My Gardening Origins

Home tastes like fresh, warm, homemade bread, spread with butter and topped with a slice of fresh tomato or cucumber, sprinkled lightly with salt.

I was fortunate (in some ways) to grow up in the suburbs of Chicago with parents that grew up in rural Poland. My mother was the master of the garden and my father her dutiful assistant. The garden palatte would change but tomatoes, cucumbers and beets were regulars in the garden. Almost all our meals were homemade with fresh ingredients. We, sometimes resentfully, helped mom in the garden; turning the soil, planting seeds, watering, planting tomatoes, staking tomatoes and picking the fruits of our labor. We also, almost always resentfully, helped dad pick the cherries, gooseberries, black, red, and white currents. While I didn't love picking currents, I certainly can't deny what beautiful plants they are. As a child playing in the backyard, they became potion ingredients for use in magical lands.

I remember the plants that lived in our yard, at least the most common ones- hostas, roses, peonies and iris, with a smattering of other plants, including annuals like zinnias, geraniums, petunias and impatiens. Impatiens were my favorite. The exploding seedpods are enough to get any kid's attention for a few seconds.

...and sweet alyssum everywhere

As I got older, I became interested in plants, not for their beauty for their function. Herbs struck me as a good way to make some extra money and a good way to start a business. The way I saw it, money might not have grown on trees, but a method to make money grew on plants!
I was wrong.
I tried selling catnip to friends with cats. Who doesn't like getting their cats high? Apparently most people. The ones that did tried it once and lost interest.

That didn't stop me dabbling in herbs. I grew Mint and Lemon Balm. I tried thyme and oregano for a bit but the thyme died out over the winter and the oregano lasted a few years before vanishing completely. I continued investing in the garden with other plants and then in high school I had a moment. I was looking into a microscope at a slide of plant cells when the universe shook around me. I had an epiphany. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I wanted my future to include plants.

So I went to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to study Horticulture (with a focus in Science). I joined the horticulture club, became an assistant grower/grower and made some fantastic friends. I worked for a few years in the research greenhouses and at the plant clinic for a year. I worked with amazing people and fantastic instructors. When I left the University I worked for a time with some exceptional and intelligent people at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I had a garden and lost a garden. I made a few friends that I hope to meet up with again some day, but for now I am looking to the next part of my journey. I hope you'll join me.