Meet the Wildscapers
Founders
Co-founded by 3 graduates of the UNT ecology program, Wildscapers is a restoration-focused landscaping company. Molly, Taylor, and Jesse have since set sail for new adventures.
Our current crew continues to build upon their mission!
Molly Burke
Taylor Phillips
Jesse Stanford
Current Crew
Sean Durbin
Sean is a current MLA student at the University of Minnesota, and long-time student of restoration agriculture who has helped craft many gardens in DFW and enjoyed getting his hands in the dirt for projects across Texas.
His journey began with a Food not Lawns sign and garden tour of his neighbor’s yard. Walking among purple globe artichokes and snacking on fennel, lambs quarters, grapes, and other medicinal and edible plants opened his eyes to the possibilities of his own backyard.
Consideration for the value of quality food, how we feel interacting with our immediate environment, and how we realize our ecological role drives Sean’s passion for landscape design. Sean grew up in Idiot’s Hill and would love to Wildscape as many homes and businesses in Denton as possible.
Mike Fleming
An east coast native, Mike Fleming moved to Denton in 2015 and was fascinated by the flora and fauna of the North Texas region, all of which seemed exotic and magical in comparison to his sylvan New Jersey stomping grounds. This fascination led to the pursuit of knowledge of native plants and other ecology-related studies, and also reconnected him with his childhood interests in the outdoors, ancestral skills, and bushcraft. He quickly started landscaping with native plants, successfully seeded a wild meadow in a large part of his backyard, and has been gardening and experimenting ever since.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Photography and a Masters Degree in Sculpture, Mike left the art world and academia for simpler pursuits, but still employs an artist’s sensibility, level of craftsmanship, and attention to detail in all that he does. He is passionate about eradicating costly and wasteful grass lawns and plants, replacing them with wildscaping, native plants, and food gardens, all of which provide immeasurable positive benefits, enhance life, and contribute ever so slightly towards tipping the scales in the right direction of restoring the earth.
Miguel Espinel
Born and raised in Venezuela, Miguel Espinel moved to Texas with his family in 2005, staying in Bryan for some time and later moving to Denton in 2014 for graduate studies in music at the University of North Texas. Feeling quite welcomed by Denton and its wonderful local community, Miguel was happy to make Denton his permanent home, seeking opportunities to give back to the land and community that welcomed him. Working with Wildscapers gives him a perfect chance to give back and help in efforts to restore the native ecology of Denton and its surroundings, while gaining valuable experience in the field and opening a new path in ecological work that is very necessary for the sustainability of the land. Being an active member of Denton's local artistic community as a musician, composer, improviser, and colaborator, while joining Wildscapers in its efforts to foster the restoration of the local land and ecosystems, Miguel is happy to be one of many individuals who are working hard to enact change at the local level in our community.
Sarah Ruth Alexander
Sarah is a native Texan, having grown up on a farm in the Texas Panhandle, where they raised a lot of the food they ate. She moved to Denton to study and acquire a Bachelor's degree in music at the University of North Texas. She also earned a Masters in Library Science from Texas Woman's University. She has long been an active member of the North Texas music community in multiple projects, and frequently performs locally and tours. She's also a DJ/radio producer for two shows on KUZU 92.9FM in Denton.
Sarah worked for many years at Joe Snow Aquatic Plants in Argyle, TX. They cultivated and installed many varieties of native aquatic plants, specializing in restoration, mitigation, and aesthetics. She brought this same love of native plants to Wildscapers and has been excited to learn more about the wide variety of native terrestrial plants. Sarah is passionate about indigenous plants and their capacity to survive, especially with less water and under harsh conditions.