About Serenity Cove

Pat Carrier, the owner of Gardens by Pat at Serenity Cove, is both the creator and the caretaker of the one of the loveliest garden settings on the East Coast. Pat resides in Western Goochland County with her husband Richard and canine companions Freckles and Beau.

Over the years, the 60-something wife, mother and grandmother has become so enamored with Mother Nature’s dirt that it has become, for her, an essential in maintaining a healthy life style- just another food group, so to speak. (She did, in fact, find it necessary to sample the first mud pies she made as a child.) Pat approaches every gardening and landscaping project with this basic connection with dirt as a foundation. “You must work with what Nature gives you; not through or against it.”

Blessed with a natural talent for blending shapes, textures and colors; and almost boundless energy, she carved her Goochland County gardens out of a destitute five acres of briar and bog. Her life-long desire to connect and cooperate with the natural way of things led her to focus this signature effort on the natural brook which runs through the unwanted parcel. The end result was the peaceful woodland garden. More formal beds and lawns were blended and finally a cutting garden added.

As the gardens have matured more and more public notice occurred, with several Central Virginia publications recognizing her efforts in feature articles. She has also been a guest presenter at the Spring Festival seminars.

Pat has been a Master Gardener for over 24 years, having earned that certification at Clemson University. She blends that vast technical knowledge with her natural talents in her landscape consultations and designs for both residential and commercial customers. She is an active member of the Goochland/Powhatan Master Gardeners. She holds a degree in Holistic Theology and is certified as a counselor by the International Association of Counselors and Therapists.

Her hands-on approach to gardening began with the building of a new lake-front home in Anderson, South Carolina. During the same period she was attending Master Gardener classes at Clemson University, she hired a landscape designer to design and install major gardens and landscaping around her new home. Anxious to apply her expanding knowledge, she donned work boots and gloves and assisted the contractor in every step of project. In the process she came to the realization that this was where her considerable talents lay.

Recently, as her gardens have matured and require less and less work, she has found an outlet for her energy and creativity in flower arranging. Her bountiful raised bed cutting gardens provide the raw material for stunning fresh-cut arrangements. She occasionally has excess blooms and plants available for sale. Needless to say “Pat’s hobby is Dirt.”