by Susan Harris on April 25, 2009
It’s a glorious mid-spring day here in Maryland, perfect for the Open Garden and Plant Give-away I’m throwing for my coaching clients. This is the first of its kind, though, I’m not sure why because my garden yields lots of passalongs every year and who better to give them to? Also this year I’ve started sending clients seasonal to-do lists with links to full instructions. Rather than write up names and instructions, I’m sending everyone to this page to find out what they have and how to keep it alive.
Your new plants
- New England asters are native to this area and love the sun.
- Celandine poppies are native to this area. They only bloom once – now – but the foliage looks fabulous all season. They’re shade-lovers that’ll seed vigorously for you.
- Solomon’s seals do bloom but are primarily grown for their green and white foliage – though they’ll disappear completely after the first hard frost. Their tuber-like roots spread and make this plant quite drought-tolerant, but those tall stalks may flop after you’ve planted them. If so, you could cut back the stems by half or even stake the stems til the roots are settled enough to hold them up.
- Astilbes like shade or part-shade (preferably not hot afternoon sun).
- Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae (Robb’s Spurge) is what I have the most of. I’ve trimmed off the chartreuse flowers on the giveaways because otherwise, they’d flop (not liking being moved in flower). These evergreen beauties can’t tolerate any hot sun directly on them. They spread by those long tendril-type roots.
- The assorted hostas have to go because I now have deer. Except for a couple of short green and white ones, they’re all large cultivars, blue or chartreuse.
- Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ are 15″ tall, love sun and attract swarms of pollinators. Their cauliflower-like flowers start creamy in late summer, then turn pink, red and rust in succession. You can leave the dried flowers up all winter for “winter interest,” but cut off the dead ones in early spring.
How to keep them alive
Get them in the ground as soon as possible, with good soil-root contact (pat them down) and give ‘em a good soaking. Then keep the soil around them wet for a week – longer if they’re in the hot sun (and you might even construct some temporary shade for them.) Then keep an eye on them for the first month in their new home. Especially when the temperatures are near or approaching 90, like now, transplants are in danger of not surviving the move. Water, water, water.
by Susan Harris on April 3, 2008
This rash of publicity for garden coaching is creating a whole new bunch of coachees, and one of them is my new favorite. Not just because his professionally designed garden was so damn gorgeous, which it was. But because he decided the estimate he’d gotten for maintaining it – $11,000 a year – seemed outrageous, and he wondered if he could do it himself, with a little coaching. And because he took careful notes as I explained how to prune each of his shrubs and by the end of the walk-through he was visibly excited and exclaimed, “I feel so empowered!” God, I love that shit.
It seems that this surgeon-gardener had read many books about pruning and was still afraid to take action – it’s all so confusing! Yeah, I hear ya. That’s why teaching pruning one-on-one, in the garden, is so much better than books, videos, PowerPoints and all the rest. Coaching rules!
by bluepenguin on September 14, 2007
Open Register is taking on the Coaching Challenge with some great ideas for their members, the indie nurseries.
And here in the DC area, writer/editor Kathy Jentz covered the coaching phenomenon in her gardening column in the Washington Examiner Newspaper. Great article, Kath! (But who are those people in the photos, anyway??)
Here it is in PDF: Download GardenCoach9-14-07.pdf
by bluepenguin on September 5, 2007
First there was garden coaching, and now that it’s been discovered, for me it’s morphed into coaching garden coaches. Mentoring, if you will. It means compiling information about everyone for the Directory, answering emails and even some phone calls. One very nice gardener in Montana called and asked some great questions, including: What do you take with you to see a new client? This was my answer.
PRUNING TOOLS
I take with me my three main pruning tools. That would be the Felco number 2s, (on the left in this photo), some loppers, and a folding pruning saw. SO many people need instruction in pruning, and you just never know what tools they’ll have. More often than not if they have any pruning tool it’s the dreaded shearers.
MARKING PAINT
Oh, I made fun of this product once – remember the “
marking paint” that turned out to be clear? Well, I know now to look for not just the words “marking paint” but a can top that’s an actual color, preferably a bright one. But the point is to quickly draw some suggested new borders, and this stuff does the trick. If people need assurance that the paint won’t last forever I tell ‘em 2 weeks, max.
BUSINESS CARDS
I’ve changed my business cards so many times over the last couple of years, it’s a good thing they’re free at Vista Print, just $5 for shipping. The only catch is that there’s a tiny advertisement for the Vista Print Company on the back of each card, but no one’s ever seemed to notice it. (Here’s the design I chose.)
THE PLANT LIST BOOK
This is such a fabulous idea – the New York/Mid-Atlantic Gardener’s Book of Lists
– and it was recommended to me by a garden designer, so I ordered it. And the plant lists may be mostly correct, but I’ve crossed out some that I know per
form really badly in my area, like rhododendrons and leucothoes. And missing from the list of “Problem-Free Shrubs” are spirea, weigela, aucuba and nandina, beautybush and cherry laurels – literally the 6 easiest shrubs in my whole garden. Yet the relatively thirsty hydrangea macrophylla IS on the list. Oh, and guess what other list those hydranageas are on – deer-resistant plants. Uh, not hardly! Still, after I marked up the lists to reflect reality, they’re actually helpful. And I think people like the assurance of something in print, don’t you?
