About Us

Founder/Designer

Tiny Habitats creator, Gail Berrigan, is a conservationist and landscape designer. She has created wildlife-friendly landscape designs for clients in MD, DC, NJ, WV, and MA and is passionate about planting design that benefits wildlife and evokes the beauty of wild landscapes. As an ecological designer, she advocates for sustainable landscape practices that are friendly to both wildlife and the environment.

Gail studied plant design at Mt. Cuba Center; landscape architecture at Longwood Gardens; native plant communities with Darrel Morrison; botany at the National Arboretum; and sketching, drawing and painting in NYC. She is active in land conservation and stewardship as a staff member at a regional land trust in Amherst, MA and member of her local conservation commission. Her field study includes wildlife and grasslands surveys with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia. Gail has a Master’s of Science in Ecological Design from the Conway School in Massachusetts, which teaches applied ecological and environmental design for a more sustainable future. 

Tiny Habitats is based in western Massachusetts, where Gail lives with her husband Hank and adventurous dog Haiko (a border collie disguised as a golden retriever). An accomplished builder, Hank designed and built the prototypes for the wooden containers, inspired by Arts & Crafts design, and developed a number of custom weatherproofing details to make our planters unusually strong, sturdy, and resistant enough to live up to any weather New England has to offer.