You thought I was joking about never cutting the grass again after the traumatic lawnmower rabbit massacre, didnt you? Well I wasnt! If there are anymore baby rabbits chopped up in my yard, it'll be done by a professional, thank you very much!
The (unnamed landscaping company) is a local landscaping company owned by a delightful young dude named Blank. Blank came to see me (my yard) today and I really felt like I was taking a friend for a walk in my garden. This guy was so interested in my plants that it was just down right inspiring. Did I mention that it was raining outside while we were touring? So, yeah, it was raining and I had on plastic sandles like a dork. Even though I had told Blank that I just needed somebody to mow (and weed, shhhh) this summer, he walked right over the grass, not even mentioning it, and straight to the flower bed where he started naming off all the shrubs.
"Viburnum! That's in my top five of plants ever" (holy crap the guy has a top 5 list?)
"Ohhhhhh it's a peach tree!" he said after looking at the plant tag
I was so impressed by his passion for plants. It was very clear to me that Patrick loves gardens and that's the kind of dude I want my plants exposed to. I was also really impressed that this very young guy is running a successful business. Plus, he felt really bad for me when I told him about the poodles, too.
But the problem was that they came one time and did a crappy job of edging around my flower beds and didn't pull a single weed. So I had rushed home to look at my awesome flower beds only to find a half assed job done. I called them a couple of times before I ever reached anybody and never was able to speak to the nice young man who I met. He was supposed to call me back but never did. At some point I just left a message to send me a bill and never come back.
Now some other company is here. I can tell his is a much smaller operation. They are a little cheaper but the truth is in the mowing. Stay tuned!
Sorry about your bad experience. I've had them too. I finally found a treasure of a young man who has his own small business. Instead of paying him every time he needs to come and mow the weeds (grass? you have grass??!!) I "put him on retainer" and pay him a regular sum every month. My yard has never looked better, and he's also put in all my raised beds and formed and poured the concrete to expand my patio (I pay for materials, and extra for labor because it's not yard maintenance). I found him because his "regular job" is being sexton at my church. I'd suggest that you start sniffing around and see if you can come up with a similar treasure. I don't know what I'd do without him — and he's also personally invested in the garden because of making the beds, etc., so he especially wants it to look good.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Marion. Hire a few different people from around the neighborhood, and you will stumble onto a treasure that will become a friend or even part of the family.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, good luck! I hate mowing.
hi marion! hope you are doing well. i don't see you popping up around the blog world as much anymore. i love your gardener already! i'll keep looking and hoping to find somebody just like that.
ReplyDeletewrenna - i hate mowing too.