We were lucky to catch up with Jennifer Dyer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jennifer, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

As an Art Director in a my professional life, learning to garden was something that came natural to me. I actually wasn’t expected I’d fall in love with gardening so much. But as we bought our first home and I found myself with a 1/3 of an acre of neglected backyard space, I quickly got into the idea that I wanted it to look beautiful. It became a slow process over 7 years of turning nothing by grass and weeds into something landscaped and tailored. Gardening is a very visual hobby. There’s a lot of gratification that comes from transforming a yard into something beautiful. And when that beauty can also feed you (my vegetable garden), it’s an even greater win. Gardening has been so meaningful in my life because it’s another creative outlet for me that gets me away from my computer screen and into nature. Walking to my garden late summer and seeing all of the hard work flourish in flowering plants and an abundance of vegetables brings me great joy.

Jennifer, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got into gardening just by owning a home with a backyard that needed care and attention. It was a neglected lawn and backyard space for years before we owned it. There were no native plants or any perennial plants at all, for that matter. My husband and I moved in and just started working in it. We built flower beds and slowly transformed it section by section over the 7 years we’ve lived here. As I realized that our Denver, Colorado climate was so dry (not quite what I was used to growing up in the Midwest), it became a fun challenge to find native plants that required less water and also encouraged pollinators to visit our garden. I liked learning about these plants and watching how easy it was for them to flourish with minimal water in my yard. I also started growing vegetables which feeds us three months of the year. To be able to eat from your backyard is very rewarding! I wanted to share what I was doing to inspire others.

I discovered that the knowledge I was learning was worth sharing and I decided to start my Colorado Garden blog, Beneath the Maple. I was proud of the work my husband and I put into our space and I wanted to show that someone who knew really nothing about gardening could learn to create a beautiful landscape in their backyard.

I am a freelance creative professional by day and spend many hours each week behind a computer screen. To have another project that brings me away from my desk and into nature is a refreshing change of pace. Creating a brand, blog and social media presence for Beneath the Maple was something that was natural for me after all my years in the marketing and the creative industry.

Beneath the Maple was named such because our home sits under two maple trees. Everything we do creatively in our landscape happens under these trees. We’ve held elegant farm table-style dinners in our gardens with friends and family. It’s a space that inspires us for future dreams (possibly more land, vineyards and even a boutique inn on our property). We want our gardens to be an experience for people who visit both now and in the future as we grow. Our blog is the platform where we share our experiences of this along the way.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I love listening to podcasts about blogging. They are a huge inspiration for me to continue growing my blog. My favorite one to listen to is called “Thrive Blogger Podcast”. It’s inspiring to hear people who have had success blogging, learn about SEO and social media strategies and discover new trends in the industry. I think it’s important that any time you start a new business, that you surround yourself with a community of people in your industry. There is so much to learn and so many people out there doing it right who are gracious enough to share their insights on how to succeed in a similar way.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

From everything I’ve researched and learned, blogging success comes from consistency — consistent writing, regular social media posting and producing content. My blog is still very new, and I’ve already fallen victim to life getting in the way and not being able to post as much as I’ve planned. Rather than getting frustrated and giving up, I just get back into it. I give myself the grace that despite my best intentions, life and work got in the way of my passion project…and I start again. And I will keep doing that. Successful bloggers are those that keep at it. It’s something I’m passionate about so I’m just going to keep going!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.beneaththemaple.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beneaththemapleblog/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beneaththemaple
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK5oD3d9WA5ZaHoLh7JusCQ
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/beneaththemapleblog/