----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 12:01
AM
Subject: Fw: "common gardeners" and
thinking
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 1:12 PM
Subject: "common gardeners" and thinking
At the risk of sounding harsh, I find that most of the common gardeners I
run into simply DON'T think, at least not about climate or the appropriateness
of what they plant. and there is definitely a dearth of competent
nursery staff to help people avoid these types of gardening mistakes. It
almost makes me want to take a job at Home Depot (our busiest nursery) just to
help out the masses! Almost.
Karrie Reid
Folsom Foothill Gardener
Sunset Zone 9
Unlike the "common gardeners" Karrie runs into,
ours do think (it is thought, Karrie, but not thought as we know it), not that
these thought processes run on the lines of "Gosh this is an interesting
plant, I wonder how can I rise to the challenge and keep it happy in an
otherwise hostile environment". No, in the market they will nit-pick and
ratbag for hours wasting selling time before announcing that they live in (i)
a swamp (ii) a desert (iii) outer darkness or an apartment without even
a window sill which comes to much the same thing. Why do they do it?,
either because they are lonely and want a captive audience or they have
half an hour to kill before catching a bus perhaps. It can't be my pretty
face. No way. There are certainly those who like to use us as a free
advice service, and they keep us up to the mark, whenever Jenny spots one of
these regulars approaching our stall, she benevolently decides I need a
coffee and rushes off to get me one, leaving me to deal with the
chatterer. Ok, so as Karrie says, this is "harsh" or cynical or whatever
but it is a fact of life and it does obscure the minority of the
public who buy something every week and have become good friends, the wondrous
eccentric who wanted to establish an olive grove in South Wales, the
pensioners who can afford one wild flower every March...or the very old man
who bought some plants several years ago and who we thought had died in the
mean time. He re-emerged this year and said that his plants had done so well,
they had taken over his garden and he had told all his friends how good our
stuff is. I wish there were more enthusiasts like them and who
compensate for all those who won't buy a perennial for £3.75 ($6) from
us preferring to get a plastic pack of tastelessly garish computer-raised
foreign bedding plants because they are getting more bulk for their
money.
On competent staff, it reminds me of my
niece whose first job was selling Christmas decorations in a garden centre.
After Christmas, she was told to go into the bedding plants department. When
she wailed that she knew nothing about plants, she was told that her job
was selling, not knowing plants. She is now a very successful
international banker....and still knows nothing about
plants.
Anthony (In the South West of England, where
once, very long ago, it rained)
