If a garden provides respite from the sun, privacy from neighbors, and countless floral delights, one might think that landscaping goals have been achieved. Landscape designer Erica Klopf contends that there’s a lot more opportunity in our outdoor surroundings than just creating beauty.
The founder of Florida Edible Landscaping in Fort Myers, who studied art and environmental studies with an emphasis on ecology at Florida Gulf Coast University, has her eyes on sustainability and improved lifestyles. She advocates using the green spaces in our homes to promote function as well as form: “When people start to wrap their heads around the idea of it, it makes total sense,” she says of incorporating food-producing plants like bananas, mangoes, avocadoes, turmeric, and specimens with edible leaves. “Returning to regional food systems is empowering and interacting with the landscape provides benefits beyond nutrition. You form a connection, and that’s the deep healing our society needs.”
Easier said than done, indeed, but that’s where Klopf comes in. Before committing to any planting, the Naples native begins every project by considering the specific needs of each plant (light, water, heat tolerance), the unique microclimate that varies from property to property, and the client’s lifestyle. “Consider mangoes,” she says of the fruit that’s among the most requested. “For people who live here seasonally, mangoes won’t work unless you send someone to harvest them for you in the summer. That’s when you recommend an alternative, like avocadoes, which ripen later in the year.”
Beyond the edible, Klopf also specializes in gardens populated by plants with healing qualities. “Medicinal vegetation has been a big ask lately,” she says. “An example of that is chasteberry, which has abundant purple flowers, year-round edible fruit, and can help support reproductive health in women. It’s pretty, easy to grow, and the pollinators love it.” And there’s never any lack of requests for the aromatic and fragrant. “That’s where a species like ylang-ylang, which is one of the main ingredients in Chanel No. 5, comes in,” she adds. “There are all sorts of benefits to aromatherapy that we keep discovering.”
Klopf likens her role to that of an architect or interior designer. “They create custom builds and craft interiors that are incredibly personal to their clients,” she says. “As a sustainable landscape designer, I create living environments for my clients. I’m providing something that can empower them by giving them a source of healing. Garden therapy is very real.”
Story Credits:
Text by Kelley Marcellus
Photography by Anna Nguyen
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