The Green-thumbed Distributors

"Gardening makes us feel like we're making the world a little more beautiful."

These inspiring words come from Pam Reichelt. Along with her husband Karl, the two work magic in their home gardens in Manchester, Conn., creating dazzling works of art from nature.

Karl and Pam both work for RoVic Inc., a Manchester-based distributor. Karl is the company's executive vice president and CFO, and Pam is RoVic's marketing manager. The Reichelts' shared gardening hobby really blossomed 11 years ago when the couple moved into a new house.

"It was an older home, and the grounds were awful," says Pam. "We could see there was lots of potential for improvement, so, we started to change things one piece at a time."

Karl and Pam each began working on their own perennial bed. However, over the years the two have started to specialize their talents. Now, Pam works on the perennials while Karl tends a vegetable garden.

Gardening season starts in March in Manchester and each spring brings excitement to the Reichelt house.

"Every April when the perennials start coming out of the ground, I get excited, even though I know they're going to come up every year," says Pam. "I always feel like a miracle is happening."

Gardening is tough work, and unfortunately the results don't always equal the effort. For example, Karl spent many years preparing a traditional vegetable garden, but a bad combination of too many animals (deer, coyotes and fisher cats) and not enough sun yielded a poor crop. It wasn't until Karl moved his vegetables and herbs to troughs on his deck that he has gotten the perfect blend of sun, rain, wind and heat.

"The tomato plants get to be eight feet tall," says Karl.

Pam, who was a botany major in college, has always enjoyed gardening, and used to teach gardening classes at a museum for children. Both Pam and Karl are members of the Manchester Garden Club, which has been around since the early 1900s.

"They loved it when Karl joined, because until about five years ago, the club members were mostly women, though back in the early days of the club, the membership was mostly men," says Pam.

Three years ago the Reichelts' gardens were featured as part of the Manchester Garden Tour. Roughly 600 people toured their gardens for six hours on a beautiful day in June.

Karl and Pam especially enjoyed the novice gardeners who came through and asked lots of questions. In fact, they even let a few people dig up and take some plants home with them. Sharing their hard work with others is something both Pam and Karl love to do.

"About 12 years ago, a friend of mine shared some of the plants in her garden with me," says Pam. "She has since died, but just recently I've been able to dig up some of those plants and give them to my friend's daughter for her house."

Gretchen Roufs, an 18-year janitorial supply industry veteran, owns a marketing and public relations company in San Antonio. To suggest someone you think should be featured in “Freetime,” contact her at Gretchen@GretchenRoufs.com.