Eva Montane has been working with and educating about plants and sustainability since her college years in the 90’s. She continues to passionately teach others how to nurture nature at home for greater enjoyment, happiness and well being.

Having studied botany and worked as a field botanist for several years in Montana, California, and New Mexico, Eva has a deep familiarity with native plants and the ecological systems in which they exist. Following her love for wild plants, she served as VP for the local chapter of the Colorado Native Plant Society for 3 years, and guided wildflower walks for the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival for 12 years.

As a result of a summer internship on a Permaculture farm in Ohio, Permaculture principles have guided her adult life. Eva spent several summers learning the ins and outs of sustainable organic farming in Montana and New Mexico. She furthered her education by earning a Permaculture Design Certificate in Costa Rica in 2002.

Turning to work in ornamental horticulture in 2001 for the longer work season it afforded her, in 2001 Eva sought formal training. In 2011 she attended an intensive program to earn a Landscape Design Certificate. And then circling back around to a facet of Permaculture, now also referred to as regenerative landscaping, Eva earned her Water Harvesting Practitioner Certification in 2019. Bringing the knowledge and method of how to make use of every drop of water landing on her clients’ land has brought together all the pieces of Eva’s professional background. She has delighted in manifesting her expertise in the form of rain garden design and installation.

Eva has been operating Columbine Landscapes Co since 2015 in Durango where she has resided with her husband and fur babies since 2005. Eva is a garden writer and speaker and loves to highlight simple rain harvesting methods for climate resiliency that can be readily implemented by her audience.

Desiree received Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration from Fort Lewis College and has been a been a key player with Columbine since 2016.

Her professional interests focus on helping clients get their needs met, and beautifying the landscape. She takes pride in having graduated from the Colorado Master Gardener program.

Born and raised in Colorado, Desiree has a strong love for nature. She grew up in Salida which is a small town where the main source of entertainment is outdoor activities. Because of this orientation and desire, finding a career that involved getting outside was a necessity. Columbine fosters this as well as a way to continue learning and growing personally.

With Columbine since 2020, Tiffany is originally from Kansas City and relocated to the Durango area to enjoy mountain life and be closer to her husband’s family.

She initially enjoyed the opportunity to work outside while engaging with the Durango community and it’s native plants, but has since moved into an office position which happily accomodates her life goals with her growing family.

On her off time, Tiffany enjoys immersing herself in nature while hiking, climbing, and camping with her husband and their dogs. She also loves riding their motorcycles and ATV. She’ll try to find time for those passions while working and caring for their new addition who was born at the end of the 2021 field season.

Meg earned a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture and a minor in Spatial Information Management Systems from Colorado State University in 2007, where she was the 2006 Student Merit Award Winner from the Colorado Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects. While at CSU, she had the privilege of serving on the Colorado State University Design Review Board. Since then has practiced Landscape Design in different regions of Colorado for 16 years.  Her main focuses are designing mixed use communities, residential design, multi family residential design, creating park spaces, urban plazas, commercial landscapes and high desert plant designs. As of this March, Meg has become one of the newest graduates of the Water Harvesting Practitioner Certification course from the Watershed Management Group in Tucson.  

Her family moved to Durango in the summer of 2020.  She loves the feel of a bigger town with large established trees, restaurants and an airport. The “lushness” of the western slope and desert southwest is an amazing horticultural playground.  She enjoys exploring with her family the many diverse ecosystems and cultural sites around the four corners region.  

While in Durango she has become a Wildfire Ambassador with Wildfire Adapted Partnership and enjoys educating her community on Wildfire Safety. 

She especially enjoys working with clients and nature to build beautiful, efficient and successful landscapes.

Caroline moved to Durango in July of 2022 to be closer to family and the outdoors. She is originally from Washington state and studied at Western Washington University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in studio art. Throughout her time at Western, she explored several artistic mediums including painting, drawing, woodworking, and glass blowing. She has always felt inspired to create by spending time in nature and observing the intricate details of the natural world.

Melissa began working with Columbine during the 2022 season. She is originally from Cape Cod MA but has lived in UT and central NY for several years, she has also traveled the country and abroad extensively since leaving home. She moved to Ignacio in 2021 with her mother, partner Mark, and their dogs when an opportunity to purchase property as a family presented itself. She spent the first 6 months living in the area completing work on their newly purchased home, when it was time to begin the search for employment, she gravitated towards landscaping and gardening because of her love for working outdoors and being in nature. She was drawn to applying at Columbine for many reasons but specifically their commitment to the local community and their encouragement of further education spoke to her.

Melissa earned a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in Ceramics from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2010 and is excited to have found a career that allows her to utilize her creativity. She is passionate about implementing water wise designs and continuing to educate herself on the best uses for rain and grey water in our landscapes. Melissa is part of the Colorado Master Gardener class of 2023 and earned her Water Harvesting Practitioner Certification in March of 2023.

In her spare time Melissa enjoys hiking with her dogs, snowboarding, paddleboarding and camping. She plans to design and install her own water harvesting systems around her home this season, while continuing to learn and grow professionally with the Columbine designers and crew. She plans to continue her education surrounding watershed management and ethical water use. Recently she has begun cleaning up and restoring the natural ecosystem on her family’s almost 40-acre property, which she hopes to build a rescue dog sanctuary on in the (not too distant) future.

Christopher Flores, or informally known as Flores,  was born in a small town named Magna. Located just west of Salt Lake City, Utah.

While living near Salt Lake City, Flores found interest in community building. He volunteered with local groups and non-profits focused around permaculture and local ecological preservation. Before to long he began organizing with the help of a few non-profit organizations that he had worked with prior.

Due to the experiences he had living in a town that had been fallowed and impoverished, after years of mining activities, he became focused on building leadership skills while becoming well versed with the problems that our environment faces. This is what motivated him to pursue the “green” industry.

He moved to Durango in September of 2021 and found Columbine shortly after. Flores wanted to work for a company who used business as a tool for change and after being introduced to Columbine Landscapes, he became impressed by the regenerative approach Eva and the company strive for.

He is working as a crew lead and manages the inventory of all the tools and materials necessary to create a beautiful landscape for you.

Elijah Buck, or otherwise known as Echo, is from Aztec, New Mexico. He is an Aztec High School Graduate that is a current Fort Lewis College student studying environmental science and biology. Formerly a crew member at the Aztec Ruins National Park under the YCC with the Aztec High School’s JROTC has found the maintenance of native plant species and conservation captivating. The history of these species to coexist to today is very important to the health of the native environment and is threatened by disruption from invasive species that replace their niche. Conservation is especially important to Echo as a Native American from the Dine/Navajo tribe to restore the history that has been here for many generations.

Columbine has shown interest in restoring the health of the native environment with their favor of creating naturalistic landscape design that allows a view of these native species’ history in their environment. The consciousness of cultivating habitat for pollinators and biophilia has interested Echo to do their best daily on the job to continue the conservation of the native species. Following conservation Echo aspires to become a marine scientist to study the environmental effects that the modern world has upon its oceans. He also enjoys creating whether with his hands in crafts or with his body in dance. This world has so much creativity as well as ideas to share with one another so let’s do our best to respect this wonderful world we have and its creations.