NEED TO KNOW
Andrea Motolese transformed her backyard into a whimsical garden inspired by English and French garden styles
The project cost $5,700 and included challenges like sourcing materials and learning gardening from scratch
Her TikTok documenting the process went viral, inspiring others to create their own outdoor spaces
When Andrea Motolese and her family moved into their house in Miami, Fla., there was one area of the property they weren’t quite sure what to do with: the backyard. At one point, the family added a kids’ playground to the 104-by-57-foot space, but her children have since outgrown it.
Eventually, Motolese, 38, who has worked as a florist and wedding planner since 2018, came up with an idea: She would transform the backyard into a whimsical garden.
“I’ve always loved dainty, whimsical flowers,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively. “Whenever I’m designing a wedding, that’s one of the first things I want to incorporate: wildflowers and arrangements with that organic, cottage-garden feeling. I also love English and French gardens.”
Andrea Motolese in her garden.
Credit: Valentina Penaranda, @valetography
Motolese first began planning the garden in April 2025. She created a floor plan using Aisle Planner, the same app she uses to plan weddings, and began saving inspiration to her Pinterest boards that fit the layout and vision she had in mind. She also wanted the garden to serve a practical purpose: growing vegetables for her family to eat.
But it wasn’t until February 2026 that Motolese was ready to turn her plans into reality. She contacted her landscaper and asked him to remove the grass, then took over from there.
“I just went for it,” she says. “I mapped everything out directly on the ground using wooden skewers and white twine. I didn’t even use a measuring tape, I used my feet. Not exactly reliable, but I didn’t want to overcomplicate it or make the project stressful. This wasn’t a wedding!”
With the layout mapped out, Motolese began gathering everything she needed to bring her vision to life.
“I needed marble chips, a fountain, a fountain pump, stepping stones, pine needles, white trellises, bricks, gardening tools, a cast-iron bistro set, an umbrella, plants, landscaping fabric and solar lights,” she lists.
A photo of the whole garden.
Credit: Valentina Penaranda, @valetography
She sourced the various pieces from Home Depot, Lowe’s, Temu, Amazon, her local nursery and other businesses in Miami. Finding some of those materials proved easier than others, as Motolese had a very specific vision for the garden, down to the shape and color of the stones.
“The stepping stones were surprisingly difficult to find because I wanted round stones, but not perfectly round ones,” she says. “The marble chips were also difficult because I wanted beige stones instead of white, and those were much harder to find and more expensive.”
Motolese initially set a $3,000 budget for the garden, but the cost of the project ultimately almost doubled. The whimsical pathway alone cost close to $700, bringing her total spending to approximately $5,700.
While Motolese did much of the work herself, she had some help along the way. The landscaping company handled the initial grass removal, while her husband helped with some of the purchases, moved heavier materials from the car to the backyard and assisted with some of the planting. Her aunt also helped her plant and joined her on several days while she worked on both the garden and the path.
For Motolese, however, the biggest challenge wasn’t necessarily the physical work — it was learning how to create a garden from scratch.
“The most challenging part was simply that I had never created a garden before,” she says. “I have experience designing wedding ceremonies, but that is completely different from digging up grass, working with soil and planting everything yourself.”
“Somehow, though, my experience with weddings gave me enough confidence, and maybe a little delusion, to tell myself, ‘I can do this,’ ” she adds. “Even on the days when I felt defeated, I just kept going.”
Andrea Motolese in the garden.
Credit: Valentina Penaranda, @valetography
That confidence also helped Motolese navigate the inevitable changes that came with creating a garden for the first time. She had initially planned to grow Peggy Martin roses, but after learning they wouldn’t thrive in Miami’s climate, she swapped them for jasmine vines.
“That was definitely a bummer because I love roses,” she says.
As the garden began taking shape, Motolese decided to document the process on TikTok. She had been posting on the platform for fun, but she never expected her garden videos to take off. They eventually went viral, amassing millions of views and thousands of comments.
“I was really happy when I saw that the video resonated with so many people,” she says. “At the same time, I kept rewatching it to make sure I hadn’t said anything crazy!”
Among the thousands of comments, however, some stood out to Motolese for a different reason.
“The comments that stood out to me the most were the ones saying that when women decide they want to do something great, we find a way to do it and nothing stops us,” she says.
“When I was working on the garden, I never really thought about it that way,” she continues. “But when people started saying that in the comments, it made me stop and think about everything I had done. It made me really happy, and in a way, those comments inspired me to keep going too.”
The chairs in the garden.
Credit: Valentina Penaranda, @valetography
Looking back, Motolese says there are a few things she would have done differently, including one common gardening shortcut.
“I definitely would not have used landscaping fabric. That is a big no-no if you’re trying to create a more organic garden,” she says. “I also would have laid down the cardboard before mapping out the garden with the wooden skewers and white twine. Doing it in that order would have saved me a lot of time and labor.”
Despite the learning curve, Motolese hopes her experience encourages other people to transform their own outdoor spaces.
“I hope people realize that we need more gardens in our backyards,” she says. “We need to grow more native plants and create spaces that feed and support bees and other pollinators.”
“I also think it’s important to teach our children how to grow some of their own food and to show them that physical work and caring for something are valuable,” she adds. “More than anything, I hope people feel inspired to create a little oasis for themselves in this chaotic world. There is no perfect way or wrong way to do it. You don’t have to know everything before you begin. Just start.”
Andrea Motolese working in her garden.
Credit: Valentina Penaranda, @valetography
For Motolese, the project has become about more than simply filling an empty backyard, and she has no plans to consider the garden finished anytime soon.
“The garden is still evolving, and I don’t think it will ever really be ‘finished,’ and I actually love that,” she says. “There is still a lot of work to do. I’m currently planning a fire pit area that I hope to start soon, and I also want to repair and paint the fence, add a greenhouse, plant fruit trees and grow native shrubs along the fence to create more greenery and privacy.”
“There will always be something new to plant, change, learn or dream up, and I think that’s one of my favorite parts about having a garden,” she adds.
Read the original article on People
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