Featured Designer | Melissa Schafer

Written By APLD Washington
Portrait of Melissa Schafer

Melissa Schafer, CPH, owner of Schafer Specialty Landscape & Design. All photos: Melissa Schafer

February 2026
Owner of Schafer Specialty Landscape & Design

This quarter Melissa is telling her story—from doing piecework at a family-owned green house in Michigan to owning a landscape design+build company with her husband.

When did you start designing gardens? Tell us about your path from then to now.

I grew up in a community along the lakeshore of western Michigan. It’s an area defined by the beauty of its sandy beaches and hardwood forests, as well as the strong Dutch heritage that influenced a robust farming and floriculture economy. My first job was tagging plant pots for a small, family-owned greenhouse operation where my pay was measured in rubber bands looped onto my wrist for each batch I finished. I remember the humidity of the greenhouse in the chilly Michigan winter and the musty smell of potting soil. It was a short stint, and it would be 10 years before I would find myself working with plants again.

I moved to the Pacific Northwest, specifically to Vashon Island, drawn in by a familiar connection to water, forested landscapes, and rural charm. I hopped between service jobs before meeting the owners of a local nursery, widely recognized as a horticultural destination with a flair for edgy, artistic garden design. It wasn’t long before I was managing the retail plant care and inventory, as well as the one-acre cutting field.

This role also marked my first introduction to the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival and the nursery’s debut show garden. I was responsible for coordination and care of the plant material and worked with the Horticulture program at Lake Washington Institute of Technology (LWTech), whose students cared for our more delicate specimens. During my time at the nursery, and through my introduction to the LWTech Horticulture program, I began to recognize a growing desire to expand my knowledge and pursue formal education to support my interest in working with plants. Six months later, I enrolled as a full-time student at LWTech.

While attending school, I worked as a private gardener for a handful of island clients, which allowed me to continue working with plants while applying the new skills I was learning. As my skills and confidence developed, so did my client’s trust. I began working with them to renovate existing planting beds and develop new garden areas. Shortly after graduating and becoming a Certified Professional Horticulturist through the Washington State Nursery & Landscape Association, I started Schafer Specialty Landscape & Design in partnership with my husband Nathan. Combining my horticulture knowledge and his experience installing landscapes, our company grew. As the scope and scale of our work expanded, I returned to school to study landscape design through South Seattle College.

How would you describe your design style?

I admire and appreciate many different styles of design but don’t feel there’s a particular style that defines my work. I view each project as a unique opportunity, prioritizing the client’s needs, goals and personal style so they can see a reflection of themselves in their landscape. If there’s a common thread that speaks to my design style and personal aesthetic, I would consider it intuitively inspired and grounded in the principles of sustainable landscape design.

I lean into organized and intentional spaces, strengthening connection between the home and surrounding environment. I look for opportunities to incorporate natural materials and design elements that will evoke emotion and a sense of place. I tend to avoid fussy formality, overly modern and infrastructure-heavy design—gravitating towards landscapes that feel timeless, grounded, calm and inviting. My plant selections are often curated with a year-round palette reflective of the transitioning seasons—spring ephemerals, summer blooms, fall color and winter structure and texture. Perhaps a nod to my Midwest roots.

A series of photos of a fenced entry garden. Features include a seating area with a café table and chairs, raised vegetable beds and cottage-style plantings

Entry garden with structured sophistication and cottage charm. Fencing defines the space and offers protection from visiting deer. Potager garden and tea nook create opportunities to enjoy being in the garden.

Is your focus design? Or do you also manage installation, build, and maintain gardens?

Schafer Specialty Landscape & Design is a full-service landscape general contractor operating on Vashon Island, serving residential and commercial clients. We support projects from beginning to end–and beyond. We provide consulting and comprehensive design services, project management and implementation. These services include site excavation, construction, irrigation, lighting and plant installation. We transition most of our projects to our customized, integrated maintenance contracts, ensuring the overall health and success of the landscape. The scope and scale of my design work varies from full masterplans to smaller focused areas of the garden. While we install the majority of our designs, we also support clients who have do-it-yourself ambitions.

Construction of a beachside firepit area featuring gabion retaining walls and a firepit patio made of oyster shells

Construction of gabion walls which provide slope retention and define the beachside fire lounge. Gabions are backfilled with round cobble and whole and crushed oyster shells were used for the firepit and surrounding seating area.

What experiences as a designer have you found to be most challenging?

Most of what I find challenging as a designer is relative to my own personal/professional journey. As a wife and business partner to my husband and mom to a busy 11-year-old, I’m always looking to create and maintain balance in my work and personal life. This is a skill I’ve certainly not perfected but worked hard to establish healthy boundaries and expectations for myself, my family and my clients.

Professionally, as our company has grown and the scale of our projects has increased, I find myself on-site and out in the field more frequently resulting in less focused time in the office. This requires that I be more efficient and effective with my time management, especially in my design process. As a designer trained in the art of hand-drafting, I find this method allows a deeper connection with my designs and the nuances of the project. Over the last couple years, I’ve started to re-examine my process and I’m beginning to explore digital design—albeit begrudgingly. My goal in this practice is to find a balanced approach wherein I can continue to maintain the artistry and connection I find in hand-drawn design while benefitting from a more streamlined and efficient workflow.

What experiences have you found to be most rewarding?

I truly enjoy the relationships I’ve built over the last 19 years in business—clients, vendors, fellow designers and contractors and professional organizations. I’ve enjoyed so many amazing opportunities including giving back to our Vashon Island community. I am forever grateful for the trust and confidence clients have placed in my skills, knowledge, and abilities. This support has enabled me to develop as both a designer and a business, allowing me to achieve personal and professional objectives.

As I finish writing, it’s the first day of the new year and I find the invitation to be an APLDWA Featured Designer to have been both humbling and a great practice in self-reflection. Looking ahead, I’m excited about the work and challenges that will continue to shape my experiences and the new connections and opportunities that await.  

Photos of a New Orleans-inspired show garden for the 2019 Northwest Flower and Garden Festival

2019 Northwest Flower & Garden Festival, display garden co-designed by Melissa Schafer & Teresa Sciglibaglio on behalf of the Washington State Nursery & Landscape Association. The theme was inspired by New Orleans architecture and landscape. It featured a quaint courtyard style café nestled among the gardens.

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Featured Designer | Cara Huang