Defining Serendipity

The word has a pretty amazing definition:

“The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.” -Oxford Dictionaries

“An aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.” –Dictionary.com

“The faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” –Merriam-Webster Dictionary

“The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.” –The Free Dictionary

I found this beautiful Iris in an overgrown  wall garden in Hillsborough, N.C.
after a wonderful trip to Montrose Garden in April 2013.

The Free Dictionary also gave the best description of the etymology of the word: 

“In a letter of January 28, 1754, [English author Horace] Walpole says that ‘this discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word.’ Walpole formed the word on an old name for Sri Lanka, Serendip. He explained that this name was part of the title of ‘a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip: as their highnesses traveled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of...’”

The last year has been a serendipitous journey through the natural and horticultural world and I feel it is time to start sharing my experiences about what I see around me every day.

Andrew Brown gives me a thumbs up as we rip out an old Philodrendron vine from the old indoor bed of Kilgore Hall in April 2013. It was incredible that anything was still alive, let alone thriving like this atrocious vine. I have a particular distaste for the plant after my experience with it in Hawaii. I call it Hawaiian Kudzu.

I have to give a considerable amount of credit to my serendipitous encounter with Andrew Brown, an English major, horticultural science minor at N.C. State. He stepped up to a call for volunteers to help with some indoorscape changes in Kilgore Hall, the horticultural sciencedepartment building at N.C. State University. His unusual path to horticulture, his enthusiasm and his unique way of looking at plants (I’ve heard some exclamations from him that I would have NEVER thought of!) has inspired me to give this a try and put some ink to paper, so to type. 

Only time will tell how serendipity will reveal itself, but I know it will be an amazing journey.

A suspected 'Andrew' cultivar of Hosta I discovered to my surprise at my grandparents' house in Monroe, N.C. in April 2013. Andrew Brown has expressed to me many times how he wants one so bad!