SIDENOTES

Peter Kidd

If you have any questions or comments for Peter he can be reached by email at igbear@aol.com

Below please find some of his past articles that appeared in the NHLA Newsletters

November - December 2004
April 2004
March 2004
October 2003
September 2003
July 2003
May 2003
March 2003
November - December 2002
October 2002
September 2002
July 2002
May 2002
March 2002

Sidenotes - AprilNovember - December 2004
by Peter Kidd

November, Huh. My senses are breaking down, feels like December, in my head. I want the phone to stop ringing, no one to show up at my business in the morning. I truly do not want to hear the phone ring, yet have the answering machine on. Every couple days I glance at it, and play the messages return the appropriate phone calls, nearly praying for another answering machine on the other end, so I can tag it. My two foremen are working alone; last crew member fell off a stone wall while doing clean up. Messed up his ankle. Soon the foreman will team up and keep building rock walls, till nature do us part. Another month at showing up twice a day on the job and finishing off the last handfuls of designs to do and pitch for spring. And it is a good thing, as I am at the point of not wanting to leave the house for a month. I just want to wake up and design my own day from the inside out for a change. Not be held by demands and obligations. To sit and contemplate the Red Sox, to not shower for days, or get out of my sweat pants. To toss out the window, all people skills, and winter the bear's den. Live in a state of hibernatus. Passing fluidly through waking, dreaming, and sleeping, seamlessly. I get this way every year, and it takes longer each winter to heal and get my body and brain ready for a new season. But now, toward the end I am playing pitch to pitch, one chess move at a time. Pretty basic stuff. Survival mode, I don't take all calls. Huge admiration for the techies who came up with caller id. Interesting to see that Windows Word Perfect underlines in red the word techies. I forge ahead through the time lag, but can say how much I enjoy and use the caller id. Wondering if the Homeland Security crowd is responsible for taking away burning bushes from the landscapes. I can envision myself as retiring and dealing in the black market for plants like burners. Knowing you all are craving it, find a source, and deal in cash only. You know the gig if you have grown up through a subculture, or simply watch TV, running a scam. Get a bank account in the Islands, buy a jet, stuff like that. It is something to ponder, and loosestrife would become like heroin. Norway Maples would be difficult to smuggle in, so their price would soar. Oh well, just some food for thought. The mind of an entrepreneur day dreaming, pay it no heed. Elections,, hugh. Sorry, I have traded, even up, fall baseball for politics, simple as that. It is not even a contest. After nearly three years of being pummeled on TV and the newspaper and talk radio. Two years prior to the Primary, till now. Give us our airwaves back, please. I have shut down on the innuendos and sound bites, am analyzed to death. Have actually gotten good at the spin in my own head, so I have quite cold turkey. Only a week to go to express the most rotten aspects of our being, for that I thank the lord himself. At least in baseball, if one watches closely there are definite reads on the momentum and the individual's ability to be beneficial. And at the end of the Series, when all is done, it takes a large group of individuals to subordinate their egos to climb into the zone that wins the championship. It becomes a testimony of how diverse individuals can cooperate and become single-minded in purpose. It is almost a classically group angel at work. It requires many individual efforts to get things done cooperatively. I like the taste of that story far more than the one emanating out of Washington. It is not to say I don't have political views, just that they all sound to me like clichés and not particularly insightful as to anything. SO I focus on baseball mostly. Not at all sure what this has to do with landscaping, other thane sketch of how out there one can become at this stage of the season, hard to believe it is just me! Whatever. I think the important things to do at this stage of year is to slow down a bit, finish the chores, do an excellent job on every thing you touch, whether service or project. Leave everyone with a good taste on how well you fulfill your obligations. The rest tends to take care of itself, if that is done well. I look forward to snow, but need another month to chip away at chores at hand. Hope most of you have had decent season, learned more, hosted some new ideas, been honest in evaluating your designs and projects. See if they grow into britches or become over crowded. Proper sense of space almost requires observing how big plants actually become over time. And allowing that space to exist, initially as negative space, for time to unfold the true architecture of the plants. The plants tell their story if one is still enough and observant/humble enough to listen. All best….

Sidenotes - April 2004
by Peter Kidd

Okay, as I'm writing this it's early March and in the fifties; the snow is melting. I have a half cup of cold black coffee with me, to get me through this column. I sit down with no preconception of what to write. So, I'll start with taking inventory. I have not started to call back leads on the answering machine, but you can be sure that by the time you read this, I will have. The warm weather brought those calls in early. Am I in denial, just sitting on my couch reading, ignoring the pending demand? I have been a hermit all winter; soon I'll have to be a designer and a salesman. I have decided to take a Zen approach this spring. I will not use the will to generate work and manage people. Instead I will simply let the quality of the work speak for me, both in the business and actualizing aspects of the business. Yes, I'll have to use some will power to get up some days and do designs at the end of long procrastinations!

I'm going to try to not dance this season, but walk, albeit with a limp, from start to finish. I'm firing the hustler, the manipulator, the straw boss. It's kind of like shooting the moon in hearts. I may end up a Taoist gardener; who is to say...

I like the look of those yellow magnolias I see on the front pages of People, Places, Plants, or on some catalog or other. I'm too lazy to go to the bathroom and check, it is that bad. I hope to get my hands on them and try them out. As well as the Endless Summer hydrangea I saw in bloom at John Bryant's house with Michael Dirr last October. I have been using Fothergilla for a few years; it is such a subtle winner of a plant. It makes one a hero in the fall when its leaves turn color. I also always try to mix red bud into edges of woods, and shadblow. I used that Thuja 'Plicata' last year as a woodland plant, and I'm interested to see how that progresses.

I was on the phone with Phil Caldwell a couple of times last month. He is well, has struggled with his health, but doing well now and looking forward. As always, his frankness is refreshing; a quality I have always admired in him. He simply says what he sees, with whomever he's with. Phil is living in Maine now and is a plantsman with abundant information, growing some plans for sale, rethinking how to carve out a living from his information bank.

So good to have Dr. Dirt back in the Newsletter fold. I need to remember to thank him for his insight, knowledge, humor, effort to move landscape in healthy directions. I missed his column enormously, and I'm tickled to pick up the Newsletter these days.

