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GROWING A BUSINESS OUT OF A PASSION FOR GARDENING
Two sisters who grew up loving to garden with their family have blossomed into business owners. Maureen (Brassil) Bulwan and Kathleen (Brassil) Finckle are Two Sisters and a Shovel - a female only gardening company in Glen Ellyn.
"There is nothing we can't do," says Maureen. "We've built an English stone wall out of huge boulders. "Maureen says some clients prefer female gardeners.
"They can relate to us and we are more communicative," she said. "We let them know what we are doing and they know they can trust us."
Maureen, Kathleen and their team wear pink polo shirts.
Kathleen says: "Yes, a lot of people notice when we're working, a team of women dressed in pink shirts with tools working hard outdoors, people really like it…but honestly, the best part is that we get to help people who are too busy or unable to maintain their gardens by themselves, sometimes we even have homeowners who work right alongside of us ladies in pink".
The company offers services to homeowners beyond the scope of architects, landscapers and micro-focus on the actual maintenance, longevity and well being of homeowner's gardens with a sprig of horticulture education thrown in. Maureen says, "I'm so happy we can provide this service for people. Basically, we are like personal gardeners, we plant containers, divide perennials, properly prune bushes, amend soil issues etc...we're not landscapers and we don't "do" lawns, but we do employ mostly women with gardening backgrounds and educate homeowners how to make their yards and gardens flourish."
With spring just around the corner, Two Sisters and a Shovel offers these tips to keep your garden flourishing.

• The number one mistake of clients is overuse of hedgers! Put the hedgers away and use sharp clippers/loppers for all other bush pruning…always cut the dead branches out first, so the healthy ones can grow.
• Small gardens are easily overwhelmed with ground-cover; cut it back to keep it manageable.
• Curb appeal is greatly helped with container plantings…they offer a burst of color, variety of texture and modernize dated gardens…and you can move it around for seasonal interest.
• Planting in groups of odd numbers still looks best, but proper placement of plants can make or break this rule. Remember things grow!
• Use good quality containers for planting.
• Divide, transplant and move your perennials at least every 3 years.
• Your garden loves it when you're "Green" too, so use compost, mix perennials in with your annuals and use natural resources such as mulched leaves to winterize your garden beds and invest in a good rain barrel.
Contact the sisters at www.2sistersandashovel.com.
-Hilary Decent, Features Editor

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