Are you looking for a unique opportunity to get your hands dirty, renew numerous flower beds and bring joy to a sweet elderly couple?
My mother had a serious fall a couple of years ago, and as a result has been unable to work outside on her flower beds, which she enjoyed for decades from her kitchen window. The beds have been neglected for the past 2-3 years, and need some serious attention this fall and next spring and summer. She has really missed seeing her beautiful flowers from her kitchen window, so I am looking for someone to help bring them back to life. Expectations are not extremely high – I am not looking for an award winning flower bed, just staying on top of weeds, thinning out flowers, fertilizing over the summer and watering while you are onsite.
Do you have the following?
1. An intermediate knowledge of flowers
2. A lot of patience
My mother will want to be involved in the work, but will need to do so from the house, as she cannot safely navigate the lawn due to a risk of falling. She will want to join you out in the flower beds, so patience and persistence will be needed to make sure she stays inside. As a result of her fall, she also has shown signs of cognitive decline, so she may ask you the same question multiple times and will struggle to remember short term conversations. So patience and a caring heart is definitely needed in this position.
What has worked out well is taking pictures of the flower bed on your phone, then going up to the house and showing her, getting confirmation of what flowers need to stay and what can be removed or thinned out and what is simply a weed that needs to be removed.
3. A desire to get creative and renew her flower beds back to their previous beauty
Once we get the beds under control, there is an opportunity to have a budget to buy some new plants and you can help drive that creatively. So if you are looking for real world, hands on experience related to horticulture or landscaping – this would be perfect opportunity.
4. A need for an extremely flexible schedule
Work whenever you want – there is no schedule. Just work with me to keep your hours within monthly budget.
House is located on the Eastside of Madison, just up from East Towne Mall. Your time is valuable, so time spent driving to and from the house will be paid. Preference given to someone with their own vehicle, in order to be able to haul away garden waste to the Madison yard waste dropoff which is 5 mins from their house. Generally looking for 15 – 30 hours a month (October/November and then start back up in Spring throughout Summer) at $15 - $20 an hour based on knowledge and experience.
I am looking for someone to commit to working throughout the summer if possible, as this is primary growing season where the most attention is needed to control weeds. So if you are planning an internship, I would still want you to be able to commit to working in the evening to keep the beds under control.
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