Meet Terry Karpen: Redding’s ‘queen of spades’

By Justin Reynolds

For Terry Karpen, a garden is much more than a place to grow plants, flowers, herbs, fruits, and vegetables.

“A garden can be an interplay between the planned and the wild, the artistic and the practical, the ecologically sound and the aesthetically pleasing,” said Karpen.

Karpen is the creative force behind Queen Of Spades, a garden and landscape design company she founded in 2004.

“I design, create, and care for gardens and landscapes,” Karpen explained. “My professional education includes horticulture and landscape design. I use my knowledge of horticulture, ecology, and design to create beautiful and functional outdoor spaces that are environmentally responsible and economical to maintain.”

This knowledge is what sets her business apart from other gardening and landscaping companies. She is quick to assert that she’s not a landscaper. As such, her business doesn’t offer mowing, spring and fall cleanups, or mulching.

“Many landscaping companies offer additional services beyond their expertise and they are ignorant about their lack of knowledge,” she said. “There exists a ‘paint- by number’ approach to gardens and landscapes due to this lack of knowledge.”

Karpen, who moved to Redding in 1988, enjoys being part of a small town that’s committed to preserving natural beauty.

Before starting Queen Of Spades, Karpen worked as a professional chef and pastry chef for 25 years, owning a business called Queen Of Hearts. When she was first starting out, she recalled looking forward to Queen Of Spades being in business for 25 years and is 80% of the way there.

Karpen classifies her services into three categories: design, create, and care.

During the design phase, she creates detailed proposals for small areas to entire properties and everything in between, ensuring that outdoor spaces are crafted for beauty. After designing the space and finalizing a master plan, Karpen enters the second step: constructing, planting, and bringing the idea into being.

“As part of my services, the scope of work provided can be managing all phases of the project, including preparation, removals, transplanting, planting, masonry, and all materials needed, including the selection, purchase and delivery of plants,” she said.

After the garden and landscape have been constructed and planted, the final phase is care: the management and “mothering” of the garden.

“Upon completion of all projects, I provide planting maintenance toolkits to guide management,” she explained. “The methods used to care for a landscape are as important as its design and creation.”

For Karpen, designing gardens and landscapes starts with getting to know each site individually.

“The existing conditions at a property suggest the solutions,” she said. “I am skilled at reading a property and creating a design or care program that evolves from the current story to all its possible outcomes. An in-depth knowledge of plants and their requirements is a particular strength. My expertise with plants combines the practical with the intuitive — and has jokingly earned me the nickname ‘The Plant Whisperer.’”

When she engages with a client, Karpen starts off by looking at the property with “new eyes.”

“What already exists? Where does the sun come up and go down? Is it mostly shady or sunny? Wet or dry? What kind of soil do you have — clay or sandy?” she said. “Before you do anything, you get to know the lay of the land and understand what you have as opposed to trying to make it the image of something else. You’re not changing nature but embracing it.”

During an engagement, she’ll listen to a client’s needs, wants, problems, and ideas while walking through the property together. After gathering information, prioritizing needs and wants, considering maintenance requirements, and determining a budget, Karpen presents potential options, and the client chooses what to move forward with.

Karpen’s creativity is inspired by all sorts of things — experiences in gardens across the United States and Europe, lectures and symposiums, reading, visiting garden and landscape designer websites, attending New York Botanical Garden Landscape Design alumni meetings, visiting natural landscapes, and a never-ending pursuit of knowledge.

Most of Karpen’s clients come her way via referrals from Fairfield and Westchester Counties. She also hopes more Redding residents learn about Queen Of Spades by reading the monthly article she writes for the Sentinel.

One of the most enjoyable parts of Karpen’s work is the fact that each engagement is unique.

“There’s no typical project,” she said. “What all my clients have in common is that there are always problems to be solved and tailored solutions are required.”

Karpen’s own garden is open to the public on an invite-only basis. To learn more about Karpen, Queen Of Spades, and her offerings, visit queenofspadesct.com.