Landscape artist turns green thumb to beat pandemic blues

TALAVERA, Nueva Ecija — Who would have thought that the color of COVID-19 is green? Well, health and medical groups and professionals may depict the new coronavirus disease in various hues, but to a particular group of Filipinos, they would not have it in any other shade. These are the plant enthusiasts and nursery owners who have made the green and leafy species both as a source of delight during a period of seclusion and boredom and a good and steady source of income in these trying times.

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Lorenz Inos, a landscape artist in Nueva Ecija, is one of these enterprising people. Kept busy by various landscaping jobs he’d been doing before the pandemic, Lorenz suddenly found his business gone dry. The resort his family owns in Talavera town was also hit hard as the usual guests and fun seekers decided to just stay home. He actually helped build and develop the resort with his landscaping skills and was despondent at one time upon seeing his labors of love come to a standstill.

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That’s when he turned to his first love—nurturing and propagating ornamental plants. Gifted with the green thumb, he has amassed a big collection of such plants at a big nursery he had built at the back of the resort. His collection includes various species of ferns and palms, some grown locally and others are imported varieties. His collection include bromeliads, variegated alocasia, Peruvian ferns, furcraea, Phoenix palm, variegated yucca, agave geminiflora, and others which both soothe and refresh tired and sagging bodies and spirits.

Here’s a look at some of these beautiful plants:

/MUF