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My sister and I recently visited the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, VA. According to the garden's website, the place has a slightly unusual history. The property started as a club, progressed to a convalescent home then eventually a private residence, from where it passed by will to the city's possession in 1968, with the stipulation for it to be developed into a botanical gardens. In 1981 this was finally realized. (see LGBG website for more details)
All that's lovely, but what does it mean? The garden and its collection is young and still in development. They have, however, done quite a nice job with the modest grounds. I would also point out, they have a lovely library on premises, which is open to the public and full of books and periodicals on plants, gardening, and birds. Not to mention a fantastic place to escape from the heat. Richmond might as well be Savannah for the weather they get there.
But I digress. Here are some highlights of their collection.
One of the first areas you pass through in the garden is an herb garden display, showcasing some well known as well as less known plants of medicinal interest. Washington Hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum) for example, at left. Hawthorn species are native to the United States, and the berries were/are used to prepare a heart tonic, but due to my lack of experience in the matter I couldn't tell you if all species are used or only certain ones. There are ~200 species. Washington Hawthorn, despite what the name suggests, does not originate from the Pacific Northwest. According to the USDA PLANTS profile, this species is found all over the Eastern half of North America, from Florida into Canada.
They do have a modest conservatory, with a few orchids of mainly rather ordinary selections from the view of an enthusiast. Enough, though, to be educational to the novice, however. I thought this Paph. Lynleigh Koopowitz was rather attractive.
While they may have little in terms of unusual orchid species, they did, however have this nicely executed glass sculpture of a 'ghost orchid' (Dendrophylax lindenii, a.k.a. Polyrrhiza lindenii). This endangered leafless species is native to the Southwestern reaches of Florida. The plants have been under propagation for several years now, and laboratory-propagated stock are often found for sale on eBay. If you by one, please make sure it is laboratory-propagated.
There is a picturesque pavilion, no doubt frequently rented for weddings, surrounded by a variety of roses in varietal blocks. The most unusual to me was this Polyantha rose, 'Orange Morsdag'. I don't recall reading about Polyantha roses before, but if this one is certainly worth note with its adorable multitude of blossoms reminiscent of the Old English style. Googling it I find the shape of flowers varies among Polyantha roses, though floriferous nature and compact size is common, and they vary in their hardiness. Investigate varieties of interest before planting them in your landscape. There were many other things of interest in the garden, including a nice variety of Japanese Maples and other trees, carnivorous plants, and woodland perennials. Overall, worth the visit when you're in the Richmond area.
I recently attended the ASM conference in San Diego, CA. It was a good conference, I attended several interesting lectures both related and unrelated to my own research, and also enjoyed just being in San Diego in the few off hours I had. My traveling companion and I stayed at the Hilton in the Gaslamp Quarter, which had the lovely advantage of being directly across the street from the center point of the massive conference center, making for easy access. The hotel was, sadly, otherwise rather ordinary and middle-of-the-line at best. If you go, swanky places to stay in the area seem to be the Marriott on the North end of the conference center, the Hard Rock hotel (which you can see in the photo), and the Embassy Suites.
Incidentally, we could see the terrace of the Hard Rock hotel from our room in the Hilton, and on Sunday night they had a raucous party up there, complete with loud music, not very talented go-go girls, and grid of these large queen sized beds for people to chill out on. Might have been some fire pit action as well. It really looked like fun. Then, while milling around town that afternoon looking for Gluten Free food, we heard that the Gaslamp Quarter used to be a red light district. Don't know if its true, but I fond it amusing, so now I refer to the Hard Rock terrace as "the den of iniquity". (Note to folks of the Hard Rock - I mean that in the nicest/most fun way. :P )
Anyhow, I have lots of photos to share with you, most of them plants.
This is a mall we stumbled across on First Street, I think it was. It had an odd feel, multilevel with haphazard construction sort of jammed between two other buildings. I thought I was walking around in an Escher print. Very fun!
This is, obviously, the Dole cargo ship. It was hanging out in the bay behind the conference center. I wanted to grab a bottle of rum and storm the boat for pineapples, but nobody else seemed interested.
As far as plants go, about the strangest thing I saw were these three very large Platycerium ferns (sorry kids, not sure which, possibly superbum?) hanging on the side of a building. I was totally weirded out by this, since it seems like (a) too bright a spot, (b) too dry a climate, but there they were. There were also a couple smaller ones just by the door.
