The Professional Horticulturist Vs The Amateur Gardener
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By Glory Lennon
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You are easily intimidated if you actually think Professional horticulturists have anything on you. Sure, you say you don’t know the difference between an Andromeda and a Mountain Laurel, an Azalea and a Rhododendron nor a Pine, Fir and a Spruce but neither do some people calling themselves “professionals”. I hate to say it but it is sadly true. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am nor how often it happens but it seems every time I go to a garden center and ask a question it’s rather rare when I come back satisfied. If I’m lucky I’ll get a blank stare. If I’m not so lucky I get obviously incorrect information. And they have the gall to call themselves professionals?
But I don’t blame them. It’s impossible to know everything but I would think that an owner of a very successful garden center living in an area surrounded by swampy land would know what I meant by Bog plants, don’t you? This happened to me and I refuse to ever go back to that particular garden center. At least not until they know more than I do. No, I’m not a professional horticulturist nor do I play one on TV. I just have learned a vast deal by trial and error, oh, so many errors!
But you are no better, you say. You don’t even think of yourself as a gardener because you know less than nothing about it. Oh, Pul-ease! First off, you’re not fooling anybody. You are, in fact, a horticulturist, amateur perhaps but a horticulturist all the same. I know for a fact you planted that little flowering shrub last spring and the year before that you planted a tree and let’s not forget all the care you bestow on that lovely, emerald green lawn you are so rightfully proud of. That’s all it takes to be an amateur horticulturist. That’s all I am and quite proud of it too.
If you promise to keep it quiet I’ll let you in on a little secret. The only difference between a professional horticulturist and an amateur is a piece of paper. Remember the Scarecrow on the Wizard of Oz? The lack of that “miraculous” piece of paper, the diploma, didn’t stop him from being the smartest of the bunch, did it? Same applies to you. You may not know what the plant Taraxacum Officinale is but you do know it by the common name Dandelion and you also know it’s not something you’ll want anywhere in your landscape unless you wish to make a salad.
It’s not just me saying this. Thomas Jefferson said it so much more eloquently, “Though I am an old man, I am but a young gardener” he said so long ago when he was 80-some years old. He knew that despite several decades of continuous study in horticulture, agriculture and all things nature that he still had loads to learn.
So, you see, professional horticulturists don’t know everything. It’s simply not possible. Nature is ever changing, constantly evolving, every day bringing new twists, turns and mutations. There are new discoveries all the time and they make even the experts scratch their heads in wonder and amazement. So, why are you thinking it should be any different for you or your know-it-all neighbor, your father or the lab geek poring over Thomas Jefferson’s old notes on hybridizing peas? Well, it’s not.
Nature is awesome, every little thing about it! You and every other amateur horticulturist around you should get over this intimidation just because you’re afraid you don’t know enough or, heaven forbid, you might make a mistake. Mistakes are just opportunities to learn. Didn’t you know that? The best thing about “just” being an amateur is that if you do make a hideous blunder no one can say anything. You never said you were anything other than amateur, after all. Let the professionals worry.
So, grab a pack of seeds, a tiny bit of confidence, some enthusiasm and start a garden, come what may. Have fun and learn something. You’ll never regret it.
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Author Bio Box: Glory Lennon
 For more amazing garden facts, a glimpse at an unfinished novel and amusing short stories come visit me at http://www.helium.com/user/32782
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