Rhythm, texture, and light captivated the photographers in the second week of our annual Caribbean Garden Photography Contest. There were considerably more entries this week, and the competition was fierce. And why shouldn’t it be? There’s $200 worth of NYBG Adult Education Gift Certificates up for grabs; $100 to each winner in our two categories–Macro and Sense of Place–good towards the class of your choosing at the Garden or at our Midtown Center.

So without further ado, our winners.

Sense of Place Winner, Week Two

NYBG Caribbean Garden by Mika Sato

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January 22, 2012.; Unnamed sound on Isla Gordon behind Cabo El Gorro, approximately 55º02′S, 69º48′W

We were traveling last night until well after 9 p.m., so I decided to just go to bed (yes! I even got to bed earlier than hoped) and put my collections on the dryer in the morning.

At one point when I awoke in the night, it was like a flashback to last year; it rained almost all night, became cold, and the wind picked up. It now seems my reluctance to mention the weather sooner for possibility of jinxing us has proven true. Of course I fully understand that I have no influence over the weather, but the coincidence is nevertheless curious. Despite the weather (or maybe because of it!), I am anxious to get into the field.

Rough seas on the Don José Miguel

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Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG’s Gardener for Public Education.

Amur cork tree (Phellodendron amurense)

We have a strong science department at The New York Botanical Garden. Botanists of all backgrounds come here to work on topics that span each corner of the discipline, from ethnobotany to plant genomics. The scientists host Friday lectures where members of their staff or researchers from the wider community come to give presentations of their work. During the quiet winter months, I sometimes have the luxury of attending these seminars.

A few weeks ago, I attended a seminar on invasive plants. Invasive plants are an important topic for anyone who is interested in the environment and their community. With over $120 billion being spent annually on removal of invasive weeds (whether in the realm of agriculture, roadside maintenance, or habitat restoration), invasive plants are a very real problem. I always hear about it from the standpoint of a gardener and an educator. It was interesting for me to hear it from the perspective of a botanist and an ecologist. Not surprisingly, many of the warnings, lessons and take home messages were the same.
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Loropetalum chinense f. rubrum ‘Zhuzhou Fuchsia’ — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen