Today we’d like to introduce you to Cari Tiller.
Cari, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a lover of Christ, wife to my hubby of 18 years, Mom to two beautiful girls (11 and 8 years old), a Landscape Designer, a Horticulturist, a Tarrant County Master Gardener and a dog lover. I have always loved being outdoors with nature and spending time in the garden one way or another – eating the harvest of my grandparent’s huge garden, following my Mom around in her garden and greenhouse and taking care of my own plants and veggies over the years. I just woke up one day and realized that I wasn’t using my God-given talents and passions to do something that I loved in my Marketing career of sixteen years. I was going to work each day and dreading it. I was sitting behind a desk all day and under fluorescent lights.
Have you ever heard, “Choose a job that you love and you will never work a day in your whole life.”? That is what plants, gardening and landscape design are to me… LOVE. They feed my spirit. They breathe life into me. And they allow me to use my creative talents to make this world a better place, not only for people but for wildlife, insects and the environment. I realized that I could stay put in a marketing career that didn’t bring me joy or I could do something about it. I could find a way to turn my passion for gardening, art and nature into a full-time career that made a difference to the world. And to ME!
I graduated with a degree in Horticulture in May 2020, but I started my landscape design business, Catatiller, in January 2019. I LOVE plants! I LOVE God and how He gave us plants (and so much more!) I LOVE being outdoors and working in the garden. I LOVE caterpillars and butterflies… God’s amazing creatures and their miraculous transformation. I am always attending more classes to learn about native plants, trees, soil fertility, composting, organic veggie gardening, irrigation, butterfly gardening… anything to continue my love of learning about plants.
I love unicorns, rainbows, Wonder Woman and bright colors. These all make me happy! I am no longer very fashionable. I am most comfortable in jeans and my Lucchese 1883 Cowboy Boots or my tennis shoes and workout gear! I have always been fascinated by a British accent and use one anytime I can. And, I am always moving and never still. My husband says I BUZZ like a bee. I guess it isn’t a surprise to find bees and butterflies are always fluttering around me. Due to my love of bright-colored clothing and wearing plant-based essential oils. It’s like I AM THE flower! But I truly like to think that they intuitively know how much I love and admire them, so we have a natural attraction.
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?
Over the past four years, my biggest struggle has been balancing my time as a Wife, Mom, Student, Master Gardener and Entrepreneur. I wear a lot of hats and it is hard to juggle it all at times. My priority during my time in school had to be my husband and children. So, I would usually stay up late after everyone went to bed to read, study for tests and complete projects. I usually would function on 5-6 hours of sleep, but it was all worth it to realize a dream I had wanted for so long. I was always moving forward, even if I wasn’t going as fast as I wanted. I prefer to compare myself to the story of the turtle and hare. I was the turtle. I might be slow, but I was always moving forward and I eventually crossed that finish line!
Please tell us about Catatiller – Native & Sustainable Gardens.
I am a landscape designer and I focus on native and sustainable gardens. I really want to create gardens that are good for our wildlife, pollinators and our local environment. I want to preserve precious resources… like water. I focus on composting. I never recommend synthetic insecticides, pesticides or herbicides. I use organic fertilizers and natural methods to support the gardens. And I also love to incorporate essential oils and companion planting into the design, when possible, for pest control.
My focus is on native and sustainable gardens: save water and money over time, good for the environment, supports our wildlife and pollinators, aesthetically pleasing, lasts forever, low maintenance, fewer pests or disease. I love to create a “living garden” for families – an outdoor extension of their living space. My goal is to leave each slice of the earth I touch better than it was before. My purpose is to use my God-given talents and resources to inspire, educate and serve others. I provide a comprehensive customized service for my clients from consultation to determine goals and vision to CAD design and ordering plants/materials, and overseeing the install. Everything is turnkey.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from childhood was waking up Christmas morning to see that Santa Claus left me a cassette recorder as my gift. But the very special part was that Santa left a special recording of himself on my very first cassette. He said my name and talked about my Christmas and he finished with, “Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas Cari!” I was so in love with that cassette tape and played it for all of my friends and family. I was devastated one day when I accidentally recorded over Santa’s voice and could never retrieve my special message.
Later, when I was older, I learned that it was my uncle who recorded that cassette for me pretending to be Santa. What a great memory!
Pricing:
- Landscape Consultation – $75 per hour
- Landscape Design, Planning and Installation – $75 per hour
Contact Info:
- Phone: 214-476-3461
- Email: cari.tiller@catatiller.com
Image Credit:
My professional photos of me were taken by Gracie Ortiz.
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