Sunday, April 22, 2012

NYBG Rock Garden Study Day

Attended the Rock Garden Study Day April 21, at the New York Botanical Garden. The day was split into a presentation by Anton Reznicek (Curator of Vascular Plants at the University of Michigan) regarding the reclassification of plants based on DNA not just physical attributes, followed by a tour of the Rock Garden by curator Jody Payne and finally a demonstration of hypertuffa trough construction by NYBG gardeners Stefan Farage and Yukie Kurashina.
Their hypertuffa forms were 2" thick Styrofoam insulation held together with long nails and duct tape. Easy to cut and work with. They had molds for 4 different sizes and they had a collection of newly planted troughs at the entrance to the rock garden. The mixture they used was 1:1:1 perlite, peatmoss(screened), Portland cement, a hand full of poly fibers(for additional strength) and a 50/50 water/acrylic fortifying additive mix as the liquid.

The day was sunny and warm with a light breeze, a great day to be out. The azaleas were in full bloom and the new Azalea Garden was very interesting. (Next 3 photos)
Looking up to the overlook.

Photos from the Rock Garden.






I liked this contrast between the coral bell leaves and the English blue bell flowers.
After the hypertuffa demonstration we had a look in their Alpine house. The alpines are plunged into Turface (a soil conditioner), some use sand in their plunge beds to regulate moisture loss, which weighs more, but I didn't ask why they use Turface. I always wanted an Alpine House since we first visited Kew in 1993, at that time they had an older Alpine house which has since been replaced by a more modern looking structure. The largest greenhouse I could have without a permit is 120 sq feet and 7 foot tall max, which might get crowded real quick (what size wouldn't?), but then there is also the additional responsibility required both in winter and summer to keep the plants happy and the additional maintenance.
Some Saxifrages in real tuffa sitting on the surface of the Turface.

April Flowers

Our April Flowers this year.
Purple Periwinkle - my tribute to Beverley Nichols the Garden author.
Variegated Brunnera, similar to the Alaska State Flower the Alpine Forget-me-not (myosotis alpestris) both are in the same family Boraginaceae, just different genus. I would like to get an Alpine Forget-me-not since we did see them on our trip to Alaska.
One of our Coral Bells in the front garden.
A mauve periwinkle (Mr. Nichols again) amongst some creeping phlox.
Sweet Woodruff below the Lilacs, it smells great. There is some periwinkle in there as well.
English blue bells
Saxifrages in a trough, though it is more of a large pot. There once were 3, one is happy, one not so much and the other packed up and left. I'll have to get some replacements.
Ghost fern, we have some shady spots that already have other ferns, I though this would add some contrast to all the green.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

And 10 makes 100

While I was at the NY Times Travel show back in March I saw even more places I would like to go and just living life a bit more I thought of more things I would like to do.
  1. Cruise up the Norwegian coast on the Hurtigruten ships which visit small towns delivering goods and carrying passengers, Bergen to Kirkenes (7 days)
  2. Ride the Bergen Railway, scenic Oslo to Bergen train excursion(7 hrs)
  3. Search for Yeti in the Himalaya 
  4. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (on the way to search for Yeti)
  5. Stop by the Cayman Islands to do some banking
  6. Drive down Route 40 in Northern Argentina (offroading, thermal spas, mountains)
  7. Visit the Azores (2 hours by plane west from Lisbon)
  8. Travel in First Class on an airplane
  9. See Der Ring des Nibelungen in Bayreuth
  10. Fix up a BMW airhead motorcycle
  11. Visit the end of the world - Isla de los Estados, Argentina (Staten Island)
The other 90 are here.

You remind me of a man

What man?
The man with the power.
What power?
The power of hoo-doo.
Hoo-doo?
You do!
Do what?
You remind me of a man!


No no one has ever said I reminded them of Cary Grant, seen here in The Bachelor and the Bobby-soxer
with Shirley Temple and Myrna Loy.
A very enjoyable movie by the way, he's one of my favorite actors.

So no, not Cary Grant, but here are some famous people I have been told I resemble. Usually in dimly-lit places.