Garden Angels: Keepers of Goodness, Creators of Sanctuary

“Isn’t this the dream?” Jennie Slossberg asks me as we sit on her second-story back porch — “the perch,” as she calls it. It’s a relatively new addition to her property. Her Irish Jack Russell Terrier, Chorizo, curls up next to us on the sun-soaked couch. Birds chirp; hummingbirds buzz by; butterflies and honeybees come and go. Below us, water trickles through the koi pond. 

And of course, plants are everywhere: jewelweed, salvia, jasmine, clethra, hydrangea. Jennie points out a night-blooming jasmine that’s getting ready to flower. The little green buds will soon erupt into yellow blossoms that only open at night, for just a few evenings each year. “And it will stink like candy,” Jennie tells me. “It smells incredible.” 

It’s a fitting backdrop for someone whose life revolves around cultivating outdoor beauty. Jennie is the owner of Garden Angels, the garden design and maintenance business she founded in 2000. If you’ve lived on the Island long enough, you’ve probably seen the Charlie’s Angels-inspired logo: a silhouette of three women brandishing garden tools instead of weapons.

“We’re a bunch of angels doing our thing,” Jennie says, reflecting on the origin of the moniker. “And also, one of the girls actually had a Charlie’s Angels shirt. We took it, modified it, traced it, and put tools in their hands.” 

The name is also something of a metaphor for what the business represents. Not only do Jennie and her team create beautiful, bountiful gardens that benefit the land and community, but also, they cultivate a healthy way of living, one rooted in physical work, creativity, and time spent outside. 

“I’ve met a lot of people who have come to work for me, and it’s been good for them — mentally and physically,” Jennie says. 

That’s part of what drove her to start Garden Angels 26 years ago. 

“Gardening came after having all the jobs you can have on Martha’s Vineyard,” Jennie says. “I actually noticed the garden girls would come in when I was waiting tables, and they were tan and fit and healthy. If it was raining, they would take lunch and get out of the rain. I was like, ‘Look at that lifestyle. This is an opportunity.’” 

So she sought out gardening jobs, worked for some high-end companies, and eventually started her own business after a few summers. Her “true mentor,” she says, was Elizabeth Luce, who used to run Middletown Nursery. Jennie now manages a team of four to twelve people, depending on the month. “We slowly gain momentum as the gardens wake up,” Jennie says. The season starts in April; things slow down by August. She’s currently working with about 50 clients with varying needs of service.

Everyone clocks in and out at Jennie’s house, which the team calls “headquarters.” A small sign on a fence at the entrance that reads “Fort Angel” was a surprise gift from a friend. The property itself is a template for the work Jennie does for her clients, weaving together colors, fragrances, and textures while focusing on native plants that create habitat for animals and insects. 

“I’m always making habitat, as a habit, for birds, butterflies, frogs — everything,” Jennie says. 

While Garden Angels didn’t begin as a native planting business, it has evolved into one as people have become aware of the ecological benefits of planting native species. “I’ve had a lot more people ask for that, and I love that people are open to those suggestions,” Jennie says. “I used to say, ‘Our angels bring beauty to your property.’ But now I’m really more interested in having people ask us to plant with purpose — intentionally to nurture the nature.” Some clients come to Garden Angels through referrals from BiodiversityWorks’ Natural Neighbors program, which assesses properties, identifies what’s native and what’s not, and offers recommendations to support biodiverse ecosystems. 

Recent Garden Angels projects include a large wildflower meadow on the Wequobsque Cliffs in Chilmark and gardens in Mink Meadows, at North Abel’s Hill, on Pan Handle Road, and on Prospect Hill. 

“These sites were all new installations in 2025, incorporating native plantings for low maintenance and beneficial habitats,” Jennie says. “Each had their own challenge as far as wind direction, soil, shade or sun, clay or sandy — all those play into the choices of the plants and what will succeed. And there’s always reorganizing. The garden is a living thing, so you can never expect in one season that every single area will be successful.”

Much of her design inspiration comes from simply being outside and paying attention.

“When you’re deep in the woods and you find ferns, and you’re like, Oh, I love the smell of this. Just sitting still and smelling things, seeing things, hearing things. Noticing when there’s a certain bird or interesting insect and wanting to recreate that for people.”

And it helps that Jennie studied art and ceramics in college.

“I’m so grateful for my art background,” she says. “It really does play into my style and my approach. I consider what I do sculpture — I call it ‘floral sculptural.’ I love to do things as big as an entire property and as small as a container.” 

She builds spaces with a throughline. “You learn in art school to lead an eye through an image — to lead with color, to add texture, to add contrast and movement. There’s a kinetic piece, there’s a textural piece, there’s a fragrance.” 

Walking the grounds at “headquarters” feels like moving through that philosophy in real time. Jennie points out clethra, a native shrub she frequently and consistently incorporates into her designs. “Our woods are full of the straight species, which get really tall and run laterally and smell magnificent in August, then turn gold in autumn. Now [plant nurseries] are creating short dwarf ones and medium-sized pink ones.” 

Buttonbush is another favorite. “I’ve been listening to the Garden Lady on CAI, and she’s suggested a few things. It has a little fluffy white ball as the flower. I planted a few of those this summer.” 

She’s also planting persimmons. “I’m trying to plant trees and shrubs that are always edible for the birds,” she says. 

Other favorites include swamp azalea, a fragrant July-blooming shrub; beautyberry, with its vibrant purple fall berries; witch hazel; and dogwoods — both red- and yellow-twig varieties for winter interest. Near her front porch, she planted several dogwood varieties, along with evergreen junipers (with their abundant winter berries) and summer hanging baskets filled with fuschia flowers. Between the berries and the colors (hummingbirds love red), her porch draws birds to it in every season.