I read the President's notes and strum and look for the doctor of dirtology. After all, dirtologus goes far beyond soil science. It reaches out into the cosmos for its inspiration. Dirtology should be a prerequisite in the hort programs. I know they get it hands on at the Thompson School.

See, this is what makes our Newsletter so cutting edge; we, as members of the Green Industry, are 'hooking up,' as the kids say, with the cosmos. I remember back when this Association began, and the state of the Green Industry. There was indiscriminate herbicide and pesticide use, in spite of efforts like Larry Collins' forward thinking when he was on the Pesticide Control Board. I sit around now, read a lot, and everyone has become acutely aware of the seriousness of the issue. Users are educated and restrained, save a few factories of distribution. Integrated Pest Management was thought to be a communist plot, like recycling. Now these things are on the tips of our tongues and foremost in our thoughts. That is positive progress.

I see more companies able to build decent walls, and serpentine walks are now the norm; square forms are saved for when appropriate to the architecture. I think the next big leap that needs to occur is raising the bar on design, both hardscape and the plants. The tenets of design are not as complicated or esoteric as we like to pretend. Nature and division of space in a pleasing functional way tell us the hints. Sure, budget is a component, just as is the client and one's personnel. Once a person learns or anticipates what the growth size and pattern of a plant is, then it should be easy enough to find appropriate homes for one's favored plants. And we learn of and try new plants to stay interesting and create a fresh look. Sure, after years, a style forms, but it is fun to steer away from that style as well, and then return. I'd sure like to see better plant compositions, even if it requires imitating elements at first. I still find elements in Leon Pearson landscapes that influence me at 56 years old. Leon has been gone for many years, and I am still learning from him.

I see elements in Mark Rynearson's work that influence me, Jay Rozmus' as well. As little as I have seen of George Pellettieri's jobs, I usually see something or other that interests me and makes an impact on me. It is not so much that I reproduce what I see, rather, I say to myself, "Ah, I see what they are doing here," and with that I can find my own way to create some nuance. Am I rambling? I suppose so, but then I warned you I had no idea where I was going...

I will leave you with a Toaist thought. Those who try to write literature are not writing literature. I am sure it is that way with gardens of beauty and function, not about trying, though that is noteworthy, but actually making gardens of beauty and function. This is beginning to sound like an essay on aesthetics...so I'll close. I wish everyone a great season and well being.

 

Sidenotes - March 2004
by Peter Kidd

Seems like a while since I have sat here and written this column. So much going on; I have been to Florida to care for my mother who was ailing. So pretty much everything else has been on hold. I am looking out my window and watching the snow fall; it's supposed to be day-long. I put a new battery in my bobcat two weeks ago, so it is now easier to start; and I'll plow the drive and work the yard this evening, if the weatherman is correct.

The phone rang yesterday; someone looking for landscape design. It took be back, as I am not in that mode right now. I told hem we would get together after the first of March. Other than browse through People Places Plants or the odd TV landscape show, I am numb. My brain is on shut down. I am taking my solitude seriously. I'm glad to get the politicians the heck out of the state. It gets to the point of feeling like an invasion. A serial epic at best.

I tend to be politically cynical. The cost of health care and how many do not have it concerns me, certainly jobs are an issue. It has been three years since I have expanded my crew. And, of course, the War and the fabrications that have bought it about. My heart goes out to those kids and their families who have become sitting ducks in a shooting gallery that is not carnivalesque. Spending time with my mother, and seeing just how much of her income is committed to medications, has brought that inequity home. She, like many of her senior peers are sending to Canada for meds.

Anyway, I have noticed several Flower Shows coming up, as well as New England Grows. King of like Puxatawny Phil popping his head up out of the ground. I just received a letter from old pal Phil Caldwell, living in Maine. I can't tell you how good it is to hear from him. It was Phil who introduced me to Dirr back in the '80s. The three of us spent quite a bit of time together touring projects and nurseries, endlessly conversing. The seed of long time relationships. I did hear from Dirr after his visit and he enjoyed himself immensely and wanted me to thank you all for making him feel so at home here in New Hampshire.

I have a sense that the upcoming year may be a bit better than the past two. Presidential elections tend to spike the economy, whether by false stimuli, hope, or the cycle of the economy playing out. I hope so, after paying for all these colleges; I need a few solid years to create some kind of retirement fund for myself and my wife. I am too old a goat to start doing something else. I have only a couple more years left on my mortgage, so that is a chip falling into place. I do like what I do, though I am becoming more and more selective about it. I only want to do the projects I am attracted to, work for the people I like, and employ people who actually get what it is I am trying to do. I suppose that qualifies me as a certified curmudgeon, perhaps the only certification I shall ever enjoy, short of NHLA making a decision to grandfather me along with a few other old goats, like Jay Rozmus, George Pelletierri, et al.

Hope you are all enjoying your time to yourselves, for me it has always been the big payoff. Yeah, by spring I shall probably be broke again, but the time to heal my brain and soul is immeasurably valuable. Wish you all well, for now...

 

Sidenotes - October 2003
by Peter Kidd

This will be the abbreviated version of my column. It seems as though I just wrote the last one a few days ago. But NHLA is trying to get the upcoming issue into the mail to help spread the word of Michael Dirr's visit to New Hampshire for our Association meeting at the Wayfarer on October 15. I did speak with Mr. Dirr twice last week, settling on topics and logistics for his arrival and lodging. He is genuinely excited to come back to NHLA and the region for a chat. Actually spilling over with so many new propagation practices and how they translate into new variations of old plants. He talked about the many new forms of hydrangea that will just keep a blooming. The topics are broad enough for him to feel free to cook up his own slide show and talk, to cover many areas of what is happening today, in plants. I suspect the evening to be something of a horticultural feast for anyone interested in plants. NHLA is arranging for Dirr's publishers to ship us some boxes of two or three of his books. The Manual, of course, and the book of photos that is invaluable to pitch a job to a client. It lets them see what a plant will become as a mature specimen. Takes away the need for them to imagine. Good thing, too, 'cause most of our clients have no imagination-at least mine. That's why they hire me.

