Did you know Türkiye has its very own "plant whisperer" by the name of Ümit Ersan, who you may better as the "Çiçek Doktoru" and whose book of the same name and social media accounts relay a wealth of information on not only keeping your plants alive but also how to allow them to shine. On Sunday, Oct. 8, Ersan will be taking part in a natural living festival, in Turkish the Doğal Yaşam Festivali, which will be held at YBY Kemerburgaz over the weekend. Ersan will not only be giving a very special talk on protecting the life of plants and how to help them heal, but in a first, he will also be sharing vital information on how to grow and care for the plants to cleanse the atmosphere that NASA advises for our planet Earth.

I have long been a follower of Ersan’s social accounts, having read his book "Çiçek Doktoru" and chasing down his social media accounts. Not only is he highly informed of how to care and (in my case) how to revive plants on the outs, but he is also highly engaging, entertaining and endearing. Which along with myself, his well over 500K followers could easily attest to. For years now, he has been dishing out advice and unsuspecting tips on how to properly care for specific plants and as mentioned, how to bring those that are suffering back to life. His social media accounts include a variety of natural cures on a diverse array, such as using rice water and yeast. Most of his posts are videos and his YouTube account is also extremely relaxing, uplifting and educational.

How I met Türkiye’s plant-whisperer...

Thrilled at the opportunity, I had the chance to meet up with Ersan to discuss his book, just some of his various cures and to ask for solutions to personal plant problems as well as to find out about this weekend’s very special, informative and may I say planet-saving seminar. Released in November of last year, "Çiçek Doktoru" is a book by Ümit Ersan that was and still remains a top seller on online shopping platforms such as Hepsiburada and Trendyol.

The book is the result of Ersan’s years of interest, education and experience in plant care and cures. In fact, hailing from Ankara, Ersan recalls how it was a chrysanthemum plant gifted to him by his mother when he was just 6 that would spark his enthusiasm for plant cultivating and care. That very same plant not only continues to thrive today decades later but it has also been proliferated and clippings with many others. This is because caring for plants and sharing his knowledge on how to do so has since then been a true life passion for Ersan.

However, like so many of us, he didn’t initially follow this passion in his career path and it was only after many years as an educator for the Swiss Hotel in Ankara’s Human Resources Department that he decided to break away from the corporate life and follow his true passion. Fortunately, a number of publishing houses caught on to the value he was providing to his followers and sought him out, requesting that he prepare his special recipes of holistic cures in a book. The book contains a wide range of information and unfathomable concoctions that bring plants back to life, which Ersan shares in detail as well as explaining why some plants are named the way they are, their astrological connections and stories of his experiences of the lives his plants have led beside him. Not only are his book, YouTube channel and social media accounts extremely enthralling, but they also provide relaxation and entertainment and hope that there can be easy solutions to what seems like hopeless problems for keeping our beloved indoor and outdoor plants alive.

As for my personal questions, which may resonate with my readers, I asked the age-old conundrum of whether there was any way to bring an orchid back to life, to which he suggested covering what appears as a dead stalk with an aloe vera plant, which could very well bring a new shoot back to life. I happen to have a flour-like pest on some garden plants to which he suggested filling a spray bottle with water and garlic and spraying them down regularly and then watch them disappear, which I happily did!

Thus, the book "Çiçek Doktoru" is a life-saving resource for plants especially, but also for us humans. And the man himself, which I proudly refer to as Türkiye’s "plant-whisperer" and whose first name Ümit actually means "hope" in Turkish, has knowledge stemming not only from his own experiences and tips passed down from his ancestors, but he also conducts extensive international and now inter-galactical research on topics such as how cacti are being studied for their potential use in curing cancer and his latest and first-ever sharing of knowledge on what plants we should be growing to cleanse our atmosphere as advised by the space agency NASA.

Saving the planet with plants!

Ersan regularly shares his plant-healing cures and recipes on social media, YouTube, in live television appearances and in his best-selling book, which in less than a year has gone into its eighth printing, is soon headed to reach the double-digits. Ersan also teaches an online course. However, for those in Istanbul, this Sunday, Ümit Ersan will be one of the speakers delivering a seminar at the Doğal Yaşam Festivali, a festival devoted to natural living that will take place over this weekend at Kemerburgaz’s spectacular festival and picnicking space set in nature. Scheduled for an earlier date, the festival had to be rescheduled for this weekend due to unfavorable weather conditions. Ersan’s talk will take place at 5 p.m. on Sunday, and he will be discussing the best plants to proliferate for our environment and help save the planet!