Bret de Zordo — FYGN Founder
Bret de Zordo has spent a lifetime outside, working with the land, and creating art with plants. Raised in a family that didn’t see gardening as a career path, he carved his own way, drawn to the rhythm of nature. His journey began as a child working alongside his grandmother, Elena, a prize-winning rose grower in San Francisco. She was obsessed with perfect blooms, and young Bret earned his allowance tending to her roses—an early initiation into a world of plants, soil, and seasonal cycles. But landscaping was never something he chose—it followed him, weaving its way into his life no matter where he went.
For decades, Bret resisted calling himself a gardener. He spent years as a bike racer, a waiter, and a caretaker, trading landscaping for rent in Marin while working nights at Max’s Café in Corte Madera. He built gardens in some of California’s most elite communities—Montecito, Hope Ranch, Mill Valley—where he saw the extraordinary possibilities of landscape design, from craning in redwood trees to sculpting living art. By 2003, he could no longer deny it: this was his calling. He got licensed, insured, and fully committed to building FYGN, hiring a crew, and embracing the identity of a gardener and landscaper.
Bret’s philosophy is simple: work for cool people, create beauty, and respect the craft. Over the years, his clients have become like family, patrons who support his work as a form of art. His team, largely made up of Latinx workers, has become his lifeline—his colleagues, his community. He has learned Spanish, stood up for fair wages, and pushed back against the rhetoric that undervalues the very people who do the hardest work. For him, landscaping isn’t just a job; it’s a connection to the earth, to history, and to the people who make it possible.
Today, after decades in the dirt, Bret still lives by the seasons. Landscaping fuels his love for adventure—skiing, hiking, biking, and traveling the world. Whether battling 100-degree heat in Marin or freezing mornings in Ross Valley, he remains fully present in the work. His passion for drought-tolerant, native California gardens reflects his deep respect for the land and its changing climate. As he contemplates a shift toward semi-retirement, one thing remains certain: Bret will always be outside, hands in the soil, shaping landscapes and lives, just as he has for the past 45 years.