Before Our Meeting >> At least a few days before your coaching session, you should do some HOMEWORK.

Experience has shown me that if a client hasn't spent time pondering and WRITING their ideas, desires, problems, or issues, they are less able to concisely articulate them at the coaching session. Doing HOMEWORK will get you focused, and it will save you money.

Ponder, walk your landscape, and make notes or lists about some or all of the following as they pertain to your situation:

Design:

• Things you like... and dislike about your current landscape.
• Activities you want/need to do in your landscape.
• Your tolerance for doing the WORK of gardening if you intend to maintain the garden yourself... or how much money you can afford to spend to have a contractor maintain it for you.
• How environementally friendly your landscape should be.
• Plants you like… and another list of plants you hate.
• Colors and landscape accessories you like.
• Take a field trip (or 2… or more) to photograph landscapes, gardens or vignettes at nurseries that inspire you; and print the photos for me to see when I arrive. (Even if you can't afford what you are drawn to, knowing what you like helps me help you.)
• What would be your ideal landscape if money was no hinderance? And why?

Maintenance / culture:

• Plants that aren't thriving, are being eaten or are diseased.
• Areas that aren't performing as you'd expected or intended.
• Pruning issues — Please give me notice if I'm to teach you pruning techniques. (I only work on trees/shrubs under about 8' tall. If your trees are larger, I can give names of arborists to help you.)
• Drainage issues.
• Specific maintenance, culture, pest questions or concerns you have.
• Again… assess your tolerance for doing the WORK of gardening if you intend to maintain the garden yourself... or how much money you can afford to spend to have a contractor maintain it for you.

At Our Meeting >> If I'm going to teach you a skill… like pruning… have the appropriate tools available, clean and in good working order. If you don't have tools, please inform me so I can see about supplying extras for you. After all, you can't learn to prune if you don't DO some pruning. If I'm going to help with plant placement or container design, have the appropriate tools, soil, container, water source, etc. ready. Wear clothing you can get dirty.

Taking Notes >> I will be taking notes so I know which of my plant lists and other info to send you after the coaching visit. Experience has shown that my coachees cannot remember everything I say after I leave unless they've got their own notes for later reference. So, you will need to take notes, too. Essentially, if you want to remember what I say, be prepared to write it down or make an audio recording of our session.

Amazingly… I don't know everything about EVERYthing, and there will be things I can't answer or do for you during the coaching session… or even in the recap. However, for an additional fee (paid at time of session), my brief recap can be expanded into a detailed and lengthy report (where I can generally answer most of your questions), complete with photos, plant ID, notes, instructions, drawings, etc. We can discuss your needs, and I'll tell you how much it will cost for me to prepare a report for you.