You can't take the gardening out of the girl..........

I never knew I loved photographing nature until we moved to the country.  Getting up close and personal with plants at the age of twelve was the best thing that could have happened to me.  Of course that didn't occur to me at the time - only age offers that kind of hindsight.  My parents had taken over my grandfather's garden center business and growing operation at the time and of course I had no choice in the matter.  The knowledge of trees, flowers, perennials, weeds, watering, propagating, irrigating, landscaping and design were slowly absorbed by osmosis.  I also discovered that I loved helping design for customers.  It was a creative outlet that became so second nature, that I called it "design on the fly".  During these teenage years, I had also developed a love of interior design. It was physically easier and a whole lot cleaner than working on a farm or garden centre.  That was the life for me!   And so I prepared my portfolio and applications.  I went to my interviews and was successfully admitted by all three - Humber (who only accepted ten students a year), University of Ottawa and Sheridan College.  I declined all three.  Stupidly, I was too afraid to venture out and that was the end of that story.  A year later I went to the School of Dramatic Art at the University of Windsor.  It brought me out of my shell; gave me the confidence I needed to go out into that big strange world.  Best of all - it's where I met my future husband.  A couple of years later we both went back to the family garden centre for another ten years full time and then another five years part time during the busy spring season to help out (that's what family is about after all). I still did landscape designs for the occasional client on the side over the years, but came back into full time over the last two years after moving back to the surrounding area. It's been a real treat getting back to what I love - helping people beautify their homes outside (and in) the right way, because after all - you can't take the gardening out of the girl..........