Meet Carly Kellar | Garden Consultant & Owner of Unruly Roots

We had the good fortune of connecting with Carly Kellar and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carly, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I earned my mechanical engineering degree in 2014 and have spent the last 10 years building a rewarding career in the aerospace and defense industry, leading teams to develop award-winning technology, solving complex technical problems, and learning advanced project management skills. But in my free time, I kept gravitating towards creative hands-on endeavors like DIY home projects, watercolors, and pottery.

In 2018 my husband and I purchased a home in north Atlanta on almost an acre, and we quickly began building our vegetable garden and transforming our overgrown, high-maintenance landscape through lots of backbreaking work and trial and error. We made every mistake possible, including planting vegetables at the absolute wrong time of year, accidentally planting invasive species, and planting beautiful tropical plants that had no chance of surviving in our Georgia climate. We wasted SO much time and money. Rather than becoming discouraged, I dove deep into learning about native plants and urban farming in order to engineer my own productive, beautiful garden landscape from the ground up. Through my research, I discovered the fascinating worlds of permaculture, regenerative gardening, habitat restoration, companion planting, and kitchen gardening. I became totally hooked!

After witnessing the incredible transformation of my own boring, sterile, high-maintenance landscape into a thriving, buzzing ecosystem that helps feed both our little family and native wildlife, as well as the amazing impact of working with nature on my mental and physical health, I realized I needed to help others experience the same joy. I have dreamt of starting my own business since I was a child, and knew I wanted my new venture to combine the problem solving and project management skills I honed in my engineering career with my natural aptitude for creative pursuits, love of nature, and desire to make a positive impact on the environment and my community.

I was inspired to help build local food systems and support native biodiversity without shaming people for also wanting nice lawns and interesting ornamental plants. I became a garden consultant because I envision a world where we can all grow our own abundant kitchen gardens and flourishing natural ecosystems— one where our children spend less time behind screens and more time in the dirt. I envision a world where we can all get back to our beautiful, wild, and Unruly Roots!

What should our readers know about your business?
Unruly Roots provides garden consulting services to help people build kitchen gardens and sustainable landscapes that feed families and native wildlife. By helping avoid the costly and frustrating process of trial-and-error that often leads beginner gardeners to give up prematurely, Unruly Roots provides the guidance, recommendations, and support to build a garden landscape with confidence. We help build, maintain, and harvest gardens with clear intention according to our customers’ individual goals.

Our three main focus areas are:

1. Growing fresh food to help maximize nutrition and taste, reduce food miles, build resilient local food systems, and minimize food waste.

2. Supporting biodiversity and nature regeneration including rebuilding soil heath, reducing erosion/runoff, capturing carbon, and providing food and habitat for native pollinators and other wildlife.

3. Creating beautiful, functional outdoor spaces that align with your individual goals, so you actually want to spend time out in your garden.

I believe that what sets our business apart is our flexibility and open-mindedness. While we definitely believe in prioritizing native and food-producing plants, we don’t believe in preachy, all-or-nothing, self-righteous gardening advice. We aim to help make outdoor spaces inspiring, inviting, and functional for both people AND wildlife. If your garden landscape is high-maintenance, overgrown, or dysfunctional, you won’t want to tend to it! Making sure that gardens are accessible, beautiful, and fun to care for is what helps gardens actually get cared for. We understand that lawns are great for pets and kids, and that ornamental plants can bring us great joy with their beauty and fragrance! Aggressively pressuring people to kill their lawns and shaming them for using chemicals you don’t agree with just tends to push people away from your message, instead of welcoming them in to learn something new. We are passionate about helping people create beautiful, functional gardens using native and edible plants, but we also believe in meeting people where they are.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My favorite part about Atlanta is all of the beautiful outdoor spaces there are to enjoy, often green and tree-covered as we live in one of the most canopied urban areas in the world! A few favorite hiking spots in the north ATL area are The Sope Creek Papermill Ruins, Big Trees Preserve, Gold Branch Trail, and Roswell Mill Waterfall. Some great spots to grab food or drinks afterwards are Variant Brewing, The Roswell Garden, Pizzeria Lucca, Mutation Brewing, Pisco Latin Kitchen, or Kid Cashew.

We also love to pick up Flower Child, Gusto, Publix chicken tender subs or a Blue Moon Grandma’s Pizza with eggplant and have a picnic at the playground with our 3-year-old. Dunwoody Nature Center, Hammond Park, Morgan Falls, Riverside Park, and Murphey Candler Park are our favorite playgrounds, and most also have excellent walking trails!

For a first-time visitor to Atlanta with kids, I would probably take them to the Georgia Aquarium and the Fernbank Museum. We’d spend another day walking The Beltline from Park Tavern at Piedmont Park down to Ladybird or New Realm for drinks, and then dinner at Superica at Krog Street. Another day we might grab brunch at Flying Biscuit, Buttermilk Kitchen, Folk Art, The Chastain, or Delbar, spend a few hours at Chastain Park, secure a babysitter, and then save our appetites for crazy huge burgers later that night at The Vortex before catching a comedy show at the Laughing Skull Lounge. One morning we’d head over to downtown Decatur for a family-style brunch at 246, spend some time checking out all the cute shops in the area, and then finish up by grabbing some afternoon coffee or drinks at the Reading Room. Another day we might visit Dr. Scofflaw at The Works, where there are tons of diverse food options, relaxed outdoor spaces for kids and dogs, and there is often live music. Other favorite spots on the Westside include Hankook Taqueria, Round Trip Brewing, Bold Monk Brewery, and Howell’s. Last, I love to take visitors (those without kids or with bigger kids) to “shoot the hooch”– tubing on the Chattahoochee river! We’d grab breakfast at Brazilian Bakery Cafe, bring our own tubes and a floating cooler to put in at Cochran Shoals, and end the trip with takeout from Heirloom Market BBQ. Atlanta has so much to offer that it’s hard to even choose!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I appreciate the endless support of my family who always believes in me, even when they think I am a little crazy!

Website: www.unrulyroots.com

Instagram: @unrulyroots