I was watching a video on Myers-Briggs Personality Types today and learned that my type has an artistic side. Well duh! The speaker mentioned INFJ‘s often draw, paint or play an instrument. This left me feeling a bit perplexed.
I’ve never felt a desire to draw or paint. Yes, I took piano lessons for a while but it just wasn’t for me. So how is it that I’m a ‘creative‘?
I don’t see myself as a creative person. It goes back to when I was a child. Being creative was looked at as having some sort of terminal disease. Being an artist was an unacceptable career choice.
Today, yet again, I thought, “Where is your creativity? All you do is spread topsoil, dig holes, and spread mulch. Who can’t do that?”
Luckily, I caught myself before it spiraled out of control.
I don’t think I’ll ever find a way to communicate what I do effectively. There’s more to it than digging and mulching.
Designing, installing and maintaining landscapes is my form of self-expression.
I look at a space and figure out how to make it look best.
I’ve spent a lifetime learning about plants and observing how plants perform in landscapes. I’ll never stop learning.
Bloodroot growing on the edge of a road.
Trillium growing in the forest.
A beautiful stream with boulders flanked by hemlocks.
Part of the design process, for me, is to stare at a space and let my mind wander, almost subconsciously, and see what pops into it. My Myers-Briggs Type’s dominant function is intuition.
We had light snow today which left the backyard with some interesting patterns. In an effort to uncover tasty birdseed the birds left some interesting patterns in the back yard. Needless to say, I spread the seed around the backyard so everyone who visits has a chance to eat!
A couple of weeks ago I spotted a flower on one of my elephant ears, presently there are two flowers on all three of my elephant ears.
I’ve been growing these elephant ears for two years. They started as strangly plants I picked up on clearance at the grocery store and turned into green monsters.
I used a hand truck to bring the pots inside to overwinter. Near the end of winter, I almost abandoned the project because the plants weren’t looking good. I’m glad I didn’t. It’s such a pleasure to watch elephant ears grow.
Each plant is producing two blooms and then another leaf. The blooms are covered with wrapping when they emerge. On one of the plants, I had to carefully remove the covering and on another, I broke the flower thinking the covering was a stuck leaf.
The flowers aren’t showy but I’m thrilled to have them. To me the blooms are a sign of a happy elephant ear!
Besides the flowers and huge leaves, there’s another interesting thing about elephant ears. They literally dribble water from their leaves. In the picture below you can see the streams of water running down the leaf.
I water my elephant ears liberally once or twice a day. The wetter the soil, and hotter the temperature, the happier elephant ears are.
I’m looking forward to showing you elephant ear seeds if I get any. Meanwhile, if you recognize the species please let me know what I’ve got. There was no tag on the plants when I bought them but I knew they had to be elephant ears.
First Shade Day this year was on May 12th. I returned from the grocery store and looked across the lawn to see a deep, crisp shadow.
First Shade Day is the day you notice deep shade for the first time every spring.
This is my second post about First Shade Day. Last year was a warm spring and I was full of activity around the garden. This year we’ve had a brutally cold last few weeks and I’m behind in tasks around the yard. I’ve been working on getting the perennial weeds out of the gardens, re-edging beds and transplanting perennials and shrubs which were long overdue to be divided or moved.
The weather has been so overcast, so cold and so miserable it’s been hard to find the motivation to go outside.
I’ve been focusing on one part of the garden or one task and celebrate getting something done rather than striving to push through and getting burned out. Little by little I’m getting there.
We’re in the middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic. It’s an exhausting time. I’m in a constant state of alert when I leave the house. A trip to the grocery store is an effort to get in, get what I need, and get out. In the old days, I would make small talk at the grocery store, but we’re all so serious I’ve stopped trying.
I do what I can to protect myself and my family. I wear a mask, nitrile gloves and use a liberal amount of sanitizer when I get back to the car.
I’m happy to say here in CT sanitizer is showing up on the shelves again. I almost cried when there was a display of large bottles of sanitizer at BJs yesterday.