On the front side of the conference center, near the atrium (or whatever they called that giant, permanent tent-like room), the stairs were decorated with an array of what I think were very nicely grown Aloe ferox.
Some random succulents from the same area. Incidentally, they had whitefly.
Strelitzias were a common sight in the area, along with cycads and palms. This is a very nicely grown Strelitzia nicolai that was on the back (West) terrace of the conference center. I basked in the sun for about an hour one day back there, while watching the birds repeatedly land on the flowers. I assume they were after the copious amount of sap that always seems to be all over strelitzia flowers.
I don't know what this is, but they were lovely. I assume based on the flowers and plant form that they're in the Amaryllis family. Please leave a comment if you know what it is. Note: They were purpleish, not blue, my camera doesn't seem to understand that particular shade. I fixed the color balance as much as I could, but it might still be a little off.
NOTE: This has been identified as Agapanthus africanus by Beverly. Thanks Bev!
As above, I don't know what this tree is, but they seemed popular in the area. Please leave a comment if you can identify it.
I'd like to go back sometime and experience more of the area. The weather was phenomenal, 65 and sunny every day (glad I checked the forecasts before leaving, that's a good 20 degrees F less than MD!!), and it just seemed like a quiet, easy going area. Incidentally, Sammy's Woodfired Pizza, located on Fourth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter, has the BEST GLUTEN FREE PIZZA EVER!!! Sammy, when are you opening a shop in the state of Maryland!? I miss you already.
Once again, we took the annual opportunity to visit the US Botanical Gardens production facility this past weekend. They have an open house every spring, and it is a wonderful opportunity to see parts of their collection that you may not otherwise see. You can see photos from last year here.
This year, not as much was in bloom, likely due to the cooler winter, or perhaps much of it had just been moved off-site for use in the conservatory or participation in various plant shows. As always, we were treated to several nobile-type dendrobiums and their lovely bank of Paph. victoria-regina specimens (upper left).
The Dend. loddigesii, one of my favorite dendrobium species (of which there is an increasing number) were in bloom. These are sweetly fragrant, like roses. It is a delightful species to grow and they bloom fairly young. There are variegated clones of this species as well.
They also have a succulent collection with an interesting variety of this & that. There were a number of Euphorbias there I don't remember seeing before, and a few miniature Aloes. Aloes are a new fascination with me. I am especially fond of the miniatures.
Euphorbia horrida var. striata
Aloe humilis
Aloe aristata
And finally, because I think its cool, some liverwort. (Although, The Larry accused me of being weird for taking this photo.)
Last week my plant cruising buddy, The Larry, and I went downtown to the US Botanical Gardens. A lovely place to visit if you are ever in the area. I go there at least once per year with Larry, and we ogle all our favorites and whatever is new, and engage in nerdy plant discussions.
Every time I'm there I lust after their staghorn ferns. I do the same thing at Longwood Gardens. The fine, imposing specimen here is Platycerium willinckii. I absolutely love staghorn ferns, but though I can keep them alive they have never flourished for me. In all likelihood I don't water enough.
We also admired their nicely grown specimen of Zelenkoa onustum, a.k.a. Oncidium onustum. Yes, that's right, its mounted on a live cactus. This is a species I like to mention to people who are convinced all orchids live in the tropical rain forests. The fact is, there are orchid species from all kinds of environments - warm to cold, wet to dry, temperate to tropical. As you might guess, this one comes from the deserts of Ecuador and Peru, where it grows in full, blazing sun. If you ever get one, make sure you respect that or it will rot clean away!
They always have a little corner with Gesneriads, as well. These are Sinningia eumorpha (top) and lineata (bottom). You may be more familiar with the family through the 'florist' gloxinia and African Violets, but the more obscure species are also quite rewarding to grow. For more information on Sinningias and other Gesneriads, you can get started with this site.
Once or twice per year, the US Botanic Gardens offers the opportunity to tour their production greenhouses which are on a separate location from the public greenhouses. This is where they maintain collections and produce things like the bedding plants you see around the facility. They have a wonderful collections of orchids, succulents, and more.
They have a great variety, but also may have multiples of the same thing - usually because they've had it long enough to divide it many times. But sometimes, they keep the plant together and just pot it into a giant milk crate, like this Isochilus major. The plastic basket it is in I'll estimate to be approximately 30 by 18 inches, maybe a bit bigger, with the plant spilling out of it in every direction.
There was a nice assortment of Epidendrums, but due to their octopus like nature I had a hard time identifying source pots and therefore names. So these are just interesting pictures.
