Today we’d like to introduce you to Claudia Lopez.
Claudia, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Everything began in Colombia. When I was a teenager, my mother would decorate her courtyard with a vast collection of clay pots and ferns in weaved baskets. I would place them at the entrance of the living room, dining room and in the hallways and form small landscape corners. I would play with the height, color and texture of the plants and place big empty bottles of wine next to them to add another dimension, it would look beautiful and all her friends would admire my play time decorations. It started out simply as a hobby. Later on, I studied agriculture engineering and I did research on plagues on cassava in CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture), after graduating I got a full scholarship to study crop protection in Puerto Rico but only managed to do one semester because my now husband and businesses partner, suffered an almost terminal car accident and I returned to Colombia to be by his side. After permanently moving back to Colombia we moved to a house and I began decorating our backyard in Cali, Colombia, it was a large green space and it was highly admired by our friends, they would always ask me for help and advice for their spaces. Again, landscaping was a side thought that I viewed as a hobby. Later on, came children and the responsibilities that arrive with them, my love for plants remained but I never considered landscaping as a career until we moved to the USA. When we landed in Miami I began working for a nursery in Miami and my then boss, by random chance had seen pictures of my backyard in Cali, he asked who had made it and when I said I had, he said “you have talent.” One day when I was in the nursery they had a truck ready to go filled with plants for an installation but the site manager didn’t show up and my boss looked at me and told me, “get ready you have to go.” I freaked out, I was very nervous and said no, I had never worked on a high-level installation. Nevertheless, I breathed in, summoned courage and went on my first residential landscape installation. That was in 2004, I worked for the nursery until 2011 and it was a total success. Ever since that first garden I have not stopped. I later on acquired more landscape notions through a course with Daniel Fernandez, a commentator at the Miami Herald and took an online landscape course from Ashland University. In 2011, I decided to become an independent landscape designer and launch my own business, from their Sugar Green Gardens was born. Due to being an agronomist I have an educational background in horticulture, plant taxonomy, crop protections & plague control. The profession in Colombia is a 5 year degree and that has granted me a strong foundation of skills and knowledge that conventionally trained designers might overlook. Besides focusing on the aesthetics of landscaping site I am able to provide essential skills to help maintain plants in the South Florida weather.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think the biggest struggle was realizing that I could formally turn my hobby into a career. Believing entirely in my capabilities was a process and my confidence grew the more I worked. I’ve always been very fortunate about there being more open doors than closed ones.
Please tell us about Sugar Green Gardens.
We specialize in commercial properties because everything flows much better when dealing with developers. Nevertheless, one of our companies’ strong suit is DIY Landscaping which means I provide homeowners a detailed sketch or design of their space, accompanied by a detailed guideline of plant pictures, quantity and prices.
Although I get the most joy from physically transforming spaces and seeing client’s reactions, I am happy to provide an affordable version of my services to homeowners.
SGG is most proud of creating minimalist gardens, that help the environment by making sustainable spaces and working with water-wise plants that minimize water consumption. What makes us different: I am 100% involved in the process of the garden installation, from the first estimate phase till the last plant situated. I guarantee that the original design presented is exactly translated to reality. I don’t outsource any of the work to site managers, I am always physically present at installations supervising and making sure employees are diligent and careful with all properties. I always strive to provide excellent customer service, focusing very much in how I can beautify a space but at the same time thinking about helping the environment or at least creating spaces that are not detrimental to our ecosystems. I always suggest using plants with low water consumption, using rock, and using less grass so there is not an excessive contamination from fertilizers. I always install native’s plants because they are plague resistant and have no natural enemies. Most importantly I work with plants that attract native wild life, such as bees that are so imperative to our environment. Sugar Green Gardens always focuses on creating environmentally balanced green spaces.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Decorating my mother’s courtyard with a vast collection of clay pots and ferns in weaved baskets. I would place them at the entrance of the living room, dining room and in the hallways and form small landscape corners. I would play with the height, color and texture of the plants and place big empty bottles of wine next to them to add another dimension, it would look beautiful and all her friends would admire my play time decorations.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sugargreengardens.com/
- Phone: 7864995849
- Email: clalo90@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sugargreengardens/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sugargreengardens
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sugar-green-gardens-miami
- Other: https://www.houzz.com/pro/nolleber/__public
Image Credit:
Ivan Fernandez
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