Tom Pearson is an artist, poet, and life-long horticulturalist who grew up along the beaches, swamps, and natural springs of subtropical Florida. He hails from a family of farmers and green-thumbers, and as a child learned about plants by working alongside his Granny—planting and harvesting vegetables and fruits, composting, arranging annual displays, cultivating a multi-level terrace garden, and pruning trees and roses. In adolescence, he traded his action figures for unique varieties of succulents and cacti that began showing up in the local garden center to cultivate his first specialty garden. In adulthood, while actively engaged in his artistic practices, he returned to botanical studies and received his Certificate in Horticulture from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden where he also trained and worked.  Since then, he has mixed his pursuits of art and horticulture as a gardener, collaborator, and designer—both freelance, and with Groundworks Inc, Wild Pistil Inc, and others in the Tri-state area.