There was also quite a crop of dendrobiums, especially a large number of classic Nobile hybrids. They were all above my head so I can't give you a name on them, but they all looked rather like the old style hybrid that is slightly larger and needs colder temperatures in the winter to set buds. Still very nice of course.
Among the dendrobiums of note were Dend. caryicola on the left, which was labeled as a CITES seizure. If you fancy it there are a number of quite similar species available, such as Dendrobium aphyllum. I'm not sure I can tell the difference between them. The photo on the right shows Dend. speciosum. This is the first time I've seen one of those in person and the plant is massive. The canes were about 2 inches in diameter and about 2 feet long topped with a pair of thick, one foot long leaves, generally looking like a large Cattleya type thing. The plant was not very attractive, but the flowers are quite nice.
Of the many lovely paphs and phrags in bloom, there was one Paph. De Witt Smith which I was quite smitten with. I'd like to get some seedlings of this, but I suspect I'll not be able to find any. The plant is large so they've had it a while, and one sad thing about paph hybrids is that often you only see them for a short period of time and then you don't get an opportunity to buy that one ever again. With few exceptions they just don't get remade. Fortunately there are plenty of other exciting things to be growing.
These two closely related species are Paph. glaucophyllum and Paph. victoria-regina. These and related species and hybrids are great things to grow because they produce multiple flowers sequentially over a period of months.
A very adorable Pleuro. circumplexa. This is a small species about 5 inches tall.
Gongora scaphephorus, like all Gongoras, was well flowered on an elegant, pendant spike. These flowers were also nicely fragrant, but I can't remember what it smelled like. Citrus-ish, perhaps?
I will leave you with a couple photos from the succulent house. Above is Pachypodium succulentum, an interesting caudiciform species. I've never grown this one but have been pleased with the other Pachypodium species I have tried. They seem hardier than the more commonly seen Adeniums in my opinion.
A violently red-orange Echinocereus triolochidatus in full bloom.
They have many other plants in other greenhouses - gingers, anthuriums, bedding plants, cycads and more. Visiting the main public complex located next to the capitol building in DC will give you quite a display and impression of the variety of their collection. I highly recommend it!
I did a couple things this weekend. One was to attempt to sell plants at the Old Town Village Marketplace in Fairfax, where a large crowd was anticipated for the Fairfax community fair. It didn't work out very well because the large crowd at the fair didn't know we were in that building. This was another lesson learned in selecting a venue and why I shouldn't do a show last minute - I wore myself out preparing. Oh well. On Nov. 1st I'll be selling again at the DC Craft Mafia show in Bethesda. Come out & see me!
The more exciting news was a trip to US Botanical Gardens adjacent to the Capitol Building to genuflect at the plants. It was a very nice day for it. The NCOS show was this weekend too, but for the first time in years I skipped it, so I can't report on it for you.
In one room they trotted out a number of succulents and put up cards with a list of their traditional uses. As you might expect this display included several aloes with their well known uses. However, some had some interesting details I'd never heard of before. For example, this A. ferox apparently is used to make snuff. ??? Thats a new one by me!
I also took a moment to muse about how a clone name can identify the origin of a plant. This Paph. Transvaal 'Orchid Loft' is a fairly obvious example, in that the original plant must have been owned by Orchid Loft at the time it was awarded.
This Phal. Valentinii 'Harford' is a little more subtle, but anyone familiar with The Little Greenhouse will recognize Harford as their location and a name they use quite frequently with their clones. Incidentally, if you've never been to Little Greenhouse, which is North of Baltimore, make the time to visit the next time you're in the area. It's a charming greenhouse with lots of little goodies tucked away all over the place.
I think I should pick some names to tack to all my plants. I'll have to think about that one.
There were lots of other interesting things there as well. For example, this Globba winitii, which is in the ginger family. I used to have an alba form of this species. They're pretty easy to grow as long as the bulbs don't stay too wet during the winter months.
Finally, I'll leave you with a photo of a nice cactus-mounted Oncidium onustum (a.k.a. Zelenkoa onustum). I don't remember seeing the plant there last time I visited, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. In any case, its nicely bloomed out!
I was looking through my images today and found this one, taken July 4th, when the blueberries stared to ripen. I had intended to post it to the blog but never did. I have a 'Sunshine Blue', which is a self-fertile dwarf blueberry, who I keep in a large pot. It is an easy to grow variety. Its not a very big bush (and is not very mature at that!) but it had a good crop of berries this year that were most tasty.