Anyway, for those of you planning to attend, you may want to bring a check along to buy a book or two and get them signed to boot. I am sure Mr. Dirr will be glad to sign a copy or two. He is not trying to sell books; quite the contrary. He has put us in touch with his supplier, so it is a good way to support both Dirr and NHLA at the same time. The Association should be proud of its efforts in bringing the very best in education to the members and industry at large. I applaud them.

While talking about plants and plant people, I personally want to tip my hat to Ken Michaels, who works at one of our member nurseries. I am not mentioning them as this is in no way a plug. I have watched Ken come into the industry from the start. I was one of his first accounts. We have become both peers and friends over the years. I am always amazed at how hard he works, his curiosity-about plants and how they grown and thrive-the size of a jungle cat. I have always maintained my end of the business is as designer and jobber. I never have thought of myself as a scientist. In time, I have become a student of plants, and some of the science has osmotically seeped through my skin. But I have always known the best way to succeed is to ally oneself with passionately knowledgeable people. I do not try to do their job; I let them educate me so I can do my job. I work with these people who work so hard to stay at the edge of what they do. I treat them well and in turn I am treated well. Anyway, Ken has won my respect in many ways. Aside from the unending source of knowledge about plants he is constantly absorbing, and his demeanor, his people skills, and his devotion make him, at least to me, what I call a stand-up person. The ultimate compliment in my book. Every now and then it is good to step back and mention it when someone does something well and with distinction. So, this month's hats off goes to Ken.

Well, I've go to get this to press; maybe too late; but I will end it and fax it along. I hope to see everyone at the Dirr meeting. Bring crew members who you want to infect with enthusiasm about horticulture!

 

Sidenotes - September 2003
by Peter Kidd

It is September. I am close to out of landscape gas. And I'm working hard for my quarters and fifty cent pieces. There are lots of small projects and medium size projects-no big ones. Only phases of big ones. So it means substantially more designing, estimating, making sales pitches, and meeting with potential clients. It also means setting up crews more often and more time on job sites not a bad thing, ever. Micro-managing for profit, my eye long ago wandered from the volume issue. I try to earn money, and hopefully make some art in the mix, with whatever opportunity comes my way. Eight percent of our work is client based, either as a new phase of an existing design or a referral.

My take is the bottom price period is over. We've had two years of people just shopping for the price. Now, quality is back on the radar screen. Keeping your word, keeping on schedule, keeping close to budge, following up and making what doesn't work, work. These are the qualities that are coming back into focus with the educated shopper. Value is being fine tuned. That is how it works, the economy is ever shifting - a bit like life itself.

In the same breath as quality, I want to mention again that Michael Dirr will soon be back in the area. NHLA has gone to extremes to provide its members and regional affiliates the best speaker out there in the Green World. His talks are far and few these days and we are one of the few so fortunate. He has that rare quality of being both knowledgeable and animated. Usually, it is one or the other, with the exception of Dr. Shigo, another green gem.

I have been lucky enough to know Dirr for a while now, and consider him both and ally and a friend. I met him first before I had read any of his books. But, for me, what makes him vital as a writer is his ability to understand the changing nature of the practice and industry of horticulture. He did for hort what Shakespeare did for theater. He brought the language into colloquial form. His books are for everyone, but have a keen eye on the person who practices. His language is accessible to someone like me who never took a hort class in my life. He asks people like me or Phil Caldwell what we think of new introductions or clones, how they compare to the parent plants - people who have to warranty these plants after they are installed in a genuine environment. He's curious and it is reflected in his books as well as his person. And it shines when he gets up in front of a crowd. And it is infectious. Any of you business owners who want to inspire employees as to the meaning of what it is we do, this is the meeting to bring them along. It will change their attitudes and the way they think about plants. The date is October 15. A can't miss event; I hope to see you there.

Till then, keep your eye on the ball, finish the season strongly, leave your clients with an excellent taste in their mouths, and the future will be bountiful.

 

Sidenotes - July 2003
by Peter Kidd

Tuesday, preceding the weekend of the Fourth of July....running on vapor....

I look at the list of things to do - calls to make, chores to do, landscapes to install and designs to be done....a couple of weeks late....all beckoning. I also sense the sales season will end abruptly. The players will be lined up, everyone else on vacation. The phone will be relatively quiet, compared to spring.

So, what's up in the industry? What is your take? It is steadily busy, but one element missing is the large new home landscape. I have a couple, but we are only doing a minimum of landscape. Most of my proposals get cut back or phased over a period of time. The market is shifting. A new market seems to be developing, addressing the houses built some eight years ago with builders' landscapes. I get hired to do a design, digging existing plants and recomposing them, adding new plant material. Sometimes even a redo of the existing walk system. There are a lot of those canvases in Bedford. Lots a cheapscapes, done by chew and screw landscape company, the land where eight-foot Roseum elegans adorn the living room window; a nice plant for the grove on the perimeter - open that can of worms - visually.

The large tracks of undeveloped lots in Bedford are being installed by the Toll Brothers or Stabile. They do all the houses and have in-house landscape applications installed. Backyards are the future here. How to escape the generic blues will be the design and practical challenges. We'll set up screens, add arboriculture to these last pastures of the used-to-be working farms. We'll create some sense of individuality in a cookie-cutter reality.

I love the architecture these day. The southern-colonial-quasi- Georgian, I call it. You know, with the Palladian window above the front door, through which we get to see bare-assed kids run down the hall at night after bathing. We used to call 'em "Clonials" back when the builders were mimicking New England forms, and every now and then they rang a bell-the good ones. Then Burger King set up next to MacDonalds, and Wendy's and Taco Bell were soon to arrive. Along with the boulevard with no budget to plant it or irrigate it, they got sewn into seed, and someone mows them for ten grand a year. I could go on like this.

Anyway, remember to water. Never rely upon nature as far as new plants are concerned. Water for free; it is the best kind of marketing you can purchase. And it is good for the plants. Love those plants to death, they are the teachers of the intricacy of the self and the whole. Through plants, I, a blind man, can see. Or something like that.

 

Sidenotes - May 2003
by Peter Kidd

So it is April 8 and the last few specs of snow are dropping slowly in the air. Another four inches last night. So much for effectively landscaping. I'm working on some designs today; perhaps an estimate or two.

