Living the Dream: Melissa Bateson
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Name: Melissa Bateson
Age: 26
Location: New York City
Education: B.A. in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Job Title: Garden Designer
What She Does: Melissa runs her own garden design business, Bateson Gardens, catering to vegetation-parched urbanites—including a slew of A-list celebrities. She’s outside almost every day, perusing the city’s best farmers’ markets for perfect seasonal flowers and tending to her clients’ gardens. In addition to pruning and potting, she masterminds large-scale installations, whether it’s re-creating a Tuscan villa or crafting elaborate winter wonderlands for clients’ Christmases.
How She Got Her Gig: Growing up on a fruit and vegetable farm in Hartland, Conn., Melissa already had a green thumb when she graduated college. She hadn’t intended to pursue the family trade, but an ad on Craigslist for a gardening assistant job caught her attention. She took the job and, with her design education and eye for aesthetics, was soon promoted to lead gardener. Three years later, she founded Bateson Gardens. “My grandmother, who headed up my family’s business, passed away two months before my first gardening job,” she says. “I never fully appreciated her knowledge and skill until I started doing this myself, and so the work has a lot of personal meaning for me.”
Hoeing It Alone: Gardening is hard work, and doing it in the city presents its own special hurdles. Aside from hauling heavy bags of soil and fertilizer through the subway, she has to be on guard for vandalism—which has even taken the form of intoxicated bar-hoppers urinating in her clients’ window boxes. “These are beautiful plants, and you have to respect them,” she says. “But some people won’t.”
Sweet Respite: Despite the challenges, Melissa views her job as finding an oasis in the desert. “When I’m commuting, dodging people on the busy streets, I know I have the best secret hideaway to get out of the mess,” she says. “I can go to the gardens and escape everything. It’s sweet and contemplative—and it’s my job!” She spots animals that are rare finds for Manhattan and often forgets she’s surrounded by skyscrapers—that is, until a resounding crash from nearby construction snaps her out of it.
Going Green: Even if you’ve killed every cactus you’ve owned, you can learn to garden. Check out local botanic gardens and nurseries, many of which offer seminars and classes. And don’t forget the World Wide Web, where you’ll find a goldmine of “green groups” and websites dedicated to gardening communities. For job postings and answers to gardening questions, check out www.gardenweb.com and www.greendrinks.org. Be aware, though, that even with talent and personal experience, you’ll have to start from the bottom. You’ll be spreading fertilizer long before you do the planning.
This Job’s for You If: You don’t mind getting dirty. (A fondness for flowers helps too!) Good gardeners also know how to plan ahead, since they have to plant bulbs months in advance (and according to schedule). “The most satisfying part of the job is transforming spaces,” says Melissa. “Making things green, bright, and beautiful where before there was nothing.”