Skip to content
Annamaria Varona tending to vibrant red clematis flowers in a North Lawndale garden

Beauty.Bounty.Benevolence.

Edible gardens and community landscapes, designed and stewarded by one family, two generations.

A mother and daughter

We design and steward permaculture landscapes across the Great Lakes region — edible gardens, community plantings, and urban-durable plants chosen for the exact site they land in.

Annamaria Varona designs with 15 years of practice. Lucía León manages the projects and production. One family, two generations, one intention.

Selected Work

2012 to Present

A portfolio of living places.

Each project is a study of one site. Its light, its water, its soil, and the people who live with it. Swipe to explore.

  • Residential

    Oak Park, IL

    Oak Park Residential Garden

    A private residential garden documented by location and year only, preserving client privacy while showing the ongoing evolution of the planting.

  • Community Collaboration

    Chicago, IL

    Malcolm X College Memorial Garden

    Installing a memorial garden with faculty and administration for a beloved teacher at Malcolm X College.

  • Community Collaboration

    Chicago, IL

    Stone Temple Youth Green Team

    A fruit orchard and gravel garden designed with the Historic Stone Temple Missionary Baptist Church Youth Green Team.

  • Community Collaboration

    North Lawndale, Chicago, IL

    Sears Sunken Garden

    An ongoing community collaboration with North Lawndale residents and renowned garden designers Piet Oudolf and Roy Diblik to design the historic Sears Sunken Garden. Renovation work begins in 2026.

  • Community Collaboration

    West Side Chicago, IL

    NLCCC GROWSS Youth Council

    Teaching the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council GROWSS Youth Council — Greening Open Space, Water, Soil, and Sustainability — on raised-bed gardens and cut-flower cultivation.

  • Community Collaboration

    Barrington, IL

    Barrington High School Permaculture Garden

    An educational conservation-grant project teaching students permaculture principles. Three classes designed gardens in groups, the winning design was installed around the greenhouse, and edible design competitions are now part of the school curriculum.

  • Institutional / Commercial

    West Side Chicago, IL

    Legacy Charter School Bioswale

    This is an ongoing rehabilitation of a bioswale located outside of Legacy Charter School in Chicago. The area was primarily taken over by three native plants and unwanted plants. Homan Grown is adding diversity and more color to the plant palette.

  • Institutional / Commercial

    Chicago, IL

    Lawndale Christian Health Center Campus

    Homan Grown was asked to restore and bring more diversity to the Lawndale Christian Health Center (LCHC) campus and four City of Chicago owned bioswales that LCHC oversees. Plants were chosen that were close to the original design, and yet also had more durability.

  • Community Collaboration

    West Side Chicago, IL

    Community Bioswales

    Bioswales can be useful for stormwater retention as well as being a haven for pollinators and urban wildlife.

  • Residential

    South Shore Chicago, IL

    South Shore Residential Garden

    A private residential garden transformation in South Shore, documented by location and year only while preserving client privacy.

  • Residential

    East Garfield Park, Chicago, IL

    East Garfield Park Residential Forest Garden

    This is the beginning of a residential forest garden focused on providing habitat for wildlife. In temperate climates such as Chicago, a forest garden is made up of eight layers - Overstory, understory, shrub layer, herbaceous perennials, bulbs, groundcover, and vines.

  • Residential

    Porter, IN

    Porter Residential and Airbnb Garden

    A private second home used as a getaway from the big city and an in-demand listing through Airbnb. Documented by location and year only, preserving client privacy while showing the ongoing evolution of the plantings.

  • Institutional / Commercial

    Downtown Chicago, IL

    Fourth Presbyterian Church

    This historic church, built in 1871, is known for its wonderful social programs, community outreach, and grand architecture. Homan Grown was hired to design plantings that are welcoming, soft, and durable, matching the Church's mission.

  • Residential

    Clarendon Hills, IL

    Clarendon Hills Residential Garden

    Working with new homeowners to put their stamp on an established garden. A private home documented by location and year only, preserving client privacy while showing the ongoing evolution of the plantings.

  • Institutional / Commercial

    Milwaukee, WI

    Church of the Gesu

    Homan Grown donated this bite-sized garden for this Milwaukee landmark and spiritual center of the Marquette University campus. Now stewarded by Gesu staff.

  • Institutional / Commercial

    West Side Chicago, IL

    Inherent L3C Headquarters

    Designed a native pollinator garden that addresses stormwater issues for the headquarters of Inherent L3C, builders of high-performance modular homes.

  • Institutional / Commercial

    Chicago, IL

    Christy Webber Landscapes Corporate Campus

    The edible landscapes on this corporate campus were installed in 2017 and have been stewarded back to health by Homan Grown.

  • Community Collaboration

    North Lawndale, Chicago, IL

    Garden to Table Pipeline Rain Garden

    This native rain garden is part of the YMEN Learning Campus. YMEN collaborates with NLGC and NLCCC GROWSS. Design of the greenhouse and site layout by renowned architect Odile Compagnon. The campus includes a fruit orchard and freight farm.

Working together

From a walk through the site to a garden that keeps giving.

One

We walk your grounds and listen.

We come to the site, read the soil, light, and how you live with the space, and listen to your vision for it.

Two

We design and plant it.

A permaculture planting designed around your vision — edible, native, urban-durable species chosen for your exact site, then installed by our team.

Three

We tend it as it grows.

A minimum three-year stewardship plan. As gardeners say: the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps.

Start a project

Let's walk your grounds.

Tell us about your site and your vision, and we'll start with a walk through the grounds.