A newsmaker you should know: Master gardener loves creating new plans

No matter what time of year, Claire Campbell Schuchman is thinking about planting, flowers and landscape design. The master gardener and owner of Exceptional Gardens in Mt. Lebanon is always planning gardens and helping others to plan their own.

The Mt. Lebanon resident will be teaching the three-week Landscape Design Course Feb. 24, March 3 and March 10at Mt. Lebanon Public Library.

One of the best parts of my career is to help others create their own gardens and this gives me that opportunity, she said.

Ms. Schuchman, 57, remembers spending summer days in Dormont helping her grandmother, Clara Miller, with her garden.

Nana was the original organic gardener. We would have a big compost pile and I remember all of her flowers and the birds in the garden, Ms. Schuchman said.

Her own efforts at gardening didnt begin until she moved to Virginia Beach with her husband, Jim, after college when he was in the Navy. Finding herself with a new lawn of sandy soil, she didnt know how to grow grass let alone anything else.

I looked at that yard and said, What am I going to do with all this soil? she said.

Starting with grass seed, Ms. Schuchman said she planted and made a lot of mistakes. Through trial and error, she tried new seeds, plants and composting and was able to get grass and other flowers to grow.

I started getting grass clippings from all of my neighbors and started composting. My neighbors probably thought I was nuts, she laughed.

Ms. Schuchman was also able to pursue another passion of hers while the young couple lived in Virginia Beach. She worked on the 700 Club, a television show hosted by evangelist Pat Robertson.

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A newsmaker you should know: Master gardener loves creating new plans