Rare tropicals from our Ohio greenhouse

Thirty plus years ago, I began collecting rare tropical plants. I obtained plants in our travels to the southern states, and from friends and hobbyists I met along the way. I’ve always loved the outdoors: exploring creeks and rivers, finding frogs, lizards, salamanders and snakes, and identifying plants and flowers. That led to an interest in poison dart frogs later in life, and to collecting and breeding several species. Dart frogs and tropical plants go hand in hand, and creating vivariums to house and breed them became my passion.

In 2003, my wife and I had a goal to become debt-free, and enrolled in Financial Peace University at our church. Part of the program is to generate income to attack your debt. That was when we began selling plants on eBay and frogs to other hobbyists. It took us 2 years and 10 months to pay off our debt, but we did it. It was life-changing. We were meeting other passionate plant people, and hobbyists started coming to our home. We had a small hobby-size greenhouse in the village, and housed the frogs in our summer kitchen. Business was good, but we were outgrowing the space.

In 2013 we asked the village council if we could put up a second greenhouse. They said no. That sent us looking for land in the country, and we bought our current home in July 2013. I kept my maintenance job and did plants nights and weekends. Almost every morning, over coffee, I complained that I didn’t want to go to work. My wife pointed that out a few times. In September 2015 I left the job and went all in with the greenhouse.