Rachel Garcia, Author at Epic Gardening

About Rachel Garcia

Rachel Garcia

Succulent Fanatic

Rachel here! Even though my dad’s an avid gardener, I didn’t discover my love for it until I went to college. I took a landscape design course for an elective and was hooked – plants are amazing!

In no time, my windowsill was cramped with potted plants from the grocery store. My roommates joked that I would wake up one morning tangled in leaves. Unfortunately, they also teased me about how many of my plants died.

Luckily, I was able to cure my black thumb with lots of practice and horticulture classes. My absolute favorite was a Special Projects course where I conducted a semester-long study on succulent propagation.

During that course, I really came to appreciate how beautiful the science behind each plant is. Even now, the first thing I do when I get a new plant is research it.

Epic Gardening is a fantastic source for all gardeners and I love being part of it. Through learning and teaching, we can work to turn all black thumbs green!

Q. What’s your favorite plant?

Succulents! That includes thousands of species though, so I’ll go with Portulaca grandiflora (Moss Rose). It’s a great little ground cover that doesn’t ask for much. Not to mention, it has gorgeous flowers.

Q. What is your “spirit vegetable”?

I’ll go with a beetroot. I’m a homebody, so I metaphorically live underground. Plus, dark reddish-purple is one of my favorite colors!

Q. What’s the most unusual plant you’ve grown?

One time, as a broke college student, I scraped some moss off the sidewalk so I could watch how it grows. I kept it alive in a plastic bag until it accidentally got thrown away (oops!). Someday I’ll give it another try and be more careful.