The Variegated Thumb

I was able to attend a meteorology conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia during the first week of June.  I had never been to Nova Scotia before and I needed to stay in the city for the week, but I was still able to get in a little sight-seeing.  Along with some historical sights, I visited the Public Gardens, which is a Victorian Garden originally established in 1867.

Halifax Public Gardens map

The gardens are well maintained and well used by locals.  I was surprised by the number of plants and trees in bloom while I was there.  As you can see in the map above, there is a large pond (including ducks) and a couple of smaller water features.  There is also a nice bandstand, which is a common music venue during the Summer.

Maple tree (Acer sp.) in the Halifax Public Gardens

Apparently the gardens were badly damaged in September 2003 by Hurricane Juan.  Many large trees were destroyed.  When I was there, the signs had all been covered over with new growth.

Rhododendron in the Halifax Public Gardens

Some of my favorite plants were the orange Maple trees (pictured above), the rhododendrons (above) and the tulip beds (below).  I also saw a planting of neat Euphorbias, which might have been ‘Tiny Tim.’

Wandering Tulip bed at the Halifax Public Gardens

See my photo album here.

While on vacation in Hawaii this May, my wife and I visited the Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu.  In Oklahoma, a tropical botanical garden would necessarily reside in an enclosed structure.  Not so in Hawaii.  The only enclosed structure on the grounds of the Foster garden is to keep a group of hybrid orchids in a pristine environment, where they will not spread into the wild or cross with naturally occurring species.

The Foster Botanical Garden has a long history, dating back to 1853.  [You can read about the history here.]  The garden includes areas dedicated to orchids, hybrid orchids, Cycads, palms, bromeliads, Aroids, gingers, and Heliconias.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to see the Hybrid Orchid greenhouse because I took too long in other parts of the garden and the garden closed before I got there.

I would like to just give a run down of the specific sections of the garden and then point you to my photo album, which I’m sure you will enjoy!

Exceptional Trees

The Foster Botanical Garden has a wonderful collection of 24 “Exceptional Trees.”  Exceptional Trees are those that have been designated as trees which are to be protected and cannot be cut down.  According to the legend, one of these trees is the offspring of the tree under which Buddha sat when he gained his knowledge.  You can see pictures of many of the very large trees in my photo album.  A couple of the exceptional trees are palms, of which the Foster BG has more than 100 different species.

Palms

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of palm trees in this relatively small botanical garden.  Not being a connoisseur of palm trees, many of them look the same to me.  However, there were about 10 different species that really stuck out, including the Double Coconut Palm and the Grugru Palm.  The palm trees ranged in size from about 8 feet tall to well over 80 feet tall.  Their trunks varied from smooth to covered in spines (the Grugru palm).

Christie standing in front of a huge palm tree with spreading fronds.

Cycads

On first glance, many cycads look like members of the palm family.  But they are a very different family of plants, and can grown into the subtropical and temperate zones, including Oklahoma.  These plants are displayed in the “Prehistoric Glen” of the Foster Botanical Garden.  Cycads are among the oldest trees in the world.  The individual trees themselves are not the oldest plants, but the species have been found in the fossil records dating back to the age of the dinosaurs!

Heliconias, Gingers and Marantas

The botanical order Zingiberales contains the families Heliconiaceae, Zingiberaceae and Marantaceae - which were all featured in the center terraces of the Foster BG.  Of course, I am a huge fan of plants from the Marantaceae family.  I was surprised to find many plants from this family were labeled with incomplete signs, such as “Calathea plant, Calathea sp.”  It was as if they had tried to determine the species and had been unable.  I have had this problem quite often with this family of plants.  It is surprising to me that for such a beautiful group of plants, the names are not more widely known.

Calathea picturata inflorescence

There was a beautiful flowering specimen of Calathea picturata and many flowering Heliconias.  Unfortunately, many of the Gingers were not in bloom while I was there.  I did see them blooming in other parts of Hawaii though - and I brought back 5 different varieties to grow at home.

Orchids

There is a great collection of orchids, mounted on stumps and tree trunks and planted in the ground.  One of them is appropriately named “The Giant Orchid” (Grammatophyllum speciosum).  It has long, wandering stems that arch towards the ground and was probably a good 8-10 feet in diameter!

