Maybe to discover our life’s passion, we need to live a little first.
Debbie Ballentine has lived and loved, discovered and shared a lifetime of artistic expression from her first crayon flower drawings to the watercolors and photography she has explored as an adult. On the search for subject matter, however, her creative path never took her far from the bright colors and joyful blossoms of the flowers of her youth.
With self-discovery comes an appreciation that beauty is found in the not so obvious places. Without days of dormancy, those blossoms wouldn’t be nearly as fabulous. Without the intricate interplay of insects, decomposing leaves and stormy skies, the joy of a sunny garden might be taken for granted.
This is the journey that spawned Debbie’s love for native plants and natural habitats in all their stages, and sharing this love has become her life’s passion.
All who wander are not lost
It was late Fall 1994. Chilly mornings were heralding the start of winter in Northern California. Not the biting cold stuck-in-the-ice-and-snow kind of winter that Easterners expect, but wet and cold nonetheless.
Seeking an adventure, preferably some place warm, Debbie and her husband, Verne, took their first trip to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The trip was a discovery of a lifetime. Debbie photographed the plants, flowers and critters, while Verne flipped through The Jepson Manual and other books to identify the plants. Over the years, they’ve traveled California learning together about the diversity of native plant communities from desert and chaparral, to oak woodlands and mixed evergreen forest. All the time Debbie never knew this path of discovery and artistic expression would become her life’s passion.
The fork in the road
Skip ahead to the end of 2007. Debbie’s plate was pretty full, as Verne was undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma. The last thing Debbie needed was to fall ill herself, but fall she did, quite literally. With one broken ankle, another badly sprained ankle, and an out-of-the-blue pancreatitis attack, she found herself firmly parked in her living room, confined for two months to a rented hospital bed.
While a warm community of friends rallied to nurse both patients back to full health, Debbie delved into books about native plants and landscape design. She became enthralled with the issues of sustainability and ecology as well as the aesthetics of landscape design. In fact her first design – her own home garden – evolved during these difficult yet oddly inspiring months. Her pastime not only carried her through her recovery, it became her passion and joy – a long journey finally taking direction.
Sharing the bounty of the journey
Creating something new and sharing something beautiful have always guided Debbie on her life’s trail. Her mother actually had to hide some of those early crayon drawings because Deb kept giving them all way!
The natural path then, was for Debbie to share her newfound love, joy, and knowledge – to keep learning and to keep sharing. Formally beginning her landscape design education in the highly respected Environmental Horticulture and Design program at Foothill College in 2009, Debbie has also worked as a design intern with Alrie Middlebrook as her mentor. While still a student, Debbie’s passion for sharing kick-started her career. She has already completed two design projects that have been installed, another design that will be installed Fall 2011, and is currently working on another that will be installed in phases.
Debbie’s current project, Haven House Gardens, is a themed-garden project for Haven Family House in Menlo Park, CA – an apartment-style home and support program for homeless families. This garden already provides fruit and vegetables for residents at two homes in the Shelter Network. The design concept includes small themed areas with interconnecting park-like paths. Themed areas include; Fragrant Garden, Hummingbird Garden, Butterfly Garden and Monarch Way Station, Mediterranean Edibles, Beneficial Insect Habitat, and Family Sanctuary where moms and their families can find some respite.
Since “sharing” and “Debbie Ballentine” are synonymous, Debbie’s business will continue to provide pro-bono professional consultations and design services to non-profit organizations and schools.
The meaning of life is in the path chosen
…and the journey continues