The phone is beginning to ring, but I suspect we are not yet in the foreground of consciousness with eight inches of snow on the ground. I was noticing last night on TV, just how the large vendors of fertilizers and lawn products are marketing for all of us on TV - lawn mower companies as well. It is unrelenting, really.

I attended the Spring Conference as a panelist member. I said my bit on the issue of Certification. I came away thinking it is the way of the future. I thought Jay Rozmus was priceless in speaking about his experiences of both a life devoted to the industry and with the Certification test. Frankly, the more I think about it, the more I think the only satisfactory way to resolve the chasm with established landscape old-timers and the new wave, is to grandfather the old-timers. Pick a criteria and award them Certification. Without their participation, all the hard work already poured into the poured into the program. And I could sense the passion and effort Dana Sansom and others have put into this project. But without the best of the best, it lacks a level of validation, pure and simple. Just my reflection after the meeting. Perhaps the membership should vote on the issue, whether or not to grandfather established members, especially the founding members of NHLA. Those who were there at the beginning years. It would solve the issue and give program validation at the same time; everyone makes out.

No one knows what kind of season really lies ahead. Least of all me. I am slow in hiring; going to book up before I take on too many employees. A good tight crew makes my life easier as well because the quality remains higher.

Mark Rynearson called me last week. We catch at least once in the spring and once in the fall; swap notes on what we are experiencing both as people and business persons. I like him a lot, and I've always respected his work. He suggested that perhaps after three years of recession, consumers will be ready to break out of nickel and diming and want to upgrade their homes. It was an upbeat insight, and I am considering it. Particularly, if people are not traveling as much or as far away. And let's hope the war will be over soon and our soldiers back home safely. I would think that uncertainty changes the landscape of the market place.

Whatever the conditions, the key is to do a good job with all your opportunities. Provide great service and take pride in one's work. That seems to be the part of the economy we can control. Word of mouth is becoming very important. A happy client is worth his or her weight in gold. With the abundance of business the past five years, an ocean oaf mediocrity has also abounded; it is easy to see how an industry can urge its own demise. Or at least, contribute.

So, Dirr is a-coming! I think you are all in for a treat. It is a great meeting to bring a complement of employees. Dirr is inspirational in his unending enthusiasm. And his wealth of knowledge. He never stays static, always plodding ahead. I expect his talk to be the talk of the green industry this fall in New England. Whatever you do, mark October 15 on your calendar.

Well, I should stop stalling and get some work done. The cookie jar is taking a beating with this late start in the season. If the snow doesn't melt soon, I may have to take to singing on street corners in Manchester for supper.

Wish you all the best of a season.

 

Sidenotes - March 2003
by Peter Kidd

I started the day off being stood up at an appointment in Hillsborogh, at 8:30 am, with temperature at five degrees. I hope this is not an omen for the upcoming season. I look out my window and snow banks in my yard are eight feet tall and ten feet thick. The polar zest is whipping through the yard. I have two stoves burning wood, as well as the furnace occasionally kicking in to play the bass section in the band. The whole concept of landscape seems ions away, but it is not.

I must confess to a certain skepticism about the state of the economy. I know last year was a significant downturn in my company's volume, not unexpected. I had shrunk in terms of employees early into the season, as well as paid off several of my vehicle and equipment loans to reduce my overhead. It became apparent to me that no one really has a sense of when the economy will recover, least of all the politicians. I am wondering why investment tax credits have not been explored as a stimulus. They have a way of tooling up businesses as well as stimulating manufacturing, but then, what does an old redneck lie me know? I certainly doubt that tax credits on dividends will do anything except line the pockets of those with already lined pockets. No one is foolish enough to reinvest in the stock market as we stand on the brink of war and unparalleled deficits.

For some strange reason I have avoided looking into any of the new plant catalogues that have arrived at my house. Common sense tells me the nurseries should be holding, if not cutting, prices. Experience tells me, that is probably not the case. In four years I have seen some prices nearly double for plants that just meet the spec sizes. This cannot go on forever. As a sales person I know my clients are looking for value, more and more. So as the economic squeeze continues, there becomes a point when vendors need to recognize this fact, or they will find themselves stuck with inventory. I suspect some of our nurseries have avoided this fact of life, simply by doing more business south of the New Hampshire border, where the demographics consume their product. But I would point out that the way it works, is, as volumes decrease here in New Hampshire we as business persons are forced to spend more time pricing and shopping for our products than in years past when business was flowing fast and furiously. Survival is an offspring of adjusting to circumstances. The day of one-stop shopping may soon become a thing of the past. We may find that certain items can be found competitively through our past associates, while other items need to be sought elsewhere. This creates windows of opportunity that previously were not an issue. If I am running fewer employees, and turning a smaller volume I simply have more time to shop insurance, shop plant costs, and material costs in general. So, I urge the vendors in our industry to not fall into a pattern of overlooking our business and loyalty by replacing our volume with Massachusetts's volume. At some point the New Hampshire market is a viable one.

I enjoyed the dialogue Bill Parker's letter stimulated. Was a bit saddened by some of the tones of the responses defending the Certification Program. Bill Parker worked for me as a manager for some 16 years, as well as for Chuck Simpson for five years or so. His credentials are impeccable. He has been active in each flower show as well as run award-winning projects in New Hampshire for the past twenty years. If someone does not know his name in the industry, I suggest they should learn it, as he is one of the best at the art of landscape. I might also suggest that they are the ones out of touch of who is who in the industry. Some of the projects that Bill ran for me are the very same projects that people like Mike Dirr have raved about, and probably have given me too much credit for in the past. Yes, they were my designs, but in many cases, Bill, with his attention to detail and sense of pride, was a partner with me in distinguishing the projects.

But I am glad there were so many responses, as democracy requires diversity. With no broad discussion, no refinement occurs. I believe the Certification Program is here to stay, and may, one day, grow into something of significance, in spite of my indifference to it. All of us who have served as officers and board members, or just plain activists in NHLA, have our favored pet projects. The Newsletter is probably my pet legacy to the industry, which is perhaps why I continue to contribute to it. I shall always feel something of a proud parent when the Newsletter arrives at my door, despite the fact that it has been passed on to the guardianship of others.

