My name is Roger Miller, and I began Homescaper in March of 2001. Like many others, I came to landscape design after a career in another field. However, I discovered the wonders of gardening as a 6 year old, standing in my Grandmother's strawberry patch in my bare feet. She lived on a dairy farm, and one day several of her more rambunctious cows drove my cousin and I up a tree for hours and almost ruined the garden thing for me. But I never forgot the smell and the feel of the earth and the taste of that first strawberry...and the joy of being outside for hours at a time.
Homescaper is the realization of my lifelong passion for plants and gardening that began on that dairy farm in Indiana. The concept for my business was formed after I moved to Oregon and I was installing my own landscaping for a home I had recently purchased. I became frustrated with the amount of time I spent trying to find answers to the many questions I had along the way. I spent hours running around as I searched for the materials and plants for my landscape. I felt that there must be a better way for those of us that want to do our own landscaping.
The national trend towards do-it-yourself landscaping is especially strong in the Pacific Northwest. The beauty of the concept is that it doesn't require any special skills; anyone can do it if they are provided with the right type of information and access to the materials they need. We are lucky that in Oregon the climate allows us to grow a wonderful diversity of plant materials, and we have a thriving wholesale nursery industry to supply us with the plants we need for our DIY landscape projects.
Homescaper was formed as a one-stop resource for the Portland area's do-it-yourself landscapers. I intend for this website to be a resource for those that would like to be involved in creating and installing their own garden but don't know how to go about it.
When I'm not helping people with their garden design projects, I might be found walking the beach with my wife and Quincy (our Labradoodle), helping my friends tend our hobby vineyard of Oregon Pinot Noir, or playing gypsy jazz on my guitar.
