12 Questions with Garden Designer Wambui Ippolito – Gardenista

Some kids collect coins or Pokemon cards. Garden designer Wambui Ippolito collected passport stamps as a child. Her mother was a diplomat, so the family traveled often, living in their native Kenya, Costa Rica, and throughout Europe. But she always loved returning to her family farm in Kenya’s Rift Valley. “I was surrounded by what felt like a never-ending landscape: the sky was so wide, the stars so abundant, and animals roamed freely. I felt so connected there.”

After her daughter was born, she left her career as an international development and democracy consultant and started volunteering at the Snug Harbor Botanical Garden. It was there that she found her bliss. She graduated from the New York Botanical Garden’s prestigious School of Professional Horticulture, worked on Martha Stewart’s and David Letterman’s estates, and has been designing gardens ever since. Her colorful, floriferous garden for the 2021 Philadelphia Flower Show captured the hearts of the judges, earning Best in Show.

Ippolito’s peripatetic upbringing gives her a unique perspective on landscape design. She draws upon her travels for inspiration, working with a broad palette of flora. “I try to tap into the zeitgeist of a place. I observe the lushness of plants, listen to the music, see how people talk, interact, and maneuver through the natural world,” she says. “Landscape is not just thing to be looked at, but a place to live.” Here, she shares some of her garden favorites.

Where do you garden?

I create and install gardens for clients in New York and Pennsylvania, a combination of rooftop gardens and larger estates. We recently moved into a new home in New York City, where I grow plants in bulk from seed and store planters, tools, rocks and gardening equipment to use in my work. I love to buy new interesting seeds and start them outside in my yard. I grow a lot of annuals and biennials, like foxglove, delphinium, poppies, sweet peas, and cosmos. Happy flowers. Usually, my husband and our eight-year-old daughter hang out with me while I’m planting; she’ll be running around, and he’ll often be sleeping on the grass.

Favorite seed source?

Jelitto Perennial Seeds online is always a great source. I also buy a lot of seeds from international sellers, some from my home country Kenya, others from Chiltern Seeds in the UK. During my travels, I also like to collect from the wild.

Garden tool you can’t live without?