A Mutual Interest In Gardening Takes Root In A New Business

By Jan Howard

Two local women have taken their longtime interest in home gardening and developed it into a vocation they love.

Lisa Carotti and Carol Visger of Sandy Hook have been operating Fine Garden Design in Newtown since March 1. It is their first experience owning a business.

“It’s been a good year,” Ms Carotti said recently.

Both women have been home gardeners for a long time.

“I have had a lifelong love of gardening,” Ms Visger said, who has taken courses in landscape design and flower garden design at the New York Botanical Gardens. “It’s a great place,” she noted.

Ms Carotti earned a master gardener certificate from the University of Connecticut and has also taken courses at the Botanical Gardens.

“We just keep taking courses,” Ms Visger said.

The business is operated out of the home offices of Ms Visger and Ms Carotti. Both have lived in Sandy Hook for about six years.

They met when their oldest children were in kindergarten. They discovered their mutual love of gardening, and after talking about it for some time, “We decided it was something we could share with others,” Ms Carotti said. “I had completed the master gardener class and felt I had the confidence. I’ve always wanted to share the knowledge I gained through my courses and experience.”

“We’ve had other careers, but our interest in gardening has grown,” Ms Visger said. She holds a master’s degree in counseling and formerly worked with adolescents.

Ms Carotti was formerly a human resources manager and operations manager for the May department store.

Asked how they feel about their change in careers, they said, “We love it.”

 Ms Visger said she started taking classes at the Botanical Gardens after she completed her home garden and some neighbors asked her to help them with theirs. “I knew I needed to take some classes,” she said.

Fine Garden Design offers a variety of services, including landscape consultation, perennial flower garden plans, innovative foundation plant designs and garden planting. It also offers garden maintenance during the growing season and, in the fall, planting of spring bulbs and garden winterizing.

They also will renovate home foundation plantings, Ms Carotti said. “We do all phases of landscaping.”

They offer free estimates. Their fee depends on the size of the job and the amount of services that are required. While their focus is on Newtown, they do have accounts in other towns, she said.

 They get the word out about their business through newspaper advertising and bulk mailing of post cards to local residents and businesses in the spring and fall. The response has been quite good, they said. In addition to local homeowners, the business services a number of commercial accounts, Ms Visger said, for which they maintain gardens and planters from spring to fall.

“We go from pansies to summer annuals to mums,” Ms Visger said. “We even put pumpkins in some planters.

“The fall has been incredibly busy,” she noted.

Design plans can take from one to three weeks from the initial interview with a client, Ms Visger said. All design plans are hand-drawn to scale and in color, showing the individual colors of the plants and flowers.

 Ms Carotti said their clients have a lot of options after the design is completed.

“We can deliver the plants and install them or we can deliver them, and the client can do it from the design,” Ms Visger said.

Or, Ms Carotti said, the home or business owner is given a plant identification list, from which they can purchase the plants from a local garden center. “A lot of people enjoy gardening and want to do the planting themselves,” Ms Visger said. Others prefer to have it done for them.

“Some of the jobs are quite extensive,” Ms Carotti said.

“We’ve done everything from perennial gardens to a whole yard and foundation plantings,” Ms Visger said. Or, it can be as simple as helping someone plant fall bulbs or spruce up existing gardens before a special event, such as a wedding reception.

It is important for the home or business owner to be part of the planning process, Ms Visger said. They walk the property with a client to determine sun exposure and soil conditions and what type of plants will do best there. 

“It’s their home. The clients need to be comfortable with it,” Ms Carotti said. “We talk to the resident to see what they’re looking for, and get to know their color preferences. We have them look at plans. We like the personal contact we have with our clients.”

“It’s very rewarding,” Ms Carotti said, explaining a call they recently received from a client who wanted them to know how delighted she was with a new patio garden they had designed for her.

For a consultation and free estimate, call Fine Garden Design at 203/825-3143.