardens closer to the New Perennial planting philosophy where structure, movement, and abundance do the work that landscape fabirc, mulch and rock cannot.

I'm not a landscaper

Landscapers are experts in construction: patios, retaining walls, grading, irrigation. That’s valuable work. It’s not mine. I design gardens full of flowers, texture, and colour that change with the seasons and get better every year.

  • No landscape fabric

  • No rock beds

  • No mulch deserts

When a garden is planted well from the start, it fills in, crowds out weeds, and largely looks after itself.

What Guides this work

CLIMATE HONESTY
Hot summers. Cold winters. Deer. Dry spells. Every plant I choose has to survive real Okanagan conditions and look good doing it.COLOUR ALL SEASON
Flowers from April through October. Built from perennials and grasses that come back stronger every year.HONEST ABOUT UPKEEP
Low-maintenance, not no-maintenance. I’ll tell you exactly what your garden needs and design it so it’s manageable.DESIGNED AROUND WATER
Every garden is planned with watering in mind. What each plant actually needs to thrive here, not just survive.

Services

Three ways to work together

01 - Signature service

Garden design & planting plan

Most gardens in Kelowna look the same. Fabric, landscape rocks, a row of shrubs. This is the alternative.A full planting design built around your specific property. The spots that bake in July. The deer pressure. The shady and leafy corners. The result is a complete plan you can hand to any installer, with enough detail that they won’t be left guessing.Each plan includes:

  • Design that accounts for sun, shade, leaf fall, wildlife and dry spots specific to your property.

  • A curated list of every plant included in the design for your garden.

  • A clear layout showing exactly what goes where.

  • A watering and irrigation plan so every part of your garden gets what it needs.

  • Guidance on how to care for your garden once it's planted.

For clients who want the full picture, I also offer hands-on installation. Sourcing and purchasing the plants, overseeing irrigation setup, and being on-site through planting to make sure everything goes in the right place, at the right depth, with the right spacing. You end up with a finished garden. Not just a plan.

02 - Edible gardens

Kitchen garden design & build

A kitchen garden should be as beautiful as it is productive. Not vegetable boxes tucked behind the garage. An outdoor room you actually want to spend time in.Herbs beside perennials. Cutting flowers mixed with food crops. Raised beds that look like they belong, not like an afterthought.Every kitchen garden design includes:

  • A layout for your raised beds that's both functional and beautiful.

  • A mix of vegetables, herbs, and flowers chosen to work together.

  • Guidance on what to plant near what and why it matters.

  • A watering and irrigation plan so nothing gets over or under-watered.

  • A planting calendar so you know what goes in the ground and when.

For clients who want the full picture, I also offer hands-on installation. Sourcing and building the right raised beds, bringing in proper soil, laying paths, setting up irrigation, and adding fencing where deer are a factor. You end up with a kitchen garden that's ready to plant from day one.

03 - Entry point

On-Site consult with next steps

The right place to start if you're not sure what you need yet.A 60-to-90 minute walk of your property where I look at everything. Light conditions, soil, existing plants worth keeping, problem areas, deer patterns, watering coverage. You get a clear, honest read on what's working, what isn't, and what your garden could realistically become.No jargon. No upsell. Just clarity.Every consultation covers:

  • A full walkthrough of your outdoor space together.

  • An honest assessment of what's thriving, what's struggling, and why.

  • Practical advice on your biggest problem areas.

  • Watering and deer pressure recommendations.

  • A clear list of next steps. Whether you tackle it yourself or move forward with a full design.

About Ellisa

I grew up in gardens. Watching, helping, absorbing. The kind of knowledge that doesn't come from a textbook but from years of hands in the soil, seasons of paying attention, and a family that treated the garden as an extension of the home.That's still how I work. Every property I design starts with observation. How the light moves through the day, where the deer come from, which corners dry out by August, what trees will look like as they transition into fall.The plan follows the place, not the other way around.I'm based in Kelowna, where I've spent years learning what actually thrives here. Through my own garden and through the particular challenges of Okanagan summers, dry spells, and the wildlife that comes with them. I design for beauty, but also for reality.If you want a garden that feels alive, full of flowers, food, movement, and seasonal colour, and someone who will be honest with you about what your space can do, I'd love to talk.

Start with a conversation about your garden

Most people start with a consultation. A walk through your property to figure out what's possible and where to begin.

Thank you for reaching out.

I'll be in touch within 1-to-2 business days to set up a time to walk your property together. In the meantime, if you want to start dreaming about what's possible, here's the Pinterest board I use for inspiration.Fair warning. It's a rabbit hole.