Meet Bailey
Bailey Hoops has been a home gardener for over 15 years. It all stated when she wanted to grow catnip for her feline friend, Mozart, and she discovered The Natural Gardener for the first time. She’s been been hooked ever since. Her garden philosophy is, “better, not perfect,” and her gardening strategies, goals and preferences have continued to shift with our changing climate over the years. She is by no means a purist native gardener, but strives to make choices that are respectful of our community’s dwindling water resources, harsh winter cold snaps and long, hot, dry summers. Most importantly, she feels gardening should be enjoyable and nourishing for the gardener, while benefitting the people and wildlife of our community.
Experience & Credentials
She is a clinically trained herbalist, specializing in bioregional herbalism (Texas native medicinal plants). Bailey studied with the Austin Permaculture Guild (austinperm.com) and is certified in Permaculture Design. She is also is certified with the Native Plant Society of Texas in Landscaping with Native Plants (https://www.npsot.org/our-work/class-schedule/native-landscape-certification/). Since completing the Native Landscape Certification program she continues to volunteer with Austin NPSOT Chapter, where she teaches plant knowledge and leads plant walks for the program.
Bailey is also an enthusiastic volunteer for the collaboration between two Austin nonprofits, Central Texas Seed Savers and Treefolks, where she leads tree identification walks in the community to support the Native Tree Seed Collection Program. (https://www.treefolks.org/learn-about-trees/native-tree-seed-collection/#program). This joint collaboration focuses on seed saving to grow native trees locally for reforestation efforts in Central Texas. She also proudly volunteers with Travis County Master Gardeners.
You can find her around town teaching a variety of gardening classes. She has presented at the Natural Gardener, two chapters of the Native Plant Society of Texas, Austin Organic Gardeners, the Austin Herb Society, the Pflugerville library and the Austin Butterfly Forum. The topics range from, Trees of Hope, all about planting native trees to benefit our local ecosystem, to Gardening for Butterflies and Tasty Teas: how to grow, harvest, dry and brew your own herbal tea. You can learn more about her classes and plant walks on her Instagram @LoveOfThePlants .
Her greatest passions are supporting wildlife and pollinators through gardening, educating people about native medicinal plants, and sharing her love of the plants in hopes of spreading the joy to others. She has spent 11 years building a medicinal food forest at her home, located in Southwest Austin, with a large emphasis on native pollinator plants. Gardening in the Edward’s Plateau bioregion can be challenging, sometimes she calls herself, “a limestone rock farmer”, but over the years she has discovered strategies and tricks for being a successful gardener despite challenging soil conditions.
For over 20 years, Bailey was a partner of a real estate investment business, where she worked with plants to make homes shine with curb appeal, and be ready to sell on the market. On the other end of the spectrum she created landscapes durable enough to thrive with rotating tenant caretakers and water restrictions.
Bailey grew up on Long Island, NY and lived in Massachusetts and Oregon, before making the move to Austin in 2004. While she misses the pine trees and lilacs of the Northeast and the ferns and moss of the Northwest, she is wildly in love with Texas plants. She is passionate about landscaping to reflect where you are and appreciates the diverse palate of plants native to Central Texas, or well adapted to our growing region.
When her hands aren’t in the soil, she is usually snuggling her cat Lulu, or coming up with recipes to make from the bounty of her garden.
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