SUMMER 2005 NEWSLETTER

If you are a new visitor to our website and unfamiliar with Shadowood, we welcome you! Our business practices have sometimes been referred to as “quirky” or “unconventional”, but our attitude is why be self-employed if you don’t have the inclination to write your own rules? Existing customers may grumble from time to time when we have a two month waiting list for consults or renovations, but most of them have learned that we are devoted to those who allow us to do our jobs well.

Last fall, due to the hurricanes that devastated our area, we were compelled to limit our retails hours to one, three day weekend a month or by appointment. Sure, it was an odd move from a retail perspective, but one that allowed us to spend the majority of our time helping clients with landscape renovations and cleaning up our own mess at the farm. Since we are truly a two-person firm, this seemed the only reasonable way to conduct our business, maintain a bit of our sanity and keep the majority of our customers happy. Though we had originally intended to resume our normal retail hours in January of 2005, it was obvious that our energies were still needed more on job sites than at the farm for retail sales.

In the aftermath of last season, we discovered that this new type of scheduling truly suited us on many levels. When we open again this fall, we will follow this same format, but hopefully without any hurricanes to motivate our decision!

Things at Shadowood are growing nicely over the summer in spite of the heat and the rain. We hope to have new and wonderful things to share with customers this fall. Within the first ten days of October, our Florida office will open again and we will post our upcoming retail sale dates on this website and on our telephone answering system.

In general, our Retail Weekends will occur around the middle of each month on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9-4. Each month, we will update our Availability List, so if you need something, you can feel free to schedule a private appointment or call/e-mail an order for pick-up or delivery.

As for Landscape Renovations or Horticultural Consulting: We are already booked for the month of October and are currently taking appointments for November. If you are interested in our services, please feel free to e-mail us to secure a place on our calendar. All clients are scheduled on a “first come- first serve basis”, we are typically booked 2-4 weeks in advance for Consults and 4-8 weeks in advance for Renovations.

Best wishes for a peaceful, hurricane-free summer,
Bob and Sarah Fenton

Shadowood Garden Shop