We were lucky to catch up with John Beaudry recently and have shared our conversation below.

John, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

I didn’t set out to start a creative services business. I set out to heal.

In 1985, I was diagnosed HIV positive. At the time, it was a death sentence. I prepared for the end—but life had other plans. After a miraculous turnaround with the emergence of life-saving treatment, I found myself alive and asking: Why was I spared?

What followed was a decades-long search for meaning. I looked inward and returned to what had always grounded me—nature. As a child, I found joy in my neighbor Mary Jane’s garden. As an adult, I found solace with my hands in the soil, designing sanctuaries for myself and others. It was in the garden—always—that I felt whole again.

My business, Beaudry Garden Design, was born from this realization: that the natural world could restore not only landscapes, but lives. I had the education, the training, and decades of experience in horticulture and public green initiatives—but more importantly, I had lived the transformation I now offer to others.

I knew this would work because it worked for me—and I saw it work for hundreds of others. Nature calms our nervous systems, clarifies our thinking, and brings us home to ourselves. In creating spaces that honor this, I wasn’t just building gardens. I was building connection, wholeness, and beauty—one sanctuary at a time.

That’s the heart of my business. And that’s why I know it’s worthwhile.

John, 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?

My name is John Beaudry, and I am the founder of Beaudry Garden Design and The Beaudry School of Design. At heart, I’m a garden designer—but more than that, I am a storyteller of space, a translator between people and the land they live on, and a lifelong advocate for the healing power of nature.

I’ve been in this industry for over 35 years, but my journey started much earlier. As a child growing up in a wooded neighborhood outside Chicago, I was enchanted by the garden of my neighbor, Mary Jane Mueller. I remember watching in awe as plants returned each spring, rising from the earth like a quiet miracle. That garden became a place of mystery, connection, and early inspiration. I asked for my own garden at age five—and from that moment on, I was hooked.

Over the decades, I pursued this passion professionally, earning a degree in ornamental horticulture and working for organizations like the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Chicago Department of Environment, where I helped lead green infrastructure initiatives including Chicago’s first green roof. I also taught at institutions and led programs like Greencorps Chicago, where I saw firsthand how working with plants could transform people’s lives—from job trainees to returning citizens.

Through Beaudry Garden Design, I offer bespoke garden design services that help people turn their yards into personal sanctuaries. My specialty is integrating the unique character of people, place, and purpose to create spaces that feel not only beautiful but deeply meaningful. I also provide detailed project planning support—including site assessments, design concepts, and budget management—because I believe that beauty and practicality must go hand in hand.

With the Beaudry School of Design, I train emerging designers and homeowners to understand the why behind great design, not just the how. My upcoming webinar and digital courses will walk participants through my complete design process, helping them unlock their creativity and design gardens that truly reflect who they are.

What sets me apart is the fusion of technical expertise, spiritual insight, and lived experience. My own life has been marked by both hardship and transformation—including surviving HIV in the 1980s and re-emerging with a renewed commitment to purpose. I understand what it means to long for a sense of place, peace, and belonging—because I had to create that for myself, in the garden. And now, I help others do the same.

At the core of my work is Community Green, a broader vision of social and ecological restoration. I believe that when we reconnect with the natural world, we become more whole, more compassionate, and more courageous. We remember who we really are. That’s the deeper mission behind everything I do—whether I’m designing a patio, leading a class, or planting a single seed.

What I’m most proud of is the transformation I see in my clients. I’ve watched overwhelmed professionals rediscover joy in their own backyards. I’ve seen communities come alive through garden projects that restore both land and spirit. And I’ve mentored young designers who are now carrying this vision forward in their own work.

If there’s one thing I want people to know, it’s this: You are part of nature. You belong. And the garden—your garden—can be the gateway to remembering that.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Yes—there is a very clear mission at the heart of my creative journey:

To reconnect people with the natural world so they can experience wholeness, healing, and belonging—both within themselves and in the communities they’re part of.

That mission shows up in every part of my work—through Beaudry Garden Design, The Beaudry School of Design, and Community Green. I believe that we are not separate from nature—we are nature. But in our fast-paced, technology-driven world, we’ve forgotten that essential truth. That disconnection leaves us feeling overwhelmed, fragmented, and often lost.

My goal is to create spaces—literal and metaphorical—where people can come home to themselves through their connection to the land.

Whether I’m designing a garden sanctuary, teaching someone how to lay out their first planting plan, or guiding a student through my design framework, the deeper purpose is always the same: to restore the relationship between people and nature.

Because when people slow down, engage their senses, and create beauty in partnership with the earth, something profound happens. They start to feel rooted. They remember their place in the bigger story. They begin to heal. And as individuals reconnect, communities begin to regenerate too.

Ultimately, my mission is to cultivate wholeness—personally, environmentally, and socially. Through design. Through teaching. Through beauty. Through soil and soul.

That’s what drives my creative journey every day. And it’s what Community Green is all about.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Absolutely. One of the most profound pivots in my life—personally, professionally, and spiritually—came in 1985, when I was diagnosed HIV positive.

At that time, it was a death sentence. There were no effective treatments. I was 25 years old, trying to build a career in landscape design, but the diagnosis shattered everything. I began to quietly prepare to die. I gave up on the idea of a future, of having a real career, of making a meaningful impact. I felt like I didn’t belong anywhere—not in the world, not even in my own skin.

And yet… I lived.

Through a combination of medical advances, support, and sheer will, I survived. In 1996, with the release of the HIV “cocktail” treatment, my health rebounded almost overnight. But instead of celebration, I was hit with survivor’s guilt. Why me? Why had so many of my friends and peers died, and I was still here?

That moment—coming back to life after preparing to die—required a complete pivot in how I viewed everything.

I began asking bigger questions:
What is my purpose?
Why am I here?
What am I meant to give while I’m still alive?

The answer was always the same: nature. It had been there all along—steady, healing, honest. When everything felt out of control, the garden gave me a place to feel whole. It didn’t judge me. It just let me be.

That realization led me to reinvent myself—not just as a designer of beautiful spaces, but as a facilitator of healing through connection with the earth. That’s when Beaudry Garden Design took root, not just as a business, but as a calling. It eventually gave rise to The Beaudry School of Design and Community Green.

That pivot changed the trajectory of my life. It gave me my voice, my vocation, and my mission.

And it continues to guide everything I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.beaudrydesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beaudrygardendesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Johnnybeaudry
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbeaudrysd/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeaudryGardenDesign
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/beaudry-garden-design-la-mesa

Image Credits

All photos by John Beaudry