Walkabout Outdoor: Mpls' finest gardens, at the pace of nature.
The story of Walkabout Outdoor needs to be shouted from the green spaces front & back, as they are masters of their craft, who carry a humility that will never allow the volume of recognition that their work deserves. We have known Kyle and Laura for years merging on a decade, theyre views on humanity as earth conscious buddists has transcended their trade as landscape designer, and implementers. We chose to highlight their story, at a time that Minneapolis and the world needs a story about the wonders of gardening and the many healing principles it has on us all.
These two pack more than a 12 months of work into 7 months, naturally we have winter in Minnesota, Walkabout has been using this time for gardener sabbatical, since 2010, they have hit every continent, most recently Africa and Japan, to recharge their center, and further their deep infatuation with the natural world. Their 4-5 month backpacking adventures are focused on deep cultural immersion, where they enrich themselves by humbly learning the norms of each host culture.
We are forever humbled and grateful for their impact on the gardens across Minneapolis and St Paul. Walkabout is Kyle Ellefson & Laura Molde, and together they have built a purist’s garden-focused natural landscape firm, with an emphasis on seasonal growth and a strong footing in hardscapes, patios and exterior lighting.
We gleefully visited their bungalow in Northeast, which we secured for them and they saved from pure neglect in 2012. Their interior is another story that we will parlay for a later date to dive into Mpls’ zoning initiatives in NE!
“To garden is just to love life for the sake of loving life, it’s not about success, there is no striving, because you have to work with the pace of nature.”
On the day we met with Laura + Kyle of Walkabout Outdoor, no less than 10 passersby stopped in their tracks to admire their blooming tulip garden. Driving, biking, walking, even on patrol duty-ing, the gazers stopped and took photos or congratulated Laura and Kyle, yelling things like, “gorgeous! I can’t believe my eyes!” as the modest pair waved back and shrugged off the attention. They’re used to it - this garden is a labor of love, and more than just a garden: it’s a sanctuary. As Laura put it:
“Flowers hold immense energy... the simple act of being in a garden makes a person happier.”
Kyle and Laura are the epitome of the mindset we all need to employ to ensure we have an earth for incoming generations; they embody the type of human interaction we should have with our natural world. While this sounds like a nat geo voiceover, it’s entirely true, and required to articulate their story. Laura is the plant Gandhi, she has climbed the ladder of commercial gardens to her personal summit; creating naturally occurring inspired landscapes that mimic and benefit the wildlife surrounding each subject. Her work is part classically trained but mainly experiential, as a majority of Laura’s design influence comes from the greatest source: nature.
Internationally Grown- Kyle and Laura’s travel journal- chronicles their culture and climate winter sabbaticals.
Annual winter sabbaticals have been happening for Molde and Ellefson since 2012 (timeline to follow) beginning with Central and South America, and most recently Madagascar & Japan, which have covered the gambit of these beauties deep dives into the many micro-climates across the globe.
“In the beginning our garden startup approach was a bit like Noah’s Arc; we got 1 or 2 of every plant we could find, and saw how it would do in our climate. ”
Kyle is the brilliant manager of execution - he runs the heavy lifting of daily landscape conversions, from site demo to final planting, and all things in-between including up-lighting controllers and cedar pergolas. Kyle is forever a student, making him the favorite boss of his entire crew of 15-18 hardscapers and gardeners.
The following dialogue was a live morning garden interview with Laura & Kyle, Georgi and Steve at the Walkabout Gardens in Northeast Mpls.
Steve: So you wouldn’t tell everyone to do what you did to your yard?
Laura: Not without the the time or effort to take care of it.
Steve: How many hours do you put in per week caring for your gardens?
Kyle: It ebbs and it flows, we usually spend a whole day each weekend.
Laura: It’s not just the time now, it’s all the the cumulative years of knowing what we’re doing that matters (snipping while speaking), it’s an art like anything… you specialize in it, and you can create something extraordinary with seemingly little effort, what matters is the fifteen years I have been gardening.
Kyle: And we have been gradually reworking not so great ideas from year 1 and 2, it’s constantly evolving.
Steve: wasn’t year 1 and 2 focused on experimentation?
Kyle: in the beginning it was a Noah’s Arc; we got 1 or 2 of every plant we could find, and saw how it would do in our climate. Laura has gradually made it a lot more…
Laura: …ARTISTIC!
Kyle: Let’s just see what happens
Laura: The key of mastery is to make it look effortless, when you know something so well you can just do it, it’s easier as it goes! I’m sure you know being a photographer…
Georgi: …I wouldn’t call myself a photographer
Steve: GG doesn’t give herself enough credit.
