8/22/14 –
Today in class, instead of having some pop quiz, which I might add that I'm always, prepared for, our teacher brought in a documentary for us to watch, it was called something about a man named Pearl. I was captivated, glued to the television, in awe of the amazing artistic ability this man had with transforming his backyard into one of the most beautiful landscapes that I've ever seen before. Pearl is this normal guy from a small town in South Carolina, with no formal training in the field of horticulture, yet his skills are that of a trained professional, he has a way of turning these trees and plants that were half dead, picked from the dump in the backyard of a nursery into a thing of beauty. After years and years of nursing these plants and trees he's created some of the most amazing things. People from all over the world come to visit this man's backyard, I know the next time I'm in South Carolina I'll be sure to stop by and pay old Pearl a visit. If you're reading this, my teacher tells me that he maintains a website, check it out for yourself. On the topic of horticulture, I've never had something invade my thoughts and dream so much as these plants, trees and all the Latin names for them. Names are constantly just popping up in my head; I wake up at night mumbling Latin. I wouldn't necessarily say that it's bothering me, I actually kind of like the idea of retaining all this new information, heck just the other day I was watching a movie with some people outside standing next to a tree and I knew exactly what it was, a Gleditsia Triacanthos f. Inermis, which in English is a thorn less Honey Locust. Yes, that's just one tree and I know about fifty of them. I don't mean to brag, but it's just been so long since I've really tried to learn anything new and it feels great. My teacher says that by the end of the year we should know a couple hundred plants and trees. His famous words are that "this is just a drop in the bucket compared to all the plant species in the world."
STEVEN DYBVAD
