Founder & Head Designer

Laura Eubanks

UC Master Gardener. Twenty-plus years of waterwise design. Hundreds of gardens across Southern California, every one of them designed by Laura herself, on site.

The Short Version

She reads yards for a living.

Laura founded Design for Serenity in 2005 and has spent every year since with her hands in Southern California dirt. Her method is simple to say and hard to fake: walk the site, read the light and the grade and the drainage, set the boulders first, plant tight, and finish with the layer of rock that ties it all together. She calls the result a succulent tapestry, and she has installed hundreds of them.

More than 110,000 gardeners follow her work on YouTube, where she films real installs from the first shovel to the reveal. She has taught workshops across Southern California, and in 2015 she was flown to Holambra, Brazil, the "City of Flowers," to teach succulent design and plant two public display gardens for Expo Flora Brasil.

She runs Design for Serenity with her husband Greg, cofounder, who also builds the irrigation and lighting on most installs and does his share of the grunt work. Their daughter Hannah works alongside them and is an award-winning, established designer in her own right. Laura's favorite clients are people with a patch of yard they are tired of looking at.

Recognition

In print and in person.

The Better Homes & Gardens Succulents special issue, open to the Simplicity by Design feature on Laura Eubanks

Featured in Better Homes & Gardens

The magazine's succulents special devoted six pages to Laura's work: drought-tolerant yet lush yards without a single blade of grass in sight.

“I weave rocks throughout a garden to create continuity.”
Laura, in the feature

See the Feature

Sunset Magazine

Her gardens have appeared in Sunset's coverage of drought-friendly design.
San Diego Home/Garden

Wrote for the magazine on her own succulent techniques, including the pocket garden.
I LEAP Award

Recognized by Leap to Success for her story of healing from an abusive childhood and building a new life through her work.

Team DFS

It takes a crew.

Design for Serenity is a family business. Laura works alongside her husband, Greg, their daughter, Hannah, and a small crew she trusts completely. They remove lawns, haul soil and boulders, and plant in the August heat. Every finished garden has been shaped by the same people who designed and built it.