A Miniature Garden Manifesto by Expert Miniature Gardener, Janit Calvo

~  If you’ve been following me for a while, you have probably noticed that I’ve taken a step back from my websites and my online stores this past year. I didn’t write new blogs every single week, I didn’t search far and wide for new plants and accessories like I have been for the past 19 years, I wasn’t customizing nor creating one-of-a-kind miniatures and kits to help keep me on “top of the relentless social media pile,” and, I even got a full-sized garden design job to help drag me out of my funk.

You know, it worked.

Welcome to My 2020 Miniature Garden Manifesto.

1. I Seek My Own Counsel & Create My Own Ideas:

I believe that businesses must come up with their own solutions to their own problems in order to remain innovative for their customers. I do not wait and watch other businesses and “experts” to copy their ideas – I create my own. I am not pretending to be the world-renown authority at gardening in miniature – I just am, because I’ve been dedicated to it pretty much full-time for 20 years now. At Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center, I’m always coming up with my own solutions to the “problems” that this new hobby and business presents, which is why I remain the leader of the hobby regardless. And however often I am imitated by other businesses, I know I will never be duplicated.

2. I Have the Principles:

I believe that integrity and authenticity is critical right now for all people and all businesses. While this stance often negatively affects my bottom-line and rarely puts me in good standing with media companies, I just can’t seem to compromise. Throughout my 20 years of working on this hobby, I’ve had numerous opportunities to “sell-out” just to make a buck if I shut my mouth, suck-up to the supposed industry “leaders” and go with the crowd as others have done. But, with everything I do, I bring my principles with me and I see no other choice especially if I want to sleep at night. I always operate from my truths, look at the customer’s viewpoint AND the environmental viewpoint, to make sure it’s something that I am proud to do or to offer my customers and followers.

3. I Take Pride in Excellence Customer Service:

I believe it is imperative to treat my customers how I would want to be treated. If it doesn’t work, I’ll tell you. If we’ve made a mistake, I’ll tell you and we’ll do our best to fix it. And if I see something happening in our hobby that doesn’t work or is horrible for the environment – I will tell you that too. And if I find folks that try to take advantage of our kindness, I will politely and gently tell them to not confuse our kindness with our strength. With my expert plant-packer Steve, we will continue to offer our excellent customer service to all our customers.

4. I Stand Apart but Never Alone:

I believe in sharing the joy of miniatures through gardening even though I don’t quite fit into either the garden industry nor the miniature industry. I’ve never clamored for the attention of the garden media, nor the “dollhouse miniature influencers,” just to get my name retweeted or mentioned in their social media channels. I have relied on my own work and my own ingenuity to demonstrate who I am and what I do because that’s what has attracted YOU, my fellow miniature gardener wherever you are, to my work. That’s it – there is no con-job, no flashy offers and no lying or pretending about what I do, I’m not chasing the next “big thing” – it’s just me.  And at TwoGreenThumbs.com, we ARE VERY different than any other business and, I’ve realized that I don’t really want to fit into any kind of norm either because that would be boring.

5. I Know This to be True

So, while your local garden centers and industry “leaders” are packing up the fairy gardens because they aren’t making enough money anymore, I will continue to grow and weave our magic into garden and miniature history regardless. I recognized two decades ago that miniature gardening was a real and genuine hobby – not a trend like the garden industry created with fairy gardening – and I’ll keep promoting miniature gardening not only because it’s a joy for me, but because it brings you joy too.

And I as I continue to research, collect, refine and share all things gardening in miniature through this blog, my online Two Green Thumbs store and my Miniature Garden Society, you are more than welcome to come along for the ride! Together we will make and create a hobby of our very own.

And yes, the fairies are more than welcome to join us!

All the plants, parts and pieces shown in the photos are from our online store, TwoGreenThumbs.com!

Like this? Here are THREE ways to get more:

For the Lurker: Check out our main headquarters over at MiniatureGarden.com – it’s got a bunch of videos, info and links to our socials and websites!

For the Dabbler: Join us for your FREE Mini Garden Gazette almost every weekend. I only send out a Gazette once a week, I never share your info and I always try to be fun and informative.

For the Deep-Diver: Join us over at the Miniature Garden Society! Join now and you will get access to the complete site and all that entails:

  •  Including all the published and future eBooks,
  • Access to the Forums,
  • Access to the Business of Gardening in Miniature,
  • Access to the Fairy Garden Section
  • AND, a standing 15% discount for our online store.

This membership level will be closing soon as the site is getting too big (!) BUT if you join us NOW you’ll get access to it ALL. See more about our Miniature Garden Society here.

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