MOUNT LAUREL — Even in the quiet of winter, Janet Kostiuk is thinking about gardens.
“That’s when I do my research,’’ said the Moorestown woman, who is a landscape designer at Eric’s Nursery and Garden Center on Mount Laurel Road.
But once longer days and warming temperatures hint that spring is not far away, Kostiuk moves into the fast lane.
And there she remains until the pace slows slightly in midsummer before picking up again in the fall.
“It’s hard work,’’ she said, describing days that start at 7 a.m. and can stretch until 5 or 6 p.m. The hours are filled with phone calls, meetings and consultations with the center’s plant experts and other staff members.
During her 16 years with the company, Kostiuk has participated in both residential and commercial projects. Recently, the residential business has taken up most of her time.
A project often begins with a message from a homeowner looking for help. A vague request for ideas that will improve the appearance and usefulness of an outdoor space can end in many different ways.
Kostiuk’s first challenge is to help prospective clients transform their dream into a plan. She will be involved every step of the way, from the initial informal hand-drawn sketch of the area to the final installation.
Along the way, the designer studies the property, takes detailed measurements, gets to know the client, imagines the scene when it all comes together, and figures out how to get there.
Her notebook and tape measure are never far away.
Earlier in her career, Kostiuk was an industrial arts teacher at a middle school, and she remains an educator at heart.
“It’s an important part of what I do,’’ she said, noting that she leaves clients with written instructions about maintenance and counsels them about the value of drought-resistant plants.
During the planning stage, Kostiuk shares what she knows about ways to cut down on the necessity of frequent watering. Her solution: Use native plants that are at home in this area and require less care.
She also has been known to give pruning instructions to an inexperienced gardener and calmed the owner of a new, young tree, who is worried that it is not thriving.
As much as she adores flowers, they are usually the last phase of a project, the colorful finishing touch, Kostiuk said. Her first interest is in design, and most of her work involves the installation of patios, garden walls and massive boulders.
Some of the boulders are smooth, while others are rough and angular. But they all introduce contrast and dimension into the landscape. Many weigh as much as 600-700 pounds.
After a preliminary meeting with a client, Kostiuk returns to her office and begins to flesh out her ideas. Her hand-drawn sketch is tweaked and refined, and when she is satisfied, it is scanned into her computer.
Once the client gives the go-ahead, she begins to order materials and schedule the work. She will meet with the center’s plant expert, and together they will choose an appropriate mix of evergreens and deciduous plants and perennials.
The plants reserved for Kostiuk’s projects are marked with pink tape so they are not sold to someone else by mistake.
A recent job involved planning a large outdoor space in the backyard of a house where a family had lived for many years. Now, there were grandchildren visiting, making extra seating space a must.
The answer was a stone semicircular wall.
“These sitting walls are very popular,’’ Kostiuk said. “They don’t take up a lot of space, and you don’t have to buy more furniture.’’
The designer’s busy days leave little time to tend her own garden. Her husband, Paul Blaine, an assistant U.S. attorney, had an answer.
His Mother’s Day gift to her was to plant all the flower pots around their home.
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