John Phillips

Founder & Landscape Designer, Asheville, NC

John Phillips has a passion for gardens and green space. He spent his youth working for his family-operated greenhouse and garden center in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. While attending high school, he grew his first field of Christmas Trees. With so many of his early years spent around the family business, he decided to pursue formal education in Horticulture at North Carolina State University. After school he began operating the family nursery and still owns and manages it to this day. The family nursery is the source of most of our plant material.

Over thirty years ago, while out delivering plants from our nursery, a client asked John to help layout and place the plants. He accepted the challenge and thus began Gardens for Living. As the company grew and expanded, John felt the need to further his expertise. John attended and graduated from Garden Design School USA in Boston Massachusetts, a nationally recognized school of landscape design. With John’s well-rounded knowledge, proficiency, and lifetime of experience in the green industry, you can have confidence with Gardens for Living managing your project. John is a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, the NC Nurseryman & Landscapers Association, and is a Registered Landscape contractor in North Carolina.