Tropical Garden Spring 2014 - Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

spring
2014
Springtime
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contents
FEATURES
27
GROWING MANGOS
IN THE SNOW
32
IN THE FOOTSTEPS
OF PLANT EXPLORER
FRANK MEYER
42
100 YEARS
OF MONSTERS
DEPARTMENTS
4 FROM THE DIRECTOR
5 FROM THE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
7 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
9 GET IN ON THE CONSERVATION
11 TROPICAL CUISINE
12 EXPLAINING
15 WHAT’S BLOOMING
17 VIS-A-VIS VOLUNTEERS
20 CONSERVATION
31 WHAT’S IN STORE
41 PLANT SOCIETIES
45 EDIBLE GARDENING
47 GARDENING IN SOUTH FLORIDA
49 BUG BEAT
51 PLANT RECORDS
56 GIFTS AND DONORS
59 VISTAS
63 GARDEN VIEWS
67 FROM THE ARCHIVES
70 CONNECT WITH FAIRCHILD
from the director
D
uring last month’s International Orchid Festival, I had the great
pleasure of greeting our visitors in the new DiMare Science Village. I
joined our team of scientists, staff members, graduate students, interns
and volunteers in explaining Fairchild’s Million Orchid Project to
festival attendees. We discussed the process of propagating great quantities of
native orchids and our plans to install them throughout Miami-Dade.
As we answered all the expected questions about orchid propagation, we also
fielded many unanticipated questions related to basic concepts in botany: What
are the components of a seed? How do plants use light energy? Do plants breathe?
What determines the color of a flower?
Those basic questions are rarely addressed directly in the day-to-day operation of
a botanic garden. We are usually immersed in more applied branches of botany,
optimizing plant growing conditions and designing conservation strategies. It
has been a long time—22 years, in fact—since I studied introductory botany in
college, but my experience during the Orchid Festival was a refreshing return to
the basics.
In just over a year of operation, our laboratories have provided an incredible boost
to our scientific capacity. Because they are visible to the public, the labs are also
sparking an interest in basic botany that we could only dream about.
Our community has an appetite for knowledge about photosynthesis, plant
cellular structure and genetics. And it makes sense: Those are topics that any
curious gardener or plant lover considers all the time. A fundamental knowledge
of botany can make us better gardeners, conservationists and consumers.
At Fairchild, we are now revisiting our educational curriculum at all levels, finding
new ways to address fundamental concepts in botany. Starting next year, we will
begin teaching an annual, college-level, course in introductory botany that will be
open to college students, advanced high school students and all Fairchild volunteers
and staff. That course will join our current offerings of more applied, upper-division
courses in plant systematics and ecology. At the same time, we will build stronger
botany content into The Fairchild Challenge and our other K-12 programs.
During its 76 years of existence, Fairchild has become a primary source of
plant information to an enormous audience, both locally and internationally.
As we continue to produce top-quality horticultural information and scientific
publications, we cannot neglect the basics. As a botanic garden, we must provide
the strongest possible education in botany.
It is thrilling to see enthusiasm for our science programs growing throughout our
community. I hope this issue of The Tropical Garden will spark your botanical
curiosity, and I hope you will continue to turn to Fairchild for answers.
Best regards,
Carl Lewis, Ph.D.
from the chief operating officer
T
here are a million ways to make a difference in the world. A tiny
gesture really can have a significant impact. As can tiny orchid seeds.
In the last issue of The Tropical Garden, we announced that Fairchild
had just embarked on an ambitious project, called The Million Orchid Project,
whose goal is to reintroduce 1 million native orchids into South Florida’s urban
landscape. Since that time, tens of thousands of orchids have been propagating
in our lab and growing in our nursery. Scientists, volunteers and students are
working alongside one another on the various facets of this project. Science
experiments are taking place with students from TERRA, a Miami-Dade County
magnet school. And, we now have wonderful partnerships with the City of
Coral Gables, the American Orchid Society and Bruce Matheson. In this issue,
Jason Downing, a Fairchild-FIU Ph.D. candidate, and Dr. Carl Lewis, Fairchild’s
director, share what makes native orchids so rare and explain why The Million
Orchid Project is so critical (page 20).