At the corner of one back garden bed stands a Coral Bark Japanese Maple. “In autumn, the foliage illuminates with golden glow, contrasting the bright red stems. As the leaves fall, the bark turns a bright red. In the spring, the leaves emerge a vibrant seaglass green. So it looks interesting all autumn, all winter, all spring, and in the summer, while everything else is flowering, it’s just quietly waiting to be appreciated.” 

“I love really funky evergreens and twisty bark,” Jennie adds. “I have contorted hazel over there that was burgundy for most of the year. When the leaves fall, the branches are actually curvy. It’s nice to have things that are structural and sculptural within the garden.”

For Jennie, the balance between beauty and function, ornament and ecology, is essential, especially on an Island she loves. 

“I think it’s important, for people who fall in love with the Island and end up owning a home, that they preserve why they fell in love with it,” she says. “The beauty and the natural untouchedness of it is unfortunately sometimes forgotten when people are landscaping. There are opportunities to have decorative things. I love to put annuals in and put in funky, interesting trees and evergreens and shrubs, but ornamental things can be a portion of it without sacrificing habitat.”

When Jennie meets a client, she starts with a few questions: Where do you sit in the morning? Where’s your kitchen sink? Where do you tend to have dinner? “If you’re on the phone, where do you end up staring?”

She wants to solve problems, like planting for privacy or shade, but she also wants people to really live on their properties, and to notice which spaces are asking for attention. 

Some of her commercial clients have included Atria, the Harbor View Hotel, and the Kelley House. Jennie loves those projects because they’re experienced year-round. 

“It’s nice to get the opportunity to do things for the public. I know those gardens are part of lots of milestones in people’s lives and wonderful Vineyard nights and events all summer,” Jennie says. “It just means a lot to know that people are taking pictures in front of the lilies.”

As we continue wandering her property, past tucked-away paths and practical workspaces, Jennie gestures toward the outdoor shower. “There may or may not be a chicken in there.” 

There is. 

“Jolene, do you mind if we come in?” 

Jolene scurries away, but I don’t blame her for occupying this corner of the property. The shower is a botanical experience, with green canopies overhead, jasmine and yellow trumpet vine climbing nearby, and plumbing that emerges straight from a stone wall. “During the day there are hummingbirds overhead,” Jennie says. “And I keep it cut back a little because I like to look at the stars at night.”

We make our way back toward the property’s nursery, where trucks come and go and staff members pick up materials. Keeping her team safe throughout the season is one of Jennie’s highest priorities. Summers are hot and dry, and, like plants, people need to be protected from the elements. 

“Whether it’s windy, there’s a hurricane, there’s drought, we have to take care of ourselves when it comes to weather,” Jennie says. “I made a bunch of SPF shirts with our logo. I want to help people be safe. Take a break, go swimming, come back at four. I joke: I say, I know we have jobs and responsibilities — but it’s just flowers.” 

Jennie’s careful about who she takes on as clients, who she hires, and how she and her staff spend their energy. “It’s very important,” she says. “We’re trying to be keepers of goodness, providers of sanctuary. I want to work with people who get it.” 

In a job where the line between work and private life is often blurred, Jennie is grateful for her team. “I have such good, like-minded, energetic people that work with me, and I become friends with them for life,” she says. “I’ve had such great experiences with people that love what they do. It’s just part of our brand. The people that work here are really personable, and that’s great.” 

Even with such a supportive crew, Jennie admits that she rarely takes time off. Recently, a friend asked her what her perfect summer day off would look like. At first, she thought maybe a day on Cuttyhunk. Then she reconsidered.

“Actually, what I always want is to just sit still at home,” she says. “I wake up and always leave. On the weekends I'm here, but I’m billing and preparing and watering and hanging out with my son.” It would be great, she says, “to really sit still — to be an observer.” 

She walks me past monarchs hatching, introduces me to her French Toulouse geese (Dali and Dante), and points out cherry tomatoes, figs, and a birch tree she planted specifically for luna moths. Everything has a place. Everything is intentional. 

And for Jennie  — and anyone there to witness it with her — it’s all kind of a wonder.

Hydrangeas in a Hotter Vineyard

Who doesn’t love dark blue, antiquey, mophead hydrangeas, or the white varieties that fade to pink and green? Though not native to the Vineyard (they originate in China, Japan, and Korea), they’re also not invasive. But as summers grow hotter and drier, these classic shrubs are having a harder time.

Jennie has one client who loves filling her house with vases of hydrangeas all summer, but the flowers have to be ordered in. “Which seems insane, because I have a huge cutting garden on the property,” she says. The problem is sun. Mophead hydrangeas prefer part shade — ideally, morning sun and afternoon shade. In full sun, they can become stressed and lackluster.

“We’re actually going to build a structure for shade so that we can have hydrangeas, and we don’t have to order them when we’re capable of growing them. They’re just getting too much sun and aren’t particularly pretty or healthy looking,” she says.

Around her own front porch, Jennie relies on a different variety: Hydrangea paniculata. More drought-tolerant and pollinator-friendly, these towering pink blooms are low-maintenance and long-lasting. Jennie calls them “bee central,” and adds that they’re “very cute, and pretty, and smell good.” 

Gardeners looking for climate-resilient options might also consider hydrangeas native to the eastern United States, including smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) and oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), both better adapted to local conditions.

Next, read Cooking With the Seasons for a few of Jennie's favorite “riffable” dishes!