Landscape Excellence with a European Flair

Welcome to the Mount Hood Gardens and Solcrest Garden Designs website!

Gardens and outdoor spaces are an extension of your home, a place for relaxation, enjoyment and entertainment. By planning and working together, each of our gardens has its own unique character and personality. Creating enduring, integral plant communities with organic methods feeds the soil, our soul, and attracts desirable wildlife and pollinators.

Mount Hood Gardens, Inc. has been creating diverse, quality gardens and landscapes in beautiful Hood River, Oregon, and the Mid Columbia region for thirty-five years. Sustainable practices have been employed from the beginning. We have a loyal and skilled team of long-term employees and experienced subcontractors, and value all of them thoroughly.

Design & Build

Mount Hood Gardens, Inc, and its affiliated design business Solcrest Garden Designs, LLC, together offer complete solutions, from the initial design phase all the way to the overall installation. Our high-quality residential landscapes often include handcrafted, old-world stonework, be it dry-stack retaining walls, patios or special features. Creative, yet thoughtful plantings, coupled with a healthy soil food web, deliver long-lasting and rewarding residential landscapes.

Our story

Marion McNew founded Mount Hood Gardens in 1985. She is owner/ president, and a certified professional landscape designer. Marion was born and raised in Germany, and obtained a Masters Degree in Horticulture from University of Hannover, along with various professional traineeships. She is a Fellow with the national Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD), their highest honor. For details please see the Biography and Awards page. 

In her professional studies, Marion learned about the plant community principle (Hansen/Stahl concept), which aims to achieve integral and healthy plantings by taking clues from plant habitats in nature. 

The Oregon APLD chapter designers visited Mount Hood Gardens, and five distinct private gardens in July 2024. Photo by Toni Pogue.

Marion and owner Stefanie Körner at Landhaus Ettenbühl, a well-known rose breeder with beautiful gardens in Southwest Germany, in late August 2024.

Meet the Team

Owner and Principal Landscape Designer
Mount Hood Gardens, Inc.
Solcrest Garden Designs, LLC.

Marion McNew, CPLD, FAPLD

  • Santiago Hurtado


    Santiago has been with Mount Hood Gardens for twenty years, and is highly appreciated for his loyalty, thoroughness and focus. He is crew foreman and an expert stonemason. His magnificent hardscape work has left its mark all over Hood River and the Mid Columbia.

  • Ruben Avalos


    We are blessed to have Ruben as part of our team. He started at Mount Hood Gardens in 2011, and heads one of the installation crews. He applies his many skills every day, with hardscape work, planting, and horticultural maintenance. Ruben handles his diverse tasks with expertise and aplomb.

  • Sarah Roth


    Sarah is Marion’s assistant. Her calmness, incredible work ethic and quick learning make her an indispensable asset to the company. She also maintains a number of our gardens, and cross works with the installation crews and in the nursery. Clients love her, and so do we.

  • April Gerlick


    April is the company’s nursery fairy, and aids in keeping the plants we grow for our landscape projects in top condition. She is exceptional with potting, and has a love of plants. With her cheerful and calm manner, she is a joy to have around.