Tools of the Garden Coaching Trade

by Susan Harris, originally published 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 perform 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 Susan Harris, originally published 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 perform 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.