Giant orchid (Grammatophyllum speciosum)

It’s simply amazing to see these plants growing outdoors.  I would never think of putting one of mine outdoors.

Odds and Ends

There are certainly some oddball plants at the Foster BG.  One of these was the Cannonball Tree (Couroupita guianensis), which has tendrils growing down it’s trunk that are covered in blooms that look like orchids.  Later, very large nuts form on these tendrils that look like a large, round coconut (or a cannonball).  As they mature, they begin falling from the tree.  Weighing somewhere around 20 pounds, these large nuts can be dangerous to someone not paying attention!

Warning sign under the Cannonball Tree (Couroupita guianensis).

Another odd specimen at the garden was the Buddha’s hand citrus tree (Citrus medica var. sarcodactylus).  I had seen pictures of these truly odd fruits before, but not seen one in person until I was here.

Fruit of the Buddha's-hand Citron (Citrus medica var. sarcodactylus)

All of my pictures from the garden (289 of them) are available in this photo album.  Enjoy!

Last week my wife and I went on vacation to Hawaii.  I wrote two posts before leaving and scheduled them to update while we were gone, so you never even knew I was out.

On our vacation, we were on the “Big” Island (Hawaii Island) for one day, in order to enjoy the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  Being the plant-obsessed person that I am, I did quite a bit of research before we left to find some plant landmarks to see along the way.  Hawaii is beautiful without having to stop by a botanical garden, but I wanted to make sure we visited a greenhouse or two while we there, as well as the natural roadside beauty I knew we would see.

Along the road from Hilo, Hawaii to the national park is a commercial orchid grower, Akatsuka Orchid Gardens.  I was really excited about stopping by this grower on our drive, because the website said that they have a showroom open during the day where you can view many of their orchids, and that they also allow you to wander around their greenhouses on a self-guided tour.  Frankly, I couldn’t wait to do this!

And I was not disappointed.  Christie was pretty tired the morning that we flew into Hilo, so she leaned back the seat in the rental car and took a little nap while I wandered around snapping pictures of orchids for about 30 minutes or so.  Then she came in and walked around with me for another 30 minutes and helped me pick out the coolest and most affordable two plants to take home with me!

Zygonisia Cynosure 'Blue Birds' - one of the plants I brought home with me.

The color of this Zygo really caught Christie and me both.  We picked out a very healthy looking plant that had about 15 buds on it - none of them open.  By the time we got home (6 days later) there were 5 or 6 buds open.  It is a gorgeous orchid.  Like nearly all orchids in captivity, it is a hybrid.  This particular orchid is an intergeneric hybrid, which means it is a cross between two different genera - Zygopetalum and Aganisia.

Group of Masdevallias. I took home a Masdevallia velifera x. deformis, which is one of the plants in the left center, with clumps of smaller and darker leaves.

The other plant I purchased is hard to pick out in this image.  It is one of the smaller plants, with darker leaves in the left half of the image, but near the center.  The blooms are born on shorter stalks than most of the blooms in the image, but they look much the same.  It is an interspecific hybrid, which means that it was created by crossing two species within the same genus - Masdevallia velifera and Masdevallia deformis.

The rest of my pictures can be found in this album.  Enjoy!

Last weekend my wife and I drove down to Fort Worth, Texas to visit the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens for their annual Spring Festival.  The festival is held in one of their prized gardens: The Japanese Gardens.

Bridge in the Japanese Gardens

For this post, I have chosen just a small selection of 21 pictures from the 300 photographs that I took on Saturday.  There is a link at the bottom of this post to my full photo album, which I hope you’ll view, whenever you have time.

One of about 8 Japanese structures in the Japanese gardens

The FWBG is a large complex of gardens, including a conservatory of tropical plants, rose gardens, tree groves, Texas natives, production and exhibition greenhouses, water gardens, a cactus garden and many others.  The Japanese Garden alone is 7 acres, while only being a small portion of the grounds.

Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) with pink seeds above branches

Rock Garden in the Japanese Gardens

The Japanese Gardens are kept by only 3 gardens and a host of volunteers.  I simply can’t believe the amount of work that lies in front of those 3 workers everyday.  The grounds are well manicured and a wonderful place to stroll and relax.  I have to admit I spent the whole time snapping pictures, though.  I guess I’ll have to go back for another visit.

