About Us

serving Austin, TX

Fertile Ground Gardens

Who We Are

Meet the Team

Owner & Founder

Julie Donie

Julie first fell in love with plants at 6 years old in Houston when her first grade teacher took the class out to learn the wildflowers around her elementary school. Julie returned to Texas in 1998 after a few years out of state which included Horticulture and Landscape courses in Seattle. She founded Fertile Ground Gardens in 2001 with a focus on providing a more skilled and personalized garden service than “mow and blow.” The company has grown to include design and installation services as well. Julie enjoys getting to know clients and their gardens and observing as they change over time.

Julie Donie is the founder and owner of Fertile Ground Gardens LLC.

Maintenance Account Lead

Reed Burnam

Reed has been in Austin for over 20 years, with short stints living in Southern California and Northern India. Blessed to have a hardworking mom with an awe-inspiring green thumb, he has been working outside in large gardens since he was very young. Reed has a love and appreciation of all forms of life, even poison ivy and yellow jackets. He is an avid enthusiast of Texas native plants, regenerative soil building, forest gardening, urban orchards, rainwater harvesting, composting, chickens, and more.

Reed holds a double BA and an MA, all from UT Austin. He is a certified Permaculture Design Consultant and Instructor, teaches often, and volunteers regularly with the Travis County Master Gardeners.

Installation Lead

Carl Johnson

Carl loves to build in stone, steel or wood; at private residences, in museums and galleries or for large festivals and events. An East Texas native, he worked on the family farm as a child and helped build several rent houses on the property. During college at the University of Texas at Austin, he managed the computer labs for the McComb’s School of Business while completing his BA in Art History. After college he went into building and maintaining databases for local nonprofits. He returned to his first love construction when he began working with Fertile Ground Gardens in mid 2013. He jumped right into a supportive and growing company and became Installation Lead later that year. Since then he has built beautiful spaces, large and small, all over Austin, Texas and looks forward to building many, many more.

Operations Manager

Loretta Saucedo

Loretta is the Operations Manager for Fertile Ground Gardens. Loretta brings 15 years of extensive management and tactical business leadership to Fertile Ground.  Her solution-oriented approach creates optimal results in planning, organization and finance.

Loretta has lived in and out of Austin for the last 26 years and settled permanently in Austin to have work and home life balance to enjoy her grandchildren and three dogs.
Loretta has come to love and appreciate the outside color and peace that comes with plants and outside living.