Our Story

Eco-yards™ was founded on the belief that we should leave the land we steward in better shape than we found it. Life on earth depends on the vitality of the topsoil and the plants that grow in it. We can enrich the soil and enliven the energy of the places we steward by using sustainable landscaping methods. And we can create colourful, fragrant, life-enhancing, soul-enriching spaces. In this way we create a healthier, more beautiful, and fruitful world.

We threw some challenges your way and you really were able to develop a plan that met all of our needs and all of our wants. Your crew was great. Every day they showed up (with) big smiles on their face. It was having a big joyous group to do quite hard labour – to dig and haul – it was fun to have them in the yard and work with them – it was great!

Ryan L’Heureux

I’m so enamoured with the philosophy of your company. Everybody that’s worked for you Laureen – and I know that you handpick them so specially – has just done an awesome job. They’re polite, they’re kind, we always have great talks and we have always had this real harmony with the staff. The pleasure was all mine.

Virginia Clark

I have appreciated the people you employ. They seem to be knowledgable, appropriately compensated, and basically happy.

Catherine Kneppers

In 2015, 2016 and 2020, Eco-yards did design and install work for Dianne D. Over this period, we have done maintenance work for her yard at times, regularly spray it with our compost tea spray and provide our compost tea tree treatment service for one of her front yard trees.

Here is what she has to say about Eco-yards:

I found Laureen’s work to be of excellent quality. From the design work at the beginning of the project, to the actual installation (and through the inevitable challenges that come with a client not being able to identify all personally important factors from the outset), Laureen and her staff were accessible, responsive to questions, and willing to adjust ‘the plan’ to accommodate my revised thinking. As a client, it was important to me to be able to ask questions and have them answered effectively and accurately; Laureen did so consistently. She communicates clearly with clients and her staff.

The quality of Laureen’s work was reflected throughout the project, from the quality of the materials she used, to the efforts she made to ensure ‘customer satisfaction’ through care and attention to details, to communicating clearly with her crew working in the yard, and so on. I greatly appreciated that her crew members were polite, engaging, quiet (no loud music or swearing), and that she interacted well with each of them (mutual respect is evident).

Laureen is responsible. She recognized that the trellis that was installed in the front of my house was too short. She had her crew remove the trellis and install the correct one. I may not have caught this error, but in any event, Laureen rectified the matter before I even had to ask about it.

Laureen has proven to have good business ethics (treats customers fairly and with honesty).

Dianne D.

OUR 2021 ECO-YARDS CREW

Laureen loves plants! Go for a walk with her around a classic Eco-yard to learn about the hardy plants she uses in Calgary.

Laureen Rama

Owner

My lifelong passion is beautifying landscapes in ways that enhance the natural environment. I have been landscaping most of my life, from helping my parent’s landscape yards as a child, in towns across Western Canada, to beautifying landscapes as an adult. Traveling and living in different landscapes around the world and North America has inspired my designs.

I love flowers, especially designing landscapes with hardy, perennial flowers to provide colour and joy all growing season long. I also love delighting my clients with landscape designs that go beyond their desires and bring them more than they imagined. This involves listening, intuition and sharing ideas.

I’ve taken courses, read lots of books and magazines, visited and spoken to gardeners whenever and wherever I can, and experimented with what works and what doesn’t in many different kinds of yards.

I have worked as an international development educator, public involvement consultant, management consultant specializing in creativity, and as a shamanic healer and teacher.

I work with a crew and sub-contractors who love the earth and beauty and pleasing clients too!

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Bob Rama

Operations Manager

Bob is Laureen’s little (inside joke) brother, and brings over 30 years of project management experience to his role as Operations Manager for Eco-Yards. Organizing and planning the work, crews and equipment is his forte. He loves transforming peoples yards and spaces to what our clients and designers have envisioned. Bob brings a passion for the environment and a love of the outdoors from a lifetime of camping and playing in the dirt. Bob is an engineer by training, and also is a big sports fan and loves his Stampeders and Flames.