Laura: That’s another very common thing with artists, they underestimate themselves, I see that in all the most creative people, and I see it in me, is that you don’t realize how talented you are because it comes so easily to you. And because it’s such a personal endeavor, your creativity is your most personal…
Steve: It’s your most vulnerable place, so when you’re in it, it’s mind boggling to me that brilliant creatives always need reassurance on their design work.
Laura: It’s the hardest thing, it’s where I find the most emotion, sending estimates and designs, after so many comment that they love, I still get nervous about it. That’s why I love my garden the most, because there isn’t that judgement, I think it’s so forgiving, whether people like it or not it doesn’t matter. I actually think it ends it ends up looking the best because there isn’t that pressure to perform. When you can just do what you love, it naturally ends up being the best product, that why clients that step back and aren’t controlling the design… LIKE YOUR PROJECT [to Steve]
S: Let’s talk about your worst project, no sorry, let’s talk about your least creative project, or projects that you ended up not having pride in?
L: In building this business, we have given away a huge percentage of services free because we have made mistakes, so we’ve come in to fix them, acknowledging you have done something you shouldn’t, and you have to with a garden, a garden takes 10 years to mature, it’s the span of my career now, how do I know what is gonna work out? To do any art you have to take risks, and some of those risks don’t pan out. But luckily we work with people who are forgiving to us and they want to see us succeed, and also I think successful people understand that you learn the most from making mistakes, you know that Steve?
S: With garden maturity specifically, after watching gardens grow like 4231 Blaisdell, I have anxiety about getting gardens installed.
L: Why?
S: Because a garden doesn’t provide a return until year 5.
L: Yeah you’re right, it’s like a pool, you never get a return, unless you sell it to someone who loves to garden, and the problem there is if you love to garden you want to make your own garden, so you do it solely, gardening is all about loving the moment, these tulips only last two weeks and then they die. You know?? To garden is just to love life for the sake of loving life, it’s not about success, there is no striving, because you have to work with the pace of nature.
S: What I mean by the return on a garden, the plant budgets are small, and they take so long to mature.
L: A garden is more about the value you would place in therapy, I know going to my therapist one time isn’t going to solve my problems, but 5 years down the road this can really pay off, it’s also about watching things grow, and contemplating the way things grow, flowers come up throughout the season, a garden is more about buying an experience than a product, it’s like buying a trip to Italy.
S: One thing I would like to talk about with gardening is to get people to compartmentalize their exteriors earlier than they would. People buy a house, they paint walls, sand floors, and buy lights, and it’s year 4-5 and they realize how gnarly their yard is.
L: You should, it’s a long term investment, so starting the major plants early is beneficial. You should have a plan in place and think through phases.
S: Look at this, there is a shit ton of birds behind her…
K: This is all day long, Laura hangs out with her birds, most of them have names
S: What are the yellow finches named?
L: The yellow finches are all named after Kyle’s sister’s family, the cardinals are Roger and Martha, after my parents. The red winged black bird's are Wendy and … too many names to recall.
S: So birding, I have a desire to bird.
L: Yeaha, Im just turning into a 70 year old, from 27 to 70 [laughing]
[Relocating to the front garden]
S: Who are your ideal clients:
L: It’s people who understand that to the extent that they would like a garden, they can’t maintain a garden, I want all this but I understand that I also have a full time job, so I can’t keep it the way I want it to be without professional help. Most of our clients are people that spend time gardening … Byron and Phyllis are over there, they’re the Bluejays.
L: Our most common request is that I want this to look good, but I don’t want a lot of maintenance on it. That’s all in intelligent design, it’s only the retired or the rich that can handle a high maintenance garden. We know we are a niche market, were offering highly designed garden services, we don’t market any of our gardens as no maintenance, like young families who need sod to play in, we condense a garden, and we make a highly impactful space that will need maintenance but will also provide a huge amount o aesthetic beauty to the front a house while meeting the needs of the rest of the family.
L: We don’t market any of our gardens as no maintenance, young families for example who need sod to play, we condense this, creating a highly impactful space that will need maintenance, but it will alos provide a hige amount of aesthetical beauty to the front of the house, while meeting the needs of the rest of the family and not be so cost heavy.
K: You have to have some kind of ongoing garden maintenance, people’s biggest hangup is they think they can just pay for it once and never address it again… every year you’re going to be spending money on your garden, you have to have the knowledge and desire to do it!
S: Kyle’s background for plants came from working at Masterpiece, and being a generic hippy at heart, where is your cultivated education from?
L: My father was a farmer, and I grew up in rural MN, always in nature growing
S: Neither of you were ever formally trained in …
L: We had a lot of gardening jobs leading up to this business, head gardener for property companies, the great part of any gardener’s education is doing gardening, slowly learning and experimenting and observing and over time acquiring information to do it. It’s mastery, a master is always a student.
S: do you feel that your garden themes change from season to season, with your winter snow bird sabbaticals?