I find the most at peace when I get out and do some work in the yard, or someone else’s yard. I don’t wear my PPE then, as long as I’m away from people, and I get lost in my work. It’s like there is no pandemic.
Last week I visited a garden center and picked up annuals for a client’s property. I love, love, love the pinks of those geraniums and pansies. The plants are massed in the garage because we’ve had a freeze warning the last three nights.
I’ve been doing a lot of ‘subconscious’ thinking on my future as well. I love landscaping and landscape design and everything about this field but I have yet to find a way to make a decent living at it.
I have yet to reap the rewards of my education and experience.
I keep pointing at the change in the economy since the stock market crash of 2008 as the reason for my difficulties. I liken the crash to someone pulling the rug from under my feet and falling to the ground after they did it. Whatever momentum I had was gone.
Perhaps I’m where I am because of who I am.
I’ve always been detail-focused which is great if you’re a rocket scientist but not so good if production is the way to make earn a living. I take the time to make sure gardens have color in all seasons and flowing and crisp edges. I choose plants based on how they’ll perform in the garden and not whether they’re in stock at the nursery.
So what am I getting at?
Over the last few years, I’ve been transitioning to a different model. Why not focus on what makes me different as opposed to what makes me like everyone else? There will always be companies who can do the job cheaper, however, few can do it better.
Perhaps I should spend more time designing landscapes and consulting about landscapes and less time digging holes. Could I design landscapes for people all over the country from here in Connecticut? Could I design landscapes that other companies install? Could I design landscapes for homeowners to install with helpful links to videos I’ve made about planting and mulching?
Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing the fruits of my labor. I’ll never refuse a planting or landscape maintenance job if someone wants my level of service. I have yet to find a way to properly communicate what that difference is besides the photos on this website.
I’ve also been trying, unsuccessfully, to publish more blog posts. There are a handful of you that enjoy reading my ramblings and I appreciate you. If I could write more, and year-round, it would be another avenue to explore. I find writing goes best for me when I’m in the right state of mind, which is usually a warm sunny day. I have yet to find a way around that obstacle.
I enjoy making videos about landscaping and hobbies I enjoy. I find gardening videos difficult to make because in gardening there are so few absolutes. The soil, the sun, the weather are all a crapshoot. No matter how well I try to explain something, especially about pruning, there will always be more questions. I suppose all I can do is my best when creating videos.
This post is meant to celebrate First Shade Day and explain the direction I’ve been heading the last few years. I don’t know where I’ll end up but I do know the following.
Some landscaping practices should be avoided. Below are my top three landscaping pet peeves.
Tags left on Plants
Why would anyone leave plant tags fluttering in the wind? Leaving tags on plants takes a beautiful landscape and makes it look like the side of the highway. Please remove all tags before leaving the job.
I occasionally leave a tag on a new plant, at my house, so I can remember what I planted or learn a plant’s name. However, if you’re bringing a plant to someone’s house either know what it is or keep a list of what you planted.
A great way to practice plant identification is to walk through a newly installed commercial landscape. Guess what the tree or shrub is and check the tag to see if you got it right!
Landscape Fabric
There’s never a reason to install landscape fabric under mulch.
In a few years, the mulch will break down and weeds will grow into the fabric becoming a headache to remove. In ten to fifteen years, when it’s time to redo the landscape, someone will suffer while ripping the fabric out. If you’ve never ripped out landscape fabric I assure you it’s no fun.
There’s never a reason to install landscape fabric under gravel either.
Dirt settles in gravel and creates the perfect seedbed for weeds. Weed roots anchor to landscape fabric under gravel the same as under mulch. It’s more of a hassle than it’s worth.
Volcano Mulching
Trees are not supposed to look like a fountain of lava shooting out of the top of a volcano. If you leave mulch against the base of a tree you’re doing more harm than good.
A properly mulched tree should have, at most, two to three inches of mulch tapering down six inches or more away from the tree.
Please stop the volcano mulching madness.
If you’re new to landscaping please heed the pet peeves on this page so your landscape doesn’t suffer.
