Ecological gardens · North Shore and Chicago
Gardens that belong where they grow.
Native gardens for historic homes, balconies and rooftops in the city, and seasonal displays, designed and planted by a restoration ecologist. Grown without a single synthetic chemical.
Now booking spring 2027 installations. A limited number of gardens each season.
Lakefront garden, Evanston · dry laid limestone, native understory
- 1,000+
- acres of oak savanna restored
- 30+
- prescribed burns walked
- 0
- synthetic chemicals, on every garden
- 1921
- the year the family name began
Four seasons at your door
A garden that changes its clothes four times a year
Bulbs before the frost is gone. Summer color the pollinators find in a day. Fall gold that holds into November. Evergreens at the door for winter. I plan all four from the first walk.
Spring. Pansies, ranunculus, and the first bulbs, planted while there's still frost on the stone. In the city, daffodils with the skyline behind them.
Summer. Natives in full bloom by the lake, and by the first summer, monarch caterpillars feeding on the butterfly weed.
Fall. Coral bells, kale, and sedge in stone at the entry, asters for the last bees of the year, and mums at the door into November.
Winter. Evergreens chosen by hand for structure, holiday greens at the entry, and a fire by the lake.
Offerings
Four ways to work together
From a whole lakefront property to a single Old Town balcony, every project gets the same rules: the right plant in the right place, no synthetic chemistry, and a design that looks more settled every year.
Gardens
Native and pollinator gardens
Front gardens, borders, and whole properties built on local natives, with bloom from spring to frost for bees, butterflies, and birds.
Rain gardens
Planted basins and swales that catch roof and yard runoff, sized for your site, with help applying for local rain garden rebates where towns offer them.
Fragrance gardens
Plantings arranged around paths, doors, and patios so scent carries from early spring through fall evenings.
Cut flower and kitchen gardens
Beds for cutting and cooking, planned for steady harvests across the season.
Specimen trees and privacy screens
Large conifers and ornamental trees chosen for shade, sand, and lake wind, as focal points or living screens.
Dune, savanna, and woodland restoration
Returning a lot to the plant community it came from, with habitat certification on completion.
Stone paths, walls, and bocce courts
Natural stone set by hand to frame the planting and make the garden usable.
City
Balcony and rooftop gardens
Containers and planters designed for wind, sun, and weight limits, with natives and edibles that handle life above the street.
Seasonal displays
Spring bulbs, summer containers, fall harvest displays, and winter greens for entries, balconies, and storefronts, changed on schedule.
Holiday greens and tree delivery
Fresh garlands, winterberry, and evergreen arrangements, plus Christmas tree delivery and setup.
Houseplant design and winter care
Plants chosen for your light, potted properly, and kept healthy through the dry heated months with scheduled care visits.
Grow consulting
Before garden design, I spent a decade growing and consulting in cannabis cultivation across six states, including founding a farm supply business in Humboldt County.
Home grow consulting for medical patients
Setup, soil, lighting, and plant care for registered Illinois medical cannabis patients, who may grow up to five plants at home.
Cultivation consulting for licensed growers
Facility layout, living soil programs, pest management without synthetic pesticides, and scaling production for craft growers and cultivation centers.
Care
Estate garden care
Seasonal visits by annual agreement, done by me, that keep the design intentional, plus a fall report on what bloomed and which pollinators visited.
Seasonal planters
Entry urns and containers refreshed each season for garden care clients.
Selected work
A lakefront garden on Lake Shore Boulevard
A sandy lakefront lot returned to the plants that grew here before the lawn: prairie and dune species behind a dry laid limestone wall, a rain garden swale, a stone fire circle in the back garden, and raised beds for herbs and vegetables. By its first summer, monarch caterpillars were feeding on the butterfly weed.
How a garden comes together
Read the land first. Then design for the people who live there.
STEP 1Read the land
We walk it together. Soil, sun hours bed by bed, drainage, and the plant community your lot came from.
STEP 2Choose every plant
I walk the nursery rows and tag each tree and shrub myself, at the size promised, before anything ships.
STEP 3Set the stone
Natural stone chosen piece by piece and set by hand, to frame the planting and make the garden usable.
STEP 4Plant it myself
Beds shaped and planted by me and a small trusted crew. No subcontracted shortcuts.
STEP 5Care for it
Seasonal visits that keep the design intentional, and a yearly report on what bloomed and who visited.
Services
A small practice, by design
I take on a limited number of projects each season so every one gets my full attention. Spring installations book from January; fall installations from June.
Booking: a 50% deposit reserves your installation dates, with the balance due at completion.
About
Michael Sasgen III
I started a lawn business at ten and was working at my family's company, Grand Specialties, by twelve. My great grandfather founded Grand Specialties Co. in Chicago in 1921; the gardens carry the name forward.
Every chapter since has taught me something I use in a garden today. Restoring endangered oak savanna and walking prescribed burns taught me how native plant communities work. The Morton Arboretum taught me plant craft. Building a farm supply business from nothing in Humboldt County, and advising growers in six states, taught me soil, cultivation, and how to run a business well. Managing landscape accounts on the North Shore taught me what owners here expect.
Gardens are what I love doing most, and this is the work I've been preparing for the whole time.
I once held Illinois pesticide applicator licenses. Knowing exactly what those chemicals do is why none are used on any garden I build.
B.S. Environmental Sciences, University of Iowa · Master Gardener, Michigan State University Extension · Wildland Firefighter Red Card · S-212 Wildland Chainsaw · IS-700 · GIS and Trimble GPS
My path, 2009 to now
- 2026Founder, Grand Specialties Gardens
Ecological garden design and installation, Evanston and Chicago. Also Director of Development for the Marlin Room Cup, Neltjeberg Bay Enterprises.
- 2025Account manager and designer, Nature's Perspective
Managed a $1.8M book of accounts in a portfolio over $3M; launched the company's native planting division.
- 2019–24Independent cultivation consultant
Growers in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Nevada, and Michigan; production scale-ups and a 40 acre sun grown farm design.
- 2016–19Founder, Redwood Farm and Garden, Leggett, CA
Built from zero to 100+ farm accounts and over $1M in revenue; custom soil blends; exhibited at the Emerald Cup.
- 2015Field specialist, National Park Service
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
- 2013–16Lead grower, Grass Valley, CA
Cultivation and sales.
- 2012–14Restoration ecologist, Integrated Lakes Management
Restoration of 1,000+ acres of endangered oak savanna; Karner blue butterfly and Pitcher's thistle monitoring; more than thirty prescribed burns.
- 2010–12Assistant grower, The Morton Arboretum
Propagation and display gardens; supported $100,000+ in annual plant sales.
- 2009–11Co-founder, Sun and Moon Beach Yoga, Chicago
Grew from 300 to 1,450 customers, added a second location, and tripled revenue.
Follow the work
The garden, as it happens
Every week I share what's blooming, what's visiting, and what I'm planting, plus The Monday Dirt: the inside scoop on what nature is doing around Chicago right now, and one thing to do in your own yard.
Contact
Tell me about your project
Send a note and I'll reply within two business days to set up a call or consultation. I work in Evanston, Wilmette, and the North Shore, and in Chicago's Old Town, Gold Coast, Streeterville, Lincoln Park, and Wicker Park. Projects elsewhere by arrangement.