An umbrella magnolia along Smith's Creek at Unicoi State Park
“Clean, green, and well defined” is how Russell explains his approach to Landscape Design and Garden Coaching. He is a 30 year professional with rich and diverse background in the Green Industry.
He received his A.S. in Horticulture from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia. He has managed a retail garden center for a large chain in metro Atlanta, run the nursery sales for a nursery re-wholesaler, operated his own design/install/maintain landscape business, managed the grounds of a college campus, and managed landscape maintenance sales, design, and installation for a local contractor. Presently he is the Grounds Maintenance Foreman with the Henry County Board of Education and owns a landscape design and consulting business called Southern Garden Coach.com.
Along the way Russell managed to become a Georgia Certified Pesticide Applicator as well as the first Georgia Certified Landscape Professional in the State. He has spoken to garden clubs and taught classes on landscape design at Clayton College and State University.
Russell is pragmatic in his approach to design and gardening. “The simpler, the better”, he says. He takes into account all of the factors that go into a landscape, such as the client’s dreams, the property they want to develop, the plants and hardscapes they want to use, along with their budget, and distills it down to the most elegant solution.
He believes that landscaping and the maintenance of landscapes is not as difficult as many people think and likes to share his ‘secrets of the trade’
