It’s been a few weeks since we announced a Photo Contest as part of Caribbean Garden, a reinterpretation of the permanent collection inside the historic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. We’ve hit a few bumps along the way logistically, but that hasn’t effected the quality of the photos that you have entered! There are several weeks left in the contest, and another winter storm has barreled into the city to welcome February, so come enjoy the warmth of the Conservatory and snap a few pictures while you’re here!

To get you excited about participating, here are a few of the winners from the previous weeks’ contests.

Head below the jump to see the winners from the past two weeks of the contest!

Ed. note: NYBG scientist and Mary Flagler Cary Curator of Botany, Bill Buck is currently on expedition to the islands off Cape Horn, the southernmost point in South America, to study mosses and lichens. Follow his journeys on Plant Talk.

January 26, 2011, Punta Arenas, Chile

We awoke on the morning of January 25 in Seno Agostini, having arrived there at about 4 a.m. Initially the journey was rough because of strong winds and large swells. Standing on the deck, but huddled close to the cabin, I was in awe of the weather. Since childhood in Florida, the U.S. capital of lightning, I have loved violent weather. On this day, the wind howled and the boat was tossed and turned by the rough seas; every few seconds waves would crash over the deck. To be on a small ship amidst such weather is amazing. Of course it helps to have a ship that you have faith in and a reliable crew. A few of our group felt a bit queasy, but no real problems came up (pun intended). After about an hour and a half we entered a narrower channel and the seas were calmer. Only then was dinner served.

Coming out on deck the next morning the scenery was spectacular. We had come to this spot because in 1929 a Finnish bryologist, Heiki Roivainen, visited the site and, in an alpine stream, collected a moss that has not been found since. Because this is a moss that is part of Juan’s doctoral work, he was anxious to find it again. The site is called Mt. Buckland, and it rises to over 6,000 feet but is mostly snow-covered above. Supposedly the moss was collected at about 2,000 feet in an alpine stream. All around us rugged peaks rose to the sky, all with either snow or glaciers. At least for a short time the sun shone brightly.

So, optimistically, Jim and Juan headed up the slopes of Mt. Buckland. Blanka and I chose to visit a southern beech forest on the other side of the sound that had a large glacier at its back side. It was about a 20 minute zodiac ride across the sound but as soon as we hit the rocky beach we knew we were in a special place. Numerous small, glacier-fed streams wound their way through the landscape and occasional large rock outcrops promised multiple microhabitats for bryophytes. Once Blanka entered the forest, about 10 yards past the coastal scrub, it took me about an hour to get her to move ahead. The forest floor was carpeted with a thick layer of liverworts that swallowed our boots with every step. Trees were sheathed with bryophytes and lichens, often several times the diameter of the trunks themselves. We worked our way through the forest toward the glacier, marveling at the diversity and sheer biomass of bryophytes in the forest.

Barberries, bryophytes, and icebergs, oh my! More below.

Two weeks ago our intellect and imagination was stimulated by the first in our three part Annual Winter Lecture Series. The Thursday morning lecture series (from 10am – 12pm) is entitled ‘Explore Your Greener Side’. The monthly lectures are scheduled for (January 20), February 17 and March 17.

The sessions begin with a brief opening talk that translates into an amuse-bouche for the main speaker. The opening remarks in January were given by Eric Sanderson, author of Mannahatta. Sanderson blends intellect, charisma and a down-to-earth quality into an infectious mix. He spoke of the social and environmental/ecological choices that we have when planning the future of our city. 

Sanderson takes what seems like an impenetrable urban environment and revitalizes it by giving us insight into what it must have looked like before the concrete jungle was erected. He provides city planners, landscape architects and visionaries with the raw materials to embrace and recreate the natural landscape; challenging us to change how we think about the urban environment.

Our featured speaker in January was the renowned urban landscape architect, Michael Van Valkenburgh (pictured, with New York Botanical Garden president Grerory Long).  Van Valkenburgh started with the premise that ‘ecology and cultural situations are intimately connected these days’. While it can be tempting to separate ecology from urban development – more forward thinking landscape architects and city planners are integrating the two. read more »