Charlie: Hi there, Charlie here. Communications Manager for Cornell Cooperative Extension and this is my little pet project Good Work New York. A podcast where we're focusing on the good work that people do here in Rockland County and the Hudson Valley and all of New York State really. Today, with me, I have miss Tingyue Tan. Say hello miss Tingyue.

Tingyue: Hi!

Charlie: Tingyue is a student at Cornell University, and so what brings you here to Rockland County this summer?

Tingyue: I was given the opportunity by Cornell and I am a horticulture intern at CCE Rockland.

Charlie: That's great. What are you doing here as the intern? Are you working on any special projects?

Tingyue: Actually, I've been working on a demo garden guide project, and this guide is basically helping the visitors to navigate themselves in our demo garden. And then to identify all the plants.

Charlie: That's great. Our demonstration gardens are an educational tool that the Master Gardener Volunteers use to teach people about how different plants grow here in Rockland County and different growing techniques and all sorts of things really. It's really great when they're here because they can give you a really intimate tour of the gardens and tell you all about them. But, when they're not on available it's kind of hard, right? So this guide will help you give yourself a self-guided tour so to speak?

Tingyue: Right, exactly.

Charlie: Wonderful! What do you study at Cornell University? What's your major?

Tingyue: I'm studying Landscape Architecture and also a double major in Urban Planning.

Charlie: Wow that's a lot! So now, maybe I have this wrong. In landscape design you're kind of going any other direction you start from your design and build out your maps and everything and this is kind of the reverse? You're going backwards?

Tingyue: Yeah, exactly. This one is more like I go out in the garden and identify all the plant instead of like doing the actual design at all from scratch. It's like really nice because I get to know a lot of different plants.

Charlie: Great, so this is kind of useful for you because you're learning about the plants that you'll be using in your landscape designs, right?

Tingyue: Exactly.

Charlie: That's great. So you're new to horticulture education. What have you seen this summer? What do you think is the importance of educating people about horticulture?

Tingyue: I feel like horticulture is like a foundation for a lot of careers and it's just like you can get to know more about all the plants. And it's just like really important to kind of raise the awareness for our surrounding environment.

Charlie: I agree with you. I really believe that horticulture is a great way to get people to realize that their individual actions can have an impact on their local ecosystem and the environment as a whole really. And it can be as simple as picking the wrong plant for your garden and it can cause a whole bunch of trouble, right?

Tingyue: Exactly

Charlie: Great. So, one thing that you're doing this summer - that I think is just wonderful - are your illustrations. You're doing wonderful drawings of our flowers in the gardens and the gardens as a whole. And they're just breathtaking.

Tingyue: Thank you.

Charlie: Do you think these really engaging visuals are a great way to get people interested in horticulture?

Tingyue: I feel like this one is more like giving people a more creative way to visualize this like their surrounding environment because a lot of people might ignore what they're walking by when on the way going back home or like just like on their daily routine. So this is giving them a refreshing perspective to view of their life.

Charlie: That's true. I walk past the demonstration gardens every day and I've frankly been ignoring them recently because I've done it so many times. But once I saw your drawings I just started looking at them with fresh eyes and I started paying attention to all the different flowers growing and how beautiful all the plants are in the garden. So I think that's going to be a great thing and I can't wait to see the guide when it's finished. So what do you think about drawing flowers in the future? Are you gonna continue or are you gonna draw something else?

Tingyue: I think I will like continue to do that because it's not only for my leisure and also it is more like I think that it can inspire me in a way and also I hopefully will inspire a lot of other people.

Charlie: That's great I really love your drawings and I think that's true. They're just breathtaking. And if you'd like to see Tingyue's drawings, you can click the link below and you'll be taken to the gallery and see all of her fabulous artwork. So that's our episode for today and I want to thank miss Tingyue you for coming on our show.

Tingyue: Yeah thank you.

Charlie: And we'll be back next week with another episode of Good Work New York and that's some good work New York! Bye!