Feature Story

 Feature Story (Draft):

(Gardener's Life and Advice)

Botanical gardens are the embodiment of beauty, showing the hard work of gardeners and nature, to maintain such beauty. Sana O'Sullivan and Riki Bonnema are two of the many gardeners at Miami Beach Botanical Garden, that help keep the garden as beautiful as it is now. 

O'Sullivan is the head of horticulture at Miami Beach Botanical Garden and has been working in the garden for the past seven years. Through her love of nature, she first started off as a volunteer at the garden when she was 22. "But no, I did not graduate high school or even college thinking that this is the profession I would be in" stated O'Sullivan. After graduating from high school O'Sullivan didn't really know what she wanted to do. So after she moved to Florida, from Guam, she went to FIU and studied international business. Even though she did not have a formal education in horticulture, but has been able to become a Florida Master Naturalist and a land steward. So she sought out specific certificates and programs post-college when she wanted to get into horticulture and continue her education.

"After high school, I was a swimmer in college and then in college, I realized I wanted to go into more of the environmental sciences. So my bachelor's degree in environmental science with a focal area in marine ecology" stated Bonnema. Bonnema grew up being a swimmer and surfer, so she always thought she would be in the water. Throughout grad school, her interest changed more and more. " I spent a lot of my personal time doing, which ended up gardening. I was volunteering at the Botanical Garden, and just wanted to like, be out in like the woods and stuff" stated Bonnema. Working as well as volunteering at the botanical garden caused her to change her degree throughout grad school. She is right now in the middle of getting her horticulture certification. 

"Volunteering is a really good way to like get your hands in different, you know, places to see what you like to do," stated O'Sullivan. "Yeah, I mean you're pretty much doing exactly what you would be doing", stated Bonnema. 

"I spend every day doing exactly what I want to do. It just happens to be hard work and what's best for the garden", stated Bonnema.

As a gardener, it is not an easy job especially when obstacles appear in your way.  One of these many obstacles here in Florida is hurricanes. " When we had a hurricane, the garden was destroyed and after a couple hard weeks of work, it's beautiful again," said O'Sullivan. "So when we had the Zika virus, they came and pour out all our bromeliads and we had to replant everything," said O'Sullivan. This shows that gardeners do a lot of hard work to show the community the beauty of the gardens they create.

Having a beautiful one also means that you have to have the right tools. For example, gloves are a must if gardeners do not want to get their nails dirty. If people are working with big plants, that need to be pruned or clipped. Gardeners are going to need clippers. If they have small herbs they may need smaller scissors. Something that is more of a material than a tool is soil. "Start with good soil, like organic soil, bought at your local garden center or hardware store," O'Sullivan said. Another tool is the shovel. "You're gonna need and depending on what size, you're gonna want like a small hand shovel or like big shovel", said Bonnema.

"Your garden is the byproduct of the soil" stated O'Sullivan. "They should look at their soil, is like always my thing, and figure out what they want to do out of a garden. Like in South Florida, especially like we have a lot of sandy soil with very low nutrients," stated Bonnema. If people buy exotic plants " it might be more work and energy and money to try and change your soil when there's a plethora of plants who are perfectly happy in the soil that you have." People should buy soil from their local community garden. Gardeners also can start composting or buy compost as well at their local garden. 

In the end, first-time gardeners should research or go to their local community garden or botanical garden to gain advice as well as help on how to start their gardens. If they live near the Miami Beach Botanical Garden they can ask for advice there and buy plants from their nursery, for their own gardens. The Miami Beach Botanical Garden is a beautiful place thanks to the hard work of gardeners like  O'Sullivan and Bonnema, so people should definitely check them out.