Sarla DeGeorge has always been drawn to the beauty of garden plants and designs.

Throughout her youth, she often accompanied her mother, an avid gardener and artist, on trips to arboretums, grand estates, formal gardens, and private garden tours across New England. They kept journals of their observations, taking notes, sketching flowers and leaves, and pressing samples to reference later.

Sarla studied art at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, Oregon, but her love for plants and gardening remained strong.

After college, she moved to Big Sky, Montana, in the northern Rockies to enjoy life in a ski town. She served as ‘head gardener,’ managing several estates for a well-established landscaping company during the summers when she lived there.

She spent nearly a decade working as a studio potter, painter, and art teacher, making it her primary career. During that time, she also continued to care for several gardens in the summers to supplement her artistic work.

In 2005, at age 30, Sarla shifted her focus from her career as a studio artist and teacher to becoming a formally trained Landscape Designer.

She earned her certificate in Landscape Design from the California School of Garden Design while living in Santa Cruz, California.

In 2009, Sarla received her Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) from the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC) in Occidental, California, one of the most reputable learning centers of its kind in the United States.

Sarla has been based back in New England now for over a decade, settling in the beautiful mountain town of Stowe, Vermont.

As a native of coastal New England, she is familiar with the region's native plants. She has also traveled extensively and resided in botanically diverse regions worldwide, observing, taking notes, pressing, painting, and sketching flora and fauna wherever she goes. The green hues and textures of exotic conifers in the Pacific Northwest, the bold tropical leaves of Coastal California and Hawaii, and the vibrant colors of Latin American jungles have all profoundly influenced her design style and approach to plant incorporation.

With years of training, practical experience, and her artistic sensibility, Sarla creates refreshing contemporary gardens that harmonize beautifully with the traditional cottage garden style and plant palette of New England.