Karen Bussolini asks: How does your garden grow?

KENT — Many gardeners are content to take a trial-and-error approach, learning as they go. Others want guidance on not only the best techniques for this region but also on what will work best for their unique landscape and personality.

Karen Bussolini, a gardener and teacher as well as a garden photographer and writer, can help. She has taken what she’s learned from years of writing about and photographing gardens; from  her experience tending her own garden; and from her years of teaching and is now offering to help others, as a garden coach.

Her clients range from beginners who just want to know which plants in their yards are weeds and which are perennials; to more experienced landscapers who want aid or even just another set of eyes as they arrange colors, heights and textures in their gardens.

She is available for hire on an hourly basis and is just as willing to get down on her hands and knees and weed with her clients as she is to walk through a property and talk about aesthetics and species.

“One of the great benefits of hiring a garden coach is that I’m not selling anything, so I can give you unbiased advice,†Bussolini said. “I can give good advice on what people can do themselves and when they need to hire a professional. I can recommend plants, I can obtain plants, but I don’t have an inventory to push.â€

She can also teach beginning gardeners how to handle many routine tasks themselves. Pruning, she said, is particularly difficult, even for people who have been caring for their yards for years.

“Sometimes people are so afraid to goof when pruning that they never do it at all and wind up with an overgrown mess,†she said.

For more experienced gardeners, Bussolini can offer fresh insight about specific problems or about new combinations of plants and decorative objects (including boulders and buildings).

She is an environmentally conscious gardener, and can give advice on safe products to use. Her environmental awareness also extends to a sensitivity to which native plants should be allowed to flourish in a garden, even if they might have seemed to be invasive or undesirable.

“Often we’re asking the wrong questions,†she said. “One I hear a lot is, ‘How do I get the moss out of my grass?’ If the moss is taking over, it’s telling you that you have a wet spot and that it wants moss, not grass.â€

Instead of waging a potentially unsuccesful war against nature, “We can start looking at where you actually use lawn and where you only mow it. We might be able to replace parts of that lawn with more sustainable, interesting plants that require less maintenance and maybe support wildlife.â€

In addition to practical advice about which plants do well in what kind of soil, Bussolini can offer an artistic evaluation. Her degree is in art history and she’s won multiple awards for her garden photography from the Garden Writers Association. Her work is frequently featured in national gardening and design magazines and she has published several books.

“I have the hands-on experience, but I still always look at the garden through the eyes of an artist,†she said. “I can do what I call ‘eco-friendly, down-in-the-dirt, side-by-side garden coaching’ or big picture planning while dealing with the aesthetics: dynamic color combinations, balancing form, looking at how it flows, enhancing views.â€

Bussolini begins with an initial consultation, which includes a walk-through of about an hour and a half and then a half hour sit-down session to discuss likes and dislikes and to look at images that illustrate recommended plants or ideas. Bussolini will also take “before†shots of the areas under discussion.

She follows up with a written report of suggestions, resources and information. This consultation fee is $100.

Whatever the need, Bussolini said she aims to find a solution by working closely with the gardener.

“I want my clients to learn the principles so they can figure out how to do it themselves,†she said.

She adds that winter is actually an ideal time to start working on a garden plan for the coming year. Once the plants are no longer in bloom, it becomes easier to see the framework of the garden.

Bussolini lives in South Kent. She can be reached at 860-927-4122 or by e-mail at kbgarden@charter.net. Learn more about her on the internet at agpix.com/karenbussolini and greatgardenspeakers.com/listing/karenbussolini.