Book Review: Perennial Reference Guide

I don't do book reviews. I guess the main reason is I've been around awhile and I no longer get too excited about the "next new thing," and I don't refer to books as much as I used to. I know enough plants to do what I do. I'll add a few to my palette every year or two, but I tend to stick with what works for me.

Having said all that, Karleen Shafer asked me to review her book which is aptly called "Perennial Reference Guide." It is definitely not a bedside table book, nor does it belong on your coffee table, and I must say that on first inspection I was underwhelmed. There are no pictures and there is no index to look up a specific plant. But then I started really looking at it. I also ran it past a couple of colleagues, one with similar experience to my own, and the other a younger designer. They had very different impressions and I was convinced to look a little further.

I think this book definitely has value, especially for some of its uncommon lists. Examples include lists of plants for Aromatherapy, Biblical Gardens, Crevices and Evening Gardens. Of course there are the more common lists based on color, size and growing environment.

If I were to offer any criticism it would be the following: The color coded sections are fine, but tabs to help find them would help. An index would help a ton as there is no way to cross reference a plant. For example, you may be browsing the Environmental Low Pollen/Allergen list and find, say Brunnera macrophylla. The listing shows sun/shade requirements and the hardiness zone, but an additional column that lists other pages where you can cross reference it would be a huge help (Thanks, Tara).

So, in general, it is interesting to browse the various lists. It is a good way to learn. Although it is difficult to look up a specific plant, there are a lot of books where you can do that. Same with pictures. This is an unusual format, but there is valuable information inside. All things considered, if you are a plant person and you typically spend a lot of time choosing just the right plant for a given condition, this book may be a valuable addition to your library.

Please remember, I don't do book reviews.

Reputation

Our opportunities are created or destroyed based on what people think of us. Once a reputation is tarnished, it is hard to clean it up.

Reputation

There IS one thing that’s yours alone,
And it’s up to you to guard it.
That thing’s your reputation—
Be sure you haven’t marred it:

When someone asks, “do you know him?”
And you respond, “Of course,”
Your curiosity’s aroused—
Why? What thoughts are yours?

Are you visualizing someone
Who is pure as driven snow?
Or is his reputation showing—
Painting pictures base and low?

What’s YOUR opinion of yourself?
Could you safely pass the test?
If ever your name’s mentioned,
Would you feel you’ve done your best?

It’s not too late to ponder
On correcting your mistakes.
If your reputation’s tarnished,
Polish it for goodness’ sake!

—Mary Burger

Mary Burger is my grandmother. She wrote this years ago and it was published in her local paper. As of this writing she is 93 1/2 and living in Longmont, CO.

Your reputation is everything: Guard it jealously, reinforce it demonstrably, promote
it religiously.

Poetree

How is a poem like designing a landscape? Well, you can write your own metaphors, but the process of creating both is very similar. You take a bunch of inventory items: In the case of a landscape, that would be plants, paving, water, and the like; for a poem, words. Then you put them together. One of my favorite poems is Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken." The last 3 lines are the best known:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Okay, let's ruin it. Same words, different arrangement:

In all I took the wood
And a one that has traveled by the less difference.
I diverged and made two roads.

Huh?

A well-designed landscape is more like the original than the second one. Sadly, many seem content with landscapes that are more like the second than the first. Or worse--they can't see the difference.

Sales and Customers?

I've blogged this before. Here are a couple more thoughts. To repeat a previous thought:

People do NOT like to be sold to. But they LOVE to buy!

If you call yourself a sales person, that is how you will be perceived: As someone out to sell stuff. However, if you position yourself as an adviser, you have a better chance of gaining your potential client's trust. Of course you must also ACT as an adviser. If you really believe in your product (If you don't, you've got other issues.), people will want to buy it.

Likewise, if you position your potential client as a "client" vs. a "customer," that helps the whole mind set. In fact, if you can find a term for them that is NOT "client" or "customer," all the better. A prime example: American Express has "members." "Membership has its privileges."

Disney does not have employees. They have "Cast Members." Blue Cross Blue Shield has "Customer Advocates." Many businesses use the term "team member" rather than "employee." What does your company have?

Sometimes it feels as if I'm spitting into the wind when I put my comments out here. It's a good place to vent. As they say, "fight the good fight." Right?

"The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it."
Woodrow Wilson

"Only the dead fish go with the flow!"
Unknown

Edit: Just got off the phone with a company whose sales people are called "Solution Specialists!" Nice. This was nice following a nearly 1.5 hr. phone call to Adobe in which I was passed around among 7 different people who all began by asking me for my customer number. It was an exercise in utter frustration. No solution. No specialists. Wouldn't you think a software company would be run with software that made life easier for its customers?

Don't Say It

How do you describe your business? It's a tough thing. You need to say something about it, but if you say too much, it's self-defeating.Maybe you disagree, so if you do, please speak up.

Here's a simple example. The moment you describe something as "classy," it's tainted. The person describing it as "classy" immediately loses credibility as one who might recognize or be accustomed to "classiness." Something truly "classy" needs no description or validation. To describe it as anything other than "very nice," or "upscale" or in some other understated terms does it a disservice. Again, my view.

Consider your business. If you describe it as "professional," does that help? Isn't it assumed that if you are offering something for compensation that it is "professional"? How about "quality"? Same thing, huh? Consider a company called "Quality Widgets." In your mind, is what they sell high quality, or is it a commodity?

If you are a design professional, and you describe your service, your company as "creative," is that helping? Again, you may disagree, but "Creative Design Services" to me sounds like one step above the design department at a home improvement store. Nothing wrong with that, if that is what you are and the client you are after, but if you want to be perceived as "Classy,” “Creative” and “Quality," don't say it. Demonstrate it.