ABRA LEE BIO
Abra Lee is a storyteller, horticulturist, and author of the forthcoming book Conquer The Soil: Black America and the Untold Stories of Our Country’s Gardeners, Farmers, and Growers. She has spent a whole lotta time in the dirt as a municipal arborist and airport landscape manager. Her work has been featured in publications including The New York Times, Fine Gardening, and Veranda Magazine. Lee is a graduate of Auburn University College of Agriculture and an alumna of the Longwood Gardens Society of Fellows, a global network of public horticulture professionals. You can learn more about Abra at her website Conquer the Soil, on Instagram @conquerthesoil, and on Twitter @conquerthesoil.
SHOW NOTES
The National Museum of African American Music, Cheekwood, and the Parthenon in Nashville
Abra being in a transition period in her life and moving back into her childhood home
Her interest in plants germinating from spending time with her dad who worked for the Atlanta parks department and weekends on the family farm
Seeing horticulture students at Auburn University and learning about horticulture as a major
Experiencing failure and learning from it
Changes she would have made to her college education
Experiences managing horticulture as the landscape manager at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport and connecting with and teaching her employees
Advice from Ryan Gainey
Abra’s participation in Longwood Gardens Society of Fellows and lessons she learned about relationships
The principle of 80% thinking and 20% execution
Collaborating with Postal Petals to host Music and Flowers
Around the Table exhibition at New York Botanical Garden
Teaching a class to landscape architects at Auburn University and their award-winning design based on Effie Lee Newsome at the Philadelphia Flower Show
Abra’s upcoming book Conquer the Soil: Black America and the Untold Stories of Our Country's Gardeners, Farmers, and Growers and how the book came to be
The origin of Conquer the Soil (from the writing of W.E.B. Du Bois)
Abra’s business Conquer the Soil
Her participation in the Auburn University agriculture mentorship program
Practices to keep herself centered including naps, resting her mind, and having good conversations
Books Abra returns to frequently including Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Valerie Boyd and Gladiola Garden by Effie Lee Newsome
Helping increase diversity in horticulture by sharing stories and finding commonality
Seeing George Washington Carver’s desk and a Christmas card he wrote in the Tuskegee University archives
The spiritual connection with plants
Love for heirlooms and old-fashioned plants
Gardening better by learning from our elders
Propagating more horticulturists by being open with languages and being true to our vocabulary
Finding Abra online at her website Conquer the Soil, Instagram @conquerthesoil, and Twitter @conquerthesoil.