The story of a man who transformed ornamental horticulture in America.
In this historically accurate biography, Paul Butler paints a vivid picture of the life and times of Theodore Mead. As a young man he hunted butterflies in Colorado, discovering dozens of new species. Later, as a Florida citrus and tropical plant grower, he amassed a huge collection of orchids and imported ornamental plants from all over the world, cross-breeding them to produce new varieties.
Life was anything but easy as a pioneering settler in Florida. He faced bouts of malaria, the harrowing loss of his only daughter to scarlet fever, the catastrophic financial damage of the great citrus freeze of 1894/95, and the brutal excesses of the Medfly crisis of 1929/30.
Theodore Mead helped keep Florida a "Land of Flowers," and was one of America's most distinguished entomologists and horticulturists. But despite this success, a significant part of his life remained unfulfilled. Orchids & Butterflies is ultimately the story of one man's search for meaning in life.

Paul Butler is an independent author of novels and children's stories who publishes under the name of Paul Xylinides. He is the life-long friend of David Taylor and is intimately familiar with his paintings and views on aesthetics particularly as applied to the notion of an artist's "personality."