Huan Song, Author at Epic Gardening

About Huan Song

Huan Song

Sustainability Specialist

Hello there, I’m Huan.

My love for gardening was inevitable having been raised by two grandmothers with epically green thumbs. One was a paleobotanist who had all sorts of weird and cools seeds around the house and the other was a farmer-turned-dumpling-entrepreneur who prized the freshest ingredients.

I studied environmental science and marketing in college and was miraculously able to combine these interests into a career in nonprofits focused on social justice, food security and sustainability issues. In one of these roles, I drove a big green pickup truck planted with fruits and vegetables to help educate kids on where their food comes from and how to eat healthier.

I currently work at a Big Ten university in science communications and spend my free time gardening, binging gardening videos and trying to keep my cat Nevis from destroying everything in sight.

Q: What’s your favorite plant?

A: My favorite plant is the American Dogwood which is the state tree of my home state – Virginia. Growing up, I had a beautiful dogwood tree right outside of my window. It would welcome spring with an explosion of pink blossoms and turn a beautiful crimson in the fall. Even though my parents have long moved out of that house and I no longer live in Virginia, I always get transported back to my childhood home every time I see a dogwood tree.

Q: What is your “spirit vegetable”?

A: My spirit vegetable is lotus because I’m Chinese and this is an important plant in our culture and cuisine. Like the lotus, I love being in the water!

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

A: The most unusual plants I’ve grown are lithops as a part of the Botany Club in college. We would put on plants sales every semester and these little plants were always a hit with students who wanted something that they can easily keep alive in the dorms. Lithops are also known as “living stones” because of their unique appearance, although I always thought they looked like tiny brains!