{"id":243465,"date":"2026-04-23T16:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243465\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:46:09","slug":"his-path-planted-the-seeds-to-turn-grief-into-growth-in-jacksonville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243465\/","title":{"rendered":"His path planted the seeds to turn grief into growth in Jacksonville"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Wade Lee Richards\u2019 path in Jacksonville turned grief into growth, a journey he takes us through on the next episode of \u201cVoices of the 904.\u201d<\/p>\n

During one of the most difficult seasons of his life, as his husband battled cancer, Wade found unexpected healing in plants, planting the seed for his upcoming chapters. <\/p>\n

After his husband\u2019s passing, Wade channeled that passion into community through his business, a plant podcast, and ultimately, an unexpected full-time role as lead gardener at the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens.<\/p>\n

EPISODE 3 | Meet Adam & Monique Madrid – She had the idea. He had the support. Together, they created Jacksonville\u2019s largest film fest<\/a><\/p>\n

In this episode, Wade opens up about maintaining the museum\u2019s historic gardens, creating welcoming spaces for all, and how gardening can foster connection, mental wellness, and community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plant community as a whole, I think, are people who are loving and nurturing and accepting,\u201d Wade said. \u201cI feel that, especially in the plant community in Jacksonville, there is inclusion and diversity and love for everyone who wants to be involved. It\u2019s not a you can\u2019t sit with us kind of crew. The community as a whole is very welcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on his pivot from an accomplished New York hairstylist, Wade highlights the power of curiosity, self-belief, and continuous learning\u2014lessons that led him back to the classroom as a student studying horticulture at the University of Florida.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, he sees plants as powerful metaphors for life \u2014 teaching resilience, renewal, and the beauty of starting over.<\/p>\n

Check out more episodes below:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Wade Lee Richards\u2019 path in Jacksonville turned grief into growth, a journey he takes us…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[502,116,118,117,24990],"class_list":["post-243465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-community","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-voices-of-the-904"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}