Tour de Plants

I had an art opening Saturday evening at the Birdhouse. On Sunday, while cleaning up over there, I ran into Katie Ries, founder of the Urban Land Scouts.



She was there for Tour de Plants, a guided jaunt through the Fourth and Gill neighborhood. I typically become rather hermitish after art openings but decided a calm walk on such a beautiful day with mostly strangers would be better than lazing away on my couch eating leftover cupcakes all day. I was right.






















You know those real life moments that are so perfect, it makes you say something dumb like, "This is just like the movies." Well, walking around with the Urban Land Scouts felt like that, only it was more like being on a PBS special. (I mean that as a compliment, so you know.)



I don't know a lot about plants, and as I sit here looking at the photos I took, I all ready realize I've forgotten most of the names I heard yesterday, but I appreciate the knowledge that was being passed around yesterday afternoon between the ten or so people that showed up.



Young, not as young, and canine walked the urban landscape to talk about foliage. We touched, we smelled, we tasted. Someone even kept throwing around Latin names in the most unpretentious way. Information, experience, and questions were being passed around, and there was not a smart phone in sight.




I can't say that I am much closer to being an expert on the subject of edible plants in Knoxville, but I showed up, I observed, I said the pledge, and now- I'm an Urban Land Scout!























You can be one, too.