Living through a pandemic is no bed of roses for anyone, yet some people have discovered ways to grow personally and professionally in spite of the fear and sadness that prevails.

As life in TT slowed down and working from home became the new norm for many, people turned interests they never had the time to pursue in the past into what film producer Naima Mohammed calls “passion projects.”

Mohammed has discovered her passion for gardening.

“Yesterday I was going to do gardening for two hours, and I ended up doing it for the whole day,” she said.

Mohammed doesn’t grow roses, but she does grow purple dwarf petrea, peacock ginger and butterfly pea vines. Her gardening projects began when her parents’ landscaper fell through midway through the job in March.

“I discovered there are people who have plants in their yards, and they don’t know how to take care of them,” she said.

So Mohammed began rescuing people’s gardens.

“One person told me, ‘I have a small garden that is overgrown, and I would like you to see if you have any ideas what to do with it.’”

She teamed up with Kevin Brown, who works as a gardener in St Ann’s, and created paying jobs for him. Last October, she spotted a small garden that needed attention at the Beauty and Body Spa in Woodbrook and asked to fix it up. She developed a bartering system: her gardening services for facials or pedicures.

[caption id="attachment_892493" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Naima Mohammed at one of her trabnsformed landscape gardens on the compound of The Beauty and Spa on Cornelio Street in Woodbrook. - SUREASH CHOLAI[/caption]

“We were rehabilitating the garden,” said Mohammed. “I started to take plants out and introduce new plants. We worked when the spa was not open. The garden is set now. We’re maintaining and observing it.”

She said the spa's garden has a cheerfulness about it.

“I put yellow, white and hybrid pink lantanas that would attract insects and birds. They had crown of thorns, a cactus-like flowering plant, and I planted purple dwarf petrea that looks like stars. There was a stump that looked dead, but by tending to the garden, it sent out new leaves and branches.”

Next, Mohammed spruced up the gardens around her apartment complex in Petit Valley, and now she’s into rehabilitating diseased plants.

“I put the plants in my nursery I started in St Ann’s and bring them back. It’s very meditative. I can’t even describe how energising it is to see people inspired by their gardens.”

Mohammed said during covid19 the cost of plants and garden supplies skyrocketed.

“When we had the first lockdown, plant nurseries were allowed to stay open. People became more interested in growing their food and growing more plants, and prices shot up.”

She has discovered plant groups online that offer reasonably priced plants and have curbside pickup. Before lockdown, she drove to Warrenville and Charlieville for plant sales and made new friends through plants.

“As gardens come together, you feel different. I find there’s a joy in seeing something