Springtime in Miami means blooms and color. When you visit the Garden, take
your time and be sure to see all of the incredible bursts of color abounding
among our tropical foliage. Some are tiny, but some are flamboyant and waiting
to be spotted. You’ll also see our ever-growing orchid collection on full display
throughout the Garden. In each issue, Marilyn Griffiths carefully curates a
selection of blooming plants that are must-sees during your visits. In this issue, she
takes you through our Tropical Plant Conservatory and Rare Plant House (page 15).
Need a “DIY” garden project this spring? Georgia Tasker’s article on spring
gardening (page 47) offers a step-by-step landscape plan that will motivate you
to create a beautiful garden as well as a beckoning area for birds, bees and
other wildlife. If it’s edible gardens and fruit trees that you’re looking to add to
your landscape, then you should certainly follow Richard Campbell’s advice on
selecting the right trees for your own garden (page 45).
In this issue, you’ll also see that the spirit of exploration continues to run deep at
Fairchild. Noris Ledesma recently visited Japan to learn how mango growers use
technology in new and innovative ways to grow South Florida varieties in their
frigid winter climate (page 27). Ken Setzer takes us on the serendipitous journey
that led Dr. David Fairchild to charge Frank Meyer with exploring Asia for plants
in the early 20th century (page 32). More recently, educational exploration took
members of The Fairchild Challenge team to the Colombian Amazon (page 12).
Fairchild celebrated its 75th anniversary this past year. We spent the year reflecting
on many milestones and celebrating the spectacular progress made since Col.
Robert Montgomery’s vision took shape in what was then swampy Miami. Since
1938, a bustling city has grown up and around Fairchild, and Miami is now poised
to become a world city similar to New York, London and Singapore. I reference
these three cities specifically—not just because they’re financial and cultural
metropolises—but also because each of these cities has something in common with
Miami: they all have world-renowned botanic gardens.
Warmest regards,
Nannette M. Zapata
Chief Operating Officer and Editor in Chief
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contributors
GEORGIA TASKER
was the garden writer for The
Miami Herald for more than 30
years, and now writes and blogs
for Fairchild. She has received
the Garden’s highest honor, the
Barbour Medal, and a lifetime
achievement award from the
Tropical Audubon Society. She
is also an avid photographer,
gardener and traveler. She
graduated cum laude from Hanover
College in Hanover, Indiana.
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KENNETH SETZER
joined Fairchild as a writer and
editor with the marketing team
in 2013. He contributes to print
and digital media. Setzer enjoys
writing about natural and human
history and is an enthusiastic
photographer, with a particular
fascination with fungi. His
educational background is
in linguistics, with a BA from
Queens College, City University
of New York, and an MA from
Florida International University.
NANCY KORBER
has managed the Fairchild
Library and Archives since
early 1993 with the help of
her volunteers, whom she
considers “the very best
in world.” Korber enjoys
the “Aha!” moments when
researchers, with her help,
find the answers they seek
within the Library and Archive
Collections.
JAVIER FRANCISCOORTEGA, Ph.D.
a plant systematist with a joint
appointment between Florida
International University (FIU)
and Fairchild, Francisco-Ortega
is a native of the Canary Islands
and has developed several
research and educational
projects with palms, cycads
and tropical plants. His
laboratory has a special focus
on threatened species and
island endemics.
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ON THE COVER
Springtime welcomes new blooms,
including this beautiful Tournefortia
staminea, which you can find
immediately in front of the Tropical Plant
Conservatory and Rare Plant House.
Photo by Kenneth Setzer/FTBG
schedule of events
The official publication of
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
editorial staff
editor in chief
chief operating officer
Nannette M. Zapata
design
Lorena Alban
production manager
Gaby Orihuela
features writers
Georgia Tasker
Kenneth Setzer
staff contributors
Richard Campbell, Ph.D.
Mary Collins
Sara Edelman
Arlene Ferris
Erin Fitts
Marilyn Griffiths
Brett Jestrow, Ph.D.
Nancy Korber
Noris Ledesma
Brooke LeMaire
Marion Litzinger
Javier Francisco-Ortega, Ph.D.
