Wall shrubs/climbers

As I mentioned in a thread about ceanothus I have a client who has more money than sense. This may be a good thing as I'm going to have to tell her that the 3 ceanothus that grow up the front of her house will need replacing.

She's incredibly awkward - just recently she planted some urns with £30 worth of black-leafed dahlias and cineraria. That lasted 3 weeks and she now has the whole frontage (3 beds, 2 urns and 2 troughs) totally unsuitably planted with about £100 worth of hardy fuchsias, which will likewise be discarded because they are a) too green/not colourful enough and b) will have no flowers in the winter and look dreadful. As you can tell she doesn't usually ask me what I think should go there, but she knows nothing about plants and she doesn't seem at present to have any cashflow problems.

The three beds are semi-circular and about 12" out from the wall at the widest point, they face west but she claims they get no afternoon/evening sun. They are also not very deep, and she will insist on planting things (most recently 2l pots of hardy fuchsias which only just fit depthwise) in them which will upset the roots of the wall plants. Ideally I think it would be something evergreen because she's bound to say she doesn't like the look of bare stems or the house wall in the winter, but with interest at some point the rest of the year. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Get an easier customer!
alternatively try explaining to her that although you appreciate her desire to make a beautiful front garden she is not going to achieve this by just buying 'pretty' plants.
design and plant choice go together like 'hand and glove' or two sides of the same coin. I know these sound like 'old sayings' but they are true. I'd start by complimenting her on her choice of plants, but then tell her that although these are lovely plants they won't do all that well in the place she has chosen to plant them.
I'd then say that you would be willing to spend an afternoon planning/buying some plants that would give her colour, height. theme and design. ie a finished product that ticks all of the boxes.
I hope this helps.
all the best greeninmanyways. (dave)

 

Yeah, stop bad-mouthing your client in a public forum!

 

She is providing butter for your bread Akkan

 

I'm not, I'm asking for advice, because despite being awkward she's a lovely person.

I have been told via the grapevine that this is what happens and then you get blamed for the failure of the plants and a new person is taken on, presumably ad infinitum.

 

OK, if you are splitting hairs:

You are asking for advice
AND
Badmouthing your client.

I hope for your sake that neither that client, nor any of your other clients, sees this thread.

If you wrote, or said, that about me in public and word got back to me I wouldn't give you any further work, nor any reference, period.

viz:

"more money than sense" and the fact that you see that as a good thing to make money off her, "She's incredibly awkward" with details of what annoys you, and how you disagree with her choices; "she knows nothing about plants", "she doesn't seem at present to have any cashflow problems".

none of that should be aired in public IMHO, no matter how much your client might irk you.

 

OK, well it's all academic as i no longer have the job, because the plants "I chose" were unsuitable. That's a whole day's work lost plus a friend of her's whom she recommended me to has also decided she no longer wants to risk her garden. Consequently I shall be getting no references from the two people I do most work for.

This may be nothing to people who are able to drive, but I am disabled so unable to drive (or do very much else in terms of work) and losing two entire days' work a week is a very big deal being a single parent in such a small area where we have at least 10 people saying they do gardening. Plus, being a small place, people with gardeners talk to each other to know who is good, so my chances of finding any more clients are pretty well minimal because the two most important people have decided I do bad work.

 

Maybe just maybe they are on GC :-(

Hope you pick something up soon

Jack McH

 

Sadly, the same thought occured to me,
Jenny

 

I don't think he named the client, did he?

Nope.

That's terrible so I wish you luck. I've had pushey clients (though not in gardening) who've wanted something that I know just is not going to work. I've had them complain about the way I do something, even though it was the best way to achieve what they wanted. My heart sinks when they start because you can seldom win. It's the arrogant person's inability to trust an expert. I always give my point of view firmly and if I know it will make a job we've already agreed to fail, I politely refuse to do it. It's partially about belief: you can try to ask them what their big picture is, what they want to see there and then tell them clearly how to get it. Some of such clients will stick with me, some will not but either way it's better for my head because then I've got no regrets. And when the job fails, they can never say it was my fault. They tend to be women clients and yet I know other people who know how to flatter such people and they'll get the client to change their mind. Takes all sorts but unless you have the knack of manipulation, then take pride in knowing you do your job in the best way you know how. In the long run, I think I do better to speak to my clients honestly and get respect when the job is done well from some of them, rather than compromise and get blamed for the failure.

 

You said that your differences were over the choice of plants and that she is a lovely person. You also said that changing gardeners is a pattern.

I wonder whether (in hindsight of course) it would have been a more successful relationship if you had clarified roles at the outset, choice of plants would remain her responsibility and execution of the planting or whatever would be yours. That way if/when things went wrong it would have been clear where the responsibility lay. I think that when a client relationship breaks down (in any sphere not just gardening) it's because there was an initial misunderstanding of expectations. [Prime example is hairdressing where I've noticed friends will say something like "I've been scalped", and if you ask whether they were clear about how much hair they wanted cut off they'll say things like - well I said just take a bit off. How much is a bit?]

Perhaps you could now draw up a checklist of the range of responsibilities a gardener may have and at the start go through it with any new client ticking off who has responsibility for what and how much you would simply get on with (eg, the lawn may need feeding -- do you just get on with it and include the cost of the feed etc in your bill or do you advise the client that there is a need and leave the decision regarding whether or not to do it up to her).

You may be fortunate enough to get her back as a client if she really does chop and change regularly or if not at least you're ready to get off on the best foot with any new client. If your checklist begins with something like "To avoid confusion..." you're on the way to accounting for why you may have parted company with old clients without having to go into discussion. It sounds as if you live quite close to your previous client, if so you probably continue to bump into her, I'd suggest that you don't avoid her but make a point of saying hello as she's more likely to come back or at least not criticise you to others if you're on comfortable terms socially.

Best of luck

 

Do you seriously think that makes it OK?

 

There's also the problem of how you can explain the right way to do something which took you months or years of trial and error to learn, to a client willing to listen for one minute. Clarifying the roles is good. But perhaps this needs the nuclear option, i.e: charm!

I saw a good approach once: one gardener showed my Mum a gardening picture book before the work. Then she was focused on the result rather than wanting to nit-pick (aka micro-manage) the method.

If you have what they call 'good people skills' then you're blessed. But men whose whole work uses one skill or craft, like gardening, can occasionally get flummoxed by the simplest human interaction. Perhaps you could go for a drink with a workmate and get sympathetic advice. Akkan, who works alone can't so he put his problem on here because he'd like help to help both himself and his clients. I think that's all that's happening here, Kirsten.

 

If you have what they call 'good people skills' then you're blessed.
Worth its weight in platinum - wish I had it....,