Speaking of Mike Dirr, Mick Sheffield approached me a few weeks ago on the subject of Dirr. He said that Dirr's name constantly rises to the top of requests for speakers, and wondered if I was still in touch with Mike. The answer is yes, I am; received a letter from him a couple of months ago. So, I have recently written him to see if we can twist his arm to come north for a meeting. Dirr loves to see the sugar maple in foliage, so I have suggested next October as a time. I am presently awaiting a response. And when I receive a response I shall gladly pass it on to the membership. Dirr is truly one of the all time best speakers; he has that rare quality, as does Dr. Shigo, of being both knowledgeable and animated about his subject matter. It is a rare combo, for most of the knowledgeable can be boring and many of the animated can be just entertainers.

Dirr is innovative in his writing about horticulture. He speaks in a language that is accessible to the practitioner, unlike most of his cohorts. He is funny and insightful. I know from personal experience that he taps resources from the field, not just from the nurseries and the propagators. He would constantly ask Phil Caldwell and I about the performance of particular plants in this region. His enthusiasm is endless. I truly hope we are fortunate enough to draw him up from the University of Georgia where he holds court. I consider his book to be the bible of horticulture. I am sure there are many other more esoteric books, but that is precisely the point; Dirr's writing is exoteric and accessible to all in a style and syntax that has pizzazz. So, keep your collective fingers crossed.

Anyway, I'll wrap this up and get it to Carolyn. I've been a bit remiss in articles this winter, but have been under the weather with colon surgery before Christmas, and am just getting back to feeling well again. I am running out of dough, so I suppose I am looking forward to the upcoming season. Still, I am enjoying sitting here, by myself, phone quiet, plucking away on a new novel-a murder story set in Manchester/Las Vegas.

Wishing everyone well; hope to see you at a meeting in the near future.

 

Sidenotes - November - December 2002
by Peter Kidd

So far, there have been no suggestions for me to start on Prozac, after last month's column. And I have actually received a couple of truly nice phone calls and chats from members. So, as I suspected, it is not just me who occasionally freaks out. Maybe I am just the only one constantly leaking out through my eyes and ears. Time will tell.

It is the first week of November, and I feel like a sword fisherman, who while steering his boat, misses in the engine, passing oil through the exhaust, and slowly heads towards port, with whatever limited catch iced down in the hole. We have one more rock wall system and some rock work to tie it up. And then we wrap it up. I can feel winter in my elbows, moving in, though next week is supposed to be warm and pleasant.

That was a great letter from Bill Parker in last month's Newsletter. God, it reminded me of the days when Jean Stimmell used to write in and Dr. Dirt had his column going. Where is Dr. Dirt? Why is he not filling these pages? Time for a grassroots campaign to bring him back at all costs. Beg the son of a gun.

What has always made this Newsletter unique and noteworthy, has been the genuine writing other than industry clip outs and "usual suspects." Rick Simpson, Rouleen Koelb and myself began this epistle in 1981 using the memo machine at UNH. No budge, no format, no idea what was involved. It evolved into a classy looking functional Newsletter, but always set itself apart from the other Green Industry newsletters because it was personal, with good writing on important issues. Jean Stimmell and I were talking up biological controls and organics back when everyone thought we had taken too many psychedelics to actually get it. Now, some of our biggest adversaries find themselves raising funds for nemotodes and milky spore. IPM is ingrained in everyone's consciousness. Prophylactic indiscriminate use was the norm. So, if one lifts the shroud of cynicism, the truth is there have been enormous changes in the practices of our industry. I stopped smoking at meetings and you all stopped using these toxins in ways that were trashing the ecology. Who says there is no progress?

But back to my point, there is much potential power in quality dialogue. And say what you may about the issues those early activists raised, it helped evolve our industry in a far better self-policing industry, unlike most of the market place. I am pleased with that. To my point, it was these strong-opinionated voices that also made this Newsletter a must read every month. I could go to a meeting in Maine or Massachusetts in those early days, and if someone read my name on a nametag, they introduced themselves to me and told me how much they looked forward to the Newsletter arriving in their mailbox.

A letter like Bill Parker's letter is born of that same energy. It was well-written, concise, showed appreciation for where the Certification Program is now, and alluded to the potential, if and only if, it is looked at hard and honestly. I have written enough columns mentioning my lack of use for the program. Based simply, it becomes a false marketing tool for those who can pass tests, but don't necessarily know how to manage a landscape project into an art form. Bill mentioned the issues better than I can.

What bothers me enormously is the thought that a certified member is represented with bold letters while non-certified member is not. I would think if the majority of the membership is being billed as second-class citizens, it would grate them when it comes time to renew memberships. I know I certainly don't feel like a second class citizen in the landscape industry, and do not want to be billed as such. Now, I am aware that this was not intentional, but now that Bill has brought it to our attention, it should be dealt with immediately. Are we really telling the public the truth by marketing a company as more professional and competent, who may be in business for three years with a hort degree, and not Bill Parker's company, or my company, or Jay Rozmus's company. Both those guys are as good as it gets in this state, and I'd like to think I have done some nice projects as well. Is it honest to tell the public that someone who passes a test is a better jobber than we are?

Think about it, these kinds of alliances lead to the demise of credibility. I'd like more discussion on this issue from other parts of the state. Again, I have accepted Certification as part of the mix, a possible education tool, but those years of hard work getting it hooked up and in place don't justify it becoming an unfair marketing tool.

The problem with old activists, they flare up when things get too groovy or politically correct. There are certain traditions in the New Hampshire landscape industry, unlike anywhere else. The design/build world continues to rule. We had the best parent ever, Leon Pearson, to set the standard high from get go, and make the emphasis on "attention to detail," artistic design, and apprenticeship of the artisans needed to pull of that creative design. Education is great, but can not replace those simple tenets in the art form/business. The key is to weave those original tenets with new knowledge and imparting of knowledge via quality education.

Anyway, it is time to go below in the hole and ice down those swordfish, only a few more days to go at sea when you get this. I wish everyone a great off-season, and encourage any of you to respond to Bill's letter or my columns in hopes of livening up the conversation in our stalwart Newsletter.