Marnie Valent
copy editors
Mary Collins
Rochelle Broder-Singer
Kenneth Setzer
advertising information
Leslie Bowe
305.667.1651, ext. 3338
previous editors
Marjory Stoneman Douglas 1945-50
Lucita Wait 1950-56
Nixon Smiley 1956-63
Lucita Wait 1963-77
Ann Prospero 1977-86
Karen Nagle 1986-91
Nicholas Cockshutt 1991-95
Susan Knorr 1995-2004
The Tropical Garden Volume 69,
Number 2. Spring 2014.
The Tropical Garden is published quarterly.
Subscription is included in membership dues.
© FTBG 2014, ISSN 2156-0501
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced without permission.
Accredited by the American Association of
Museums, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
is supported by contributions from members
and friends, and in part by the State of Florida,
Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs,
the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, the John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the
National Endowment for the Arts, the Institute of
Museum and Library Services, the Miami-Dade
County Tourist Development Council, the MiamiDade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the
Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County
Mayor and Board of County Commissioners and
with the support of the City of Coral Gables.
Fun for the whole family!
CONCERTS
BIG BAND CONCERT
AT FAIRCHILD
With the University of
Miami Frost School
of Music
Saturday, April 19
5:30 – 9:00 p.m.
TEAS
For information or
reservations, please call
Marnie Valent at
305.663.8059.
MOTHER’S DAY TEA
Sunday, May 11
3:00 p.m.
CELEBRATION TEA
Sunday, June 8
3:00 p.m.
MORE FUN
AT FAIRCHILD
FAIRCHILD FARMERS’
MARKET
Every Saturday, except
festival days
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
FAMILY NATURE NIGHT
Thursday, April 17
5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
MEMBERS’ LECTURE: THE
SECRET LIVES OF MIAMI’S
RARE NATIVE FERNS
Thursday, April 17
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
SUNDAY BRUNCH
AT FAIRCHILD
Easter Sunday, April 20
10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
PLANT ID WORKSHOP
Bring a plant cutting to
Fairchild’s Herbarium and
let our scientists uncover its
identity! Workshops take
place at Fairchild’s Natural
History Museum.
Friday, May 2
Friday, June 6
Friday, July 4
Friday, August 1
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
NATIONAL PUBLIC
GARDENS DAY—
REDUCED ADMISSION
Friday, May 9
7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
CONCOURSE
D’ELEGANCE
Fairchild’s first
classic car show
Sunday, May 18
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
FESTIVALS
SPRING GARDEN
FESTIVAL FEATURING
BUTTERFLY DAYS AND
THE ANNUAL SPRING
PLANT SALE
Saturday and Sunday,
April 12 and 13
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
THE 22ND ANNUAL
INTERNATIONAL
MANGO FESTIVAL
Saturday and Sunday,
July 12 and 13
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
MOTHER’S DAY BRUNCH
AT FAIRCHILD
Sunday, May 11
10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
MEMBERS’ LECTURE:
BUTTERFLIES, BUGS AND
PLANTS: UP CLOSE AND
PERSONAL
Thursday, May 15
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
FATHER’S DAY BBQ
AT FAIRCHILD
Sunday, June 15
10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
This schedule of events is subject
to change. For up-to-the-minute
information, please call 305.667.1651
or visit www.fairchildgarden.org/Events
SPRING 2014
7
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fairchild
board of trustees
get in on the conservation
Bruce W. Greer
President
Louis J. Risi, Jr.
Senior Vice President
& Treasurer
Charles P. Sacher
Vice President
Suzanne Steinberg
Vice President
Jennifer Stearns Buttrick
Vice President
L. Jeanne Aragon
Vice President
& Assistant Secretary
Joyce J. Burns
Secretary
Leonard L. Abess
Alejandro J. Aguirre
Raymond F. Baddour, Sc.D.
Nancy Batchelor
Norman J. Benford
Faith F. Bishock
Bruce E. Clinton
Martha O. Clinton
Swanee DiMare
José R. Garrigó
Kenneth R. Graves
Willis D. Harding
Patricia M. Herbert
Robert M. Kramer, Esq.
