| " Growing up in Ottawa, Canada, Terry Stoleson and her family lived in a modest home with a front yard the size of a postage stamp and a backyard not much bigger. " " “The backyard was a vegetable garden and the front yard was a flower garden. ... There were bleeding hearts, a snowberry bush. That little postage stamp was covered with cosmos and marigolds and zinnias, snow on the mountain,” Stoleson said. " " What her parents coaxed from the soil on that small plot of land fed the family, provided an explosion of color and influenced Stoleson’s lifelong love of all things natural. " " Stoleson is a national-award-winning floral arranger, gardener, master flower-show judge and wild mushroom expert. " " “I think she’s won every award there is to win for her designs — national ribbons and state and regional awards,” said Sherry Sanelli of Woodbury, president of the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut. “About five years ago a new award was established for the Connecticut Flower and Garden Show for the best design in the whole show, and she was the first one to ever win that.” " " Despite her city upbringing, Stoleson said she and her nine siblings caught grasshoppers and butterflies and made arrows with goldenrods and bows from tree branches. " " “When my children were still in elementary school, I was taking books out of the library and trying to copy (floral arrangements). I’ve always needed to do something creative. I tried oil painting, but you’re stuck in the house with that,” Stoleson said. " " “When I’m flower arranging, I’m totally transported, and working in the garden it’s the same thing. I forget everything else. Walking in the woods or in the garden, anything related to nature is therapeutic to me,” Stoleson said. " " “I just came back from Sherwood Island (State Park) about an hour ago and I found about 5 pounds of oyster mushrooms, beautiful mushrooms. It’s shocking at this time of year, all because of this global warming, I guess,” Stoleson said after one of her daily walks. " " Stoleson is president of the Connecticut Valley Mycological Society, a group of about 300 people interested in the study of wild mushrooms. " " “In the state of Connecticut, our club has identified the genus and species of over 1,500 mushrooms since 1975. There are at least 3,000 species in Connecticut. Almost every year, I find something I’ve never seen before and I’ve been in the club
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