Cath Shaw Truelove: Your New Best Plant Friend
If you’re a crazy plant lady (or gentleman), you know what I mean when I say I can spend hours talking about plants, talking to plants…and in social isolation and far from my plant friends, I’m getting pretty lonely. What should I do with my avocado tree, which is soaring past five feet in its pot, but dropping leaves like mad? Is my baby asparagus going to survive these rains?
If you’re jonesing for a plant friend, Cath Shaw Truelove, owner and operator of Bees on a Bicycle, known as “an urban garden center with a sustainable approach,” is presenting a series of videos about plants and how to care for them.
Cath got her start with one foot in the plant world and one in communications. She’s worked in nonprofit marketing—she played a role in the AIDS Memorial Quilt and the Americans with Disabilities Act—and also in gardening, having been certified as a Master Gardener and owned her own landscaping business.
When Cath came to Chattanooga, she started Bees on a Bicycle, located at 1909 Market Street. The little garden shop quickly became a gathering place for people who love plants and are eager to plant native flora and embrace sustainable gardening practices. Cath’s customers come from all walks of life, she says—well-heeled folks with people to carry their purchases to people who “empty their pockets of coins and buy a $7.50 plant.”
One of the best things about Bees has always been the way Cath or one of her helpers will spend plenty of time answering questions. Even before the coronavirus hit, those questions extended online, and Cath was snowed under with questions via phone, text message, and social media.
“I looked at questions people were asking and created videos from that,” Cath says. “People were identifying knowledge that needed to happen. The feedback has been really nice … people from as far away as Australia are watching.”
One excellent aspect of Cath’s videos is she teaches viewers how to find answers for themselves— hat Google search terms to use, for instance. As a plant owner, it’s great to have some personal guidance paired with leads on how to learn more.
A good place to start is Cath’s “top five questions” piece; other videos concern potted plant arrangements, seasonal planting choices, soil and human health, and mulch-making. Indoor and outdoor gardeners alike will find a lot to love. With the coronavirus epidemic, Cath has been making videos more frequently—every week or so—and you can subscribe to beesonabicycle.com/journal find out when a new one is posted.
In addition to Cath’s practical advice, what draws me to her videos is her love of plants.
“They’re miniature, very inexpensive kids,” she says on her video. Later, when we’re talking, she adds, “For me personally, I look at the plants and I feel…I feel what the plant needs. Part of it is experience, part of it is an innate wisdom—both my grandfathers were farmers—and part of it is me being in touch with the growing plant-life world. That, coupled with my training as a Master Gardener, enables me to make very quick decisions about plants and to help them thrive.”
I’ve been asking all the Chattanoogans I speak lately what they’ve learned from this time of isolation. Are there any strengths they’re discovering? How, together, can we find the wisdom to flourish?
“What I learned was to put on my own oxygen mask first,” Cath says. She started the social-distancing phase of her business (online orders, curbside pickups) working 18-hour days. With the help of online courses and a change in perspective, she began to slow down. During these challenging times, she’s found a joy she wasn’t expecting.
“I don’t know where my good attitude comes from,” she says. “I’ve dealt with depression for a long time—for decades. And now I have found a sense of faith and stick-to-it-iveness.”
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To find Cath Shaw Truelove online, visit beesonabicycle.com/journal, or follow her on IG TV or at facebook.com/beesonabicycle. To subscribe to all her videos, sign up here: beesonabicycle.com/journal-in-your-inbox.