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USF Fair Will Be Peppered With Plants

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By LENORA LAKE

Tribune correspondent

Published: July 12, 2008

SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - Caring for more than 2,500 pepper plants takes "every waking minute" that Don Swanson is not at work.

The 50-year-old optician owns Mild to Wild Pepper Plants, which he operates on nights and weekends from his Seminole Heights home. This weekend, he will be among about 30 vendors in the 10th annual Tropical Plant Fair at the University of South Florida Botanical Gardens.

His backyard collection includes about 600 plants in 1-gallon containers and 2,000 starter plants. There are more than 100 varieties sitting on the rows of handmade benches.

He started growing vegetables from seed in containers several years ago and began a weekend flea market business called Dirt Cheap Edible Plants.

"What was really selling the best were the pepper plants," he said.

The Tropical Plant Fair is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the USF Botanical Gardens, 12210 USF Pine Drive. Admission is $4 for ages 12 and older and free for ages 11 and younger. For details, call (813) 974-2329 or visit www.cas.usf.edu/ garden.

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