When I started my business, I really made use of a Pentax camera my parents bought me when I graduated from college in 1979. It was a perfect gift for me. As a recommendation of a high school friend of mine who was a fabulous photographer, I began using the Kodachrome 64 slide film. It was such a joy for me to capture nature in a way that I experienced first hand. It worked. Like taking a hike on the Lake Michigan shoreline, you never know what you will find. On another level using the images for my business, I had no idea that people would critique them related to botany and taxonomy. Not F-stop, shutter speed or focus critique. The American beech image above was taken on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. I used it for a catalog cover in the 80’s which was sent out to my mailing list of a few thousand people. It was one of my first full color catalog covers. There was one person who seemed desperate to tell me that this was not beech because beech has a smooth bark. I tried to tell him that the wind coming off the lake and the location created this effect and that some beech trees have very unique bark patterns. There is variation. Because he only saw beeches a certain way, there was no way to convince him otherwise no matter what I said. I was kind of shocked he had that much disbelief and really was convinced I was wrong. Little did I know this type of belief system related to plants became more pronounced as time went on and images were more freely available on line far greater than botanical books and literature could provide. You would think it would be less. Today each plant has its own Wikipedia page and is highlighted by numerous botanical institutions. Frankly, I like that. It is amazing we have come so far identifying and enjoying nature in all its infinite glory. But maybe that is the problem. The operative word here is “infinite”. People like nice tidy categories not broad expanses of the universe of plants.

Yet, I’m here to say the botanical critics are alive and well today. Almost always they are wrong and misleading with some more than others. But you cannot say that. The terminology used to label invasive plants is off the charts wrong. But you cannot speak up and expect someone to listen. I am not talking about mislabeling of a plant in the greenhouses or customer service issue. Starting in the 90’s I started to use the luke warm and nice response,”I will acknowledge but not confirm or deny your view” philosophy. It was really a huge waste of time to try to change someone’s mind. Sometimes the emails were long winded and highly detailed. Sometimes it was a letter in the mail box written in pencil. Either way I was happy they reached out to me and responded in some way. Personally, I thought it was always better to assume I was wrong and willing to check it out. Nature is infinite and you never know what you will find. It’s a good thing to know how people feel on an emotional level. But I would never respond in a way that said “you are completely wrong (or nuts) and here is why”. Never that. But sometimes it was tempting. I remember thinking on one of the letters that the individual writing this was using information from her peers. This was her confirmation of sorts of her knowledge of plants. Could she abandon that easily? I don’t think so.

It taught me a valuable lesson that our understanding of nature is shaped by what we read, what we understand and more importantly what we believe.

And please don’t etch that into the beautiful smooth beech bark.

Enjoy. Kenneth Asmus