January 21, 2012; Isla Hoste, Estero Fouque, 55º11′S, 69º35′W

I was wrong about everyone getting up early to go into the field today; late nights and early mornings are catching up to all of us. I have told myself that I will be in bed by 10 p.m. tonight, but we’ll see.

Where we spent the night, at the extreme south end of Estero Fouque, is one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. From the ship’s deck you can see at least five glaciers and in the fleeting moments when the sun comes out, the reflection off the glaciers is almost blinding.

The Don José Miguel cruises at the south end of Estero Fouque.

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Joyce H. Newman is the editor of Consumer Reports’ GreenerChoices.org, and has been a Docent with The New York Botanical Garden for the past six years.

One of the most dramatic specimens in the NYBG‘s Enid A. Haupt Conservatory rainforest is the gigantic Kapok tree, now part of the Caribbean Garden exhibition. A man-made version–looking very real–arches over the lowland rainforest path, showing off numerous epiphytic plants–orchids and bromeliads–that cling to its sides. Visitors are usually amazed to learn the tree is man-made. Two other examples (one real, one man-made) in the rainforest gallery reach high atop the rainforest canopy.
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Snowdrops are springing up in abundance at the Perennial Garden, though you wouldn’t guess from their humble white petals that such an unassuming species is the subject of a newfound global obsession. “Galanthophiles” around the world are gearing up for snowdrop conventions that will draw thousands of fanciers from all corners this year. Maybe you’ll empathize with their enthusiasm.

Galanthus — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Many a blossoming tree on Garden grounds originates in Asia, and each–at least to me–carries with it a familiar air of eastern aesthetic. I suppose we owe that to the centuries of botanical imagery recorded in the artistic traditions of places like Korea, China, and Japan. The Japanese apricot (also Chinese plum, or simply “plum blossom”) is something of an archetype.

In this case, beauty isn’t fleeting: there’s a plum blossom tree in China that’s still flowering after 1,600 years.

Prunus mume ‘Peggy Clarke’ — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

I meandered over to the Ladies’ Border during Wednesday’s weather (an April afternoon straight out of the bizarro dimension) to get a picture of these small but potent blooms. There was a squadron of honey bees taking advantage of the inflorescence while I was there. Hawks called overhead. It was all very picturesque. But airborne raptors and a fairytale setting do not a photo make. Ivo’s skill with a lens does the Amur Adonis proper justice.

Adonis amurensis — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

January 20, 2012; Isla Hoste, Estero Fouque, approximately 55º11′S, 69º35′W

After yesterday‘s late night, we were all slow to rise this morning. Which turned out to be okay, because at around 5:30 a.m. the crew decided to move to our next site; the movement of the ship was all the incentive we needed to sleep in.

When the ship stopped we got up for breakfast. Today’s first site is–like yesterday afternoon’s site–on Isla Gordon. From the map this site appears to have a glacier-fed stream that enters the sea near the end of a small sound, and this is indeed what we have found. But what we couldn’t see from the map is that the glacier is over the rise of a tall, steep slope, and after yesterday’s exhaustion, there wasn’t much enthusiasm for such a climb. So most of us chose to collect specimens on a relatively flat Magellanic tundra.

Magellanic tundra

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I have this sneaking suspicion that the spaces under “Saturday” and “Sunday” are sitting blank in your planner right now. If you’re not dashing onto a plane to escape the return of chilly weather to New York, I’m going to make a solid suggestion: get your camera. You probably have one sitting on the shelf somewhere, pitifully neglected, waiting for the day you make the commitment to get out and start learning the craft.

If you haven’t etched your plans in stone, put a few bucks on your MetroCard and head to the Bronx with your Nikons, your Canons, your Fujis or whatever else you can come up with. We’re actually going to reward you for participating in our Caribbean Garden photography contest, not just with the chance to come back for a course or workshop of your choosing with our NYBG educators, but for tips and tricks provided by professional garden photographers this Sunday afternoon. You can’t keep making excuses! Because who knows? Wait too long and the steamroller of technological innovation just might make your camera format obsolete.
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They’re inconspicuous almost to the point of invisibility, assuming you’re looking for them in their natural habitat. You might pass an entire stand of these plants without being the wiser were you to find yourself wandering parts of southern Africa. But when a grazing animal happens by, camouflage is the best natural defense in a landscape where food comes scarce and water borders on mythological.

Picking out lithops from the patches of pebbly ground where they grow is a simple task if you’re attentive–just look for misplaced symmetry. The thick leaves of the small, bifurcated plants resemble patterned stones, as evidenced in the breakdown of the name itself: lithos means “stone” and -ops means “face” in ancient Greek. But they’re not the subjects of any geology professor. You might guess that from their sometimes vibrant patterns and strange colorations.
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Many of us here in the office have been taking the opportunity to venture out now and then and enjoy this nonsensical weather we’re having (you might have noticed our squawking about it on the Twitter feed yesterday). There’s a surreal quality to wandering the “winter” landscape, seeing Fordham students in their t-shirts and basking in what amounts to a mid-April afternoon.

For my first winter in the city, this isn’t so bad. Or did I just viciously jinx myself?

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

The New York Botanical Garden’s Plant Information Specialists and the Home Gardening Center share a wealth of experience, enlightening visitors with their knowledge of indoor and outdoor plants, ornamentals, vegetable gardening, identification, and growing requirements–to name but a few of their specialties.

It was nearly 60 degrees here at The New York Botanical Garden yesterday, a misplaced spring day that brought with it a number of questions from our Twitter followers concerned for the future of their plants. As Sonia Uyterhoeven outlined only a few weeks ago, this strange back-and-forth with warm and cold temperatures has been wreaking havoc on the plants’ growth cycles, confusing some of them into blooming early and leaving gardeners wondering if they’ll have anything to show come spring.

For spring-blooming flowers, the bad news is that it’s a “one and done” agreement–if high temperatures now push these plants into their spring phase early, there will be no second bloom post-winter. The good news is that if we have long stretches of weather in the high 30s and low 40s, those growths that are blooming early will last for a very, very long time. At this point the long-range forecast is still looking promising. But look at your average meteorologist’s win ratio and you’ll take predictions with a grain of salt.
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