About Hal May and Neighborhood Horticulture 

My exposure to horticulture began in middle school, when my mom and I held a yard sale to earn enough money for me to buy my first commercial-grade lawn mower.  During high school, I built my business, Neighborhood Mowing, into a two-man enterprise and collected enough equipment in our garage to practice lawn maintenance full time.  I also graduated from a trailer hauled by our four-cylinder Volvo station wagon to a Dodge Ram. 

I spent my first year out of high school in the Washington, D. C., City Year program.  In addition to tutoring in an elementary school, I began a flower and vegetable garden for the children at the school. 

Attending the New York Botanical Garden School of Professional Horticulture, next to the Bronx Zoo, prepared me for a career in horticulture.  One of my two internships for my program was with Pearl Fryar, the renowned topiary artist in Bishopville, South Carolina.  For my other internship, I worked with a small landscaping company in New York City.  When I graduated, I continued to work with Patrick Weisel for several years, with a year off installing roof-top gardens in Manhattan. 

After a brief stint on Cape Cod as a gardener on a private estate and as a horticulturalist for another landscaping company, I returned to my roots in North Carolina, where I know the plants and where I value the growing conditions.  My love of topiary, my expertise in plants and planting, and my dedication to maintaining installations are among the assets I offer in my new company, Neighborhood Horticulture.  I’m also a certified aborist.  

Sustainability has long been a passion of mine and will remain a feature of my practices.  I specialize in installing and caring for custom designs, but am available for consultation on just about any topic that concerns growing things and protecting our environment.