Latin for Botanists
Chemistry of Plants
Biological Applications of Physics
Kitchen Botany rotation
Affinity Studies
Spring:
Latin for Botanists
Flowering Plant ID
Ecology in Action
Affinity Studies
Despite a few exceptions,which still looked challenging, it was chock-full of science and math courses. My stomach flipped. I navigated to the section for affinities and saw that the last quarter of the journal was reserved for Affinity Studies.
“Take this everywhere you go. As you complete your classes, there will be key pages to fill in. Once your affinity is determined, you’ll start doing small group and independent research and practice that will be documented in that section throughout the year.”
I relaxed a little as I skimmed the pages. My eyes were drawn to places on the soft pages to press flowers and sketch plant anatomy. Maybe there were a few areas in the classes where I could excel.
“I have to get to class now, so you’ll meet Professor Tenella for your first affinity test. Affinity tests are conducted from most to least common affinities, so florals are up first. Her office is out in the flower gardens. Do you remember where that is?”
I nodded, picturing the luscious blooms we’d walked through on the way in. “Thanks, Yasmin. Do I need to bring anything?” I could feel my palms start to sweat at the thought of doing my first affinity test, nerves and excitement mixing in equal measure.
Yasmin inclined her head toward my hand. “Just your journal. Good luck.”
After Yasmin disappeared down the wide hall of the indoor oasis that was the school’s central vein, I turned toward the entrance atrium and made my way out to the gardens.
At first, I wasn’t sure where I would find Professor Tenella’s office. I hadn’t seen one on the previous occasions I’d had to walk through the garden. But this time, I turned and took thefirst narrow row through the overflowing bins of canna lilies, petunias, creeping phlox, verbena, and dozens of other flowers I didn’t know the names of.
As I followed the slender path, it spiraled through the garden and to a corner covered on three sides with trellises where flowering vines crept from the earth, stretched skyward, and dangled above my head. Underneath the spacious makeshift room were three wooden workbenches that blended into the trellises, each strewn with piles of gardening tools and dirt-encrusted notebooks.
A tiny woman with tanned skin and dark curly hair piled into a loose, springy bun by a floral bandana got up from a stool she’d been sitting on. “You must be our newest botanist,” she said with a smile.
“Hello, Professor Tenella. I’m Briar Whelan.”
“You’re right on time. And the test is mostly completed. The floral affinity tests are considered to be some of the easiest, and it’s the broadest group, so that’s why we usually have new students experience it first.”
I blinked. What did she mean that the test was mostly completed? I’d just arrived in her office cantina.
Professor Tenella gave me a coy smile. “Caught the meaning of my words, did you? Yes, this test started as soon as you walked into the gardens. I was observing how the flowers responded when you walked through. Typically, when someone passes through these gardens who has an affinity for florals, the blooms perk up and lean out of their planter boxes, as if drawn to the affinity in the botanist.”
I glanced around me in slight alarm to see if I noticed anyunusual leaning of the flowers around me, but they all appeared as they always had. “You said the test was ‘mostly’ completed? Is there more you’d like me to do here?”
The professor, who I deemed to be in her mid-fifties, nodded. She reached onto the workbench behind her and picked up a round plant container that was made of natural material rather than the plastic ones I was used to. She beckoned me over.
“I’m going to have you plant a flower. Do you know what to do?”
“I’ve planted flowers before. So just proceed as I normally would?”
When Professor Tenella nodded, I grabbed a trowel and scooped out a big pile of soil from the bag on the bench then placed it into the container. I continued to add soil until there was just enough space left for the nursery flower that Professor Tenella held out. I took it from her, carefully nestled it into the soil, added a bit more to top it off, and patted the whole thing down.
As I worked, I remembered my mom’s advice about planting depth and felt confident that I’d done fairly well.
