Lacewing is a fine gardening company committed to the intrinsic power and beauty of the landscape.
Steeped in experience with floral design, permaculture principles, and social justice work, founder Britt Willey started Lacewing as a way to spread the endless gifts flowers and plants offer our lives through our gardens, landscapes and interior spaces.
We do this through custom garden designs and installations, fine gardening services, and seasonally aligned botanical arrangements.
Lacewing is on a mission to share the joys of bringing your garden inside, and celebrate the brilliant, regenerative force of nature throughout the year.
Philosophy
Named for the beneficial insect with delicate lacy wings who devours the aphids off our daisies, cosmos and sunflowers–the Lacewing works hard to maintain beauty and balance in the landscape. To us, the lacewing represents a force that is beautiful and delicate while also being tough and functional.
With this, we are passionately committed to organic, all-natural, sustainable and informed garden design.
What this looks like in practice:
PEACE AND QUIET: We avoid the use of gas-powered machines and only use electric machines or hand tools whenever possible. These techniques reduce our carbon impact, noise pollution and protect the health of our team. The only gas-powered machines in our tool kit are our vehicles (and we hope to change that as well).
NO TILL: We are committed to preserving and improving your soil ecosystem. Through soil building with compost, organic soil amendments, sheet-mulch and digging forks, our techniques aim to preserve soil biology while reducing landscape waste and carbon emissions.
SUPPORTING PLANTS AND PEOPLE: The Lacewing Team is a plant-obsessed group of nerds that takes great joy in the hard work required to create beautiful and beneficial landscapes. We seek to build and maintain peaceful, cozy and harmonious landscapes through ecologically informed design and organic horticulture techniques that support backyard ecosystems and the people that love them. We value and respect our relationship with you and your landscape.
CREATIVE REUSE BOTANICAL DESIGN: We firmly believe in the power of nature’s beauty, in the landscape or in a vase. Our floral design approach seeks to repurpose pruned clippings and foraged backyard blooms to create seasonal, local, and sustainable floral designs.
We look forward to sharing our vision, drive, and passion for this work with you.
Our Team
Britt Willey
Owner. Certified Professional Horticulturalist. Master Gardener. Master Composter.Lead Designer. Pollinator Garden Lead. Wild Floral Designer.
Since childhood, I have been enamored by nature, creating captivating arrangements of discovered natural treasures. Lacewing is an extension of my desire cultivate productive and balanced ecosystems where nature’s perfect creations can grow and thrive.
Our holistic approach to horticulture is grounded in both art and science with the goal of developing beautiful and beneficial landscapes that support local ecosystems and the people the love them. My professional experience includes work with Erin Lau Design, Laila Suidan of Down to Earth Landscape, the Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Washington Park Arboretum, London Plane Flowers, NeighborSpace (Chicago), WRD Environmental (Chicago) and the Chicago Department of Environment have cultivated my firm belief in the vital importance of respect for diversity -in plants and people – as an essential part of building sustainable and thriving urban ecosystems.
While I firmly believe that passion for plants is the most important ingredient to our work, I am also a Master Gardener, Master Composter, experienced pruner that is also pursuing educational resources at the South Seattle College School of Horticulture. When not working with in the garden, I can be found hoarding plant materials for an interior botanical installation or floral design.
Braden Begg
Operations Manager. Foreman. Certified Professional Horticulturalist. Trained Permaculturalist.
As a spirited youth I climbed and swung my way through the vast orchards of Western Massachusetts. It was there that I first learned an intimacy with plants, that is, an understanding of the reciprocity between orchardist, farmer or gardener and the living things over which they steward.
As an undergraduate at the University of Vermont, my education and research focused primarily on neuropharmacology and bioethics. These topics, however, best served to highlight the great importance I saw in our symbiosis with the natural world.
When I could steal away from my studies, I constructed edible urban gardens, self-contained living machines, and low-impact wildland trails. Following my graduation I spent years working for greenhouses and garden centers, interning with holistic farmers, freelancing as a residential gardener and in my spare time, playing guitar in rock bands.
As a part of Lacewing, it is my great pleasure to add my labor and passion to our projects as we strive to bring conscious gardening into bloom in Seattle.
Ben Schultz
Hardscape Lead. Dry Stack Stone Waller. Carpentry Lead. R&D/Technical Support.
Earth, water, wood, stone, – they’ve all forged tactile memories over the years. Working with Lacewing awakens these memories, and that’s a gift, as is the chance to work with other talented and passionate people. Lacewing is a place where neither plant nor person is taken for granted, a place where great care in used in working with both. It’s odd that this should be a unique vision for work that affects our surroundings, where we spend and share time with those we love. But it is. Lacewing understands this and allows me to embrace this vision fully.
Chris Miller
Hardscape Crew. Master Stone Arranger. Dry Stack Stone Waller. Flatwork Specialist.
Born and raised in Washington I have always admired the outdoors and what the PNW has to offer. I am a creative and artistically oriented person that is passionate about designing outdoor spaces.
Originally having gone to college for Graphic Design, I took on woodworking to try my hand at physically building and creating my visions. From there it bloomed into a love for hands on wood and stone work, as well as learning about plants and how to implement them into such beautiful landscape spaces. Lacewing has given me the wonderful experience of developing my skills and learning new ones to bring our clients’ vision to life. Outside of Lacewing I enjoy board game nights, floating a river, camping and working on art projects.
Tom Jamieson
Landscape Designer. CAD /Graphic Design Lead. Site Evaluation Specialist
My appreciation for the landscape is informed by my experiences growing up in the pine forest, wetland, and coastal ecosystems of central Florida. The towering evergreens, rocky slopes, lush meadows, and open woodlands of the Pacific Northwest, where I have lived for the last thirty years, have broadened my interest in the natural world.
As a designer I channel my interests into functional and context-appropriate residential landscape designs. I have an enduring interest in how materials construction and plants can enhance outdoor spaces. I take pride in developing custom solutions that respond to client goals and specific on-the-ground landscape issues.
In the past I have worked as a public high school teacher and public arts’ administrator. After earning a masters’ degree in landscape architecture in 2010, I have been busy creating landscape designs in Seattle’s urban core.
Hallie Escola
Landscape Gardener. Nursery Mama. Edible Plants + Animal Husband.
I have been fascinated by plants, animals, and insects since I was a child. I was born in the midwest and spent most days running around outside picking flowers, studying bugs, and catching snakes. When I was 8, my family moved to southwest Washington and I was amazed by the PNW and all it had to offer.
I graduated from Western Washington University in 2020 with a degree in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Studies. It was at Western that I really fell in love with the interconnectedness of the natural world and how we, as humans, can positively participate in our ecosystems. I focused my studies in sustainable agriculture, local food systems, and building resilient communities. After college, I spent a year in Dartmouth, MA working at Round The Bend Farm. During my time working on the farm, I gained experience in a wide range of skill sets including livestock management, beekeeping, perennial management, herbalism, and vegetable farming.
I am so happy to be back in Washington, continuing to learn and develop skills in horticulture. I feel lucky to spend my days in the soil surrounded by plants, trees, and the incredible Lacewing team.
Tony Hlavaty
Landscape Crew Lead. Floral Artist. Vehicle Mechanic. Power House.
A master of none from Wetumpka, Alabama. Bikes, flowers, and staying on a first name basis with nature are the primary pastimes. Moving to the Pacific Northwest has been revelatory and working in the region’s gardens has been rewarding beyond measure.
Join Our Team
We are always interested in connecting with potential team members who are passionate about organic horticultural, ecological landscape design, permaculture, natural stone work and/or garden to vase floral design.
Learn More