velyn Tully Costa founded Garden Services in 1986 after moving to Brooklyn from Southampton, New York where she had been a rose gardener for an Italian Count in the early 80’s. It is not often that one is lucky enough to weave together different passions into a rich, rewarding career. Evelyn Tully Costa has used her skills as a designer, environmentalist, journalist and radio producer to create gardens, write and talk about gardening and the environment . Her work has been heard nationally and internationally on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered , Morning Edition, Living On Earth, Monitor Radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Marketplace, Crossroads and on Pacifica’s WBAI FM, New York. In 1996-‘97, she was the featured garden commentator on NPR’s Living On Earth where she did a series of guest interviews with the show’s host, Steve Curwood. Her radio documentaries, features and talk shows have included topics such as biotechnology & ethics, climate change, environmental justice, GATT, sustainable development and agriculture, community gardening, artesinal fishing, food culture, art therapy and Native American theatre, simple living and media criticism. Four Corners Radio, which she produced and hosted, ran for 5 years on WBAI FM and featured interviews with Ken Druse, Warren Schultz, Carol Ottelson and other leading local, national and international garden designers, environmentalists, authors, policy makers and activists. 

Combining her love of being outdoors with her ability to “produce” verdant, living spaces, spilling over with color and charm is a lifelong habit. Ms. Tully Costa says: “My grandmother, who was Czech, taught me during the summers I spent with her as a girl in Southampton, to knit, sew, cook , embroider and make very intricate crotchet lacework. Everything she did to decorate the cottage was practical as well as beautiful. So all my life I’ve been combining functionality with aesthetics. With Garden Services we feel, each of our gardens is a personal extension of our clients tastes, needs and dreams. We’re good at translating those hopes into garden spaces that bring people and nature together-that’s the joy of it.”

She’s written for the World Bank, E-Magazine, Traditional Building Magazine, Heifer Project International’s “The Ark” and most recently produced 3 national radio features on sustainability projects in the Dominican Republic for NPR’s Living on Earth , PRI’s Market Place, Pacifica’s National News and Radio for Peace International Costa Rica. She designed the “Organic Children’s Paradise Garden of the José Nuñez de Cácerez High School” in San Jose de Ocoa in the Dominican Republic where she volunteered as a consultant in organics, design and community radio for the Development Association of San Jose de Ocoa. (adesjo.org.do) Working in collaboration with students, campesino groups, teachers, religious and technical, environmental, international aid and government organizations the garden was used as a model in the region for sustainable organic farming practices. In 2004, Tully Costa briefly advised “Casa Mantay”, a home for rape victims and their children, in Cusco, Peru on their new home center.

Ms. Tully Costa received a Bachelor’s of Science from New York University where she studied historic architecture and preservation, urban planning, music and history. She interned at the Landmarks Preservation Commission in NYC and at the Fairfield Historical Society where she developed her knowledge in decorative arts and historic architectural styles. Ms. Tully Costa currently lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.