Yesterday I pulled the car over to take a photo of a grouping of grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum). The temperature was in the low 40’s and by the minute the weather changed from overcast to partial sun, to rain showers, to snow showers. The grape hyacinth loved it.
When I was a kid we had grape hyacinth growing in the yard under spruce trees. It was a dry, shady spot and they would reliably bloom every spring. They never formed a clump but getting anything to bloom under those trees was a miracle. Once the bloom was done you forgot they were there.
I’ve never planted grape hyacinth because to me it’s an outdated plant, like yews and pachysandra. However, we should choose plants with the best chance of success where they’re planted while not becoming invasive.
How many plants thrive on the side of a cut in a ledge?
If you want early-spring color and have a dry spot with full to partial sun try Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum). There are plenty of grape hyacinth cultivars available that range in color from whites to shades of lavender and there’s even a double flowering grape hyacinth.
Watching the news lately I’m noticing a pattern. So-called ‘leaders’ are not leading. These people in leadership positions have their self-interests in mind and not the greater good.
There are two types of leaders. Those that seek power and those that seek to enhance the greater good.
The ‘Leader’ Who Seeks Power
This is the easiest to spot. This person has the loudest voice in the room and you can hear them talking over everyone else. There’s no such thing as a two-sided conversation with this type of leader.
These people keep their power by making ‘jokes’ at the expense of their subordinates. They point out flaws in others to take the focus off of themselves.
It’s my way or the highway!
Why do these people take leadership positions? Because being a leader means you have more power, more status and more money. It’s not about the greater good, it’s about money and power.
They drive fancy cars or brag about their money. It’s not the cars or the money that show their flaws. There’s nothing wrong with driving a nice car or earning a good living. However, when they brag about their cars or money they think it means they’re better than others. They’ll never get it.
If you work under a ‘leader’ like this what can you can expect? Opportunities to advance or long hours and thankless tasks?
The Humble Leader
Humble leaders are difficult to spot because they don’t seek the spotlight, they don’t want to be the center of attention. Humble leaders want to advance the goals of the organization and those working with them.
Humble leaders are approachable and want to talk with their peers. They want to know what’s going on in the organization. They want to know how they can help.
Humble leaders appear not to be leading because they do it so effortlessly. They know to praise in public and critique in private. They never ask someone to do something they wouldn’t. They seek to train their future replacement.
I’ve witnessed two of the most humble, and powerful, leaders since my son joined the Boy Scouts of America.
While my son was in Cub Scouts the Committee chair was as selfless a person as they get. He was easy to talk to, ran a well-prepared meeting and was always available if there was a problem.
Now that my son is a Boy Scout the Scoutmaster is also a humble leader. He’s a soft-spoken man who is very approachable and somehow has his finger on everything going on in the troop. If you need help with something he knows who to point you towards.
I’m amazed at how well the scoutmaster works the crowd when there’s a meeting. He talks to everyone in the room like they were friends forever. It’s a great way to keep abreast of what’s going on in the troop.
Who has more power?
Power seeking leaders raise their voice and make a scene to get their way. Nothing is ever their fault.
When I was young I confused false confidence for power. True confidence doesn’t have to yell or make a scene.
Powerful leaders don’t have to raise their voice or make a scene to get their way. They get their way because those working with them respect them and don’t want to let them down.
Next time your watching the evening news, at a company meeting or visiting a friend’s house think about the type of leader you’re watching.
Do they demean others? Do they seek to assist their subordinates? Do they try to show their power with fancy things?
The answers to these questions will tell you a lot about the type of person, and the type of leader, they are.
*** Note, I wrote this post over two years ago. My son is no longer a Boy Scout but the message is timeless and worth sharing.
Nothing says New England like an old barn or a covered bridge. This is the Covered Bridge at Southford Falls State Park in Southbury, CT. I took the picture while hiking last week.
This post isn’t really about the cat, Chloe, in this picture. It’s about the plant label laying a little to her left. She pulled that label out twice the last week. Silly kitty!
