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By EMILY REEED | Special to the Reporter

ALABASTER – Preston Taylor has always had an interest in gardening, but recently he decided to take his green thumb to a new level.

“I did a little bit of research on different things I could grow,” Taylor, 13, said. “I decided it would be fun to try and grow an avocado tree from seed.”

Taylor, a student at Thompson Middle School, found some of the gardening information from books he checked out at the Albert L. Scott Library.

“Basically, I got the avocado to grow from seed and it took about a month and a half to get it to grow,” Taylor said. “I had a lot of fun with the process.”

In addition to Taylor’s family enjoying gardening together, his family frequents the library, where they check out many books to enjoy about various subjects.

It was a recent trip to the library and a conversation with a librarian that got Taylor thinking he should bring the fruits of his labor to a staff member at the library.

“One of the librarians mentioned that she had not had a lot of success with growing an avocado from seed, so I told her about the process I had done, and just thought it would be fun to give her what I had grown,” Taylor said.

Taylor brought the avocado plant to the library and donated it last week.

Library director Kim Roberts said connecting patrons to their interests is what the library does.

“It is one of the core functions to enrich our community through providing resources that enable personal growth and inspiration,” Roberts said. “It is incredibly rewarding in our profession to see a patron, young or old, find and feed their passion through knowledge.”

In Taylor’s case, it was finding books at the library about gardening where he took the inspiration to continue experimenting and growing different things.

Librarian Lindsay Benson was the recipient of the tree and said it made her day to see Preston come into the library with his plant.

“I was shocked to see what he could accomplish and honored that he shared it,” Benson said.

Roberts said while they don’t have a lot of patrons donate things, they do have many come in and share their trials, discoveries and accomplishments.

“In addition to providing resources, we also provide a safe place where people can connect, support and inspire themselves and others,” Roberts said.

As for Taylor, he said the possibilities are endless with things he may want to learn to grow and research about gardening.

“I look forward to seeing what else I can experiment with,” Taylor said. “It is something I definitely enjoy.”