MEADOWSWEET - Key Persons
Jen came to Meadowsweet in 2022 following a summer horticultural internship at Sarah P. Duke Gardens. A former high school librarian with an undergraduate degree in Biology, Jen brings her love of learning to her garden work and has earned certificates in Native Plant Studies from the NC Botanical Garden and in Organic Land Care from the Northeast Organic Farming Association. She is currently studying Garden Design at Longwood Gardens.
Jonathan is the former President of Meadowsweet Gardens & Patios, Inc. He spent his time meeting clients and contractors, leading installations, reviewing gardens, helping with designs, and otherwise as the co-founder of Meadowsweet.
Jonathan earned his BS in Horticulture at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He worked as a horticultural therapist for the North Carolina Division of Prisons, teaching and supervising garden programs at eleven prisons statewide. After two years as Education Director for the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, NC, Jonathan left to start Meadowsweet Gardens & Patios, Inc. In its early years Meadowsweet had the good fortune to work and learn with Douglas Ruhren and Edith Eddleman, both extremely talented gardeners and garden designers. Building on this experience, and with the many extradonary talents of hard-working garden laborers, Jonathan and Meadowsweet have found a niche designing, installing and maintaining gardens in the Durham/Chapel Hill area.
After almost 20 years at Meadowsweet, Rebecca took a "back seat" running Meadowsweet and returned to her love of nursing in 2010. After receiving a master's degree in nursing, she works full-time in the UNC Healthcare System. Rebecca's phenomenal gardening knowledge and design skills were instrumental and fundamental in the establishment of Meadowsweet Gardens.
Job Titles:
- Head
- Owner
- Head Gardener / Design / Operations
Ruth is the owner and head gardener at Meadowsweet Gardens and Patios Inc. She has over a decade of work experience in the nursery, landscaping, gardening, earth science and agricultural fields. She enjoys making gardens more accessible and functional, dealing with "water problems" in the garden, nurturing plants, and creating paths.
Growing up with a mother who works as a landscape designer, community college educator, and in nurseries, Ruth has been in and around gardens and "the trade" since childhood. Ruth has a bachelors degree in Earth Science from the University of lllinois at Urbana-Champaign where she focused on geochemistry, environmental engineering and geology.
Samantha Clarke has been a gardener with Meadowseet since 2021. Her love of gardening started early thanks to her mother's green thumb and ever-expanding gardens. After earning her BFA in metal design at ECU she worked as a metalsmith for several years, then as a chocolate maker before digging her way back to the garden.