Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Brinson

Hi Crystal, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?

I began as a very rebellious teenager who took to a job offer from a very kool lady living in New Haven, Ct. in the early nineties as an interior plant technician. From there I spent most of my twenties bouncing from jobs at garden centers working in the house plant and perennial plant departments, then a few years as a florist making bouquets and assisting with larger wedding and corporate orders, then I was working at different landscaping companies. Here I was able to discover a new way of artistry. After a life threatening illness was overcome in my early thirties I realized that I am not one to following the crowd. So I began offering small garden designs and thought that making cookies and selling them to local coffee shops and health food stores would solve my problems. It did not! In my late thirties I had the self confidence to believe in my capabilities and thus I took the initiative to start up the garden design company Crystal Brinson Horticulture Inc. Together with my life partner and a great team of humans manages the daily operations of our garden design business while I develop the brick and mortar plant shop. We also had a blast this past February with an art installation featuring terrariums on the third floor of the mill at the Colo Colo Gallery. As I slowly and with some grace I’m able to take that ride down and up over the gentle rolling hills of life.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

Life is never a smooth road. There are moments that you can enjoy the open road with trees and soft meandering curves that lead to a beautiful sun set. But for the most part you’ll encounter traffic jams, broken dreams, parking tickets, flat tires and lots of detours. In the end though you will get home and can wake up another day to start over! Because we are a gardening service business serving both homeowners, restaurants, and walk in customers at the plant shop our biggest challenge is meeting deadlines that include garden installations, processing plant delivery orders, invoicing for monthly gardening services, And always wondering if we’ll meet this months sales quota? Struggles in business are part of the game, one must always be prepared for the unexpected week of rain, someone calling in sick, receiving damaged plants, the list goes on. Understanding that this is just life and it’s ok I am not able to be one hundred percent every day is a healthy and very realistic approach. I do not rely on social media to the extent that I must have likes or new followers every hour! For the plant shop we focus on one or two posts per week because we’re busy processing plant orders, cleaning and organizing the shop, watering the plants. Being present in the moment is the challenge for all of us in todays strange and wonderful world. We are still on the earth and with all the overstimulating components of modern day living one must never forget that all you need to do is hit the off button. The world will still be as it is.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

I am a passionate plant human through and through. From watching the trees unfurl their delicate leaves to collecting fresh seeds from my favorite annuals, to sharing cuttings with our favorite plant shop visitors my world is what we would call a hundred shades of green. I am also a creative the challenges of designing gardens and then watching them grow over the seasons is like nothing else. Every season is a new experience, even with our longest standing client I never tire at the wonder of watching plants grow and seeing how the plant combinations have developed annually. And yes we do revise our designs because some plants fail.

We are a very small company with up to six full and part time seasonal employees including myself. We offer garden design, garden installation, and most importantly garden maintenance services organically too.We specialize in residential design, we also serve some of the areas finest restaurants with seasonal container gardens that bring a creative and welcoming flair to the overall dining experience. We also have a dedicated brick and mortar shop called Star Garden Studio located inside the Kilburn Mill in New Bedford, MA. It is a wonderful plant shop full with easy care and collector seeking house plants, beautiful pottery, and fun objects one can utilize for every day living. Our Garden Room is an extension of Star Garden Studio at the same mill. This is our create space to fulfill holiday wreath making orders, and to showcase a select offering for the creative who loves to find the most interesting dried flowers, everlasting stems and other fun unexpected objects for one’s abode.

Because we are very much a hands on gardening service company as well as a retail shopping experience business we strive at being present in each and every moment. The value of building a customer base via word of mouth is our true testament that has and will always be what makes us a little different and lucky!

I’m most proud of the team we are, every season brings a different energy to the gardening world, our part time employees are generally humans that just want to be outside and we can defiantly offer that kind of work environment. What makes my heart fill with happiness is when the gardening year concludes in December these humans have had a full growing season where they have experienced the outdoors, enriched themselves with discovering the world of nature and best of all they have come away from our company with the knowledge and life experience that working together in a team environment is most beneficial. They have to learn how to communicate effectively by asking questions, understand that constructive criticism is both healthy and beneficial in regards to being in the service industry, there is nothing wrong with pulling weeds by hand it’s a perfect way to meditate and when we all work together it is not such a daunting task. We support each other through those hot swelting days of July and the cold shortening days of fall. Enjoying the fruits of our labor at the end of the work day is also very satisfying, This is how we can grow only as a team. This is something very important to me.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?

Luck is something one can make with their own actions. I feel that I have been lucky in some areas of my life because I believe in myself. I’m not very lucky when it comes to gambeling by means of buying scratch cards no that is not where my luck grows. My luck is grown by staying up late into the night planning my next move. Luck happens while watering plants and talking to passing humans on the street because I can answer a plant question then let them know hey I own a cute little plant shop at the Kilburn Mill in New Bedford, Ma. That’s luck even luckier is when I see that human walk through the plant shop door. Luck too happens just out of the blue, But sometimes that’s up to the stars to decide for us. Garden design wise I am passionate about creating and the best luck happens when the weather is on our side. For example this has been an amazing spring consistently cool temperatures with above average rain fall made installing gardens that much easier without the worry of hand watering in everything. The weather rules our gardening business so yes we’ve been very lucky this season.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stargardenstudio.com
• Instagram: star.garden.studio
• Yelp: Star Garden Studio