Where I Work: San Antonio Botanical Garden

The Where I Work series explores San Antonio’s evolving workplaces. It takes readers behind the scenes to learn from the people who work at companies large and small, nonprofits, family-owned enterprises, and in other nontraditional workplaces. Get in touch to share your story.

I started visiting the San Antonio Botanical Garden four years ago in 2017 after receiving a membership as a gift. I was working full time as a floral designer and went to the garden weekly to explore alone and with friends. It was my getaway and even as a guest, I was comfortable calling it home. 

Floral design may be my professional background but that’s not where my love for plants began. It began in my childhood backyard where before planting our vegetable gardens, my dad and I would take mud baths in celebration of a large tomato crop. Every late winter we would cut down the banana trees, and I’d help haul off pieces. Those were the days I learned what a heat-induced mirage was and the howl of cicadas found a place in my heart.

Years later at only my second job being a florist I dove in headfirst with design, color, artful manipulation of natural objects, and working with perishables and living plants. I spent several years studying the desires of locals, travelers, mourning souls, and business professionals alike. Creating beautiful things became the world to me. Now as the senior conservatory gardener at the San Antonio Botanical Garden I am a caretaker and young garden designer. Maintaining thriving specimens and dreaming up living garden designs is my goal.