Sydney Nelson: Sydney is taking a gap year to work at a plant nursery to expand her knowledge on botany

It only took one time listening to her cousins read a book about plant language when she was little for senior Sydney Nelson to proclaim her passion for plants.

Sydney is preparing to take a gap year to expand her knowledge of plants and botany, planning to work at a plant nursery to gain more knowledge and experience before going on to get a degree in botany. 

Her goal from working at the plant nursery is to better understand plant names and meanings. Connecting these deeper meanings to her own life only furthers her affinity to her plants.

“I love reading about flowers and what they symbolize,” Sydney said. “I’ve always been drawn to plants [and] I’ve always loved flowers.”

Her parents also cultivated her love for nature, taking her on shopping trips to the Family Tree Nursery to geek out over new flowers for the pots around her house and meticulously select new flower seeds to plant at home. Sydney’s favorite thing to plant is flowers, specifically Scabiosas or Hyacinths.

Sydney’s mom Beth Nelson began to see Sydney’s passion for plants when they would go shopping for new plants and she would ask the workers question after question about plants, itching to know as much as she could. 

“She was always asking the person that worked there all kinds of questions about how to make the plants grow, and what soil to get,” Beth said. “She has always been the type of person that if she’s interested [in something], she excels.” 

Sydney doesn’t have a set job lined up but plans to get one at the same place she grew up visiting, Family Tree Nursery. 

After her gap year, Sydney plans on attending a college to get her degree in botany and securing a job in the plant science field. While not working and gardening, Sydney plans to volunteer, plant trees and build a garden in her mom’s backyard. 

Sydney wants to work interactively with the environment, taking active samples of plant life and getting to work in labs with different specimens of plants to take her knowledge to the next level. 
“I love watching how plants grow and seeing the colors bloom,” Sydney said. “I like to plant ones that match what I’m feeling or what I want to feel.”