About

Autumn Light Landscape Design is a one-person design and build company, specializing in residential projects in the Boston area. Its mission is to rewild suburbia, one garden at a time, so that we can host the birds and insects that need safe places to live. Our world's problems may be large, but you can be a meaningful part of the solution:

Each lawn-turned-meadow helps save native bee and butterfly species.
Each tree captures carbon and shelters songbirds.
Each deep-rooted plant sinks carbon into the soil and helps purify groundwater.
Each person that learns to care about plants may become inspired to protect the natural world.

My designs use a large palette of plant types, bloom times, colors, and textures. I always incorporate key pollinator host plants, like violets, asters, maples, and milkweeds. Whenever possible, I use human-edible plants too. My aesthetic is naturalistic, not formal and clean-cut. Whether you want riotous color from May to October, or a subtle living tapestry of greens and textures, I've got you.

Biography

Jenifer Tidwell grew up roaming the urban gardens and small wildernesses of New Orleans, Houston, and other southern cities and towns. In 1991, she earned a B.S. in computer science at MIT. She spent the next two decades as a software engineer and user experience (UX) designer, including stints at BBN, MathWorks, and Google. But she was never content in a cubicle. The best parts of her job were visiting clients, talking to them about their lives, and designing things that made them happy.

When she became a parent, she tried out STEM teaching as a second career, which reignited her love of botany and ecology; concern about climate change also drove her to explore earth-friendly vocations. She was trained as a Mass Audubon instructor at Habitat Belmont, which led to online botany courses, participation in the Woodwell Climate Research Center’s “Yard Futures” project, and the landscape design certificate program at the Native Plant Trust.

Jenifer has designed and planted several residential landscapes, ranging in size from a tiny urban rock garden to a large Nahant seaside garden, all created primarily with native plants. Landscape design pulls together the science, design thinking, teaching, hands-on work, earth care, and client interactions that she always enjoyed. And she never has to work in a cubicle again.

Native Plant Trust, Horticulture and Landscape Design certification, 2020

Massachusetts Certified Landscape Professional #31908

Massachusetts Plant Conservation Volunteer (PCV)

Member, Ecological Landscape Alliance