COVER STORY
Member Highlight on
ABIGAIL GARDENS I’m
hardly a business tycoon or horticultural authority, but at 25 years old, I now own a serviceoriented gardening business that I eponymously transitioned into Abigail Gardens. With nine months of business ownership under my belt, the driving forces for success in my business are focusing on employees and relying on self-assuredness. Two vehicles, six employees, and about fifty-five regular clients. We’re small but mighty, and I certainly can’t be considered responsible for its conception. As a previous employee of Leslie Harris at LH Gardens, I was shocked (to say the least!) when she dropped the bomb on me and asked me to buy and take-over the business from her. I never had intentions of becoming a professional gardener. After receiving my degree from St. Lawrence University in Modern Foreign Languages in 2018, I made the move from rural upstate New York to Charlottesville. Although I had plans of becoming a teacher, it was ultimately the ability to work with my hands, be outside, and the allure of becoming nature’s eternal student which had me captivated by the world of horticulture. It was May of 2021, and we launched into a whirlwind transition- three and a half months later, Abigail Gardens was born, and my head still spins when I think about how quickly it all happened. There’s a steep learning curve that comes with transitioning from employee to employer, and time is hardly ever on your side. Technically, the heavy lifting was already done, as I had many of the big picture things in place thanks to Leslie. There were, however, a lot of growing pains. Leslie had created something that worked really well, so I wasn’t going to reinvent the wheel with Abigail Gardens, but I did spend a lot of time considering what spirit and ethos I wanted my business to embody. If the success of Abigail Gardens is measured only by our ability to turn a profit, then it isn’t a success in my eyes. While we do need to turn a profit, adding quality of life to all of those involved with the business – clients, plants, employees-- is an integral part of our mission. With all that’s involved in running a business such as this, I knew I needed someone at my side that matched my passion and work ethic. Sarah Schrock, another previous employee of LH Gardens, I felt was going to be the perfect fit. Despite all the unknowns of a transitioning business, Sarah gladly accepted the position of Manager of Operations. “It doesn’t feel like I have to go to work each day, I get to go to work each day,” says Schrock. “We spend so much time throughout our lives at work, that it really ought to be spent doing something you enjoy.”
12 • VNLA News • Summer 2022
