Collecting Zephyranthes and Habranthus in Morroberna Lagoon, Entre Ríos province (Northeast Argentina). Summer 2011.
I am 27 years old (in 2011) and I have recently gotten my degree in Biotechnology in the National University of Quilmes (Buenos Aires, Argentina. 2009), where I studied and worked on Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) in a molecular microbiology lab.
I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Argentine Republic is located in the southern Hemisphere. Its relative position in South America gives the country a diversity of land and culture from the arctic regions in the south to the forested jungle regions in the north and from the ocean coastline on the Atlantic to the rugged mountain regions in the west. In Buenos Aires, Argentina (zone 10b) we have a maritime climate with humid springs and autumns (1,000 mm of rainfall).
Since I was a little child I have loved all kind of plants, but bulbous plants have been my favorite. I was a little boy surrounded by bulbs of all colors, sizes, types and shapes and running in my then big and dense garden, looking where to plant each one, many years after my grandmother, Juana Fernández, gave me a couple of white gladioluses (my very first "bulbs" to grow). My grandfather, Nilo Sánchez, was also a rose grower and used to have a big collection of roses in Necochea, a seaside town almost 500 kilometers from Buenos Aires, but after moving to B.A., he started growing Amaryllidaceae bulbous plants in a small greenhouse, especially within the genus Hippeastrum.
At the moment, we have a huge collection of different bulbous plants genera and I really love to take care of them. As he is 87 years old, I am the one who keeps taking care of the greenhouse, of course, supervised by him! (He does not want to miss anything there!). It is my hobby and a really healthy way to spend my free time, and switch my mind off the daily routine.
I also love traveling, hanging out with my friends, spending time with my family and, of course, meeting people from all over the world with my same hobbies and interests. This is why I am so happy to start taking part in PBS and with its valuable members, some of the whom I had the pleasure to meet lately in person, when they came to Buenos Aires.
Good gardening from B.A.!