I am sitting here with the sunshine filtering through on to my screen. And I have been thinking about the kind of relationship that I like to develop with my garden clients and with their beautiful gardens.
Many of my clients seem to be families who have children and they either have business themselves or both partners are out at work. They are busy people. They don't necessarily know much about plants but they do have big gardens which they like to look beautiful at all times of year.
It helps, at the outset, to get an idea - a brief - of what they would like to achieve in their gardens and this involves walking round the gardens and talking about issues and plans. Quite frequently we are confronted by thickets which may well contain the remnants of ornamental plantings (the garden itself gives us its ideas) and people want to start with a clear up exercise in their borders or other, more specialized, areas of planting. Sometimes people are very clear about what they want to achieve and may say words to the effect of: 'I want to plant a collection of old-fashioned species roses.'
The best relationships, I find, are with those clients who actively want to hear ideas (by weekly email for instance) and who are willing to take a monthly walk around the garden to discuss future plans. The relationship is open, equal, and co-operative, involving significant amounts of openness and trust. It is also important, I believe, if both partners (if a couple) take part in ideas regarding the development of their garden - because it generates a synergy of enthusiasm and also capitalizes on the skills of all concerned.
It is up to the ornamental gardener to know sufficient about plants of all kinds - trees, shrubs, perennials, and bulbs - to be able to make suggestions and then source the plants from garden centres, nurseries and catalogues. And then - as the garden grows in beauty - becomes a work of art - it becomes a source of great, and even spiritual, joy.
Many of my clients seem to be families who have children and they either have business themselves or both partners are out at work. They are busy people. They don't necessarily know much about plants but they do have big gardens which they like to look beautiful at all times of year.
It helps, at the outset, to get an idea - a brief - of what they would like to achieve in their gardens and this involves walking round the gardens and talking about issues and plans. Quite frequently we are confronted by thickets which may well contain the remnants of ornamental plantings (the garden itself gives us its ideas) and people want to start with a clear up exercise in their borders or other, more specialized, areas of planting. Sometimes people are very clear about what they want to achieve and may say words to the effect of: 'I want to plant a collection of old-fashioned species roses.'
The best relationships, I find, are with those clients who actively want to hear ideas (by weekly email for instance) and who are willing to take a monthly walk around the garden to discuss future plans. The relationship is open, equal, and co-operative, involving significant amounts of openness and trust. It is also important, I believe, if both partners (if a couple) take part in ideas regarding the development of their garden - because it generates a synergy of enthusiasm and also capitalizes on the skills of all concerned.
It is up to the ornamental gardener to know sufficient about plants of all kinds - trees, shrubs, perennials, and bulbs - to be able to make suggestions and then source the plants from garden centres, nurseries and catalogues. And then - as the garden grows in beauty - becomes a work of art - it becomes a source of great, and even spiritual, joy.