Selena Souders
- QUEEN OF ROSE AVENUE -
Selena Souders is a rare and accomplished talent in the realm of beautifying spaces. Her much-loved aesthetic is rooted in generations of naturally gifted 'green girls' and derived from her botany studies at the University of Texas, Austin. Her hard-earned internship experience at the New York Botanical Gardens inspired her to commit to garden design as a passionate career path. In 1994, she launched Big Red Sun, which to this day beautifies and expresses diverse native landscapes from the Texas Hill Country to the coastal communities of Southern California. As CEO, Creative Director, botanist, story-boarder, landscape designer, and installation engineer for Big Red Sun, Selena continues to deliver extraordinary landscapes, hardscapes, and homescapes to those seeking deeper and more meaningful connections to their environment. For the past 25 years, she has carefully cultivated her relationship with the natural world by harmonizing her point of view with projects that both please the senses and benefit the ecosystems of her clients' distinct locales.
“I use anything I can find in nature - on the beach, in a riverbed, in the woods - for my pieces. I have a huge collection of stumps, driftwood, seed pods, bark, dried moss, ferns, antlers, and feathers. I feel that you should think of your home and garden in an integrated fashion. I design sites with how our clients intend to use their space in mind. My design philosophy, in a nutshell, is structured informality. I love classicism and native plants, and I enjoy marrying the two in our custom sculptures, playing with texture and movement.”
- Selena Souders
“The poetry of their landscaping, and the artful way that they handle space provides me with great peace and pleasure. As with any design process, the chemistry between the viewer and designer is all too important."
