The Project

I don’t know what I’m doing.

I’ve never had a proper garden before. In fact, the few houseplants I own live despite any care I manage to give them. To said houseplants: I’m sorry, really I am. It’s just, like I said, I don’t know what I’m doing, and I don’t even know what you are – besides green and sometimes crunchy. Please don’t scoff at the idea of my writing a gardening blog.

This story – the 1326 story – begins several months ago, the night before a job interview. I was out with girlfriends, sipping on nerve-calming cocktails, trying to name all the flowering shrubs I could.

“Roses, right? And lilacs. Are peonies shrubs? No? Really, are you sure? Okay, uh, hydrangeas. I read about them on the dude’s blog.”

The interview was for Spring Meadow Nursery, home of Proven Winners shrubs, and “the dude” was Tim Wood, my now boss. In this version of the tale, he found my gardening incompetency absolutely endearing and said, “Don’t worry, Shannon. We can teach you the plant stuff.” So, I got the job, and during the first week, I confirmed all suspicions about peonies. They are not shrubs.

The "Before" shot. Be gone, ugly shrubs!

Shortly after the job came the house. Set in the idyllic lakeside town of Grand Haven, Michigan is our 100 year old home - the perfect spot for my boyfriend, dog and me to settle down. It's charming, has a vintage kitchen sink that I fell in love with right away... and features the most horendous, monster green blobs eating the whole front yard.

Okay, I don’t know what I’m doing, but I have to do something. {Nay-saying houseplants wail in the background} I can’t just stand around and let ugly evergreens have the run of our yard, not when I work in the gardening industry, not when I have access to amazing gardening minds at least five days a week. Our house is better than that. We're better than that. So I pouted and pitched (did I mention it was a marketing job?) and got everyone to agree to help with the project, The 1326 Project. I'll plan and plant, water and wait, documenting every step - and misstep - along the way.