Erin Schanen
You may already know Erin Schanen as The Impatient Gardener. She’s a blogger, content creator, columnist, and writer, with many active and engaged followers on her social media channels.
Erin enjoys inspiring and educating gardeners of all skill levels as a garden columnist for her local community newspaper. In it, she provides area-specific information to gardeners and non-gardeners alike, introducing aspects of gardening the readers might not have known about.
A Wisconsin-based Region 3 member, Erin joined GardenComm around 2019 to gain access to its exceptional educational opportunities and tune into the latest information in the horticultural world. “It's part of my job to know what's happening in horticulture, and GardenComm provides the tools to do that.” She said.
In addition to access to professional development programming, Erin appreciates that her GardenComm membership entitles her to receive industry publications and access to horticulture industry events, “all of which help me be a better, more well-informed creator.”
Being a member of GardenComm is a way for Erin to show she is serious about her business, something she feels is increasingly important in a world full of creators.
When asked whom she finds inspirational, Erin admits, “It's hardly original to consider the prolific writer and famed gardener, Christopher Lloyd of England's Great Dixter, but whenever I'm in a creative rut, I revisit his books and columns.
Although his approach to gardens and incredible horticultural knowledge cannot be understated, what I admire most is that he was steadfast in his opinions, many of which were quite unpopular. He was never worried about what the backlash would be (and there was plenty over the years). He just laid his opinions and positions on the table and let people do what they wanted with them.”
Erin always finds Lloyd’s writing to be a good reminder that strong opinions make for good content and that it's never a good idea to take yourself too seriously.
Reaching gardeners on a variety of platforms, each ideally suited to delivering different kinds of information, is a tactic that Erin uses to foster a vibrant, garden-loving community.
It’s not hard to find Erin sharing her love and knowledge of horticulture online, including on her website and blog at https://theimpatientgardener.com, on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/@theimpatientgardener, and on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/impatientgardener.