James Kushlan, Ph.D.
R. Kirk Landon
Lin L. Lougheed, Ph.D.
Tania Masi
Bruce C. Matheson
Peter R. McQuillan
David Moore
Stephen D. Pearson, Esq.
Adam R. Rose
John Shubin, Esq.
Janá Sigars-Malina, Esq.
James G. Stewart, Jr., M.D.
Vincent A. Tria, Jr.
Angela W. Whitman
Ann Ziff
Pigeonpea
Photo by ILRI
New Papers Published on Genetic Variation
Fairchild and FIU faculty member Eric von Wettberg and his research team
recently published two new papers on genetic variation in pigeonpea and
Miccosukee gooseberry.
The first paper, which appeared in the journal Public Library of Science One,
examines genetic variation in pigeonpea (gandules en español) and its wild
relatives in the genus Cajanus. Pigeonpea is a common legume food crop and
cover crop in the semi-arid tropics. Von Wettberg, an assistant professor of
population genetics at Florida International University’s Department of Biological
Sciences, collaborated with FIU-Fairchild USDA NIFA graduate student Vanessa
Sanchez and a research group from the International Crop Research Institute
for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Patancheru, India. The project is one of
the many ways researchers are striving to understand genetic variation in wild
relatives of important staple crops in the tropical developing world. Research such
as this has the potential to increase the usage of wild crop germplasm in breeding
programs, and to create more climate-resilient crops.
Von Wettberg also collaborated on a second paper, which recently appeared
in the journal Conservation Genetics. Along with former FIU graduate student
Nora Oleas and US Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Vivian Negron-Ortiz, he
examined genetic variation in the federally endangered Miccosukee gooseberry,
a rare shrub with only three known populations. An understanding of genetic
variation in this rare, critically endangered Florida plant is guiding conservation
and restoration efforts.
Clifford W. Mezey
T. Hunter Pryor, M.D.
Trustees Emeriti
Carl E. Lewis, Ph.D.
Director
Nannette M. Zapata, M.S.
Chief Operating Officer
SPRING 2014
9
Geodorum eulophioides
International Recognition of
Fairchild Orchid Research
The Chinese National Science Foundation
gave Dr. Hong Liu, Fairchild/FIU research
ecologist, an $80,000 grant for her research
on assisted colonization of endangered
orchids in southwest China. The funding is
for a four-year period from January 2014
through December 2017. Liu also accepted
an invitation to become a handling editor
for the journal Conservation Biology, a
flagship academic publication for the field.
Finally, a paper titled “Eat your orchids
and have them too: a new conservation
model for the Chinese medicinal orchids,”
first authored by Liu, has been accepted
for publication in Biodiversity and
Conservation.
Jason Downing, a Ph.D. candidate at
Florida International University and a
Fairchild Challenge graduate assistant,
will be working closely with Liu and Dr.
Jiangyun Gao of China’s Xishuangbanna
Tropical Botanical Garden on research
related to Liu’s assisted colonization work.
He received an award from the NSF East
Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes for
U.S. Graduate Students (EAPSI). To fulfill
the requirement of the award, he will
investigate the orchid-fungus relations
associated with selected Chinese tropical
orchids that are subject to assisted
colonization experiments.
Invasive Mangrove Removal Requires Collaborative Effort
This year marks the sixth year of efforts within the Everglades Cooperative Invasive
Species Management area (ECISMA) to eradicate Lumnitzera racemosa from the
mangroves surrounding Fairchild and Matheson Hammock Park. This Asian mangrove
escaped from cultivation and produced tens of thousands of seedlings. The seedlings
went unnoticed for decades, in part because Lumnitzera looks very similar to our
native white mangrove, Laguncularia racemosa. In early 2014, ECISMA—which is
a partnership between government agencies, individuals and interest groups such
as Fairchild—held two additional volunteer workdays, during which more than two
dozen hard-working volunteers came from seven agencies to survey for outliers and
remove hundreds of trees. Lumnitzera eradication does not depend on volunteer efforts
alone. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission provided funding for
contracted removal.