And bring back Dr. Dirt, please!

 

Sidenotes - October 2002
by Peter Kidd

Tomorrow will be the first of October. I have been ruminating over the weekend. It's that time of the season when my psyche begins to wander, and in turn, wonder. I am tired every year at this time, find it tough to be my somewhat charming self. I have reached the limit of patience with type A ascending yuppies, who make up a large portion of my clientele. Or doctors, dentists, lawyers, and surgeons who feel the necessity of beating me up for a few hundred dollars here and a few hundred dollars there, in order to reaffirm their ego's sense of control in getting over on me.

Perhaps it is just me using the as the object of my scorn, who really is to say? I am wondering if I am the only one who feels this way this time of the year. I begin day dreaming of writing books instead of designing landscapes. Packaged with the fact that my wife and I have been raising, steering, and financing four kids, three now adults, for nearly 30 years, a sense of mid-life crisis has begun to leak into my consciousness. I find it difficult to believe that this old hippie has stayed in harness for so long, and that fantasies of backing out of this business and beginning a new phase of my life have begun to pop up into my brain as I drive around from job to job. Add to that a very hot dry summer, a contracting economy, the fact that we seem dead bent on going to war, and an old line of Lily Tomlin's comes to mind, "I find myself becoming more cynical each day, but I just can't keep up."

It's not that I am about to make a radical decision with my life, but the fact that I am opening up my consciousness to self-examination is what is important. I still love making gardens, but that is not the issue. Perhaps it is the managing of people I am tiring of, or the arrogance of the class of people I deal with-hard to put my finger on it. Again, it may just be the time of year that gives me the sense of maybe burning out.

Even though I need the next six or eight weeks of work to survive the winter, I find myself praying for cold weather and the first snow. Lord knows it has been a a great run these past 20 plus years, and I can't imagine a more satisfying way to make a living than the one we have all chosen. I always remember Palmer Koelb saying to me in the early years, "Plant people are essentially good people." And I believe he was right and continues to be right. And certainly I have received more than my fair share of accolades and financial rewards.

My wife and I have been discussing this, it always happens during the day of paying bills, when we see just how much money passes through our hands, and what portion sticks. It is a bit like sticking ones hand into a river and pulling it out, with a few drops remaining. We tend to feel as though we are making a huge amount of dough for financial institutions, vendors, and insurance companies. Also, the fact that we have been caregiving for kids for nearly 30 years and find ourselves surrounded by this bigger than necessary house filled with matter.

Somehow in the past 30 years we have evolved into becoming guardians of matter, something we both swore would never happen. I remember when, as a young family, we were tickled pink to pay the rent, our four bills, and have enough money left over at the end for the week to go grocery shopping. Pride and satisfaction went hand in hand with that simple arrangement. Now, paying bills is a four-hour commitment, and when we go to the store to shop there is no budget, we just buy what we want. And there is little or no satisfaction with this more complex arrangement.

Granted I am on the hoof for two kids at college next year, and then three more years after that I have one child attending. But even my attitude to that has evolved. Don't get me wrong, I am glad my kids are performing and seeking out an education, but frankly I have grown skeptical of the education industry also. A large part of me feels college has slowly evolved into a form of extended day care. And many kids are fed false expectations by these institutions as to what awaits them upon graduating in terms of the job market.

So many of these kids have an expectation of never interrupting their middle class adventure, I find it mind-boggling. I always felt it was the struggle, first as a young man, secondly as a young couple with kids, that helped shape and form my character, if there is arguably any that has been shaped! I never had any sense of a secure path-that is what led to me starting my own business. I had nothing to lose, had already been disenfranchised by the society as a sixties person-why not throw the dice. I had no "benefits" in those days, no health insurance; like I said, I was happy to provide food and shelter. This made me resourceful, willful, focused on the important aspects of life.

Yet so many of these kids/young adults have visions of sugar plums awaiting them at the completion of a bachelor's degree. To me, that is just the start of the real world. I tell my kids that they need to excel in school to break away from the pack of mediocrity, in order to get a decent job upon graduation, then, the onus is upon them to not only sacrifice, but to perform selflessly for a few years. Learn how to make someone some money, how to be both a team player and an asset before they start to expect results to filter back to them, in terms of commitment and career opportunity. I believe this to be sound advice and set in reality, in terms of my perception of the market place. False expectations only lead t disappointment. Talking turkey is the best approach with young people.

Anyway, I suppose I am blabbing on and on about nothing particularly relevant to the landscape industry. That would be one way to approach this month's column! Or maybe I am expressing some thoughts and feelings shared by several of you out there, if not at least a few. But at 55 years old, time and life are too precious to not have relevant and honest conversation, both with the self and others. I offer some of these self-doubts not to paint the sky gray, nor to be discouraging, but really to point at the fact that we are all human beings and that all things are not simply commercial. Personally, if I were not able to disassemble and reassemble my psyche I this manner, I would not be able to get back up and strap my boots on each spring. I consider the process invaluable, and good to share; so I look forward to any comments from the readership. See you next time.

 

Sidenotes - September 2002
by Peter Kidd

Well, the weather has finally cooled off, and it rained at last on Thursday. Most of the lawns seemed pretty cooked, in spite of irrigation. I look forward to the Fall season, when things start to cool off and the phone begins to ring again. It has been an August like in years past. Between a faltering economy, the stock market, people on vacation, and the sweltering heat and drought keeping people from wanting plants to care for, my phone has been as quiet as it has for several years. Reminds me of the way things used to be. Busy spring, then some slow-down in August. In the past the autumn has always taken care of itself, kids back in school, a good planting season, people settle into homes and look around. College help has left for school, so we are smaller than a few weeks ago. I look forward to the clarity the upcoming season brings.

There certainly has been a proliferation of landscape businesses, at least in my area, starting up in the past three years. Every time I pull into the Vista Foods Parking lot in Bedford I see a new one-ton dump truck or a stake body lettered up and shining. I find it difficult to believe that the most recent run in the economy will support such a proliferation. But who is to say? My sense is that the maintenance end of the business will become very competitive over the winter and next spring. Consumers, particularly property management companies, will be holding the proverbial "whip" in their hand. I suspect bidding equations will have to be reviewed. And there may even be some blood flowing in the gutters for those who have not kept their overhead and debt service in check. I know it is a lot easier to find decent labor this year than over the past few years.

