Delta Dawn Gardens specializes in ecological design, rainwater harvesting, and native flora to sustain year-round beauty in Central Texas' challenging climate. 

Hello! I’m Leah Churner, a landscape designer with a passion for plant diversity and a background in the arts. I founded Delta Dawn Gardens in 2015 as a garden maintenance business. Since then, I have shifted my focus from hands-on gardening to ecological landscape design. My approach to design is deeply rooted in fifteen years of experience working as a maintenance gardener: I believe in working with nature, rather than against it; building healthy soils to conserve water and eliminate the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides; and creating beautiful, biodiverse native plant communities in the landscape to support healthy food webs and wildlife.

In addition to several appearances on Austin PBS’ Central Texas Gardener, I have taught courses in Landscape Design and Planting Design at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and Austin Community College. I also created two podcasts about garden design, Hothouse, which won the GardenComm Media Silver Award in 2019, and The Horticulturati, which I cohosted with fellow designer Colleen Dieter from 2020-2024. Also with Colleen, I cohosted a live call-in radio program, “Horticulture Hangover,” on News Radio KLBJ in Austin. Before I got into plants, I worked as an audiovisual archivist and freelance writer for the Austin Chronicle, Film Forum, Reverse Shot, and other publications.

Follow me @deltadawngardens on Instagram.