One of my greatest passions is plants and growing things, and so it has been a personal pursuit of mine since before high school.
In college we called ourselves, HortiNerds. Those nerds who get together in their free time and talk incessantly about plants and plant related topics. We talk about plants using their latin names of course and describe plants as if they were people.
That's me.
And I started pretty young. (here starts the history of my passion)
My first job, at 15, with worker permit in my hand, was at a small garden shop in an upscale part of our city. It was owned by a friend of my father's, and although they didn't think I knew squat, I had already read and gardened quite a bit. I knew some stuff, YO!
It doesn't hurt that I am also blessed with a photographic memory. So quickly I memorized where everything was at the little garden shop and made myself invaluable.
At that point, my mind was also like a sponge, absorbing information about plants all around me. I would read plant tags in my spare time, learning light conditions and soil requirements for different varieties. I also listened to whatever the owner would tell me about particular plants. Especially those plants I had not personally grown yet.
That was my first, informal education in plants.
Then, at 17, I became determined to make Horticulture my career choice. I wanted to be a great Horticulturalist that would work for some 'big name' nursery somewhere, taking cuttings and creating new cultivars superior to anything on the market.
With that goal in mind I started my senior year of high school doing a co-op program with a local nursery.
After high school I went on to get my Associates Degree in Horticultural Science at my local community college. Despite being a local community college, it is known for having one of the best two year horticultural programs in the US.
In college we called ourselves, HortiNerds. Those nerds who get together in their free time and talk incessantly about plants and plant related topics. We talk about plants using their latin names of course and describe plants as if they were people.
That's me.
And I started pretty young. (here starts the history of my passion)
My first job, at 15, with worker permit in my hand, was at a small garden shop in an upscale part of our city. It was owned by a friend of my father's, and although they didn't think I knew squat, I had already read and gardened quite a bit. I knew some stuff, YO!
It doesn't hurt that I am also blessed with a photographic memory. So quickly I memorized where everything was at the little garden shop and made myself invaluable.
At that point, my mind was also like a sponge, absorbing information about plants all around me. I would read plant tags in my spare time, learning light conditions and soil requirements for different varieties. I also listened to whatever the owner would tell me about particular plants. Especially those plants I had not personally grown yet.
That was my first, informal education in plants.
Then, at 17, I became determined to make Horticulture my career choice. I wanted to be a great Horticulturalist that would work for some 'big name' nursery somewhere, taking cuttings and creating new cultivars superior to anything on the market.
With that goal in mind I started my senior year of high school doing a co-op program with a local nursery.
After high school I went on to get my Associates Degree in Horticultural Science at my local community college. Despite being a local community college, it is known for having one of the best two year horticultural programs in the US.
I worked hard at my studies for two years, but before my last semester was complete, I decided not to finish. Instead I married my boyfriend (now husband). Being the spend thrift I am I wanted to save my tuition costs to go toward our wedding. So I did.
Some said it was stupid, but I didn't care!
After all these years of marriage and adventures, I still don't care.... all that much. Sure, it would be great to see that little piece of paper that says I finished, but I know I didn't miss much.
Some said it was stupid, but I didn't care!
After all these years of marriage and adventures, I still don't care.... all that much. Sure, it would be great to see that little piece of paper that says I finished, but I know I didn't miss much.
So, after school I got married, and then I continued to work on and off at the local nursery for the next year and a half. I also used my employee discount to furnish my own small garden with the best plants I could afford, which wasn't much.
The pathetic resources I had available for my own garden was my original inspiration for starting my own landscaping business.
My goal: to use other peoples money to design beautiful gardens for them at their expense. It was a win/win in my mind. Let me say it again. I used other peoples money to build beautiful gardens in spaces much larger than my own, with a budget much larger than my own and received the praise and adoration of my clients. It was awesome!!!
I did that for probably two years before my husband and I moved toKansas City. In that next season, in Kansas City,
My goal: to use other peoples money to design beautiful gardens for them at their expense. It was a win/win in my mind. Let me say it again. I used other peoples money to build beautiful gardens in spaces much larger than my own, with a budget much larger than my own and received the praise and adoration of my clients. It was awesome!!!
I did that for probably two years before my husband and I moved to
It is hard to garden when you can barely bend over because of your belly. So I took a few years off from formal gardening, but learned all I could about new plants while living in Missouri.
That became really helpful later in landing me a job on the grounds maintenance crew at the House of Prayer, where my husband and I were involved in ministry. Not only was it a nice source of income, but it reawakened my passion for gardening on a larger scale again. Using other people's money to make their properties all that I could every dream of making them.
Then I found out I was pregnant again.
So I worked for as long as I could, and then took another 6 months off, with only helping on the side to design a few new gardens for the ministry. It was hard though, because plants are so much a passion of mine. To design and not be able to make it a reality with my own two hands. Hard. I'm not good at delegating.
Thankfully, after the 6 months I came back to work on the grounds crew, and helped to manage the flowers and gardens for 6 different properties. It was so much fun, and I loved every minute of it.
That lasted a year longer, and then it was time to move again, this time to Charlotte, NC.
North Carolina is a zone 7! It was exciting. There were broadleaf evergreens and semi-tropical flowers that I had only read about, growing in abundance all around me. I was in one sense 'enamored' with it all, and in another sense 'intimidated'.
I took two years watching and learning how to use the new plants in my palette, and then I began to do some design work for some friends. Although it was small scale stuff compared to what I had done previously, it was something, and with three kids to care for, it was enough.
Now here I am, on the cusp of another move, and I am thinking of the new horticultural adventures I'm about to have. The Dallas area of Texas is a zone 8 you know. Cactus and all sorts of new things. It should afford me some new and fresh challenges, but I think I'm game for it!
And that is a brief history of my Hortinerdishness (horti-nerd-ish-ness). I made that word up. Like it?
Just one of the many quirks that makes me.....me!
That became really helpful later in landing me a job on the grounds maintenance crew at the House of Prayer, where my husband and I were involved in ministry. Not only was it a nice source of income, but it reawakened my passion for gardening on a larger scale again. Using other people's money to make their properties all that I could every dream of making them.
Then I found out I was pregnant again.
So I worked for as long as I could, and then took another 6 months off, with only helping on the side to design a few new gardens for the ministry. It was hard though, because plants are so much a passion of mine. To design and not be able to make it a reality with my own two hands. Hard. I'm not good at delegating.
Thankfully, after the 6 months I came back to work on the grounds crew, and helped to manage the flowers and gardens for 6 different properties. It was so much fun, and I loved every minute of it.
That lasted a year longer, and then it was time to move again, this time to Charlotte, NC.
North Carolina is a zone 7! It was exciting. There were broadleaf evergreens and semi-tropical flowers that I had only read about, growing in abundance all around me. I was in one sense 'enamored' with it all, and in another sense 'intimidated'.
I took two years watching and learning how to use the new plants in my palette, and then I began to do some design work for some friends. Although it was small scale stuff compared to what I had done previously, it was something, and with three kids to care for, it was enough.
Now here I am, on the cusp of another move, and I am thinking of the new horticultural adventures I'm about to have. The Dallas area of Texas is a zone 8 you know. Cactus and all sorts of new things. It should afford me some new and fresh challenges, but I think I'm game for it!
And that is a brief history of my Hortinerdishness (horti-nerd-ish-ness). I made that word up. Like it?
Just one of the many quirks that makes me.....me!
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