Marian Mulligan

Designer

As a 5^th generation Horticulturist, Marian Mulligan has been involved in the Calgary gardening scene for several decades and has grown just about everything for this zone. Over the years she has had the opportunity to participate in some wonderful Horticulture scenarios. Marian created the concept and design for Centennial restoration of the main gate entrance at Calgary Stampede Grounds, was a guest on HGTV’s Bug’s ‘n Blooms, was a member of “Team Mulligan”, a gardening special on CBC radio and much more. Her personal and professional gardens have been featured in magazines and publications. Marian’s environmentalist leanings fit well together with her background in Art and Visual Design and supports her ability to create stunning as well as functional designs. ‘I just can’t stop myself! I just love everything about gardening!’

LANE SHORDEE

Lead Hand/ Landscaper

Lane Shordee has worked for Eco-yards on a on call basis for a few years. He came to Eco-yards from a 12 year background building various types of landscaping projects; from hard landscape features such as ponds, decks, pathways and rock placement, to soft landscaping with a focus on native plant species.

Lane has a fine arts degree from the Alberta College of Art and Design and brings a creative eye, looking at new ways to build and maintain landscapes. Lane also builds large scale ecological based artworks that range from theatre sets to permanent public artworks.

Tora Brittain

Landscaper

Tora was born on Vancouver Island where she grew up, and has done work in gardening, landscape maintenance, and floral designing. She has since moved to Calgary, and has been here for a year now. She spent last summer doing landscape maintenance in Canmore with a company using earth-friendly practices and wild food education, where her curiosity of eco landscaping was sparked.

Tora is enrolled to study Holistic Nutrition starting this fall, and her passion for holistic health extends to the natural world; she believes eco landscaping offers an opportunity to facilitate relationships and connections amongst the plants, shrubs, and trees, much like the connections found in our bodies. Her other interests include foraging, growing her own flowers and vegetables, cooking, and fermented foods.

Tora has always found deep connection in nature, and spent her childhood on a farm raising animals, gardening with her mother and grandparents, and helping build fences and barns. She is excited to be a part of the Eco-Yards team, and learn more about creating sustainable, beautiful spaces for others to enjoy.

Sergio Bernal

Landscaper

Sergio graduated in 2019 from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science with a concentration in Chemistry. In 2015 he participated in a study abroad exchange program at Macquarie University in Sydney, and backpacked across Australia.

Prior to joining Eco-yards, Sergio has had experience working in biodynamic farming and commercial landscaping construction and maintenance. He is also a backyard cultivator, adventurous camper and playful musician under the alias “SergeYo”.

Cam New

Landscaper

New to Calgary, Cam comes to Ecoyards from Lethbridge where he spent the last two years working as garden maintenance and junior arborist at the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden. There he was able to develop and refine the horticulture and arboriculture skills needed to maintain beautiful spaces using native plants in our Southern Alberta climate. A degree in Civil Engineering and plenty of construction experience in various forms provides him with a solid foundation of knowledge and hands-on skills from which to draw.

Cam is a fellow nature lover, starting with an early appreciation for wild places during childhood camping trips to the mountains. In his spare time, he can be found out west: rock climbing, splitboarding, scrambling peaks or otherwise admiring gigantic trees. In addition to his outdoor pursuits, Cam nurtures a newfound passion for shoemaking.

EUGENE KALIONau

Landscaper

Eugene has more than eight years of freelance landscaping experience performing various landscaping duties. He was born and raised in Belarus where he gained most of his landscaping experience before moving to Canada. Eugene developed an early appreciation and understanding of the significance of bringing nature closer to humans and living in harmony with nature.

Eugene has always lived near nature and has participated in numerous outdoor activities. He is currently doing a Bachelor of Science majoring in Physics and Anthropology at the University of Calgary. He is interested in expanding his knowledge about eco-friendly landscaping and creating sustainable gardens and yards. Other interests and hobbies include photography, camping, hiking, river touring and a passion for science.

Our Process is beautiful and sustainable too!

Every morning our crews circle up and set the intention to work harmoniously, lovingly, safely, efficiently, all while creating beauty. And they do! They work with joy and respect for each other and our clients. Our clients often say that, as much as they love what we have done, they love the energy our crews bring to their home just as much.

We work to avoid using techniques that are harmful to the environment. This is what makes us stand out from other landscaping companies in Calgary. Here are some of our techniques: