I am a plant geek. Always have been. Back in high school, when Kim used to name the plants everywhere we went, our friends used to either ignore her or get annoyed. Not me. I was just as interested in checking out the flora. Probably one of the many reasons we ended up together. 

So, of course, on our Kilimanjaro expedition, I was super-interested in the plants that we would find. There are a few in particular that are unique to the mountain. Fortunately, a couple of our Tanzanian guides were well-versed in plants, and so, especially on our days in the rainforest, I would hang back and quiz them on the names of various plants and flowers that we saw along the way. 

By far, the coolest plants on the mountain were the giant Senecios. They towered over us, and, along with the mountain terrain, made it feel like we’d landed in a Dr. Seuss book on the planet Mars. Alien and strange. The crazy thing is that these plants are in the same genus as plants you probably know like Dusty Miller and String of Pearls. Hard to believe that those small plants are related to these giants. 

The largest variety of plants was in the lower elevation rainforests that encircle the mountain. There we saw garden favorites like African Daisy, Scabiosa, and Impatiens growing in their native habitat. We also saw what we would consider houseplants, like dracaena, growing twenty and thirty feet tall! One of the most spectacular sights was a stand of tree ferns larger than I’ve ever seen. As we walked past, they dwarfed us. Tropical and gorgeous.

As if the mountain didn’t provide us enough horticultural exhilaration, the end of our trip led us to a surprise garden adventure. In the last hours of our safari, we got a very casual email from our airline indicating that our flight had been canceled. Not delayed. Not postponed. Canceled. And there wasn’t another flight from Tanzania for three days. After long moments of panic, we were assisted by a state-side travel agent and rebooked on Qatar Airways. Now, instead of heading back through Amsterdam, we would end up with an overnight layover in Doha, Qatar. Not quite long enough to pass through customs and see the country, but long enough to enjoy what is the craziest airport I have ever been to. Qatar hosted the FIFA World Cup last year and completely renovated their airport as a part of it. As we meandered the airport throughout the night, we stumbled on an immense indoor garden called The Orchard. It held so many plants, including lots of the houseplants that we sell here. Probably one of the largest indoor plants installations I’ve ever seen. A pain to have to reschedule our flights, but a really cool experience that we got to have as a bonus.

Wherever we are in the world, we love to learn about the native flora, and on this trip, we got to experience a lot of it in its natural habitat! And it’s that passion for plants that we love sharing with you. This weekend we are taking a break from our garden seminars, but we’ll kick off our events again with the Easter Egg Hunt at 10am on April 8th. We hope you’ll join us for the most chaotic hour of the year at Kerby’s, as we watch the kids find 6000 eggs in what seems like under fifteen minutes. You can find a little more information about the egg hunt here. And after that we’ll have some of our favorite topics, like Herb Gardening and Start a Pollinator Party. Click the links or see our website for details. Around the world or here at home, there is always fun to be had in the garden.