Now and then I fantasize that I'd like to plant my whole yard in blueberries and make dry blueberry wine. Two years ago while vacationing in Bar Harbor, ME, we picked up a bottle of locally made, oak aged, dry blueberry wine from the Bartlett estate. mmmm...good stuff. Unfortunately you can only get it in Maine. Wish I could get it here in Maryland. Unlike many non-grape wines, it wasn't cloyingly sweet. Instead it was more like the best Merlot ever. If you're ever in Maine, do yourself a favor and get a case of the stuff!! (and drop one off at my house! thx!)
This past weekend we went to visit with family in Covington, VA. We spent most of a day at Roaring Run park, some of which found us skittering up the semi-billy-goat trail along the creek up to the falls. We saw lots of cool stuff! For example, this Goodyera pubescens. We saw several colonies of the little guys, some in bloom, some not. Isn't it just adorable? I was very excited to see them. They were growing mostly on the 'up' side of the path, 10 - 20 feet uphill of the water line in heavy leaf litter and deep shade. I'm also curious about the little thing living with it that has the lily pad shaped leaves. These also in some places had tall thin spikes with little white flowers.
Incidentally, I recently came across the website for the Connecticut Botanical Society. I'm already finding it a wonderful resource for identifying wildflowers and passive plant browsing.
We were also fortunate enough to see several small patches of Monotropa uniflora, or Indian Pipe herb, a very rare parasitic plant. This wiki has a pretty good discussion of the species and its peculiarities. I understand the plant is used in herbal medicine, but I don't know for what, and given its rarity I would venture it isn't used very often. I have only ever seen this plant in the Covington area, and the last time I saw it was probably 20 years ago when my aunt first pointed it out to me.
We also saw a few colonies of this little lithophytic fern, assicated with nice moss colonies. I think it might be Pleopeltis polypodioides (Resurrection Fern), but I sort of remember the fronds on that species being thicker (adaxial to abaxial) than what we saw on this plant, so I'm not sure about the identification.
I would really like to know what this is but I'm not even sure where to start - fern, mossy thing, flowering plant? I saw several individual colonies, generally round in shape, hugging bare rock no more than 1 or 2 feet above water level in areas where they would get frequent spray and possibly occasional flooding. The tissue was very crocodilian in texture and each fish tail was perhaps an inch wide. Please leave a comment if you know what this is!
....I don't know what these are either. Left is a little creeping plant with leaves about 2-3 inches long, very leathery, and fairly spaced out on the rhizome. They were in the standard leaf litter or on somewhat bare clay, like this one. It looks fern-ish to me. On the right is a small, glossy plant with architectural trefoil leaves. Diameter of each leaf was approximately equal to a standard peanut butter cup. I only saw one of these.
Cool bugs!!
Cool fungus!
"Bob Ross Moment" Finale
One of the first areas you pass through in the garden is an herb garden display, showcasing some well known as well as less known plants of medicinal interest. Washington Hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum) for example, at left. Hawthorn species are native to the United States, and the berries were/are used to prepare a heart tonic, but due to my lack of experience in the matter I couldn't tell you if all species are used or only certain ones. There are ~200 species. Washington Hawthorn, despite what the name suggests, does not originate from the Pacific Northwest. According to the USDA PLANTS profile, this species is found all over the Eastern half of North America, from Florida into Canada.
They do have a modest conservatory, with a few orchids of mainly rather ordinary selections from the view of an enthusiast. Enough, though, to be educational to the novice, however. I thought this Paph. Lynleigh Koopowitz was rather attractive.
While they may have little in terms of unusual orchid species, they did, however have this nicely executed glass sculpture of a 'ghost orchid' (Dendrophylax lindenii, a.k.a. Polyrrhiza lindenii). This endangered leafless species is native to the Southwestern reaches of Florida. The plants have been under propagation for several years now, and laboratory-propagated stock are often found for sale on eBay. If you by one, please make sure it is laboratory-propagated.
There is a picturesque pavilion, no doubt frequently rented for weddings, surrounded by a variety of roses in varietal blocks. The most unusual to me was this Polyantha rose, 'Orange Morsdag'. I don't recall reading about Polyantha roses before, but if this one is certainly worth note with its adorable multitude of blossoms reminiscent of the Old English style. Googling it I find the shape of flowers varies among Polyantha roses, though floriferous nature and compact size is common, and they vary in their hardiness. Investigate varieties of interest before planting them in your landscape. 
