About
"Growing up on the prairies, I watched nature do extraordinary things with very little help. That's never left me. Now I design gardens in Toronto and the principle is exactly the same. Find what wants to grow here. Give it the right conditions. Then mostly get out of the way."
"Ecological design isn't a style. It's a discipline. It means understanding your site deeply before a single plant is chosen. Get that right and everything else follows."
Simone Byrne · Founder, The Garden Coach
Origins
Growing up under the open skies of Manitoba gave me a lifelong love for the land and a deep respect for what nature can do when you work with it rather than against it. Wide horizons, seasons you actually feel, soil that teaches you patience. That's where this all started.
After more than a decade in Toronto, that connection to the natural world has never left me. If anything, it's grown stronger. Working in a city makes you notice every tree, every garden, every small act of ecological generosity all the more.
The Path Here
Before founding The Garden Coach, I spent years in sales and communications. What that career gave me, above all else, was the ability to truly listen: to ask the right questions, to understand what someone actually wants, not just what they say they want.
I founded The Garden Coach to bring those client-first skills into ecological landscape design. I work with the conditions of your site rather than against them: its soil, its light, its native plant potential, its relationship to the broader environment. Where it makes sense, I choose native species. Where it doesn't, I choose plants that earn their place ecologically. The goal is always a garden that sustains itself because it belongs there.
With over 15 years of hands-on experience and a deep passion for naturalistic and sustainable design, I work with homeowners across Toronto and the GTA to create outdoor spaces that are beautiful, purposeful, and genuinely alive.
"Living in South Toronto, we're at the northern edge of the Carolinian Forest region. Zone 7b opens the door to magnolias, redbuds, and species that gardeners even a few hours north can only dream about. That possibility never gets old."
Community
Gardening has always been about more than individual properties. It's about the street, the neighbourhood, the ecosystem we all share. That belief has led me into community work I'm deeply proud of.
I'm the founder of the Sixth Street Community Garden and the creator of the Lakeshore Blooms neighbourhood greening initiative. I'm a proud recipient of the LAMP Award of Merit for community contributions, and an active member of both the Lakeshore Environmental Gardening Society and the Etobicoke Horticultural Society.
Credentials & Training
Education
Diploma in Landscape Design (in progress)University of Guelph
Experience
15+ years hands-on horticultural practiceResidential, Greater Toronto Area
Recognition
LAMP Award of MeritCommunity contributions, West Toronto
Memberships
Etobicoke Horticultural SocietyLakeshore Environmental Gardening Society
Inspired by
Monty Don · Beth Chatto · Piet Oudolf
Designers and gardeners who understood that beauty and ecology are never in conflict. The most sustainable garden is also the most alive.