‘Plant ladies’ – Vilma Jackson

If you are from Tunapuna RC Church, you must know this week’s plant lady! She is Vilma Jackson. At age 77, she is a liturgical lay minister in her parish, an active member of the charismatic renewal and Eternal Life Community.

You may even know her from back in the day when she was actively involved in Life in the Spirit seminars throughout Trinidad and Tobago.

“I am elderly now; I don’t drive. So, I focus on my plants,” this spirited retiree and former Administrative Assistant from UWI said. “I like to serve the Lord. I serve Him in everything I do.”

“I read about the plant ladies in the Catholic News and I tell my granddaughter to take the picture because we have everything in this garden, we have five fingers, cherries, mangoes, green fig, you name it!”

SEE ‘Plant ladies’ – Monica Borel

SEE Plant Ladies – For the Love of Bromeliads

Apart from all her fruit crops she also has a beautiful blossoming flower garden although only the orchids are in bloom right now. She also has a wide variety of lash, anthuriums, caladiums, heliconias, succulents and more.

Vilma Jackson

“When I get up in a morning, I stand under my five finger tree and I say, ‘Lord, you walked in the garden with Adam and Eve, and here I stand, and I feel like you and I are walking together’. That is the prayer that starts Vilma’s day.”

Vilma boasts of having an amazing green thumb, “God has blessed me with hands that allow things to grow and I enjoy doing that. My garden is filled with so many things, that I am able to give away.” A devoted Catholic, who helps coordinate activities at the home for senior citizens home in Tunapuna Casa De Luz. Vilma said, one day during Mass her parish priest spoke about sharing and giving to others in need, so whenever her fig tree is bearing she would cut a hand and give it to her neighbours. “I am amazed when I push something and I see it growing and bearing fruit. It’s like giving of yourself and sharing what you have. My children help me, too! They help me reap and they definitely help me eat!”

“I have good hands, and whatever I put it in a pot it grows and I give it away as gifts, I really enjoy doing it.” She also confesses that the green and white caladium and the green and yellow lash in her garden are her two favourites .

Her advice to new plant lovers: “Wet them regularly, trim them, and then mould them and turn up the dirt, and take out all the weeds. I recently bought some plants from Tobago and they are growing nicely following that same method”.

Special thanks to Kaylee Jackson for submission and photography.

Is there a plant lady in your parish community that you would like to share with us? Take pictures and send us at forwomen@catholictt.org.