The Beginning
Welcome to the website! I’m Judson, the person behind all of ExtraFlora from propagation to packaging. Here’s some info about me and why I wanted to start growing plants: I’m currently studying Environmental Studies at a small liberal arts school in Kentucky, my home state. I was born and raised in a very rural town in the far eastern part of the state deep in the Appalachian mountains called Whitesburg. It was there I gained a love and appreciation for plants and nature in general, surrounded by one of the most diverse natural areas in the country. My mother and great-grandmother instilled in me an understanding of how to grow plants, how to save seeds and generally how to care for many different plants. After a pretty rough adolescence and taking some time off from school to decide what I wanted to study, I settled on plant science and horticulture. Plants have since consumed every aspect of my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
My goals with ExtraFlora are twofold: to help make plants more accessible and to help conserve plants that are vulnerable to extinction through cultivation. To address the former, plant prices are often absolutely ridiculous in modern times (though not nearly as wild as the tulip craze and bryomania of the 1600’s!) and this often means people who would like to grow certain plants cannot do so due to finances. What I hope to do is offer these same plants at significantly reduced prices to allow those individuals a chance to grow something for a reasonable cost instead of a bank-breaking sum. I am fully aware there are people who wish to take advantage of these reduced prices to “flip” and sell cuttings of the plants I sell. I do keep tabs on who I sell to and if I find someone has been doing this, I will no longer sell to that individual.
To address the conservation side, I think ex-situ cultivation of vulnerable species is one of our most powerful conservation tools. Ideally, plant populations would follow whatever natural ebb and flow they would experience in habitat but with the sheer size of the human population and the ever-looming threats of climate change, it would be naive to think any species is safe. I have seen extirpation of plants firsthand and I’m only 23. If that isn’t the most terrifying thing ever, I don’t know what is. Many of the species I grow are known from only a small area or perhaps they’re habitat specialists that can’t find another place to grow to meet their needs. Take for example one of my favorite begonias, Begonia montis-elephantis. It is endemic to a very small area on and around a mountain in central Africa and there were 400-500 individuals in the last survey (2011). The entire range of this species lies in the way of future expansion of an iron mine. If they continue to mine, this species will be extinct in the wild. Luckily, even if it that happens, it will survive in cultivation. Now imagine how many times this has happened with other species that no one knew was in danger or the species wasn’t recorded yet. So many have been lost without ever having been found. Conservation of species ex-situ is an excellent safeguard against total loss, but it’s equally as important to conserve their habitat. This is why I’m donating some of the total profits of my shop to organizations like the Rainforest Alliance and the Rainforest Trust. The work they do conserves some of the most biodiverse areas on the planet, where it’s likely the majority of undescribed species remain.
If you have any planty questions I might be able to answer or if you’d just like to share, you can reach me at judsonjamescollins@gmail.com or message me on Instagram at @slightlyswirly or Twitter at @MtnPlants
Happy growing!
