Chuku-Liana Adams-Scott showers all of the credit for her passion for plants on her uncle, Francis ‘Garfield’ Boston, whose own obsession has earned him the sobriquet ‘Plant Man.’ Having fashioned the majority of his fifty three years around ‘the great outdoors’ and, Chuku says, having long arrived at a point where he has come to think of plants as “family,” ‘Plant Man’ is in the process of bequeathing a horticultural legacy to his favourite niece, who, for many years, had played the role of apprentice.
On paper, Green Dreams is a horticultural enterprise that seeks, in the fullness of time, to become a successful business. For Chuku, a woman who can engage you on her own intimacy with plants ad nauseam, it is a labour of love as well as the glue that binds herself and ‘Plant Man’ together. Their common pursuit has furnished him with a mission, no less, to have Green Dreams metamorphose into an outcome that will raise public appreciation for plants to greater heights.
What Green Dreams offers is a horticultural enterprise that delivers services that include the marketing of plants and soil and the fashioning and tending of pleasing spaces in which cared-for plants can flourish and can make powerfully pleasing statements into the bargain. Chuku says, with monumental confidence, that she believes that the extent of her uncle’s intimacy with plants will allow Green Dreams to thrive and impress, and to bring a sense of fulfillment to customers.
Chuku may be the proprietor of Green Dreams but nothing, she says, would go forward without the hugely reassuring experience of ‘Plant Man.’ The convenience of the partnership is facilitated by the fact that the two both reside at Sisters’ Village, ‘a stone’s throw’ from each other. They meet regularly to plan initiatives that include the acquisition and preparation of material for plant soil, the sale of which is one of their more significant operations. Periodically, they make trips to Georgetown together on various types of plant-related business.
These days, the former student of West Demerara Secondary School, trained nursery school teacher and mother, makes no secret of what is now a preoccupation with her horticultural pursuits, her time divided between teaching kindergarten and collaborating with ‘Plant Man’ to run Green Dreams. Insofar as expertise is concerned, Chuku readily concedes that she is very much the junior partner though both she and ‘Plant Man’ recognise that it is her own unbridled enthusiasm that is the future of Green Dreams.
These days, the combination of ‘Plant Man’s’ wide-ranging experience with plants and Chuku’s growing eagerness not just to turn Green Dreams into a thriving business but also to infuse her own creative thinking into shaping the enterprise, have meant that the two make what Chuku believes is a formidable team. Their range of services extends into the creation and maintenance of gardens (one of ‘Plant Man’s’ permanent contracts requires him to manage the ‘shaping’ of the foliage at the Tower Hotel) and offering ‘clinics’ to clients on behavioural irregularities in plants and possible remedies. Going forward, the two can offer a unique service that might even change the face of the sector.
For now, the Green Dreams enterprise may be confined to the Sisters Village family ‘spread’ though Chuku’s determination to ‘go bigger’ has led her in directions that include an ongoing search for business premises that allow for the establishment of her horticultural mecca.
These days, the knowledge that has been passed on by ‘Plant Man’ continues to be consolidated by Chuku’s own ongoing research as well as a deliberate assessment of the condition of the market. During her extended interview with the Stabroek Business last Friday she disclosed her desire to direct her attention to enhancing children’s interest in horticulture as part of what she believes is an essential outdoors experience. Beyond that she appears to have warmed to the idea of perhaps authoring a book that compiles some of the conventional wisdoms on plant behaviour. With the creation of gardens that add value to real estate having now become commonplace in various communities across Guyana, Chuku believes that there is an entrepreneurial future for Green Dreams. She asserts that investments in value-adding transformations to private properties and the development of housing schemes mostly outside of the capital have created new potential markets for horticultural services. Green Dreams, she says, is readying itself to claim a share of that market.
At school, the ‘little ones’ benefit from a head start in their education on plants and of nature. Here, one of her preoccupations is with helping her charges to understand the nexus between people and nature. Sometimes, she says, the high-spiritedness of her charges gives rise to serious discourses about the need to treat with plants sensitively.
On Friday, even as her interview with this newspaper was heading in the direction of delving deeper into plans for the consolidation of Green Dreams, Chuku reminded that her next assignment that afternoon was to water the plants which she uses as teaching tools.
The ill-concealed enthusiasm in Chuku’s animated contribution to the discourse on her emerging business venture provides a telltale sign of the satisfaction she feels about the opportunity she has been handed to combine her passion for plants with exploring an entrepreneurial opportunity. These days, she says, not even the exacting demands of moulding the minds of her youthful charges coupled with her ongoing pursuit of a post-graduate degree in Education can deflect Chuku from her ‘Green Dreams.’
Green Dreams can be reached at 670-3745 or 696-9942 and at lianaadams84@gmail.com
