I may have received my devotion to nature from my dad. Truly a man of the earth, my father loved to be outdoors. A landscaper by trade, he labored his whole life doing nursery work—planting trees and gardens, trimming shrubbery, and raising plants.

My mother has always been devoted to her faith. She attended church every week and taught Sunday school “religiously” for many years. My dad, on the other hand, preferred to do his worshipping in the outdoors. His faith, while he did not talk about it much, was expressed in the care he gave to his trees, shrubs, flowers, and the beauty of the natural world.

My dad was a quiet man with a sly sense of humor, and his love of nature was second only to his love for his family. He kept bantam chickens as a hobby, and he loved feeding and watching birds in the backyard. When he retired from his landscaping job, he continued to raise small plants in his own nursery, often cultivating cuttings from his own shrubs. He took real pride in the forsythia, arborvitae, hydrangea, azaleas, and boxwood plants he raised. Setting his plants out by our well-traveled road, he began selling them (practically giving them away) to passersby. A small business was born! Dad was so proud of his shrubs, and he took great pleasure when his customers returned to rave about how happy they were with his beautiful and thriving plants.

If that’s not scattering joy, I don’t know what is.

My love of flowers—a love that may be evident in my artwork!—is something I surely inherited from my dad. Although I enjoy cutting and bringing fresh bouquets indoors, my dad couldn’t bear doing that. He saw this as shortening the lives of the flowers, and he much preferred seeing them in their natural setting. That difference of opinion caused a bit of friction for us. I can recall planting gladiola bulbs with him each year, and I couldn’t wait to cut them into bouquets. I’d have to sneak them by my dad, though, in order to bring them into the house!

My father passed away in the spring of 2001—at the very peak of the most beautiful season of the year, when so many of his flowering plants were in bloom. Today, those plants continue to grow and bloom in the same beautiful and giving spirit with which they came into being.