Connecting You to the Natural World & Sparking Joy in the Outdoors
Through thoughtful design and collaborative guidance, Cultivating Wild helps homeowners move from outdoor overwhelm to a garden they feel confident tending.
“Cultivating Wild helped us see the potential in our land that we couldn't visualize ourselves, turning an overwhelming backyard into a clear, thoughtful plan we can confidently build from. We walked away feeling inspired, empowered, and better equipped to tend to our land for years to come.”
-Maddie & Adam
10-acre Homeowners Damariscotta, MEWhether you're staring at an overgrown yard, a blank slate, or a space that no longer fits your life, we help you slow down, see the potential, and move forward with a plan that makes sense for your land.
Meet the Team That Cares Deeply About How Things Grow
Cultivating Wild is a small team of women that shares the belief that gardens should be beautiful, deeply personal, and alive with possibility.
Whether we're designing, planting, or tending, we approach every landscape with curiosity, care, and respect for the place we're working in.
Melissa Keyser
When Melissa isn't designing gardens, you'll often find her photographing the natural world, cooking something inspired by the season, grabbing coffee at Treats, hiking at Dodge Point, or writing on Substack from her cabin in the woods. She lives near Damariscotta with four rescue cats, all named after pizza toppings.
Founder & Lead Designer
Lindsey Cash
Lindsey brings extensive fine horticulture experience to Cultivating Wild, as well as her background in art and love for flowers. When Lindsey isn’t helping with our site assessments, plant selections, or installations, you’ll find her tending to her own cutting flower garden or stitching up something crafty, often with reclaimed materials.
Design Assistant + Horticulturist
Design Assistant + HorticulturistChelsea Wallace
Chelsea brings her experience of organic farming and a background in sustainable planning to the team. When Chelsea isn’t helping with our designs, plant shopping, or maintenance, you’ll find her homeschooling her daughter, diving into a new book, or preserving something in the kitchen. Her partner, Pat, also supports our DIY clients with learning construction skills.
But gardens kept calling her back. She returned to school for horticulture and landscape design, launched her first residential design business focused on low-water, native landscapes, and began writing and photographing gardens.
Moving to Maine in 2019 meant learning an entirely new landscape: its plants, seasons, and sense of place. Cultivating Wild grew from the threads that had run through her life for decades: gardening, stewardship, education, design, and a desire to help people feel more connected to their own land.
Today, Melissa leads Cultivating Wild alongside a small team that shares her belief that gardens should be beautiful, deeply personal, and alive with possibility.
For Melissa, Working With Gardens + Nature Has Been a Lifelong Practice
Melissa comes from generations of gardeners and people who worked the land. Growing up without electricity, she learned early to pay close attention to the natural world—a habit that has shaped nearly every chapter of her life since.
She studied Environmental Studies at University of California Santa Cruz, then spent years as a naturalist, environmental educator, and policy advocate across California.
About the Founder
Your Land Already Holds Possibility. We’ll Help You Bring it to Life.
You don't need a fully formed vision, or even know what to plant, before you reach out. That's where we come in. Tell us about your space, how you'd like to live with it, and where you're feeling stuck. Together, we'll find what's possible and shape a clear path forward.