| Throughout all seasons, they color our skyline in cerise, orange, pink, yellow. Flowering trees sprout in South Miami, along Interstate 95 and are riotous at Metrozoo. Behind all of these and countless other volunteer plantings is Larry Schokman, director of the Kampong of the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Coconut Grove. Shovel in hand, he has for decades inspired a crew of faithful city beautifiers and tree lovers to dig, mulch and water. Especially mulch, because trees on roadsides get zero care from anyone else. He has spent so many Saturdays for so many years planting, teaching and maintaining trees, giving tree tours at the Kampong, hosting meetings and running symposia that he says of his wife Colleen, ``She calls our home our second home.'' Today, Florida International University presents Schokman with its infrequently given Alumni Service Medallion, honoring two decades of devotion to coloring the skyline. David Lee, chairman of FIU's biology department, calls the award the ''equivalent to an honorary degree'' and says it is ``given o ... read the whole article |