Fairchild Challenge
Art on Exhibit
Photo by Alison Walker/FTBG
Photo by Hong Liu/FTBG
Key Biscayne Presbyterian
Church School, one of 111 local
elementary schools participating
in The Fairchild Challenge,
recently installed an exhibit of
environmental art at Commenoz
Gallery on Key Biscayne. Called
Drift Fish: The Awareness
Project, it explores the causes of
pollution and how it affects us.
The entire student body participated in the project in conjunction with the school’s
Environmental Action challenge, which engages students and raises environmental
awareness in their school, homes and community. This particular project was born out
of an interest in the marine environment surrounding the students. During field trips to local
beaches, they collected a large variety of trash that had washed up onshore and used it
to create beautiful sculptures of marine life. The end product was a “school of drift fish”
meant to inspire awareness of society’s impact on the world around us.
Approximately 200 people, including Fairchild Challenge staff, attended the exhibit’s
opening night.
10 THE TROPICAL GARDEN
tropical cuisine
Good
Horticulture
Makes For
Mango Magic
By Noris Ledesma
W
ith mango season close
at hand, we are all
thinking about that ageold question: how to
deal with all those glorious, delicious—
and ripe—mangos. But our thinking
about mangos should begin well before
that, with maintaining a healthy and
productive tree. The best way to do this
is with proper pruning and thinning of
the fruit.
Pruning is used to maintain height
and to improve flowering and fruiting;
thinning is a practice to remove some of
the small fruit to increase the quality of
the remaining crop. The small fruit can
be used in the preparation of chutneys,
jellies, juices and pickles.
When pruning mango trees, begin by
tipping—taking off just a few inches
from the branches—in the first year
and continue for the life of the tree. It
won’t be that hard if you start when
the tree is young. Maintain the height
of your mango tree to allow easy fruit
harvesting and overall management.
Prune trees by hand for size control
after harvest each year. Mulch twigs
and leaves in place or grind them up for
use as mulch in other locations.
A healthy mango tree will set so much
fruit that the tree cannot carry the load
and remain healthy. It is normal in a
healthy mango tree to expect a 40%
to 60% dropping of fruit, but you can
help make this fruit drop more selective
and beneficial for the crop to come.
Selective crop thinning will help the
tree save its energy and will increase the
size and quality of its remaining fruit.
Simply remove the smallest, deformed
or diseased fruit, leaving the largest and
the most perfect fruit intact. The earlier
this is done, the better. At The Fairchild
Farm, we generally wait until the fruit
are the diameter of a quarter. The
fruit that remain on the tree will now
develop into a larger size and a more
perfect crop.
Now, what to do with all the
undeveloped fruit you have picked?
These immature mangos can make
magic in your kitchen. Spicy mango
pickles are an ancient tradition in Indian
cuisine, providing a flavorful accent to
flat breads and savory dishes. Mango
pickles can be made from either whole
mangos or mango pieces. Because small
mangos haven’t developed leathery
stones or large seeds yet, they can be
used whole.
Mark your calendar for Fairchild’s
International Mango Festival
on July 12 and 13 to learn more
tricks of the trade in handling your
mango harvest.
How to make
MANGO
PICKLES
5 cups of small mangos
3 cups of fruit vinegar
1 cup of sugar
5 tsp of salt
Aromatic herbs to taste
Jalapenos and peppers (optional)
Wash the mangos. Cut them in half vertically
and take out the seed if it has already
developed; otherwise use it whole. In a pan,
boil the mangos in water for three minutes.
Then, drain the water and add the vinegar,
sugar and salt. Let it boil for 10 minutes
more and add the rest of the ingredients.
You can then process for canning.*
*Canning involves the natural enzymatic
breakdown of fruit by heating fruits in a liquid
medium inside a closed container. This method
requires more knowledge of food preservation.
The recommended method of canning fruit is
the water-bath. This will heat the mixture and
destroy bacteria and other microorganisms that
may spoil food.
explaining
Where the Andes
MEET THE AMAZON
Bringing The Fairchild Challenge
to the Colombian Amazon
Marion Litzinger; Elizabeth P. Anderson, Ph.D.; Barbara Martinez-Guerrero
and Javier A. Maldonado-Ocampo, Ph.D.
