Mardi Gras, meet Plant Nerd

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

I've been accused of being a plant nerd before, but today I'm taking it to a new level.

I'm not in New Orleans this year for Mardi Gras, but that didn't stop me from celebrating in costume. I'm dressed as Exotic Invasives Woman, a superhero who seeks to rid the world (or at least my own backyard!) of exotic invasive species.

New Orleanians often choose costumes that have a humorous, timely, and/or satirical twist. I picked this costume because: A) I work full-time writing about gardening and telling people that they should remove exotic species from their yards; and B) my own yard has at least five different exotic invasive species growing in it (tuberous sword fern, nandina, air potato, elephant ear, and old world climbing fern).

Yes, I know. It's shameful. I've been trying to get rid of them, but it's a tedious process. So anyhow, I hope you get a laugh out of the costume.

You can click on the photo to see notes that include an explanation of each species. Or view the photo large for a closer look at the plants (though they're not 100% botanically accurate since I was stuck with what was available in the silk flowers section of Michael's).

Advance apologies to my co-workers if any parts of my costume fall off and propagate new plants!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I absolutely love love your costume - how ingenious - one of the days I hope us Gville girls have a chance to meet. Keep up the good work! Cydney

Kim Taylor Kruse said...

Thanks, Cydney!

Susan said...

Great costume! Not only are you clever and imaginative but brave, too. :-)

Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog said...

Hilarious! What a great way to channel your inner plant nerd.

Kim Taylor Kruse said...

Susan-- "Brave" is one way to describe it! I think some of my coworkers who aren't plant nerds were probably thinking "weird."

Jean-- Thanks! As someone who now lives in Louisiana, I'm sure you can appreciate a good Mardi Gras costume.

erin said...

you looked fabulous! and of course it didn't hurt that you handed out goodies--in true mardi gras fashion. :)