How does a 10 acre rural cornfield in Bayview become a tropical tree paradise? Through the efforts of a man with a passion for fruit trees, a drive to be self sufficient and a relentless desire to learn.

Ever since that cornfield became the property of Ed Pechacek in 1987, he has carefully husbanded it into being the Rio Grande Valley’s showplace for hard-to-find tropical fruit and flowering trees. Rivers End Nursery, the business he and his wife Kathy operate, is now a favored destination of their many devoted clients. Ed and Kathy host tours of their orchards; teach classes on grafting and other propagation methods; and sell organic fertilizers and pesticides, compost, and tropical fruit breads, jellies, jams, and fresh fruit in season.

When Ed was a child of 8 years, his father let him grow squash in their backyard garden in Port Isabel. He still remembers fondly that his love of gardening and growing things was born of that experience. Ed’s father, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard, worked for many years at the station on South Padre Island, thus instilling in his son a love of the coast and things tropical.

Interestingly, some of Ed’s ancestors were boat builders in France during the 19th century. After emigrating to the Port Isabel area, they continued to build boats and employed them as “lighters”. These lighters would go out to meet larger boats in the Gulf and carry their cargo across to the island, thus “lightening” the larger boats’ loads. They then delivered the cargo to the railroad that was near the location of the current causeway in Port Isabel, to be shipped out to points north.

Having originally used conventional growing practices, Ed gradually switched to using more sustainable methods. He knew he was on to something when he began to see earthworms, and other organisms beneficial to soil health, appear and multiply. He and Kathy have made sustainability a household word around the Valley. Naturally occurring rock minerals, compost, mulch and foliar sprays of colloidal soap are a regular part of the routine at Rivers End Nursery.

Inspiring as they are, the Pechaceks also seek out inspiration from other like-minded people. They belong to organizations such as Local Harvest (localharvest.org), Rare Fruit Growers International of California, and Fairchild Botanic Garden in Miami. Dr. David Fairchild, for whom the botanic garden is named, was a renowned plant explorer who traveled the world and imported many plants such as mangos, bamboos, and dates into the U.S. for cultivation here.

Ed and Kathy, fearless plant explorers themselves, have traveled throughout the Amazon River system in Brazil and to Thailand in search of new plants that might be suitable for south Texas. They travel annually to the Miami, Key West, and Ft. Myers areas in order to stay in touch with Floridian tropical fruit growers. They are quite knowledgeable about the issues presented by importation of plant material from one area of the globe to another, and rigorously follow U.S. requirements for inspection in order to prevent the spread of diseases and insects into our area.

Intrigued? Pay Rivers End Nursery a visit, either in person at 27510 Ted Hunt Road in Bayview (call ahead for directions – 956.233.4792), or online at www.riversendnursery.com. Be sure to ask about their farm fresh eggs in natural colors of chocolate brown, light brown, white, blue and green.

And remember, you can speak with Kathy at the Harlingen Farmers Market, held every Saturday from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. at El Mercado Mall, 712 N. 77 Sunshine Strip in Harlingen.