Hi! I’m Marcella.
This is a story about Gardening, Gratitude, and Growth.
I have always been called a go-getter. Perky, positive, all that good stuff. Being upbeat is a big part of my very identity. But when my mother, my best friend, passed away. I didn’t understand how to slow down to grieve. I clung to what I knew: staying busy.
Then I began to dig up my entire front yard and replace it, bit by bit, with a garden.
Gardening is so much more than a way to make our yards look pretty. It can transform our landscapes — and it can change our lives.
Curiosity, creativity, and connection are available to us right now, in this moment. Plants can be part of the gateway to awakening. To living with joy.
The thing is: Plants heal.
Hey there, I'm Marcella, an artist, enthusiasm enthusiast, and firm believer in plants as a path to healing. For three decades, I've cultivated beauty by designing plant catalogs, branching out with Martha Stewart Living and illustrating botanical wonders for clients worldwide. A former art director for the vibrant décor magazine Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion, I've also grown a thriving graphic design business and created Power Poppy, an online community of flower-fanatic crafters. But life wasn't always a bed of roses. Overwhelmed by my passion, I struggled to prune back and set boundaries. When my mom, my best friend, succumbed to breast cancer in 2016, I couldn't slow down and process my grief. My frenetic lifestyle led to my own breast cancer diagnosis, but still, I didn't stop to listen to my body. My days were a whirlwind of work, and my nights always wound down with wine. One fateful night, missing my mom and fueled by a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, I ordered 3,000 bulbs, unknowingly planting the seeds for a major life transformation. My world was uprooted. But this challenge helped me blossom into my truest self.
My garden is called the Slope of Possibility.
