What Is Permaculture Gardening

Permaculture gardening is an approach that harmonizes with nature, rather than trying to control it. We work with the land, using its natural rhythms and cycles to cultivate beauty and abundance. 

Garden in late spring.

At the core of permaculture is the belief that everything in the garden has a role to play. Plants, animals, and insects form a community that supports itself. We become caretakers in that system, respecting the balance it creates.

​We choose plant species that serve multiple purposes—attracting pollinators, providing natural pest control, or adding nutrients back into the soil—so that our gardens are not only beautiful but also regenerative. This is how we honour the cycles of life, ensuring that each bouquet or floral installation we create tells the story of sustainable beauty.

Three Tenets of Permaculture Gardening 

The term permaculture was first introduced in 1911 by Franklin Hiram to describe what he called 'permanent agriculture' in Asian farming practices. In 1978 Bill Mollison and David Holgren developed a set of permaculture principles, wrote Permaculture One: A Perennial Agriculture for Human Settlements and travelled around the world teaching their three week course. 

Permaculture has 12 guiding principles and three simple yet profound central tenets: 
• Earth care
• People care
​• Fair share ​

Susan shovels aged manure into wheelbarrow.

Earth Care: Start with the Soil

Healthy soil is the foundation of any permaculture garden. We built the soil as we were building our house. As the land was being cleared, we spread the scrub out as best we could. Then we covered it with a heavy layer of aged horse manure, available in our community, and then a layer of aged bark mulch, also from a local source.

Garden being built with branches and stumps underneath layers of manure and mulch.

The mulch does double-duty, keeping moisture in the soil so we don’t need to water as often and feeding the soil as it breaks down over time. Healthy soil means stronger plants, fewer weeds, and a garden that requires less maintenance. We also make and add bio-char, compost all natural materials using several methods and raise worms and add their castings to enrich the soil.

Ants help protect peonies from small insect that eats the soft leaves of peonies.

An easy way to start a garden in a permaculture way is to remove chemical fertilizers and pesticides from your garden practice. Instead create an environment that invites beneficial insects and a variety of pollinators. This can be achieved by the first principle of permaculture gardening, observe and interact. Simply put, watch where the pollinators hang out and make more of that plant available.

My best example here is the native honeysuckle. It draws bees in first with its early yellow bloom. Next to bloom is the haskap, the bees move naturally to this plant. I get a great pollination rate resulting in a high yield. Bees get nectar past the bloom time of the honeysuckle. The birds get the remaining fruit and probably have moved seeds so haskaps will show up somewhere as happy accidents.

People Care

​Our permaculture gardens reflect our commitment to cultivating in a way that’s mindful of future generations, creating spaces that thrive today and will continue to flourish for years to come. I had the amazing opportunity to learn from farmers in Guatemala on farm stays and it was evident how in harmony the people were with the land.How scared they viewed this time honoured practice.

Fair Share

Foraged Florals was founded on these principles because we believe that floral design should be as thoughtful and intentional as the plants we grow. We want our flowers to speak to a deeper connection with the earth, bringing people into a shared space of respect for the natural world, and share our abundance.