About Me

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Claire Jones — Garden Designer, Horticulturist, Writer & Educator

Claire Jones is a Maryland-based garden and floral designer, horticulturist, landscape contractor, writer, consultant, educator, and beekeeper with more than 30 years of hands-on professional experience in garden design, ecological landscaping, and plant-centered living.

She is the founder of Claire Jones Landscapes, a landscape design/build firm serving Baltimore County and the greater Maryland region, and the creator of the long-running gardening blog The Garden Diaries.

Claire has been gardening since childhood—“with a trowel in hand and dirty fingernails since the age of four”—and is widely known for combining practical design, plant knowledge, sustainability, and real-world experience in both her writing and professional work.

Areas of Expertise

Claire specializes in:

  • Garden & landscape design (residential and estate gardens)

  • Landscape construction & project management

  • Ecological & regenerative gardening practices

  • Pollinator-friendly and wildlife-supporting landscapes

  • Cut flower gardens and floral design

  • Garden coaching & consulting

  • Organic gardening methods

  • Meadows, native plantings, and habitat gardens

  • Small-scale food gardens and kitchen gardens

  • Beekeeping and pollinator education

She works with clients ranging from first-time gardeners to experienced horticulturists and professional designers.

Professional Experience

  • 30+ years in garden design and hands-on horticulture

  • Owner & principal designer, Claire Jones Landscapes

  • Landscape designer & design/build contractor

  • Garden coach and consultant for private clients

  • Lecturer and educator for garden clubs and horticultural organizations

  • Writer and garden journalist

Claire designs gardens, manages installations as a general contractor, and provides long-term coaching to help clients understand, maintain, and evolve their landscapes.

Publications & Media Features

Claire’s work and writing have been featured in:

  • The Wall Street Journal

  • Garden Design Magazine

  • Chesapeake Home Magazine

  • Style Magazine

  • The American Gardener Magazine (official publication of the American Horticultural Society)

  • The Beekeepers Field Guide and the upcoming (October 2026) The Garden Bible, published by Harper Collins

She regularly publishes in-depth, experience-based articles on garden design, seasonal gardening, sustainability, and plant selection through The Garden Diaries blog.

Awards & Professional Recognition

  • Best of Houzz – Design (2015) – Waterfall & pond installation

  • Best of Houzz – Design (2016, 2017) – Labyrinth garden design

  • Gold Award, GardenComm (2021) – Excellence in garden media/blogging

  • Merit Award for Design, Perennial Plant Association (2015)

  • Robert Lewis Baker Memorial Award, Maryland Federated Garden Clubs & Central Atlantic Region – Educational Exhibit (2015)

  • Award of Achievement, Maryland Federated Garden Clubs – Bee-friendly advocacy & social media education (2015)

  • Presidential Award, Maryland Federated Garden Clubs (2017)

White House Christmas Decorations

Claire was selected as an official volunteer floral and garden decorator for the White House Christmas decorations in:

  • 2011

  • 2015

  • 2017

  • 2021

She spent each year working onsite creating holiday installations using natural materials, greenery, and traditional floral design techniques.

Location & Garden

Claire lives in Baltimore County, Maryland (USDA Zone 6b) on a two-acre property surrounded by farmland and horse country.

Her home garden includes:

  • A large organic vegetable garden

  • Perennial borders

  • A wildflower meadow

  • Fruit bushes and trees

  • Managed honeybee colonies

  • A small greenhouse for plant propagation and seed starting

She has practiced organic and environmentally responsible gardening for decades, long before it became mainstream.

Garden Coaching & Consulting Services

Claire offers professional garden coaching and consulting, including:

  • New-home landscape evaluation

  • Design concepts and scaled garden plans

  • Plant selection & site analysis

  • Seasonal planting strategies

  • Maintenance planning

  • Landscape editing and renovation

  • Hardscape planning (patios, paths, water features, pergolas, arbors, gates)

  • Garden education for homeowners who want to learn to maintain their own landscapes

She works locally in Maryland and remotely for consulting projects.

