My science fair projects in elementary school were always tree and plant oriented. My dad used to collect ginseng and wild orchids to sell during the Great Depression. He loved the plants around us... and loved to show us the 8 foot in diameter American Chestnut snag still standing in the woods on our farm. I was a high school biology teacher from January 1978 through June of 2019. Along the way, I took quite a few ecology-type courses on my way to 210 or so college credits total. I returned from an ecology course in Wyoming in June of 1977 and became a big-time enthusiast for Pennsylvania's wildflowers which I hunted with my new Nikon FE camera beginning in 1978. I was a fly fisherman and professional environmentalist back when industry still held out hope that all those new fangled environmental laws would be repealed. I began selling pictures to magazines... I still have thousands of 35mm slides of plants from Bedford and Blair Counties. Selling pictures took all the joy out of it. In those days-of-film I began asking myself "Can I sell this?" When that happened, the joy was gone. In 1984, I began teaching in the Poconos. My students each collected 25 leaves (or more), 25 wildflowers (or more), and 25 insects or more each fall -- which I graded, so I had to know my trees and late summer wildflowers, and that includes grading the spelling of the scientific names. That went on for about 25 years. But all of that useful education then went rusty with the advent of 'THE TEST' created because we could leave no child behind. As ordered by administrators who were peeing their pants in fear that their school would fail and they would lose their jobs, I taught to the test for the final years of my career. In 2018 or so, I bought kayaks and that gave me access to a whole new world of henceforth largely inaccessible bog plants, submerged aquatic weeds, emergent aquatic weeds, and riparian plants, trees and shrubs. That, retirement, and a new-found deep appreciation for birds brought on by the kayaks ... digital camera #1, then #2 and then upgraded again to #3. Better lenses, more megapixels, more versatility, more fun. I'm having fun again. Now, Maria is sharing some of the photos I take with you. I hope you enjoy them and find them helpful along your journey with plants. I regularly post flora and fauna photos on my Facebook page. Message me when you send me a friend request so I know you are not a robot if you'd like to see my posts.