This is the second half of my interview with Amy Cate — major gardener inspiration. We talk about her experiences helping others with their landscaping — from major overhauls to smaller scale changes and maintenance. We also end with advice for new gardeners that also can apply to all areas of life. I hope you enjoy and leave inspired! I know I sure did.
Shelly: Last summer you did landscaping for someone….
Amy: Actually now, I’ve done it a couple summers. But three summers ago, was my major summer with my aunt, where she was basically like here’s my back yard, and she did not give me a budget, which I’m sure my uncle ended up regretting because I went crazy. She was like just make this something that is beautiful and livable. And, it was awesome. I did stone stuff where I had contractors come in and put in raised beds and tiered beds and pathways and firepit landing areas. We went to McMinnville and bought trees, and so its mature now. Well, not 100%, but in those four years— I mean it’s like, first of all, I did what I know I always do, which is I put too much in. And so, some of it’s died because I put too much of it in, but it’s awesome. It’s crazy to see something that was in your head get done.
Shelly: How did you plan it? What did you start with?
Amy: I started with the structure, like what I knew, how they use the yard. She has a lot of dogs, so I also was reading up on stuff that was safe for dogs and how to sort of manage— without putting fences up— how do you manage dog traffic. And, that has pretty much been successful. So I laid out the hardware first. Here the paths, here’s the beds. Then I started planning by looking at what her goals were. She wanted stuff that was low maintenance. She wanted stuff that was dog friendly, hardy, that she wouldn’t have to replant. There’s only one bed in there that is annuals, and she plants that herself every year, but everything else is perennials. Obviously looking at what is sun vs what is shade and going from there. Then, what I thought was cool. What I knew would be reliable, like black-eyed Susans, coreopsis, things that I know work in Tennessee, irises, gladiolas. I’m trying to think there’s a plant that is just the coolest thing looks like an orchid almost. It comes up like a glad but then the way blooms it looks like an orchid. I’m blanking on the name right now. I’ll think of it later. She has that, I planted that in her garden. It’s coming up and blooming right now, and I’m like that’s the coolest. So, then we just went and bought and I hired a bunch of kids to help me put it in, mulch and stuff. It was awesome.
Shelly: Does she live in Nashville?
Amy: Yeah, she lives on Granny White. So, she’s right there by school. But I landscaped for Will two summers ago when he bought a house. redid the front of his house. Same thing, he wanted curb appeal, wanted to be able to have some cut flowers, too, and herbs. I also had a budget then. So, I had to pay more attention to that. With his, I had to till—because— I had to work the ground a little bit more. Aunt Leigh’s had already been worked by the construction. So, that was two summers ago. And then, Aunt Leigh, I’m working at her house this summer some, but I’m mainly just doing like weeding and mulching. Just kinda management stuff. But much smaller scale than when I worked for her a couple summers ago. Only a few days.
Shelly: Any advice for new gardeners, current gardeners?
Amy: Part of me is like don’t take it too seriously, and then the other part of me is— I have a graph paper map. You know what I mean? There’s an element of magic to gardening to me where it really is something like I have this surprise pleasure every time something works, every time something grows. So, I definitely think— find some whimsy, find something weird you want to plant. Try it out. It’s always a shock to me, when there’s gardeners that are like “Oh, I don’t really know…” Because I’m like just buy it, put it in the ground and see if it works. And, you know, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes it does and you’re like okay, cool. Be a risk-taker with gardening to use IB words.
And, I just always— like what we were talking about with weeding— I’m still just in awe of mother nature. Relentless. It’s freaking Jurassic Park. Life will find a way. No matter what it is you think you can do to control her, you can’t. Whether its rain, whether its weeding, whether it’s feeding your garden and then things go crazy. Have some respect because it is like crazy, you know. It’s crazy. But I like it. I’m always like wow. I think that is my vibe when I come in. I do respect everything that goes on in there because I can’t believe that it works most of the time.
I hope you learned something from Amy Cate and leave with some inspiration to buy a plant, “put it in the ground and see if it works”! Be a risk-taker! What do you want to try in your garden?
