Plants are fascinating. they are the ultimate survivalists. They’ve endured every catastrophe this planet has thrown at them: mass extinctions, super volcanoes, splitting and drifting continents, atmospheric chaos.

On a beautiful spring day, April 26, 1986, I spent time in my garden with my two toddler daughters. Then information about elevated radioactivity in the atmosphere made the news in southern Germany. Source unknown, – yet when the region of origin was determined, the Soviet Union’s politicians first denied, but eventually could not keep it hidden.
The unfolding disaster of the atomic power plant near Chernobyl trickled out of the radio. The following days and weeks, we’re instructed to spend no time outside, strictly stay inside! The government threw out milk from cows in pastures of the greater region of Bavaria, produced after the date. The immediate cities around the active site were evacuated, humans barred to enter the Zone.
This year marks the 40 year anniversary of the catastrophe. Images of “Then & Now” are floating on the internet and it is amazing how nature has reclaimed the area. It is surreal.

Plants don’t need our cities, our machines, or our cleverness. But we depend on their quiet, relentless work every single day — the oxygen we breathe, the food we eat, the climate stability we take for granted. Trusting nature isn’t naïve; it’s recognizing that the oldest systems on Earth are still the most reliable.

For plants, life is not a struggle; it’s a long, patient negotiation with time itself. They have been here millions of years before the first mammal walked the earth, and I’m very certain, plant matter will cover this planet long after we are gone. Plants will save the world.

I trust nature.

Plant Power 5-6
Dimensions: 20″x 40″
Materials: Hand dyed cotton, painted non-woven leave cutouts with silk underlay, Tsukineko ink, Shiva oil sticks
Techniques: Fused appliqué, free-motion machine quilted, painted with custom stencils, drawing with ink.