C
olombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia share the
unique geographic, cultural and biological
diversity of the region where the Andes
Mountains meet the Amazon. This narrow
band in western South America—known as the Andean
Amazon—encompasses the headwaters of the world’s
largest river basin, the Amazon River. It is a global center
of species richness and endemism across many groups,
such as plants, birds, freshwater fish and amphibians.
This region faces unprecedented threats to its biodiversity,
as mining, infrastructure development, cattle ranching
resulting in deforestation and other activities rapidly
transform Amazonian ecosystems. The Andean Amazon
region holds valuable environmental treasures, many
of which have yet to be discovered, that should be
preserved for generations to come.
Many international organizations are working to conserve
and support this region’s biodiversity. In Colombia, for
example, Fairchild, through The Fairchild Challenge, was
invited to join a collaboration between three Colombian
universities and Florida International University. Called
Partners for Conservation in the Colombian Amazon, this
initiative is led by the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in
Bogota, the Universidad de la Amazonia in Florencia and
the Universidad Nacional de Colombia sede Amazonia
in Leticia. Together, the three Colombian universities and
FIU created a platform for collaboration and capacitybuilding on biodiversity conservation. Fairchild’s
role will be to train participants from the universities’
faculty, community partners and partner organizations
to implement The Fairchild Challenge in Colombia. The
goal is to bring more awareness to local students, teachers
Colombia is a key
area of focus because
it is a megadiverse
country, harboring
an estimated 10% of
the Earth’s plant and
animal species in just
0.22% of the Earth’s
land area.
Students from Universidad
de la Amazonia practice
techniques for scientific
fieldwork as part of a new field
course for graduate students.
Photo by Alexander Urbano-Bonilla
and parents about the need to preserve natural lands in
Colombia’s Andean Amazon.
This work in Colombia is part of the larger Initiative for
Conservation in the Andean Amazon (ICAA), founded by
the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID). The initiative brings together more than 30 local
and international partner organizations to strengthen
biodiversity conservation across the Andean Amazon.
Some of the ICAA’s activities are carried out through
higher-education institutions that focus on environmental
and scientific education in Andean Amazon countries.
Under the ICAA banner, FIU’s School of Environment,
Arts and Society (SEAS) received funding from Higher
Education for Development to take on a three-year
project to increase resources for Amazonian research
in Colombia, and to promote real participation of local
people in conservation of the Colombian Amazon.
Colombia is a key area of focus because it is a
megadiverse country, harboring an estimated 10% of
the Earth’s plant and animal species in just 0.22% of the
Earth’s land area. It consistently ranks first in the world
in number of flowering plants, second in birds and sixth
in mammals. Nearly half of the nation’s territory is found
in the Colombian Amazon. Yet much of its biodiversity
remains relatively understudied. In part, that is because
civil conflict has meant large swaths of the Colombian
Amazon have been restricted areas for scientists for
decades. Recently, though, increased stability has opened
up the area. Scientists have embarked on a new wave
of research in Colombia, and dozens of new plant and
animal species are being discovered—including the
recent discovery of a new species of monkey, Callicebus
caquetensis.
Successful capacity building a key
component to success
One of the most important goals of Partners for
Conservation in the Colombian Amazon is to strengthen
the capacity of higher-education institutions to provide
high-quality professional training relevant to biodiversity,
conservation and resource management in the Andean
Amazon. To do this, many of those institutions will need
revised curricula or entirely new courses. Some of the first
steps of this effort have included scholarships, mentoring
agreements and newly designed field courses for graduate
students. The first successful field course took place last
July in Florencia, Colombia, with 23 students from the
Although schools range
from urban and private
to rural and public, The
Fairchild Challenge
hopes to create a
community of students
who are sharing their
own knowledge and
learning from each other.
More than 623 species
of amphibians reside
in Colombia.
Photo by Alexander Urbano-Bonilla
Andean Amazon region and other parts of Colombia.
