We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Pye Brown. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Pye below.

Pye, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

When I started my landscape design, installation, and maintenance business back in 2019, I expected to meet with problems, and I did, from tax filing errors to hitting irrigation with my shovel. but these were all fixable problems with no huge detriment to the success of my business. Then of course the pandemic threw a spanner in the works and I thought that would be the biggest challenge I’d overcome as an entrepreneur, but that too was small potatoes compared to what was next.
In September of 2021, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. This problem was unexpected and not easily fixable.
I am now cancer-free with a brand new pair of breasts, but neither I nor my business would be the same. My mind and body had been through so much but I was determined to get back to work, so that’s what I did. Installing gardens, laying patios, lopping trees, pulling weeds, the whole 9 yards. But it did not take long to realize my body was begging me to stop, it had been through so many surgeries (as well as a surrogate pregnancy immediately preceding my cancer), that it just couldn’t keep up with the work anymore.
The cancer taught me to love my body so I listened and taught myself landscape design graphics and called myself a designer.
My business is now just landscape design, without the physical labor part. I hand draw to-scale renders and masterplans and I love what I do!

Pye, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was raised in Australia by a plant-loving mum, so I’d say that’s where my love of plants comes from. But I didn’t imagine them as a career path until after I had my daughter, Poppy Fox, in 2016. I was working with autistic kids at the time and wanted to save all my kid energy for my own, so from kids to plants, I went. Now, my resume contained nothing related to the plant world, so I showed up at a local nursery and volunteered my time in exchange for knowledge. Potting up plants, watering, pruning, weeding, unloading and identifying. I loved it and soon got a paying job at another local nursery, then a fine gardening job, and commercial gardening all while taking on my own clients. Small jobs at first, a small garden bed installation or a day of maintenance, until I was working 7 days a week, pulling weeds by headtorch before sunrise before going to my other job. This didn’t make for a healthy work-life balance so I took the leap and started my business, Pye Loves Plants.
It was a strong start. I had a small crew of 5 folks, and plenty of jobs, and by now, I had learned so much and was a confident, thriving, woman-owned landscaping business.

After a pandemic, a surrogacy, and breast cancer, my business evolved into a design-only solopreneur model, which was a difficult transition, but one I am very proud of. All the time I spent with my hands in the dirt taught me invaluable lessons about our fragile environment, I developed a strong philosophy for creating ecologically sustainable landscape designs and taught myself the techniques of landscape design graphics.
My designs are completely hand-drawn to scale with material and plant lists indicating seasonal foliage and bloom colors.
My previous career in the world of autism left me with a passion for providing outdoor spaces for all abilities. Sensory gardens are very dear to my heart and something I thoroughly enjoy designing, especially for the individual family because as the saying goes, “if you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism”, and creating super unique gardens, curated for each family or individuals needs is what it’s all about for me. At the heart of my business, I just want to connect folks to nature in whatever way makes sense for them.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Fostering a work environment where your crew feels safe, heard, and valued is the foundation for a successful business. Feeling safe at work means working confidently and efficiently. Feeling heard at work creates a sense of belonging and teamwork. Feeling valued generates quality, high-standard work, and a strong work ethic.
In my world that has meant teaching best practices, then ensuring those skills are understood clearly and practiced. Creating an environment where questions are encouraged and team input is taken on board, for example; design input or general suggestions. Valuing my crew was easy, pay a living wage, not a minimum one, As well as little things like shouting lunch, providing necessary tools for gardening safely, extra breaks and days off in the heat, etc.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The lesson I had to unlearn was saying yes to everything. That transition period from being employed with my business as a side hustle, to going all in on my business was a scary time. I was saying yes to every single job, which before long created burnout of course. Learning to say no is hard, I feel that this is a common trait amongst entrepreneurs, being the go getters that we are. But now that I feel safe enough to say no to jobs that don’t resonate with me, I feel more connected to my business than I ever have, it feels even more mine.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pyelovesplants.squarespace.com/
• Instagram: @pyelovesplants