ST. GEORGE — Afghanistan and Iraq war veteran Brian Lloyd has a special relationship with plants.

“I’ve never had a bad conversation with a plant, right?” Lloyd said. “They’ve never talked back to me.”

At the Bloomington Country Club on Thursday afternoon, Lloyd and members of Daughters of the American Revolution and Children of the American Revolution assembled plant bouquets and displays that will be distributed to veterans as part of “Operation Houseplant.” 

As CEO for Honor Garden, Lloyd said his calling is to enrich the lives of veterans and help them and their families live with the debilitating effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.

For Lloyd, the work is a labor of love.

“One thing that I remember when I got hurt in combat is one of the first things that somebody brought me was a houseplant,” Lloyd said. “I just remember talking to that plant and having conversations with that, and using it as kind of a vehicle to pour my stress out into it.”

Honor Garden is a nonprofit organization that helps veterans across the country through agri-therapy. Initiatives include providing veterans access to gardens where they can grow plants and work with soil, ensuring that veterans have access to healthy vegetables and plants for therapeutic purposes.

Honor Garden’s mission statement emphasizes the creation of “sustainable veterans.”

“To me it’s just about helping veterans that are most in need,” Lloyd said. “We often think about veterans who are homeless, but we don’t necessarily remember that without a home, you don’t have food, you don’t have fresh food.

“And so one of the ideas is to help bridge that gap,” he added, “and be able to give them good meals – nourishment, good fruits and vegetables that might be able to sustain them.”

Several children were scurrying about Thursday afternoon, adding colorful, decorative touches to the plant displays for veterans.

Kenzie Thomasson represents the Jemima Johnson Society of Southern Utah Children of the American Revolution. She said this is an organization for children up to age 21 that promotes patriotism, trains good citizens and works with veterans.

“One of our favorite things to say is that we learn about history while we create it,” Thomasson said. She added that it’s important for children to serve their communities and to get involved.

“We want our children to be able to look a veteran in the eyes and thank them for their service,” Thomasson said. 

After the plant bouquets and displays are created, they will be distributed to veterans at the Southern Utah Veterans Home in Ivins to complete Operation Houseplant.

Lloyd said that another summer Honor Garden initiative, Operation Veggie Drop, will provide healthy fruits and vegetables for people in food-insecure housing.

During this patriotic time of year, Lloyd said he has a two-pronged message about caring for veterans.

“One is, never underestimate the battle that veterans are going through personally. That’s a daily battle,” Lloyd said.

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