Who We Are

We are, first and foremost, tree huggers and plant lovers. We are dreamers and deep thinkers. We are interested in people and love to learn what makes them feel alive and connected.

What We Believe

A garden is a buffet to the senses — a smorgasbord of sounds, flavor, scents, sights and textures. When we focus on our senses, we are present, allowing the body to relax and foster a sense of calm.

It is because of this that a garden can help you focus on the beauty in the present moment, making it easier to peacefully coexist with life’s ambiguity. It’s a portal connecting you to nature and your wild self.

How We Work

We approach every new project with the mindset of a student, devoted to learning the land and our client’s needs.

Our gardens are designed with a simple philosophy in mind: Successful spaces are born from a collaboration with nature.

Neive Tierney

Neive is passionate about the garden’s ability to support local ecology and her clients’ well-being. She received her master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Texas at Austin, graduating with honors. She has worked on residential, commercial and civic-scale landscape projects.

Neive’s background in environmental science and sustainability has led her to create landscape designs that are rooted in firm ecological values. She sees the garden as a place of healing. As a former yoga teacher and a current student of Ayurveda and herbalism, she incorporates elements of these ancient traditions into her designs to generate spaces that enhance her client’s mind, body and spirit.

Stephanie Lin

Stephanie believes that design is an opportunity to create memories and connections, between people and place. Originally from Los Angeles, she is intimately familiar with California’s local ecosystems and grew up exploring the chaparral communities of the San Gabriel Valley with her adventurous mom.

Stephanie was a farm and garden apprentice at the Center for Agroecology at UC Santa Cruz where she became a certified horticulturist and found a place for poetry in the garden. She received a masters in landscape architecture from UC Berkeley and has been a key player on a variety of civic, institutional , and commercial projects. Recently, she traveled to France as a designer on a selected team to install the “Garden of Reciprocity” at the 2022 Chaumont-sur-Loire International Garden Festival.

In her work, Stephanie seeks to collaboratively create places of refuge for her clients to engage the senses and connect with memory.

HALEY MCMILLEN

Haley believes nature brings us closer to our inner peace and good design helps guide us there. From her involvement in reforestation efforts in Canada, to designing and coordinating landscape design projects of all sizes, plants have always been a part of Haley’s life.

Haley studied Permaculture Garden Design at the Heartwood Institute in Northern California, followed by Production Design at the Vancouver Film School. After years of working at some of the top landscape design firms in Los Angeles, she started her own design studio focused on plant design and exterior curation services for residential, retail and restaurant spaces. Haley brings her savvy knowledge of plants, efficient project management, and rich design background to each project.

In her free time she enjoys traveling to National Parks, adding to her cacti collection, and hosting friends in her garden.

Client love

Testimonials

We had an incredible experience working with Nectar. Neive and Stephanie were professional and patient and offered us a brilliant plan for bringing our little yard back to life. They hired amazing contractors who turned our small space into something beautiful and amazing for us (and the whole neighborhood) to enjoy. We highly recommend working with them.

Elaine and Sam

We were overwhelmed with the scope of our 1962 hillside property and the much needed erosion mitigation and design. We contracted Nectar for their taste level and design skills. Stephanie and Neive provided unique solutions for our steep hilly area and shady woodland terrace. It was transformed into a stunning meandering garden that provides areas to reflect, relax, entertain and enjoy cultivating veggies and herbs.

Devlyn and Dean

We absolutely loved working with Neive. Besides her talent and creativity, she works with confidence, which means she listens and respects her clients but also knows when to stand up for her ideas. She also loves what she does, which made the process fun and got us the backyard we wanted.

Alex and Greg

Neive grasped our dream of wanting to feel like we’re vacationing at a boutique hotel in Palm Springs while being super respectful of our budget. She was helpful and communicative and is always open to feedback and discussing options. She is so gifted at her job!!

Ginger and Bradford

Since Neive and her crew finished the garden a month ago, the bees, butterflies, and birds have all found new homes in our yard. We are spending more time outside, hanging in our rock garden, making meals from our herb garden, and watching our plants grow and bloom. Neive really helped make our house feel like a home. I can't recommend her enough!

Sarah

Working with Neive was an absolute pleasure. Her process and approach to landscaping was both professional and unique, utilizing her skills to build out exactly what my partner and I wanted.

Kurt and Brooks

No matter the job, big or small, we’d work with Neive for any landscaping design needs time and time again. We can't recommend her enough, such a professional and joy to work with.

Brad and Jenna

Neive turned our backyard into a garden oasis, and we loved every moment of the process! We couldn't be happier with the end result. We highly, HIGHLY recommend Neive for your next landscape project.

Laura and Charles

Neive is a visionary. She took our tight backyard and made it into a space filled with natural wild gardens, useable entertaining areas, a plunge pool, and spa with no inch left unthought-out. Her artistic vision came to life and soothes our busy city schedule when we enter the backyard.

Sasha and Rachel

We enjoy our time outside more than ever before. We love spending time in the garden relaxing or tending to the vegetables. We can't recommend Neive enough!

Tori and Colton

It's been such a pleasure working with Neive, she always came with fantastic ideas and was so receptive to our input as well. She helped us realize the backyard of our dreams...it's now a source of peace in-between stressful meetings during the week and a source of joy during the weekends. Highly recommend.