6 minute read
Free Roof for Veteran
from JUNE 2021
GARDEN
DESIGNS by Jacqueline
! VICKI MITCHELL
Jacqueline Clark is a talented woman who really throws herself into her work (see her photo on the mulch pile!) She offers professional garden designs and services through her Ludlow based company, Garden Designs by Jacqueline. She is a Master Gardener and certified Landscape Designer and Horticulturist, and has been providing “quality landscaping services” since 2005.
If you were one of the many who did an abundance of planting and gardening last year due to the pandemic, you may be in need of some help in maintaining your investment. If so, you will be happy to know that Jacqueline and her crew specialize in the regular maintenance of your landscaping, offering a 3-6 week service program. This includes the weeding of beds, hand pruning and deadheading annuals and perennials, transplanting and dividing plants as needed, and edging and mulching, among other services.
If your yard or garden is lacking visual appeal, or you have bigger plans in mind for your landscape, Jacqueline says, “As a full service landscape design, installation, and maintenance company, we work with you to provide the very best custom design to meet your site’s function and flow, and also to make it aesthetically beautiful. We have a professional team we highly recommend to install your custom design, or you can install it yourself. We offer plans and options to fit any budget.” Perhaps best of all, you can schedule a free consultation with Jacqueline, who says, “ I enjoy creating custom designs based on our clients’ needs and wants, which are not only functional but are aesthetically pleasing. From project conception onward, I coordinate management of small landscape design installations. For larger projects, we refer the homeowner to a reliable company we work with. After installation, the client has the option to be added to our regular bed maintenance schedule, an often sought-after service. Our signature service, monthly maintenance or every 3 - 6 weeks, ensures that the clients’ investment is protected.”
She continues by saying, “Our professional gardeners… Melissa, Sandra, Tammy, Jacqueline and Mark (my husband) all specialize in plant care, first and foremost. We identify pest or disease issues, and treat them. Because landscapes are alive, they require immense care and attention to ensure that each plant remains healthy and strong so that our clients’ gardens can reach their full potential. All of our team members are crosstrained on all operational tasks, which is essential for efficiency and for providing quality services. We follow integrated pest management (IPM) practices, focusing on long-term prevention of disease and pests, such as choosing disease and deer resistant plants, using proper plant placement to avoid overcrowding and allowing for ample air flow, and proper irrigation practices for specific plant species.”
The long winter months are used to design landscapes and create new lectures for the coming season. “The perfect time of year to design is the winter months,” says Jacqueline. “It’s a multiphase process to create each clients’ dream landscape. We offer computer imaging design, so that you can see a conceptual image of how the landscape will look, as well as a CAD rendering to ensure that plants fit the spaces at their mature spread. My design schedule books up quickly during the warm months.”
After the design comes the crew’s favorite part of the job...”PLANTING! We are gardeners, after all,” explains Jacqueline. “A close second favorite would
be mulching. We call it the icing on the cake. It makes everything pop! Each time we create a new garden, it never loses its magic! What I find most exciting, even after 18 seasons, is looking forward to annual plant installations in either the garden or in containers. Our clients give us creative license to add the ‘bling’ to their beds each season. Even after their masterpieces are planted, it’s our regular maintenance schedule that keeps them looking their very best.”
There’s always a “least favorite” part of any job, and in this case, Jacqueline says that would be “having to tell a client that they need to choose another plant than the one they are ‘in love with’ when it absolutely won’t survive and thrive where they want to plant it. Second would be hot, humid days. Those are challenging for all gardeners and landscapers!” To help ensure a quality selection of plants and materials, Jacqueline buys her nursery stock locally, using Mulch-n-More, Randall’s Farm & Greenhouse, Sixteen Acres Garden Center, Ket Tree Farm, Andrews Greenhouse and Meadow View Farms.
When asked if a potential client could only budget for one of her services, which one would have the greatest impact, she responded “Hands down, monthly maintenance…it’s the service that protects your investment. Once the beds go to the ‘far-side’ it’s just as expensive to get them restored as it would be to keep them looking their very best on a regular maintenance schedule.
“We treat our gardens like our own,” says Jacqueline, “and it’s easy to think of them that way since we are there every month from March through November. Where people tend to hesitate investing is the design portion of their landscapes. I tell my clients that when creating rooms in our homes they are designed to be all that we want them to be and are planned accordingly. Each segment of our landscapes are ‘rooms’. How we create those rooms is the feeling we will get when we live in them. A cohesive plan positions the plants with the correct cultural and spatial needs. Ultimately, a good design should be aesthetically pleasing to the eye.”
And remember, when it comes to having a beautiful and functional outdoor space, “a goal without a plan is just a wish.” Let Jacqueline help you reach your gardening goals!
for VeteranFREE ROOF ! VICKI MITCHELL 96 year old Army Veteran George Evans served as a medic during WWII, specifically in The Battle of the Bulge. Soon, thanks to some friends, fellow Veterans, and generous tradespeople, Evans will be receiving a big surprise… a new roof for his house in Vernon, Connecticut. One of those friends, Chuck Winkler, had referred Evans to Gauvin Roofing, who had recently done roofing work for him. Keith Gauvin, the owner of the company, has been making contributions to his community for years. Since “business has been great” he has been thinking about doing a free roof giveaway for a while. When he heard from Evans, he knew this was the person he wanted to help! Others wanted to get involved, as well. Evans had contracted with Gauvin for the work to be completed, but was unaware of the efforts being made to provide this still active Vet with “a mind like a steel trap” with a free roof! GAF, a leading roofing manufacturer, is donating the shingles, approximately 80% of the product needed. Universal Supply Company in Manchester, CT, is donating the remaining 20% of needed materials. Gauvin expects his crew of 5 to 6 roofers to be able to complete the job in about one day.