I spent a week in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, the first week in August. My first summer vacation in many years. My wife and I bought a house in a small town, Grand E'Tang. It is the house she grew up in and was built by her great grandfather. It is a bit in disrepair, so we lined up carpenters, put in a new oil tank, replumbed the water lines, and got the furnace service on line. So it was something of a mini-work vacation. My plan is to chip away at the house every fall. It is a fishing village, so most of the people fish for snow crab during the summer, then labor becomes available in the fall. First go at it includes squaring away some sill beams, installing four windows, replacing siding shingles, and painting the house before winter. I shall go up there in December to see how things are going. I am not sure what the eventual goal is on the project, but suspect that we shall spend five or six months in Canada when I decide to hang up my digging spade. While most seem to want to flee to the south, I feel as though the north and even fewer people is in store for me. The pristine beauty of the area, on the ocean, the town of Cheticamp a few kilometers away, is unsurpassed. The water temperature is much warmer than here, due to the Gulf Stream.

Anyway, I am trying to get focused for the fall. It's imperative to operate efficiently and effectively. I look forward to this time of the year. The end of the tunnel is in sight on the horizon. One more burst of designing and estimating and hopefully I'll have the season booked and then execution becomes the order of the day. Everyone in the crew if fine-tuned, so the work and not the people becomes the issue. My best to you all.

 

Sidenotes - July 2002
by Peter Kidd

It's the Friday after July 4. The heat has broken-clear painter's new Hampshire day; a green like no other green. I am sitting in my office enjoying the sounds and feelings of the breeze. I just watered the plants in holding. We're half way through the season, taking inventory. For one thing, it is a much tougher sell out here this year than in the past three or four years. For another, everyone's old forepersons have started up heir own businesses. I pull out of my driveway and see a new face on the block.

All those words I have written about quality and service in past columns will begin to ring true and loud in near future; if not already. The bigger firms are dealing, at least I suspect, with issues that involve trimming their overhead yet still generating enough billables to make a living and support the staff. It is a very delicate balance. I am operating with six people this year, not the eight or nine I have been running with the past three years. The up sides are that it is not so hectic, and the work is better managed and executed. Everyone on the staff is a pro. They know how to handle plant material, how to operate a bobcat. My job as people manager is much easier with committed employees.

The down side, aside from lost volume, is the fact that I have to see, design, estimate, and sell five or six people to replace the volume a big house generates. This year I have a couple of phase one's on new big houses, where last year this time, I was juggling three or four projects that made up 40 percent of my volume for the year. It changes the dynamics of my end of the business, taking much more time to set up the plants and oversee the details on multiples of smaller projects. But, the smaller projects have fewer or no mistakes in calculation and execution, and are probably more profitable.

So, it is not so much one way or the other I advocate, simply the necessity to adjust and adapt to the financial ecology we all swim within. In America we tend to measure intelligence in terms of how much and how fast. In Europe it is measured by adaptability. I suspect everyone's preferred way of doing business will be tested.

The smaller newer firms will have to deal with the lack of overabundance of demand for service. It no longer exists. I am surviving a contraction due to my ability to foresee and adjust, and the fact I have paid attention and built a client list. A long list of satisfied clients is absolutely one's best form of marketing. I find that if they are not coming to me for phase three, then they are steering a lead my way. Simple as that. It is worth parting ways with a good relationship. Comes back to save you.

Most of my allied contractors tell me they are booked a month out, not the customary two or three of the past few years. I always figure, if I can stay busy and turn a profit through the summer months of July and August, then autumn takes care of itself.

I do find that I am able to hold prices, and that is good. When I do an estimate, I come in competitively, and create an additional list with upgrades or sizes of plants or trees for the client's option. This method is quite effective, doesn't scare the potentials away, and gives them choices. This may seem a small adjustment, but it works. It makes be a better salesman, also. It is necessary to be enthused about projects to get the fish on board. No more touching bases while pitching. I have always maintained there is a large list of skills involved in being a design/ build contractor-artist, engineer, estimator, people manager, project manager, salesperson, and money manager. It is important to be honest with oneself and work upon the facets of the job one is least accomplished at. It takes the entire package to maintain a long term success at running a small business like ours.

Hopefully these words will help remind us to do the little things and not to get discouraged by things outside our control, like macroeconomics. There is very little I can do about Enron and the rampant well-deserved lack of confidence the consumer and investors share for the business community. There is little I can do about the security at the airport. But there is much I can do about micromanaging my own business and interactions.

I hope everyone is busy and moving along well en route to a decent season. Also, that you are enjoying your families and friends and the beauty of nature this time of the year. Personally, I would love to see some letters to the editor from the readership. Too much self containment is not healthy. I write a column to toss ideas and experiences in the air with great hopes that members are in some way, be it positive or negative, impacted. It has been too long since I have heard any dialogue out of this industry, and specifically this Association. Surely, some one out there must have something to share with us, if not an article, than how about a letter. I'd hate to think I am a silent thud in an empty forest. All the best.

 

Sidenotes - May 2002
by Peter Kidd

Okay, its spring. In a way, mulch season. The universe of tune-ups. About five years ago, I decided I had pretty much had it with tune-ups. They were labor intensive, sold little or no product, and mulch was not particularly profitable. Clients were moaning and groaning at the actual cost of a quality tune-up - one that involves, pruning, cutting new bed edges, cleaning out beds, cutting back perennials, raking the lawn, fertilizing the plants, mulching and overall fussing. I found myself shaving off billable hours to keep the peace with a client, so he was squawking and I was losing potential income. I thought, "Who needs the aggravation?" And then on top of all those truths, it took 45 to 60 days to generate a cash flow out of those tune-ups. Why not just do a few select clients and begin right off with jobbing, design-build installations - get half the dough at the get go, instant cash flow, and I am out there functioning at optimum return, selling products, banging out projects, making large money rather than the peanuts of service work.

