I remember the first time I planted Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly weed) in a client’s garden (now some 10 years ago — CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!) After about three months, the garden was looking fabulous! Imagine my shock when one day the assistant called me (after asking me to hold for the boss) and put me on the phone with the distraught and accusing high-powered Hollywood talent agent, my client. “My butterfly weed is covered in caterpillars and they are eating the whole thing! It looks terrible! What are YOU going to do about it?“
Multiple Monarchs Munching. How Many Do You See?
Until that phone call, it hadn’t even occurred to me that someone wouldn’t understand that butterfly weed was FOOD for butterfly larvae (ie. caterpillars) — and that the caterpillars would EAT it. My client and I had talked and schemed about inviting nature into the landscape so the children could begin to appreciate the cycles of life that a true butterfly and bird habitat garden provide. I’d shown pictures of all sorts of local fauna we expected to attract, but I never discussed the process by which that fauna settles into the garden and makes it a home.
From that day forward, I have made it my mission to help people appreciate, embrace and spread the story of the natural cycles of the landscape. G3 Certified Professionals from all walks of life have taken the time out of their busy schedules to start building a community that supports the telling of this story through their everyday actions.
Sometimes the story requires your understanding the science and math behind the techniques you want to employ in your client’s landscape to bring them along the sustainability curve. Sometimes the story requires your getting the client out into the garden to EXPERIENCE the landscape in a new way. Sometimes you just have to plant the “weeds” and wait for the client to call. Whatever the case, the G3 Intensive Seminar will help you understand what you need to learn, prepare, and teach to help your entire neighborhood make the shift to a more sustainable landscape paradigm; and the G3 Certified Professionals in your area provide a support network for your getting out and doing it every day. Join us for the NEXT PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