Striking foliage and berries of Japanese Mahonia in the Japanese Gardens

Traditional Japanese dancers performing at the Spring Festival

For the Spring Festival, there are events throughout the day, including traditional Japanese dancers, Japanese flower arranging, bonsai exhibits and other crafts (such as origami).

Dutch Iris Ikebana - the art of Japanese flower arranging

Drooping Bonsai tree on exhibit at the Spring Festival

I was most excited about seeing the Japanese Gardens, the Conservatory and one of the greenhouses - the Begonia Species Bank.

Curator and collection of the Begonia Species Bank at FW Botanic Gardens

The Begonia Species Bank was created to prevent the loss of Begonia species.  Since Begonias are very common houseplants, the true, natural species are at risk of being lost to all of the hybrids that have been created for our viewing pleasure.  The FWBG Begonia Bank is a large collection of Begonias as well as a library and source of information on this very popular plant genus.

Rex Begonia hybrids in the Begonia Bank collection

We timed our trip to the FW Botanical Gardens perfectly, arriving on the weekend of the Spring Festival, as well as the annual Forth Worth Orchid Society’s Orchid Show and Sale!

Prize-winning orchid at the annual Orchid Show and Sale

This event was held in the Garden Center, which is a very nice building in the center of the grounds, with rooms for meetings and events like this one.  There was one room setup with nice displays of orchids, including ribbons on those which had won prizes.  The range of sizes, colors, shapes and growth habits is just astounding.  I will never get over the diversity of the orchid family.

Another Orchid on display

In a larger neighboring room there were long rows of tables crowded full with orchids for sale.  The growers had come from as far as the Chicago-area and the plants were reasonably priced.  I found myself walking away with 4 plants - 1 full grown miniature and 3 seedlings.  I’ll have to post on those orchids in the next week or so.

I love the tall petals of this orchid bloom. It looks horned.

Attached to the Garden Center is a tropical Conservatory.  It is about 2/3 the size of the OKC Myriad Gardens, which I have visited several times and blogged about here, here and here.  The collection contains quite a few plants from the Marantaceae (Prayer Plant) and Araceae (Aroid) families, which made me very happy.

One of the many Calathea zebrinas housed in the tropical Conservatory

An Aroid that might be Epipremnum pinnatum 'Cebu Blue'

Most of the FW Botanic Gardens are free and open to the public during daylight hours.  The admission price for the Conservatory is only $1!  The Japanese Garden ordinarily costs $2 admission and the other gardens are free.

Iceland Poppies (Papaver nudicaule) in one of the outdoor gardens

Overflowing container in the outdoor gardens

Waterfalls in one of the outdoor gardens

You could easily spend a full day exploring the outdoor gardens, or 2-3 days if you really wanted to be thorough.  We spent 6 hours at the FWBG on Saturday and most of that time was spent in the Japanese Gardens and the Conservatory.  We also enjoyed walking around the Perennial gardens and Rose gardens.  The Rose gardens are the oldest part of the FW Botanical Gardens, established by day workers during the Great Depression.

The Rose Ramp at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens

Many different Iris in bloom in the Four Seasons Garden

Lupine were one of my favorite displays of color in the outdoor gardens

I would highly recommend a trip to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens if you are within driving distance or happen to be in the area for other reasons.  It is a wonderful place to explore and there are so many different things to see.

To see many more pictures from my trip to the FWBG, go to the photo album.

In December I visited the OKC Myriad Gardens and wrote 2 different posts about my trip, along with a photo album.  Last weekend I went back to the garden and was surprised to see that there were lots of different plants in bloom from 2 months ago.

I have added another photo album of my pictures from this trip.  This time I took more pictures of blooms than the previous trip.  I tried not to take a lot of duplicate pictures from my last trip.  If you would like to see the pictures from the first trip, you can that photo album here.

Here are some of the blooming highlights:

Stromanthe sanguinea 'Triostar' in bloom

Hoya blooms

Heliconia inflorescence

Anthurium veitchii (King Anthurium) with inflorescence

Anthurium warocqueanum (Queen Anthurium) inflorescence - the dark leaves with prominent veins belong to Anthurium, the plant in the foreground is a different Aroid

Solandra maxima in bloom

Paphilopedilum orchid in bloom

There are a lot more great plants to see, and quite a few more orchids in blooms, so I suggest you look at my photo album.