Ben Durrington grows plants. In his room.
Durrington, a sophomore from Aledo, Texas, is a biology major. He began to study botany in middle school after observing his grandparents’ gardening. He said he decided to read about the plants they were working with and it took off from there.
“I got into mainly tropical plants, like orchids and palm trees and cycads and bromeliads,” Durrington said. “I like reading about them and learning about their habitats and just different things about the environment and climates they live in, and growing some of them, the ones I can find.”
He does more than just grow them: Durrington volunteers in the herbarium on campus. He also plants, repots, and treats diseases in the flora in the greenhouse and removes invasive shrubs as part of an ecosystem restoration project in the Slayton Arboretum.
“He’s incredibly meticulous and thorough,” said Renessa Cooper, professor of biology and the director of the arboretum. “His attention to detail is very admirable: little gets past him.” She added, “He also has a lot of patience too. I’ve given up on terraria multiple times, but he seems to be totally inspired by the challenges.”
In addition to his work for the college, Durrington continues to cultivate plants on his own. Fortunately, his roommates don’t seem to mind.
“It’s actually quite nice, because I get this fresh supply of oxygen in my room, and I wouldn’t really get that from any other roommate, you know what I mean,” Os Nakayama, Durrington’s roommate, said. “It’s not a problem at all. It’s quite enjoyable. I’ll go in there and he’ll try to tell me the genus and species and I’ll say, ‘O.K., I don’t speak Latin and all that stuff.’”
Durrington cultivates some rather rare plant species.
“There’s one called allthorn, Koeberlinia spinosa, and that’s rare in the sense that it’s not really cultivated by that many people, but it’s not really that rare in the wild. It’s from the desert, in west Texas,” he said. “It’s a new addition to the family and so I’m still trying to figure out exactly what it needs, because it’s different for every plant. And there is not cultivation information for it; I can only read about its habitat.”
Durrington has plants from all over the world.
“The most exotic or rare plants in the wild are some of the cycads I have, which include some from South Africa and Australia,” he said. “One from Africa I have is called Encephalartos horridus and that one has really sharp leaves. And then, Macrozamia glaucophylla, which is from Australia.”
Durrington pointed out that his plants were obtained legally, an important point since the plants are endangered. Durrington takes growing cycads as an opportunity to protect the plant.
“Responsible cultivation of rare plants can actually be beneficial to their species,” he said. “It’s sort of like insurance in case that species goes extinct in the wild.”
Cooper was surprised to find that Durrington was a member of a cycad society before coming to Hillsdale.
“Cycads are really neat plants. They were around even in the time of the dinosaurs. They are a plant lineage that’s been around for quite some time, and Ben even tries to grow them from seed.”
The enthusiasm Durrington has for the well being of natural plant habitats does not go unnoticed.
“He has a genuine passion for promoting conservation,” Cooper said. “We need more students like him. He’s a botanist.”
Durrington sees plants as more than biology. They’re art.
“I guess there are several different things that I like about it,” Durrington said. “Scientifically it’s interesting, I guess from a biology standpoint, it’s interesting to look at their habitats and how they grow and interact. But even though I’m a biology major I kind of have an artistic side and each plant is like its own little design or work of art. Each one has its own unique leaf structure or flower that’s just really intricate.”
Nakayama said rooming with Durrington and his plants has been a delight.
“His plants are awesome,” he said. “He has some orchids right now, and they’re blooming. He has his cute little terrariums in there; they have their own sleep schedule and everything.”
However, those plants are definitely Durrington’s domain.
“There was one time when I went into his room, it was about a month ago—I went in there and I was looking at his plants and [I touched one] and I came back a week later and it was dying,” Nakayama said. “He said it wasn’t my fault, but it was. Because I touched it and I don’t have his green thumb.”
