About Me
When I’m asked about how I became so smitten with plants, I usually tell a story that comes from the very beginning. It’s all about a ten-year-old me, Dixie cups, volunteer plants in the yard, my brother’s little red wagon, and a profit. And like my parents before me; yet another entrepreneur was born.
That story is so firmly embedded in my mind that I had forgotten a couple of others that only fueled my passion for growing green things. Like the job I had when I was sixteen. I needed summer work and my mom worked at a florist, so she put in a good word for me. I found myself arriving daily to a place that had air so sweet, I would literally close my eyes when I walked in so that my olfactory senses could capture every nuance of the freesias, roses, carnations, and lilies housed there.
It may seem obvious that I fell in love with the bounty of flowers, and thus, gardening. Not exactly. While the scent of the flowers excited my senses, it was the houseplants that captured my imagination. This particular florist had an entire greenhouse devoted to ornately displayed tropical houseplants and terrariums that wouldn’t quit.
I couldn’t believe how many different ways plants could be used not to mention the vast amount of scenes one could create with them. Each imaginative piece could literally portray a feeling in a room. This was my heaven. I focused on rearranging, dusting and otherwise perusing that glass room. And I spent my paychecks on the houseplant books sold there.
Being a freelance writer, my time is split between writing at my websites, A Suburban Farmer.com and Kids Safe Landscape.com, other people’s websites such as Vegetable Gardener.com, Blissfully Domestic.com, The Dirt.com, and Beautiful Wildlife Garden.com. Being a glutton for punishment, I manage to squeeze magazine articles and books in there, too. But the common thread between them is that they all have an outdoor gardening focus. It’s this blog that allows me to indulge in the indoor tropicals.
As far as writing goes; I’ve written as long as I can remember. My fourth grade teacher told me that I was born to be a writer. I believed her.
Chris
chris@thesavvyplant.com
String-of-Pearls Image by Jukka Heinonen
