Kelly Bowman Greenwood
La Honda, CA, USA
Landscape Designer
Kelly Bowman Greenwood is a landscape architect based in the rural south coast of San Mateo County and was the principal of a boutique design firm specializing in high-end gardens and indoor-outdoor living spaces from San Francisco to Carmel for 14 years. Not satisfied with one house at a time, she plans to expand her vision for healthy, beautiful, sustainable and even regenerative homes to a larger scale, reaching more families in the Bay Area.
After being involved as an occasional volunteer and consultant with local town planning efforts for rural Pescadero over the years, in 2022 she received a grant from the Pescadero Community Foundation to create a research report summarizing the impact of the Housing Element process on the rural south coast, as well as the specific regulatory, conservation, and infrastructure hurdles that have prevented the construction of local affordable housing during past housing element cycles. The Half Moon Bay Review described the 88-page report as “richly detailed” and it has been used by local organizations like the Housing Leadership Council to guide housing advocacy in rural San Mateo County.
In the process, Kelly became a passionate advocate for targeted community planning efforts that could materially contribute to the development of safe, dignified housing for essential workers including teachers, fire tenders, farm workers, and foresters. As part of the UC Berkeley MRED+D 2025 cohort, she looks forward to deepening her understanding of land trusts and alternative finance models for residential development, delving deeper into models that provide families opportunities to build equity and resilience without steep down payments.
Kelly has a Living Future Accreditation as well as a LEED AP with a specialty in Neighborhood Design. She is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a former state board member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. Kelly traveled to China in 2013 to co-host a documentary aired on PBS called “Decoding the Ancient Gardens of Suzhou,” which is now available on YouTube. She has been both a featured designer on HGTV’s “Landscape Smart” and a featured homeowner on HGTV’s “Small Spaces, Big Style.” Her gardens have been featured in Backyards: A Sunset Design Guide by Bridget Biscotti Bradley and on the California Native Plant Society “Growing Natives Garden Tour.” She is a graduate of the UC Berkeley Extension Landscape Architecture program. She received her B.A. from Sweet Briar College with honors in Anthropology, after spending a year studying at the University of Paris.
When she’s not advocating for housing density to preserve open spaces, she’s out hiking in them with her cattle dog, Jack, or painting landscapes inspired by them.