[A colorful Nashville residential home entry garden design framed by a mature crepe myrtle, conifer specimens, TN native perennials, groundcovers, and grasses] — residential garden design Nashville TN
 
 
 

Fine Garden Design

You already know the difference between a landscape that was installed and one that was designed. You've felt it at someone's home, in a garden abroad, in the way certain places make you slow down without knowing why.

That's what I do. I design that feeling.

I came to garden design from fine art. I think about a property the way I think about a canvas or an installation. Every decision is compositional. I built this as an art practice, not a business to franchise or scale.

I'm Clare Horne. I run The Grass Girl, a garden design studio based on my working farm outside Nashville. The farm is where I developed my practice and where I test every idea before I bring it to a client's property. I work across Middle Tennessee, from city lots in Belle Meade and Green Hills to multi-acre estates in Franklin, Leiper's Fork, and Wilson County.

 
 
 
 
 
[The Grass Girl's garden design depicting a formal french back yard garden with a southern twist, featuring tall framing conifers, blooming pink azaleas, and pom topiary hollies] — residential garden design Nashville TN
 
 

How I Work

The process starts on your property. I walk the land slowly. I read the light, the water, the grade. We talk about how you actually live out there. Where you have your coffee. Where the kids disappear to. What you see from the kitchen window that you wish were different.

On larger properties, there's more to read. How water moves across slopes. Where wind does damage. What the land does in January that it doesn't do in June. Some properties I need to visit across seasons before I design anything, because the ground keeps revealing things that change the plan. I don't rush that.

From there, I design. I hand-select every plant that goes into a design. The specific tree, the specific form, chosen for exactly where it's going and what it needs to do there. The path that curves a certain way because that's where your eye already wants to go. The bed that blooms in sequence so there's never a month where the garden goes quiet. The tree placed to frame the view you'll see from the chair you actually sit in, not the one in the floor plan.

You receive a complete, buildable garden design. Everything is resolved on paper before anyone picks up a shovel. When a project calls for it, I select the contractor and direct the installation on site so the finished garden is composed the way it was drawn.

I'm not designing for the photograph. I'm designing for the Tuesday morning in April when you walk outside and something blooms that you forgot was there.

 
 
 
 
 
 

After the Install

A garden doesn't end when the install does. It's a living environment. It grows, it shifts, it responds to weather, and it will change its mind about things you thought were settled. Middle Tennessee weather will humble you and hang your plan out to dry. A tree that established beautifully in its first year might face a winter that tests it in its third. The soil changes. The light changes as trees mature. What the neighboring property does with their land changes what yours needs to do in response.

I offer seasonal check-ins and garden check-ups for clients who want ongoing guidance as their property evolves. I build maintenance checklists tailored to your specific garden. Not a generic care sheet. A working document based on what's actually in your ground, what it needs this season, and what to watch for heading into the next one.

[Gorgeous rose garden with orange blossoms towering over Nashville residential home entry by garden designer The Grass Girl] — fine garden design Nashville Tennessee by The Grass Girl

This is the part of the work most designers don't offer because most designers think of a garden as a project with a completion date. I think of it as a relationship with a piece of land. The garden gets smarter every year. So does my understanding of what it needs. That ongoing conversation is where some of my best work happens.

 
 
 
 

Scope and Investment

No two properties ask for the same thing. A project might be one focused area on a fifty-acre estate, or a complete design for a half-acre lot, or a multi-year phased plan for a property with real terrain to account for. Some gardens take a season to design. Some take a year. The scope fits the land and the life being lived on it. That gets determined when I see your property, not before.

After our first on-site consultation together, I'll send a detailed proposal with scope, pricing, and timeline specific to your property and project goals.

If you're earlier in the process and not ready for a full design project, I also offer a standalone consultation. One focused visit to your property with guidance on what to plant, where to place it, and how your light and ground are shaping what will actually thrive there.

 
 
 
 

Getting Started

Every project starts with a conversation. You tell me about your property and what you're hoping for. I tell you honestly whether my approach is the right fit.

If it is, we move forward. If it isn't, I'll tell you that too.

Want to know exactly what happens from the first phone call to a finished design? Here's the full walkthrough.

Want to know the story behind the work? Read ‘The Long Way Home’.

 
 
Get In Touch