With assistance from FIU, Colombian universities, the
Field Museum of Natural History, the U.S. Department
of the Interior, Conservation International and Fundación
Omacha, the two-week course allowed participants to
learn practical techniques for scientific fieldwork related
to conservation of the Colombian Amazon’s biodiversity.
The initiative also seeks to increase the capacity of faculty
and students to conduct and disseminate applied research
relevant to biodiversity conservation and resource
management. This goal is being addressed through
professional training workshops, small research grants
and web-based information systems for interaction and
dissemination of scientific information. These efforts,
in turn, will strengthen the capacity to collaborate
with international scientists, other universities, nongovernmental organizations and government institutions.
The Fairchild Challenge can help expand these
collaborative efforts to secondary-school students.
This work began with two members of The Fairchild
Challenge team joining FIU and others from Partners
for Conservation to conduct a workshop to begin The
Fairchild Challenge in Colombia. Interested university
professors and local NGOs, as well as teachers from the
Andean Amazon region and representatives from the
local school districts attended the two-day workshop.
Led by a Colombian environmental education
organization, Organización para la Educación y
Protección Ambiental (OpEPA), a program modeled
after The Fairchild Challenge will begin in several
school districts throughout Colombia. It will be heavily
focused in the Amazon region. Participation by schools
in different regions of Colombia will help to strengthen
ties between the different areas by providing a common
theme—Amazon biodiversity conservation—around
which students unite. Although schools range from urban
and private to rural and public, The Fairchild Challenge
hopes to create a community of students who are sharing
their own knowledge and learning from each other.
OpEPA will now team up with the universities
spearheading the conservation movement, which will
help to highlight the Amazon’s unique geography.
Additionally, it is one of the 10 national and international
institutions adapting The Fairchild Challenge in the
region in order to improve STEM (science, technology,
engineering and math) education with informal
approaches. Through exchanges of information and
multidisciplinary methods, The Fairchild Challenge can
contribute to the goals set forth by FIU and Partners for
Conservation in the Colombian Amazon, and ultimately
help conserve this region’s rich biological diversity.
Marion Litzinger is program manager for The Fairchild Challenge, Elizabeth P. Anderson is the director of international research programs
in the School of Environment, Arts and Society at Florida International University. Barbara Martinez-Guerrero is The Fairchild Challenge
middle school coordinator. Javier A. Maldonado-Ocampo is an assistant professor in the School of Sciences at the Pontificia Universidad
Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia.
The Tropical Plant Conservatory and Rare Plant House was
created in 1968, building on the plans and ideas of Robert
Montgomery, Fairchild’s founder, and William Lyman Phillips,
the Garden’s landscape designer. Both of them, unfortunately,
died before this project could be realized. A haven for truly
tropical and unusual plants, the Rare Plant House was meant
to be not only a lush display, but also an educational
exhibit focusing on tropical botany.
What’s
Blooming
this spring
By Marilyn Griffiths
Photos by Mary Collins, Susan Ford-Collins
and Marilyn Griffiths
T
oday, the Tropical Plant Conservatory and Rare Plant House provides a
quiet setting among luxuriant foliage and stunning flowers. Look closely
for tiny flowers, exotic leaf venation and unusual plant structure while
visiting this wonderfully unique building. A few of the flowers that appear
in the Rare Plant House during the spring are described here.
Amherstia nobilis
Tacca chantrieri
The pride of Burma, Amherstia nobilis, is a magnificent flowering tree, rare in
Burma, where it is endemic (found only there). Pendant pink to red flowers with a
yellow-spotted lip adorn our tree, which is next to the pool in the upper room. New
brownish-red foliage is an attractive feature, even when the tree is not flowering. It is
the only species of this genus and is in the legume family.
Tacca chantrieri, or bat flower, is one of our most exotic flowers. What appear to
be petals are actually bracts—modified or specialized leaves—and are deep maroon
to black in color. Long “threads” are called bracteoles, secondary bracts of an unusual
shape. This plant’s actual flowers are in a small pendant cluster in the center. A close
relative, Tacca integrifolia, white bat flower, can also be seen in the Rare Plant House.