And through the recitation of these tricks of the trade, the Montana coach hung on every word, I tell ya, and was mighty appreciative. I encouraged her to “return the favor” by writing a little story someday about her adventures as a gardening coach. I might even nag her for that report.
by bluepenguin on August 20, 2007
I’ve encouraged people to take up garden coaching and – yay! – they’ve responded. My Worldwide Directory of Gardening Coaches now lists 23 coaches. But before you quit the day job, here’s a reality check.
It’s hard enough for anyone to make a living in the gardening field generally but at least landscape architects and really successful designers get hired for BIG jobs, usually for a cut of the whole project. (And someone correct me if they’re paid a flat fee.) But coaches are hired on an hourly basis – and for very few hours, at that – so it’s not like a lifetime of Freudian analysis. Most of my clients need one or two hours and I never hear from them again. If I reminded them of my gardening brilliance regularly, as my friends suggest, it might result in more call-backs but really, most of them are on their way and don’t need regular visits.
So even at my recently increased fee of $75 an hour, how much money can there possibly be in it? Remember that the appointments have to be when the client is home on the weekends, and naturally during the gardening season. And the kiss of death to career aspirations? While the universe of people who need it is HUGE, the people who know such a service exists, seek it out and make it happen is tiny, tiny, tiny, even with all the recent publicity.
Despite the pitiful financial returns, here’s why it’s still a good idea for some people:
- The need is there and it’s really fun to help people in this way. Plus, the folks who hire garden coaches are a damn nice bunch.
- Gardenwriters can use coaching to learn a lot and beef up their resumes, while earning some extra cash.
- Landscape architects and designers can add coaching as one of the services they offer.
- Retirees and Master Gardeners? Go for it!
But if you were thinking that coaching would ever pay your mortgage, sorry about bursting that bubble.
IS IT TOO LATE TO COACH SOMETHING ELSE?
Just the other day a DVD arrived from CBS of the personal coaching segment on “Sunday Morning” and I was surprised to see that the wardrobe or “image” consultant featured in the segment is someone I actually know – cool! Then I listened and heard Rita Braver say that this other kind of coach charges $250 an hour. Crikey! Where does she find clients who can pay that kind of money? I’m afraid the answer is that she’s rich and probably knows most of the rich people in D.C. (Her brother is Dan Glickman and their family seems to have made a fortune in scrap metal.) So that $250 fee is another case of the rich getting richer, I’m afraid.
by bluepenguin on August 3, 2007
I learned a thing or two from this story in today’s Free Press:
- The original New York Times article on the subject reported on the “growing demand for people who work as garden coaches.” Hell, yeah!
- There’s such a thing as the Michigan School of Gardening, started in 1996, with 1,600 students and counting. I noticed there’s a class called GardenWalk but it’s nothing like the Buffalo and Chicago Walks; it’s about walking your own garden and learning from it. Yet another great definition of the term.
- The enterprising owners of that school also created the Practical Gardening Institute to dispense even more good gardening information. Looks like they’re doing lots of things right in Michigan.
- My ambitiously named WorldWide Directory of Gardening Coaches might just be having an impact. It got these fine Michigan gardeners a little publicity, after all.
Great story, Marty, and thanks for the link to GardenRant.
by bluepenguin on July 30, 2007
I’ve watched and loved this show since its debut over 20 years ago, so when a message appeared in my In Box with the all-caps subject “CBS SUNDAY MORNING CALLING” I was psyched. Would my client and I like to appear with Rita Braver in a segment about personal coaching? You bet your Felcos we would!
And lucky me, the taping would be done at my client’s garden so SHE’D have to make her garden perfect and clean the house. Good deal! Except that after we’d finished up in her garden Rita says “Hey, let’s all go shoot Susan’s garden!” Imagine if you will having your garden on national TV on the spur of the moment, having Rita and her crew descend on your home with no warning. “But my house is dirty,” I lamely protested, because Martha Stewart I’m SO NOT.
But for all my kvetching, here’s the result – Rita sitting on MY FRONT PORCH giving the show’s opening come-on: “Coming up on CBS Sunday Morning, personal coaching is blooming.” I loved it! And the fact that before R
ita could sit on my porch the crew had to remove my discarded toilet (charming!) only added a soupcon of cringe to this happy scene. (Because she’s a pro and SO NICE, she told me her own discarded-toilet-in-public-view story and I felt much better.) I’m just glad it wasn’t until later that day that I read in her bio about the many hugely famous people she’s interviewed during her illustrious career, or my cringe level could have been crippling.
Many thanks to Kay Meek, who’s been so generous with her garden and her time. And thanks to the Sunday Morning team for a wonderful experience and for making me look not-terrible in the actual broadcast. (Kay and I particularly enjoyed being miked by the charming storyteller kneeling in the photo, but enough said about that.) My only regret? The story aired sooner than we expected and nobody saw it – well, not the hoards of family, friends and readers I’d planned on alerting. I’m hoping their lawyers will consent to at least a snippet appearing on this humble blog. Stay tuned.