Blogging & Publishing Ethics

  • All content on The Garden Diaries is written and maintained by Claire Jones

  • Built on WordPress with custom modifications

  • No paid advertising

  • No sponsored guest posts

  • Product testing only when personally selected

  • No paid endorsements

  • Photography is original unless otherwise credited

Image use is permitted by request with proper attribution and linkback.

Outside the Garden

Claire enjoys:

  • Cooking and seasonal food preservation

  • Volunteering

  • Working with animals

  • Teaching and mentoring gardeners

  • Floral design and holiday decorating projects

Connect

You can follow Claire’s work on:

  • Facebook

  • Pinterest

  • Instagram

Or contact her directly through the site.

She also hosts the daily floral feature #bouquetoftheday on Facebook.

Guest Posts & Link Requests

To protect the editorial integrity of The Garden Diaries and ensure long-term SEO quality for my readers, I do not accept:

  • Guest posts

  • Link insertions

  • Link exchanges

  • Sponsored articles written by third parties

All content on this site is written by me unless otherwise clearly stated.

Thank you for understanding.

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Thank you for your response. ✨

Labyrinth

32 Replies to “About Me”

  1. Claire, so glad to be a part of your “blog”……..great idea!
    I will stay tuned. Thanks for your input.
    Linda Tingle

    Reply

  2. Hello and thank you for visiting my blog and for your comment. It gave me the chance to explore your site. I especially enjoyed your take on Garden Bling, especially the topiary. Looking forward to more of your posts. Cheers!

    Reply

  8. Found your blog through Michelle at The Salem Garden. Have been enjoying reading your posts but the bee swarm picture makes me nervous! I’ve never seen one and can’t imagine the sound that must make.
    Anyway, I was wondering if you could give me any advice for a potting soil blend for my living roof on my chicken coop.
    http://theblondegardener.com/2013/01/20/chicken-coop-garden-shed-update/
    I have sempervivens and sedums to go on top and it is 4 inches deep. thanks for any advice!
    Brenda

    Reply

    1. Yes, I have been doing green roofs on birdhouses. Make a mix of 1/3 topsoil, 1/3 compost, and 1/3 perlite. This is light enough for a roof but heavy enough to grow plants in. You use fern pins(u-shaped) to pin the plants into place until they root in.

      Reply
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  12. Wow, Claire this is a very impressive About Page. I feel like a bit of a slouch. How wonderful to be invited to decorate the Whitehouse. Interesting, we have a similar slope in our back yard, which is about as big as a postage stamp, LOL. Oh the possibilities 😀 We just moved in at the end of June 2014 and just enjoyed the yard as the previous owners left it this summer. But I’m sure I will put a personal twist on it next summer. I just popped in to say thank you for coming by and joining Boomdeeadda. I’m excited to follow you as well. Cheers!

    Reply
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  16. Very excited to read your blog and learn more about you! I am great friends with your cousin in Manassas, Va and she shared your info. I have a daughter who graduated in Landscape Arch in 2013 and works in Charlotte…. I know she will enjoy your blog too! keep you your energy and thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  17. I’m so glad I found your blog. I’m not much of a gardener, but I do love the flowers and plants. I read a few of your posts, and I’ll be back to read some more. It’s all so interesting. I’ve put a link to your blog on my latest blog post. I hope you don’t mind. You have a wonderful day, hugs, Edna B.

    Reply

  18. found your site after ‘helleboris’ was highlighted – we have a terrible deer problem. they keep having more babies and the one mom has had 6 or more during last 8+ years; neighbor feeds them and they cross my property and devastate all I’ve worked so hard at …. now I’m 72 and researching deer resistant plantings. Your helleboris posting has me intrigued among other wonderful plants I’ve found. I want plants for bees – those poor things I feel for them. the deer just eat everything and they break my heart for the bees’ sake. The bees work for ‘us’ the deer just devastate. love your blog – looking forward to more info. cheers. and Merry Christmas. Going to find some Helleboris for sure.

    Reply

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