Who We Are
We are an Oakland based
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We are a Bay Area landscape design and build company, dedicated to creating ecologically sound gardens that are beautiful and well-crafted. At Mariposa, we fuse art and ecology into the landscape, bringing beauty to the practice of sustainability. In every garden, we see a unique opportunity to reconnect a space with its natural systems. Exposing nature’s existing elegant patterns allows us to create artfully designed spaces that complement urban environments.
Mariposa is committed to restoring ecologically sound outdoor spaces in urban areas. We do this by sourcing local materials, combining low-water and native plants, building dry stacked stone structures, and understanding water in order to effectively conserve water in the garden. |
Our team is knowledgable and passionate.
Andrea Hurd |
In rural Oregon, Andrea’s (she/her) family lived on an acre of land that supported fruit trees, berries, a large vegetable garden, and many flowers, especially roses. Growing up, Andrea would always spend her Saturday mornings in the garden with her mom, learning how to care for it all. In the early 90s, at Prescott College, Andrea earned her Permaculture Design Certification. Andrea has used Permaculture as the guiding design principle for all of the gardens that she works on and designs. As a member of The Stone Foundation, an international stonemason’s trade association, Andrea has gained training in the art of dry-stacked stone building in England, Scotland, Mallorca, and Cambodia. Andrea’s garden designs feature her love for nature, her artistic eye, as well as her love for well-built dry-stacked stonework.
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Gina Trautner |
Gina (she/her) grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and spent much of her youth outdoors; skiing, hiking, backpacking, and camping which gave her an early appreciation for the natural environment. While attending Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, she became interested in learning more about gardening and plants while tending to a plot at the campus community gardens. She enjoyed her time in the garden so much she decided to focus her studies on a related topic and graduated with an Environmental Science degree with a focus on ecological restoration. She went on to study landscape architecture and received a Masters of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. She has been working in the residential landscape design field since 2015 and has worked with Mariposa since 2018. She works primarily as a landscape designer for Mariposa while occasionally working in garden care and installation.
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Lauren Bennett |
Lauren (she/her) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and has been an outdoor enthusiast her whole life. From a young age, she enjoyed camping trips with her family, regular skiing trips to Lake Tahoe, tide pool adventures on the coast, and hiking all over the peninsula and Marin. With a passion for the natural world, she pursued a Bachelors of Science degree in Conservation and Resource Studies from UC Berkeley where she deepened her understanding of sustainability and the importance of conserving and restoring habitat for beneficial insects and birds. She worked at a CA Native Plant nursery for 3 years growing plants for restoration projects around the bay area. With a solid background in the cultural requirements of hundreds of CA Native plants she started her own landscaping company building and maintaining habitat gardens. She soon moved on to working with Mariposa as Crew Leader and project manager, seeing our beautiful designs to completion. She enjoys traveling, cooking, soaking in hot springs, hiking with her little dog Pip, and gardening in her urban homestead in Oakland.
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Kari Ballesteros |
Kari (she/her) is a city dweller with a nature lover's adventurous spirit. She was born and raised in the hot concrete desert of Los Angeles, California. Since she was born, she has visited her mother's family in Mexico. She would touch down in another megatropolis, usually Mexico City or Guadalajara. Visiting her family in these towns heavily influenced a passion and pride for her culture. She found her love for gardening during an internship with the San Francisco based nonprofit, Nature in the City. After spending the summer of 2021 exploring Alaska and working on a flower farm, Kari now calls Oakland home. Even though she loves spending time in the wild, away from humans, she loves people and hearing their stories. Community is important to her. She hopes that through creating balanced ecosystems by means of native city gardens she can help alleviate social injustices and environmental issues. Her dream is for all people, regardless of economic or racial background, whether raised in the country or the inner-city, to feel connected to nature.
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Janet Richardson |
Janet (she/they) grew up here in the East Bay with a fascination for the natural world. Growing up, Janet spent a lot of time wandering around the regional parks, learning about the flora and fauna with a very hands-on approach. She spent a lot of time getting very good at catching lizards. As a teen, she watched the design process as her mom hired a landscape architect to turn her garden into a lush pollinator paradise. This later inspired her to attend Merritt College, where she achieved associate's degrees in Landscape Architecture and Construction, as well as a certification of proficiency in Permaculture. Then Janet transferred to UC Berkeley where she got bachelor's degrees in Conservation and Landscape Architecture. Janet had been working in the residential design field since 2018, and joined Mariposa as a design assistant in 2023. Outside of work, Janet is an artist (primarily painter) and enjoys dancing, hiking, plant identification, and hot springs.
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Anna Sturbaum |
Anna (she/her) is one of our install crew members at Mariposa and found her way to landscape construction through her interest in urban gardening. As she grew ever fascinated with all things plants, she took every certification program she could at the local community college. Her naturally strong work ethic and keen eye for precise, detailed work made her an excellent craftswoman. She hopes to inspire other young women to discover trade work and buck the stereotype that physically demanding jobs are best suited for men. Anna grew up in the East Bay and enjoys hiking, gardening, playing soccer, and chilling in her papasan.
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