“The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway.”

– Michael Pollan

Portfolio

Every garden needs the permanent and the ephemeral, something to give it structure and something to give it movement.

Services

  • Consultation

    Site assessment, plant recommendations, garden care instruction, soil testing and amendment strategies, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), referrals, and more.

    Book a Consultation

  • Design + Installation

    Bespoke garden designs can include consultation, scale drawings, plant lists, contractor referrals, and project oversight, from concept to installation.

    Learn More

  • Maintenance + Seasonal

    Garden maintenance, seasonal displays, and upkeep can be scheduled with Raincarver or one of our partners on a seasonal, monthly, bi-monthly, or weekly basis.

    Make an Inquiry

  • Shop + Garden Art

    Unique garden art, custom ordered individually or in tandem with other services plus specialty items, unique plants, artwork, DIY kits and more.

    Visit Our Store

  • Workshops

    Partnering with plant shops and garden centers to host specialty workshops such as creating your own bog or water gardens, indoor design, soil management, propagation, botany for gardeners, garden design, terrariums, integrated pest management (IPM), and more.

    What's Next?

  • Client Testimonials

    ★★★★★

    “Tom was easy to work with. He knows his job well and understood exactly what I wanted. He took care in the project and was communicating with me along the way. Great quality work at an affordable cost. I highly recommend Raincarver Studios.”

    — Helen M.

  • Client Testimonials

    ★★★★★

    “Beautiful, original design and finely executed. On time and responsive to my needs.”

    — Richard F.

  • Client Testimonials

    ★★★★★

    “Pearson's design and sensibility have always been exceptional, his most recent work is even more stunning. I particularly appreciate the care and attention Raincarver Studios pays to their clients- really listening- and working with us to ensure that every detail has been thoughtfully tailored.”

    — Zach M.

“Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world…”

– Robin Wall Kimmerer

Raincarver Studios

Serving the NYC Metro area, the Tri-state, and the Hudson Valley

Raincarver Studios is a boutique landscape and garden design studio focused on sustainable and solid horticultural practices. It is led by artist and landscape designer, Tom Pearson and combines his theories of experience design (from his award-winning immersive productions) and brings them to bear on high-end residential and urban gardens as well as more expansive suburban, rural, interior, and public spaces. Tom draws on backgrounds in both horticulture and art to create unique sanctuaries for his clients. With a focus on native alternatives to invasive species and high-performance ethically-propagated plants, as well as bespoke displays and self-sustaining enclosures, he tackles some of the most challenging aspects of gardening. Whether it is strategizing for low-maintenance, high-heat, low-light, soil remediation, pest-resistance, child and pet-friendly environments, or other considerations, Tom and Raincarver Studios meets the challenge to create the garden of your dreams.

Portrait of Tom Pearson by Laura Bianchi, courtesy of the Bogliasco Foundation

Tom Pearson

Tom Pearson (Principal Landscape Designer & Horticulturalist) is an artist, poet, and life-long horticulturalist who grew up along the beaches, swamps, and natural springs of subtropical Florida. He hails from a family of farmers and plant folk, and as a child learned about gardening by working alongside his granny—planting and harvesting vegetables and fruits, composting, arranging annual displays, cultivating a multi-level terrace garden, and pruning trees and roses. In adolescence, he traded his action figures for unique varieties of succulents and cacti that began showing up in the local garden center to cultivate his first specialty garden. In adulthood, while actively engaged in his artistic practices, he returned to botanical studies and received his Certificate in Horticulture from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (2006) where he also trained and worked. Since then, he has mixed his pursuits of art and horticulture—both freelance, and with Groundworks Inc., Outside NY, Wild Pistil Design Studio, and others in the Tri-state area. Tom is a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD), New York State Nursery and Landscape Association, Inc., Metro Hort Group, and the American Horticultural Society. He holds an M.A. from New York University and continues his studies in Landscape Design at Cornell.

Certifications & Associations

Instagram

Hellebores are a favorites of spring and one of the earliest blooms, giving bees their first drink of nectar after their long winter naps. Hellebores can sometimes have fungal spots, but be careful if treating with copper fungicide not to get any on
It’s that time of year… seeds starters in the house! #hudsonvalleyseedcompany @raincarverstudios #seedstarting
New shoots on a blue spruce! #bluespruce #picea #springgarden
“Are those…” #pussywillowsdottie #springblooms #pussywillows
Live oaks, resurrection ferns, azaelias, camellias, roses, prickly pear growing high on branches, asparagus ferns, staghorn ferns, banana trees, dune and hammock restoration and wildlife preservation, beautiful vistas and moody gardens, the Atlantic
“It’s the time that you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important…People have forgotten this truth, but you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed.” – Antoine de S
“Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings.” (from La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils) Camellias are keeping us warm! Spring is coming… #snowbird #cammel
Marguerite daisy. Argyranthemum frutescens. #fllowersofinstagram #margueritedaisy #italiangarden
Furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto The quiet pond A frog leaps in, The sound of the water — Matsuo Bisho #tricyrtis #toadlily #haiku
It’s a scorcher in Miami… but water lilies, orchids, mangroves, and so much more thrive in the humidity at the exquisite Vizcaya Gardens. “Here every honey-hearted sweet In fruits of gold and red The heavy-laden tropic trees With
“A dead hydrangea is as intricate and lovely as one in bloom. Bleak sky is as seductive as sunshine, miniature orange trees without blossom or fruit are not defective; they are that.” — Toni Morrison #gardenquotes #hydrangea #tonim
“People are mostly layers of violence and tenderness wrapped like bulbs, and it is difficult to say what makes them onions or hyacinths.” — from “Delta Wedding” by Eudora Welty “If you have two loaves of bread, ke

  • Environmental Standards

    As an environmentally conscious and ecologically integrated service provider, Raincarver Studios believes in prioritizing sustainable practices by cultivating healthy soil through composting and organic amendments, minimizing water usage and run-off with efficient irrigation systems and carefully chosen ground cover alternatives to lawns, choosing native plants that thrive in our local climate, and recommending natural pest controls and avoiding harmful chemicals to protect both the environment and the biodiversity that supports our gardens and surrounding ecosystems. We also believe in sourcing locally when possible and always from like-minded vendors and suppliers who practice sustainability.

  • Land + People

    Raincarver Studios acknowledges that we work primarily on the traditional lands of the Munsee Lenape within Lenapehoking (New York City and surrounding areas). We also acknowledge that our work intersects with diverse peoples who have stewarded the land through many generations as well as those who are the current and future cultural bearers for their communities—communities that have often been displaced from their original lands. We recognize the complexity of the histories of violence, removal, and continued practices of extraction and colonialism, and we seek to be in Right Relationship and to honor Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous knowledge and science in all that we do—and we honor with gratitude the land itself, the water, the air, the flora and fauna, and commit ourselves to protecting our environment.