Plan It Wild! An Ecological Approach to Landscape Design

Darien Library, along with Darien Land Trust, Darien Pollinator Pathway, Darien Green Wave, Garden Club of Darien, and Darien Nature Center, is excited to welcome Joanna Hall and Bram Gunther from the ecological landscape design firm, Plan It Wild, who will discuss new trends in landscape design. Specifically, they will focus on natural gardening, and feature some of their recent projects throughout Western Connecticut, including an exciting project they completed in 2025 in Norwalk, referred to as a "pocket forest", part of the Miyawaki methodology.

About Plan It Wild

Plan it Wild is a landscape design firm serving Westchester, Putnam County, and Western Connecticut.  They firmly believe that the outdoor space around your home is far more valuable than you may think, and that healthy nature on your property cleans your air and soil and lowers energy costs. Their goal is to add more nature to your yard so you can enjoy all of its benefits, such as seeing butterflies, hearing songbirds, enjoying the shade of a tree on a hot day, envisioning the carbon being captured by your trees, and discovering a cool new insect. The firm offers several different types of rewilding services, from design to planting to stewardship, that will restore property into thriving native habitat. They customize for each client the services they will need to successfully rewild their land. They have been featured in various news organization outlets, including The New York Times, the TODAY Show, and Good Morning America. 

About the Presenters

Joanna Hall is the CEO of Plan It Wild, an ecological landscaping company helping homeowners rethink traditional lawns and gardens through native plants, habitat restoration, and ecological design. She is also the founder of the Wildr Platform, a suite of digital tools serving to inspire, educate and support individual homeowners on their own personal rewilding journeys and ultimately accelerate the rewilding movement nationwide. Prior to Plan it Wild, she ran a software innovation studio and co-founded an ad tech start-up. Joanna serves as President of the Global Coalition on Sustainability, where she supports collaboration among sustainability leaders working at a global scale.

Bram Gunther is the former chief of forestry, horticulture, and natural resources for the NYC Parks Department. He is the co-founder and first president of the Natural Areas Conservancy, a nonprofit to restore and protect NYC's natural areas. He's now VP of Science and Development for Plan it Wild. As VP, he's led the company's development of a rewilding measurement tool called Wildr. He's expanded the company's work transforming school campuses into pocket forests and has gotten public grants to fund our larger projects. He's expanding our partnerships and the community around rewilding.