Drew and Shannon Lester are a husband and wife landscape design team that have over 40 years combined experience in Central Oregon. Together, they promote sustainability and gardening for success, so homeowners can enjoy all the other activities Central Oregon has to offer. Drew and Shannon currently focus their efforts on landscape design, project management services and annual backflow assembly testing.
Drew graduated from Indiana University, Bloomington where he studied economics and public policy. After graduating, he decided to move out west to become a mountaineer guide and get more in touch with the natural environment. Shortly after, Drew started working in the landscape industry and furthered his education at Central Oregon Community College in the green industry.
Shannon is a landscape designer who holds a degree in Landscape Architecture from Washington State University in Pullman. After a sojourn in Italy where she experienced landscape and design, Shannon returned to the Pacific Northwest to focus on custom residential and commercial landscape design, land use and city planning projects.
From 2012 to 2017, Drew and Shannon focused their efforts on starting up a mid-century, modern-inspired planter company, Steel Life. Steel Life planters have been recognized by many nationally accredited industry professionals and magazines including Martha Stewart, Sunset, Better Homes and Gardens, 1859 Oregon, and Dwell magazine. Drew and Shannon have also designed product for The Standard Hotel NYC and Miami. Shannon has shared her product design experiences on a design panel moderated by OPB at the 2015’s Bend Design Con.
OUR HAPPY CLIENTS
Angela kendrick
Shannon at Blooming Desert created a thoughtful backyard plan for our house in Bend. It’s an odd shaped lot, and the yard itself was in terrible condition. She listened to my concerns , budget available, and drafted a plan emphasizing native plants. She also helped select the stones for the new flagstone patio , the pavers to edge the newly enlarged aggregate patio, as well as the plants themselves. She recommended a landscaper to do all the installation as well. She communicates readily by both email and text. The project is almost completed ( waited on spring to plant). It’s been a real pleasure working with her. I’m happy for you to reach out for more project details,if you wish.Read More
Eric Berlin
We worked with Shannon to design all of the landscaping for our property. Shannon was very easy to work with, collaborative, and communicative throughout the process. We loved her design for our backyard and we were blown away by her attention to detail and her passion for landscape design. We highly recommend Blooming Desert for your landscaping design needs!Read More
Sally and Rob Fallow
Shannon is exceptional. From start to finish, we felt we were in the best hands. She has fantastic ideas on landscaping and creating a gorgeous outdoor space. From design to install, she was meticulous and detail oriented. She helped us with our vacation home and it was so nice knowing we had someone nearby who was on top of everything. I would highly recommend Blooming Desert!!Read More
Jenn Masse
Shannon was great to work with! Recommended by a friend, we hired Shannon to translate our vision into a beautiful and functional design that will meet our needs and lifestyle. The design she came up with will absolutely do that! Shannon also helped make connections to local landscapers that she trusts, and navigate some of those conversations, which we appreciated as well! I would recommend partnering with Shannon if you're looking for someone to design your space!Read More
Houzz User
It was a pleasure to work with Shannon Lester to design the landscape plan for our property in Bend, Oregon! The project presented a few challenges around sourcing product and materials that were deer and heat resistant due to the nature of the climate in Central Oregon. Shannon navigated this on our behalf as well as offered excellent project management of the landscaping team throughout the entire project. Shannon brings knowledge, experience and a positive, cheerful attitude to each meeting making the process enjoyable.Read More
