Green Acres Nursery and Landscaping with its yellow and green sign, t-shirts. and old-school mesh baseball hats was my childhood. My parents' hard work and passion for the business and helping beautify my hometown was not easy but it was always remarkable. Following my parents around the nursery and shop in my summer flip-flops, I learned about potentilla bushes and the fiery colors of barberry (not to mention those sharp barbs). It has been a long time now, but I know that I learned how to run tickets and compute taxes without using a calculator because it is faster -- and it builds character. We knew how to tough it out, and my little brother and I made contests out of carrying bags of fertilizer or watering potted plants. We also got our hands and our feet and, actually, our whole bodies dirty with work. Nurseries are whole body experiences, I suppose. When I was a little girl, I wasn't always grateful for some of those chores (especially weeding), but now I realize that it molded me. Even now with my transient lifestyle, I always have plants in my house and on my balcony or in my yard, if I have one. My hands are a lot softer than those of my mother or my father were and I may have to wear some frilly gardening gloves, but I like the feel of dirt sifting through my hands and the satisfaction of surrounding myself with greens and flowers.
But enough nostalgia and waxing poetic. This post is actually about Brazil. Through a new acquaintance, we were put in touch with a local nursery and invited out yesterday for a tour of the premises and to meet the owner, a German-Brazilian landscaper, poet, photographer, and renaissance man. The visit was enchanting and he narrated our visit through his yard, stopping to point out interesting trees or explain the growing season and climate. Although the plants at Pau Brasilia are exotic in comparison to those that grow on the high plains of the Thunder Basin, I felt right at home. We had a great visit and learned a lot not only about plants but also natural reserves in the region, the history and building of the city of Brasília, the eclectic poetry and writings of the owner, and the rhythm of business here in the dry and wet seasons. Delightful - we will definitely return to explore and perhaps even get our hands in some dirt.
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| The entrance of the store and lot at Pau Brasilia |
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| A belly tree with spikes on the sides to keep the animals from climbing to eat its delicious fruit! |
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