Common-sense horticultural advice and hands-on techniques adapted to our local gardening climate
For many, a complete property makeover and installation are not in the budget, but you still want solid advice about how to make your landscape work better for you. This has become a rapidly growing part of our business, as so many of us have felt the need in recent years to reconnect to the natural world. We are delighted to share our passion and expertise with you!
Catherine Volić has a bachelor’s degree in plant science and over thirty years of professional horticultural experience. In addition, she has crafted her own home garden into a peaceful, verdant oasis for her family. Surrounded by native plants, hummingbirds, songbirds, and butterflies, she grows as many vegetables, herbs, and fruits for her family as possible.
Over the years, she has shared her plant knowledge with countless homeowners, garden club members, nursery professionals, school children, employees, neighbors, and friends. Working with you in your own garden, she can share the exact knowledge and skills that you are seeking. She can offer basic instruction for the beginning gardener or higher-level skills for those with more experience. Having gardened in the Boston Metro West area for many years with the time constraints and tight budget imposed by young children, she can show you how to adapt the advice you find in gardening literature to your own busy schedule, finances, and landscape setting.
In all our Ecological Garden Consultations, we address:
- How best to create a landscape that offers you the most of what you want for the least cost, how to make it as low-maintenance as possible, and how to save tens of thousands of dollars over time by minimizing labor costs and materials. We want you to have more time to sit and ENJOY your landscape, not just work in it.
- Spouses and partners often have different visions of their ideal landscape, as do children and pets! We specialize in synthesizing these viewpoints so that the family can move forward with actions that make everyone happy.
- How to develop a more holistic view of gardening. It’s not just about pretty plants anymore, but about using the land we are lucky to have to create spaces for us to recharge from our busy world, while at the same time performing important ecosystem services that will benefit the earth.
While some suggested packages are offered below, Garden Consultations are completely adaptable to your own needs. When you contact us, please let us know the issues that you would like to address, and we can craft a customized experience for you.
Consultation Packages
Grab your notebook and ask us all your questions as we walk through your yard to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities it offers.
- The “Welcome Home” Package is for new homeowners who want to learn about the plants and landscape that they have inherited. We can identify the plants in your landscape, alert you to many issues, and help you develop an action plan in line with your budget.
- The “Big Ideas” Package is for those who have lived in their home for a while and realize that their landscape no longer sparks joy. We prioritize changes that will make your gardens work better for you, and help you develop an action plan for an outdoor oasis that you will fall in love with again.
- “Flash Design” Package: We realize that a full landscape plan and installation are not in everyone’s budget, so as an alternative for those who would like to do their own landscaping over time, we offer suggestions for plants and other features to make your yard a place of refuge and delight.
- During the “Get Outside and Play!” Package, we find ways to make your landscape one that will draw your entire family outside all year round. Playful gardens are for all of us, not just little kids! Natural play features for young children are tucked into lively spaces where tweens, teens, parents, and grandparents can connect to the natural world. As part of this package, we discuss ecofriendly options for tick management, and how to mitigate lead contamination and control poison ivy so that you can fully enjoy spending time outside.
- In the “Kitchen Garden” Package we assess your property for the best places to locate a vegetable garden, fruiting trees and shrubs, and a compost area. We’ll share soil testing information with you, as well as sources for raised beds, soil mixes, organic fertilizers and pest control, seeds, and watering supplies. We’ll provide access to our detailed guide to growing your own food in the MetroWest Boston area.
- In the “Stormwater Solutions” Package, we offer opportunities to enhance your outdoor living spaces with features such as rain gardens, bioswales, and permeable pavers, while protecting your home and neighborhood. These elements of green infrastructure direct water away from your house foundation, neighboring properties and roadways and allow it to infiltrate the soil, where it supports attractive native plantings and recharges our precious groundwater resources.
- The “Pollinator Powerhouse” Package is for those who want to transform their surroundings into a native plant sanctuary where our threatened pollinators can find the flowers and foliage they need to thrive, while supporting other winged visitors to our gardens like hummingbirds, butterflies, and songbirds. Learn how to make your garden come alive with the flutter of colorful wings and the musical notes of birds and katydids.
Gift certificates are available for Sweetgum Horticulture's Ecological Garden Consultations. These make great birthday, thank-you, housewarming, or Mother’s Day gifts.
