IT’S A WONDERFUL WORLD OF PLANTS & GARDENS
Back in May of 2009, new Owner/Publisher of Quepolandia, Pat Cheek, asked me if I would be interested in writing articles about plants for the magazine. Being a Horticulturist, as well as one who is rarely at a loss for words—especially when it comes to teaching people about plants and gardening—I was honored by the invitation and jumped on the opportunity. And so, began my monthly article, It’s a Wonderful World of Plants, which continued until September of 2012. It was a commitment that I took seriously. This was before the days of easy information access via the internet. I relied on my knowledge gained from 4 ½ years of schooling while acquiring a B.S. in Horticulture, decades of hands-on experience (including tropical gardening) and my personal library. I commenced by getting up on my soapbox with this excerpt:
Plants are one of our most fascinating, precious and essential companions of our earth. They provide us with abundant benefits including: foods and beverages that sustain us, nourish us, elate us and tantalize our taste buds; medicines that soothe our aches and pains and cure our ailments and diseases; products that cleanse and beautify our bodies; materials for home construction, furniture and musical instruments; shade that cools us; filtered air to breathe; and an abundance of unsurpassed, never-ending beauty. They are a vital component of our earth’s magnificently intertwined biological system and without them humans and animals, simply, could not exist. So, celebrate, appreciate and cherish plants, because life as we know it could not continue on without them.