To Whom It May Concern,
When Yvonne Babb appeared on the scene as “my garden companion”, she was greeted by a plain lawn riddled by gopher and ground squirrel tunnels, a Lodgepole snag and a leaning pine of unknown ancestry. In the last several years she has worked to have our yard slowly evolve from that lawn to an eclectic assortment of native trees, shrubs, and flowering plants.
She tuned in to my desire for a “wild” garden and guided me in choosing flora that would thrive in the high desert: flowers such as Oregon Sunshine for our wooden barrels, Clematis vines for our arbola, and Maple and several Ponderosa Pines for shade. Penstemon, Yarrow, Lupine and Indian Blanket Flower are among the flowers that are migrating and holding their own. The biggest transformation occurred when she created and installed a stream bed and “wet” garden bridged by the now downed snag. This thrilled both us and the visiting wild birds.
Yvonne thrives on challenges. She has continued her education by studying soil and bees, etc. Her positive outlook is expressed by her smiles, exuberance, physical strength (she’s awesome with a Pulaski tool), creativity, and always, kindness. She deals with problems such as the abundance of tunneling critters by placing hardware cloth barriers underground to protect roots, since we are loath to set traps. She cages plantings: low fences for the rabbits, tall for the deer. She tweaks the sprinkler system to accommodate newly planted areas. We expect to alleviate the deer problem by building a fence to surround our backyard by this summer. Lastly, Yvonne has been respecting our limited budget by scheduling her work accordingly, which we most appreciate.
We look forward to having a lifetime relationship with Yvonne as our trusted garden companion and loving friend.
Sincerely,
Robert and Priscilla Marvos