This was the little business man on my right shoulder giving me instructions, and then showing me the financial results. Little did I know, that aside from the negative consequences that befall a person as arrogant as I am, come the horticultural problems that accompany the mindset of an old hippie with his eye on the wrong ball. Slowly, year by year, I was given a review of what it's like to evolve from individually nuanced plants into a chorus line of lollipops and rectangular blocks. It became so, that roads I once traveled with pride, viewing projects put in place by my imagination and hard work of my crew, I now avoided those routes altogether. So, I began to rethink the issue.

I also live in an upscale community that is probably 85 percent built up, and the remaining 15 percent is scattered and the runt of the litter, and will take their time being born. The large tracks are pretty much developed. So, the dynamics of this business is going to change once again. My suspicion is that area plantings, woodland and wetland treatments, and fine tuning aspects of a landscape that never really worked - things like that - may become a large part of my company's world. Sure, I am always looking for that large quality home to do soup-to-nuts upon, but two of the last three seasons have started with phases, redo work, patio added, a pool treatment. I have some nice big projects in the air, at stage one of designing and siting, but not at the start. I find it means I have to hustle my butt a bit more to fill the days, but I have most definitely had a change of heart towards the service aspect of the business.

The upside is it creates a place for crews to operate for a month without much of my supervision. I am busy meeting with people, designing, estimating, pitching, selling, scheduling. It gets my crew into shape and routine - attention to detail is a great tool to enter the season with. It also controls the shapes of the plants. Even if a client chooses to have a service company mulch them, I encourage them to let us prune to keep the intended shape of the plants. It also removes the arrogance of "I don't do windows."

Now my attitude is what can I do for you? I'm a problem solver, and take stock in that. Whatever comes over my phone I treat with evenhanded equality. I am very slowly attaining a few beads of wisdom. The way I have been able to make a living, practice my sense of visual art, learn how to keep my handshakes, I find myself becoming more and more grateful for the opportunity. Think about it; I was going to be in the State Department; I could have been stationed in the Middle East. Instead, I am making gardens in New Hampshire; not a bad deal, I tell ya. Slowly, I am learning to submit to the Zen of unfolding. I am convinced this job/task/destiny of being a gardener brings with it a test. One of how can one operate on so many levels and still not divorce one's own soul at the same time. Is it possible to some degree to remain poised and centered throughout this experience while going a hundred miles an hour at the same time? I mean that really is the Holy Grail!

But back to my original point. I have learned to enjoy the tune-ups; they keep a project looking the way I meant it to be as the designer in the beginning. It keeps me in communication with my clientele. In a small town like Bedford, being in the front part of the cerebrum is important as a small business. You do want people to speak well of you, your firm, and your "experience." When we leave a job site after a tune-up in spring, it gives everyone involved a taste of a sense of excellence, particularly the nicer projects that not only hold up, but actually shine as they mature.

Having said what was on my mind, I bid you all well as the season gets going.

 

Sidenotes - March 2002
by Peter Kidd

During the winter I pretty much pull the plug on the landscape scene for a while. I begin to focus on writing projects. It is a time to shut down commerce. I can't tell you how much I like winter, the solitude of cold isolation in fighting and living with the elements. I am sitting four feet from my wood stove, in my tee shirt, the wood box has been filled this morning. I am playing around on the computer-thought I would get this column written for another month and get it in early to Carolyn to ease her time frame stress.

Over his holiday vacation from college, my son worked on my books. He's a business student at UNH, so I thought it would give him invaluable insight into how the cash flows into and out of a legitimate small business. It helps him apply the knowledge he is learning in economics, accounting, and statistics.

I'm wondering if anyone read a previous column in which I appealed for the reincarnation of Dr. Dirt and his column. Anyone out there who agrees, should call their organizational congressman (Board member), until the issue is placed on the Board's agenda. Write to your newsletter and beg for the good DR.

George Pellettieri's speaking at the first of the Evening with the Masters series was good news! Anyone who knows George can tell you he has been a major component in the development and raising of standards of the landscape industry in New Hampshire and New England as well. One of the initial founders of NHLA, a past president and Board member, he has been an activist with an uncompromising integrity. He and I have been on both sides of the fence on many issues over the years. Some we agree upon and some not.

For several years, he and I seemed to be Peg Boyles' voices when referring to the Green Industry in her articles for the New Hampshire Times and the Boston Globe. Together the three of us were able to paint a picture of a new way of doing business. Specifically, one that is ecologically sound; in many ways, very radical. It still seems radical when I hear Roger Swain speak. It has always been an irony to me that people who make their living dealing with nature are not able to look into the natural processes and learn not to trash them. It is an age old politic, this turning stone into bread. How to make a living without unplugging one's soul from one's person. Without trashing the planet.

I have seen the Green Industry travel light years in the 25 years I have been involved. What was radical thinking, is now taken for granted. We are slowly becoming more proactively preventative. We are reintegrating farming practices long practiced by our forefathers with the research and technology of our sciences. This is the good news. It shows up in the form of integrated pest management, the ideas that monitor our projects and educate our clients, and keep us from horticultural tragedy. Nipping things in the bud keeps us from indiscriminate use of herbicides and pesticides.

These may seem logical ideas now, but I assure you when George and I were young men starting up our business here in this state, this was not the case. Things and politics were different, both within the industry and within the state's body politic. The practices of our industry have become more conscious of the ecology, the needs and education of our employees and practitioners. By "raising the bar," George's often used term, we have become self-policing in the most positive sense of the words. We have reconnected our consciences with our businesses. And this is a powerful base of operation. Our projects are better, our work mates happier and more satisfied, our clients happier (and we all know it is easier to collect our dough from a happy client), and our competitors are forced to upgrade, or they can't compete with our services.

So, in reiterating, I assume anyone who heard George speak will be enriched to some degree because he tells you, as well as shows you by his example, that one can walk the high road-and in your own stylish way, which I think is equally important. A business should be no different from a project or an art project; it is an expression of who you are, one that you are willing to stand behind.

I hope and trust each of you is enjoying the down time. It should be a contemplative time; a time to enter the dormancy of the subconscious, just like the plants do. We can learn so much from the other kingdoms of nature if only we are so inclined; they are constantly whispering to us. A certain stillness is required to hear them.