BIOGRAPHY

Born in Ticonderoga, New York, Peter Borchard — the son of a middle school art teacher-turned-art professor — largely grew up in Chicago, Illinois, during the heyday of the Civil Rights era. However, at the age of sixteen, his dad’s work required the family to abruptly relocate … to rural Guysville, Ohio — fifteen miles outside of Athens. 

With long hair, a passion for music, & countercultural leanings, Peter quickly came of age & into political consciousness in an Athens County where police were actively persecuting so-called “hippies”; after briefly attempting college to avoid the tense hometown scene, Peter moved back to athens, & worked in cattle ranching, herb gardening (for the Athens Farmers’ Market), at the local co-op // health food store, & homesteading, all while building an off-grid cabin near Dow Lake & learning local plants: from stinging nettle to the region’s famous American Ginseng. 

After repeatedly running a local greenhouse out of rare herbs with special requests, Peter took up their challenge to him, & started a greenhouse of his own that year. That business — Companion Plants — rapidly bloomed into one of the premiere year-’round mail order herb catalogues in the country: known for Peter’s specialist’s eye for less common herbs — defined simply, by Companion Plants, as plants with a traditional use by humans — from around the world: including over a hundred species of basil, & herbs & plants (like Guyanese “married-man pork basil” & its companion, the beloved wiri-wiri pepper) beloved to immigrant communities, which are difficult to find elsewhere in the United States. 

After making a begrudging transition to e-commerce, Companion Plants eventually discontinued its print catalogue; Peter now sells plants through direct web order, on Etsy (!!!), & at native plant & herb shows across the region, where demand for native plant varieties is booming. 

Companion Plants’ thriving Athens Township greenhouse & nursery is open for business for locals & visitors Thursday thru Sunday, March thru October, offering up-close-&-personal encounters with thousands of rare useful plants: from peppercorn & vanilla vines to Peter’s own world-famous hybrid: the African blue basil.

For more, visit Peter & Companion Plants at: CompanionPlants.com, order guaranteed live plants shipped to your door, or visit the Companion Plants Athens County greenhouse!