ABOUT NORTHERN NATURAL GARDENS

Northern Natural Gardens is owned and run by me, Karl Kloos.
When you hire NNG, you’re hiring me — the person who designs your garden, installs it, and cares for it over time.

I create natural gardens using native plants that support birds, pollinators, and the ecosystems that belong here in Minnesota. My work blends years of hands-on landscaping experience with a deep curiosity about how plants, insects, and wildlife are connected.

What started as a backyard project quickly became a calling. When I turned my own lawn into a native garden, I saw how powerful small, thoughtful changes can be. Birds showed up. Pollinators followed. The garden got better every year — and Northern Natural Gardens grew from that experience.

Thoughtful, personal, and rooted in place — gardens that grow better with time.

Today, I’m still hands-on at every install and management visit. On larger projects, I’m occasionally joined by my dad, Al, who helps with hauling, and Sam, a client-turned-friend and contractor who shares the same passion for native plants and restoration.

At home, my gardens are shared with my wife, Katie, and our kids, Greta and August, who spend plenty of time digging, exploring, and learning right alongside me. That sense of curiosity and care is at the heart of every garden I build.

A Small, Trusted Crew

I’m the gardener you’ll see at every install and management visit. On larger projects, I’m occasionally joined by a small, trusted crew:
• Al, my dad, who helps transport materials
• Sam, a client-turned-friend and contractor who shares my passion for native plants and restoration

Together, we keep projects efficient while preserving the hands-on, personal quality Northern Natural Gardens is known for.

Why Native Gardens

My passion for native gardening grew from both hands-on landscaping experience and a deep curiosity about how plants, insects, and wildlife are connected. As I learned more about how dramatically our landscapes have changed — and how much impact individual homeowners can make — my focus shifted from traditional landscaping to ecological restoration at the residential scale.

Native plants aren’t just beautiful; they’re essential. They provide food and habitat that local wildlife depends on, while creating resilient, low-input gardens that evolve naturally over time.

Meet Karl

Karl Kloos
Founder & Lead Gardener

I’m the person you’ll work with from start to finish — design, install, and long-term care. I’m happiest with dirt on my hands, talking plants, and helping homeowners reconnect with the land right outside their door.

When I’m not in a client’s garden, you’ll usually find me tending my own, answering endless “what’s that plant?” questions from my kids, or dreaming up the next way to turn lawns into living landscapes.

watching our garden grow

From that very first day we laid the seed for our native plants, we have found ourselves captivated by what nature is capable of. While we have been a helpful guide, our natural gardens have taken on a beautiful life of their own. We decide the borders of our gardens, where to cast the seeds and plant the trees, but ultimately the seeds will choose when and where to germinate and many factors go into where their plant successors will ultimately grow again and again, and again. Every year our seed bank grows and so does our love for our natural garden! We invite you to join in on this exciting journey!