Dear Jeff, I thought it might stir your imagination if I shared some examples of the "messages" churches send through their use of space. the key element in most of these examples is not plant material and may have nothing to do with your church situation. Your project sounds like it will be something different, more along the lines of a way for you to share a gift and personal interest in plants. That may be fine, if it fits with the way your church makes decisions and as long as it is done well, which is probably why you are asking for input. ButÂyour project will send a message. The question is: What will that message be? What message is sent when > Members of a church use an entrance that "everyone" knows about, except newcomers who feel lost and confused after trying the locked front door. > Members tolerate a serious odor issue--I once overheard the child of a visiting family ask, "Mom, why does it stink in here?" > Additions to a church create a rectangular structure with an exterior courtyard in its center. It is tended for years by a primary donor, but after her death the tiny garden is mowed and hacked back and left forlorn. > Three times in 10 years a congregation votes down a proposal to install an elevator with exterior access, although fewer and fewer elderly members can safely navigate the 15 or so steps to enter the sanctuary or the 11 steps to go to a fellowship dinner in the basement. Now try these > A congregation carefully thinks through how to indicate the usual entrance: signs, sidewalks, greeters. > A congregation debates intensely the merits of putting in additional parking, creating a playground, or providing a memorial garden to honor the memory of members who have died. They decide on a capital fund drive to purchase a neighboring property so they can increase parking. They will build the play area on the existing property to meet a community need. > A congregation in rural Illinois discovers a desire to deepen its spiritual life and builds a prayer labyrinth in the neighboring cornfield (acreage belonging to the church). They invite the region to make use of this experience. The income from harvesting the corn goes toward local mission efforts. So, I guess I'm wondering what message your congregation feels called to send to its community? Wellspring

Nandina, I think your advice is fantastic, and it rings true to me. I have been casually working at a quality greenhouse/nursery near me for the past 9 years. About 4 years ago, when my son started school, I decided I wanted to turn what was previously a hobby into my next career (I had my son at 40). Not being sure where to begin, I started by getting my Master Gardener Certificate, which was a great program that I highly recommend. I learned a lot, made some great connections, and truly enjoy the volunteer work I do that is associated with keeping that certification. With that, I did just as you suggested--became a Garden Consultant. I kept on working at the nursery, and did the consultant gigs on the side, and worked hard not to create a conflict of interest, since the nursery has a full-scale design operation. In addition, I have developed a pretty good business as a public speaker, giving presentations to local garden clubs on a regular basis. The next step, after some research and reflection, I enrolled in the Horticulture/Garden Design Certificate program at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. My degree was in theater design, so I had a lot of the design background (ie. technical drawing, elevations, design concepts). I'm not done with that yet, but at the end of this year, the business I've been working for all this time invited me to join their Design group. I'm thrilled with that. I love that I will be working with an established business that has the crews, the equipment, and a full selection of plant material. If I were younger, maybe I'd be itching to set out on my own. But, for me, this is the perfect path. Finally, I'll mention to the OP that one of the other options that was open to me was to work at the CBG, with pretty good prospects at working my way up to a Horticulturist position there, which is another great way to get some great hands-on experience and build some "street cred." Thanks for this post, I've enjoyed reading everyone's advice!

So, Chris and I have been working hard and have finally come up with my final pool rendering. The pavers and coping aren't exactly the colors we are looking at, but everything else is pretty much exactly what we are looking at. This revision might look a lot like the last rendering I posted, but it is different. We added people into the rendering so we could get a better perspective of space, we reduced the patio size and slightly reduced the spa size. We also added a paver boarder around the patio. We are looking at approximately 1300 sq feet of patio, approx 600 sq ft of pool and a 48 sq ft spa. We are going to restart the bidding process with 3 builders and we hope to have construction started in the next 2-3 weeks!

Thank you golfgeek. Our contractor doesn't want to hire another subcontractor because he paid them , so he wants them to fix it. The problem is , we don't think these guys are experienced, but we can't force our contractor to hire someone else. The representative from MARBELITITE said he would gladly show up to supervise / advise on the day they resurface. Would it be a fair compromise on our part to insist they chip ALL The existing plaster out since there are so many rough, thick and bumpy areas? We are not professionals , but it seems common sense that they will attain a better and lasting result if they start on the original gunite. Is that an accurate assumption on our part? It would be terrible if they replastered over this and botched it up again