UPDATE
Good news – a commenter on GardenRant gave us the video – thanks! It’s
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3108384n
Group photo by CatAnders Photography.
by bluepenguin on July 8, 2007
by bluepenguin on June 15, 2007
Could garden coaching be going mainstream? Check out this story about us in today’s Times, on page 1 of their Escapes section. I like that, the notion of escaping to the garden.
Two months after I was first interviewed and long after I’d thought the editor had nixed the whole idea, the article appears and I get to meet some of my competition – coaches in New York and Seattle. I’m hoping the publicity will turn others on to the idea of garden coaching, either to become one or hire one because MAN, is it ever needed.
On page 2 of the story I’m quoted as saying this about an old grape holly: “You don’t like it. It doesn’t look good there. Take it out.” Tough love, folks. That’s what coaches are for.
Now for a few behind-the-scenes thoughts.
- The status of that particular paper is such that the mere mention of being interviewed or photographed by the Times seems to fill people with awe and predictions of great things to come. (We’ll see about that.)
- The client with whom I was photographed and who is also quoted in the story is the charming Kay Meek of Silver Spring, MD. I’d been asked to recommend a few “advanced gardeners” among my clients, and she totally fit the bill. I’m only sorry the photo chosen doesn’t show more of her fabulous garden, which I showed in this post.
- The very nice photographer got us to do the damnest things – some very cheesy, almost cheek-to-cheek shots, some weird arms-folded shots – and I’m just glad the editor chose a photo that needs no ‘splaining. And if you mouse over it you’ll see it’s titled “Gardenwomen” which has a nice sisterhood feel to it.
- My brazen attempt to get my coaching site’s URL used resulted in a big no-show – and after I’d added a Coach Near You page and everything. But I like the page; I like spreading the coaching thing because I’m seeing how much people can be helped by hiring an experienced gardener for even an hour or two.
Photo by the very nice, very persuasive Jamie Rose for the New York Times.
by Susan Harris on May 12, 2007
Say your mom, in need of some new interests at this point in her life, tells you she just might like gardening if she only knew where to start. You’d like to help but you live 200 miles away. Most of us, myself included, would let it go at that but not the son who called me last month from NYC looking for someone to teach his mom to garden. His search had started with calls to garden designers here in the D.C. area, where he grew up and his mom still lives. Well, the notion of teaching a client to garden is apparently so alien they reacted as if the very notion were nutty. But with a combination of persistence and chutzpa that surprises the Southerner in me but is essential for hailing cabs in Manhattan, he researched and found the D.C. area’s one local gardening magazine and called its editor. Now would you do that, even for dear old Mom? Me, neither. And luckily, the friendly editor of Washington Gardener Magazine is my buddy Kathy, who was more than happy to refer him to me.
So we talked and at first I didn’t quite know what to make of this guy but after meeting his sweetheart of a mother, I was sold on the endeavor, whatever the hell it might turn out to be. See, the goal here would be to teach and excite and create a gardener far more than to create a beautiful garden or add value to a piece of real estate. In fact, don’t create too much garden and overburden the student; just a little something to tend to and enjoy. Okay.
So where to
start? The backyard, with its old patio overlooking blank walls and a large AC, was the obvious place, the kind of fresh start that makes for great before-and-after pictures. And after our first three afternoons together, I’m happy to present a colorful but manageable little garden of spireas, both ‘Anthony Waterer’ and ‘Little Princess,’ Hypericum shrubs, dianthus, scabiosa, and coreopsis, all chosen by Mrs. R. Turns out this 70-something gardening newbie has a terrific sense of color and an eye for foliage, too. As lovely as this is, imagine those shrubs blooming, not to mention a year or two older - Sweet! We’ve since moved on to the front, so stay tuned.
And before leaving this aaah-inspiring Mother’s Day Story, let’s ponder the question raised in my last post, namely how DO you create a gardener?
In this situation I could have hired workers to install borders all in one visit, then left instructions for care and been done with it, but how much learning and inspiration would that have accomplished? So we made several trips to the nursery together, an essential gardening activity that can be intimidating to the uninitiated. And after drawing borders with my handy spray paint, I broke my own rules and removed the sod myself, amended the soil and planted Mrs. R’s new garden, all under her watchful eye and chatting away about what I was doing and a million other topics. And I’m hoping to arrange an educational outing together, like a garden tour or a visit to a public garden or even my own. So, Readers, any other ideas?
Oh, and funny thing about this story. Turns out Mrs. R’s son has done lots more with his persistence and chutzpa than find a gardening teacher for his mom. He’s an entertainer, seen and heard all over TV, radio and even on Broadway. Too bad he’s too modest to let me name him.
Happy Mother’s Day, Mrs. R!
2007 UPDATE
This story was originally posted on Mother’s Day of 2006, so an update is in order. Mrs. R’s garden is looking good and being added to gradually – recently some Flower Carpet roses, with 2 large weigelas coming soon. And more importantly, she’s become a friend.
