Passing the torch to 2022

To coach or not to coach, that is the question. This forum really does to be careful about providing a balance of advice that understands that all is possible – still and even now and really, it hasn’t changed as much as one thinks and if it has, sad.

I’d look at hiring a coach like the decision to hire a master gardener or landscaping professional if you want to transform your yard. The professionals bring in a level of know-how, power tools, a crew and experience that might make transformation faster, and arguably better. They may exert some influence over you in terms of design and what plants you select based on their own bias but if they are good at, they will spend enough time with you to have a sense of who you are so you can end up with something that will feel like you.

Or you could just Astroturf the whole darn thing.

Then there is my friend Becky who isn’t a professional gardener/landscaper. She has one of the prettiest gardens you can imagine and does it all herself. Every plant is hand-picked and caters to details that she personally cares about (color, when it blooms, butterflies, water consumption) that make the net effect entirely personal to her and frankly, extraordinary. She is truly an expert without actually being a professional. And she makes her own curtains and is a top realtor! And maybe I actually hate her… Serenity now!!! (Except I don’t but I do not know how she does it all.)

And in the middle of the night, I may just Astroturf her whole darn thing while she sleeps.

Now my garden is currently full of weeds. Every once in a while I hire someone to come in to go through it “with a flamethrower” so I can go back to keeping up”ish” on my own. Usually that means things that I know are the good things that I want to keep get pulled up with the weeds but that’s the trade-off I make to feel like I’m getting somewhere in a task that otherwise can feel daunting. I occasionally buy yet another power tool to make my ability to keep up a bit easier. It is not nearly as pretty as Becky’s garden. Not as pretty as a professionally done garden. But if you stay on the other side of the street on a good day and squint, it looks ok. It’s where I fall on the continuum. I’m too independent, too budget conscious when it comes to spending money on stuff I still think I can do myself and frankly, not always willing to relinquish the control.

Or I could just Astroturf the whole darn thing but I’m more inclined to have a few weeds have people just squint from across the street.

Or you could be a person without a garden. And just have a bulb that needs to be planted in a public garden. And be equally worthy.

We need to hope these folks don’t just get AstroTurfed.

You can plant a tulip bulb in any one of these gardens in the fall, and come spring… it will sprout. And it will sprout no matter which of the above approaches you take.

Unless you Astroturf the whole darn thing.

delete… thank you Mods for fixing my post!

You nailed it @halflokum! Beautiful things can even sprout out of cracks in sidewalks - unbeknownst to whatever wind of fate placed it there. Sometimes, if you transplant them, and nurture them, they can mature into spectacular feature specimens. My specimen may look totally different from your specimen. If they’re paying attention, the folks squinting across the street may be able to appreciate the uniqueness of each.

@mom4bwayboy, glad you got my analogy.

My husband is a landscape architect… I totally get this! Well done!

This is my favorite quote of all time and I read it to the parents of my students every year now for 30 years…

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.”

“It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”

“Sniff, sniff”, @bisouu. SO true.

I’m already getting nervous!!

@marysike - Me too! I started thinking about this and lurking on CC last fall, and I don’t know where the time has gone. We have a lot of work to do between now and September - and rehearsals for two shows stacked up at the same time. The next 12 months will be quite a ride, I’m sure. I am so glad this community exists and that those that have gone before us have been so willing to share their stories and wisdom!