Both are very sensitive to their environment and need moisture, proper drainage and
warm temperatures. These plants are native from northeast India east to Malesia—an
area that encompasses the Malay Peninsula, the Malay Archipelago (Indonesia, the
Philippines, Brunei, East Malaysia and East Timor) and Papua New Guinea.
Warszewiczia coccinea is an understory tree native to the West Indies and tropical
Central and South America. Small yellow flowers are framed by flame-red bracts in
panicles at the tips of branches. Sometimes called the pride of Trinidad and Tobago,
it is the national tree of that nation. W. coccinea is a member of the family Rubiaceae
(often called the coffee family).
Warszewiczia coccinea
Roberto Burle Marx was a world-famous modernist Brazilian landscape designer.
Calathea burle-marxii, or ice-blue calathea, was named for him. It is in the order
Zingiberales, along with Heliconia, Costus and Zingiber, and is native to the state
of Bahia, Brazil. The cone of pale blue to white bracts holds small pink to white
flowers. Look for this inflorescence amid the deep green foliage.
Return often to this tropical haven for an ever-changing panorama of flowers and
foliage. Jason Lopez, the conservatory manager, often adds new and unusual plants to
this exhibit.
Calathea burle-marxii
Visitors to Fairchild can obtain a plot map of the Garden, which includes a list of
currently flowering plants, at the Visitor Center, the South Gate booth and at the
kiosks set up around the Garden. Volunteers at the Visitor Center desk also have a
complete list of Fairchild’s plants. Our website is an invaluable resource for Garden
information, including lists of plants with their locations, organized by both common
and scientific names; a downloadable map of the Garden with plot numbers; and
What’s Blooming information for each month of the year.
Go to www.fairchildgarden.org/WhatsBlooming
to find the current year’s list of flowering plants
for each month.
16 THE TROPICAL GARDEN
vis-a-vis volunteers
Fairchild’s
Amazing
Aquatics
Volunteers
By Arlene Ferris and
Brooke LeMaire
TOP
Twila Grandchamp, Rob Ziebro and
Rick Hitchner clean, monitor and
maintain different pools each week,
enjoying the sights and sounds of the
Garden while working hard to keep
the water features looking their best.
Photo by Morgan Brooks/FTBG
The beauty of nature is reflected in the
harmony of land and water, which blend
together at Fairchild to form mesmerizing
vistas of blues and greens, accented by the
bright colors of the tropics.
A
Rob Ziebro supervises the groups, helping
them with their tasks and making sure
they have everything they need for the
day’s activities. Ziebro speaks highly of
these volunteers, describing them as smart,
good-humored and easy to work with.
Work on our water gardens begins at
8:30 a.m. each Thursday and Friday for
these hardworking aquatics volunteers.
Among many other tasks, they clean each
pool thoroughly, check the water level
and temperature, monitor the health of
the plants and maintain the surrounding
landscape. Horticulture staff member
Grandchamp and Hitchner have a lot on
their plate when they step into the Garden
on Thursdays. They maintain four pools,
each with their own individual charm and
plant life. The Amphitheatre Pool has a
number of different species of water lilies
nestled away behind towering palms, the
Founders’ Pool is home to Nymphaea
water lilies and Dale Chihuly’s “Cobalt
Herons” blown glass sculptures and the
Palm Glade Pool has the beautiful but
close look at Fairchild’s five
colorful water gardens will
clearly reveal just how much
work goes into making these
areas flourish. Behind the stunning pools
are five dedicated aquatics volunteers who
keep them looking clean and beautiful:
Twila Grandchamp, Gulcin Gumus, Rick
Hitchner, Donna Rich and Lola Schobel.
Donna Rich, Gulcin Gumus
and Lola Schobel work together at the Victoria Pond, and
have given more than 1,000
hours during the past five years
to help the Garden grow.
Photo by Ken Setzer/FTBG
Besides the beautiful
results of their work,
the aquatics volunteers
say the wonderful
friendships they’ve
forged with one
another make the hard
work well worth it.
delicate dwarf lotus. The Sunken Garden
is a natural solution hole with a pool
and waterfall that provide a tranquil
and meditative atmosphere for visitors.
Grandchamp, who has been volunteering
for five years, usually sports waders and
rakes algae out of the pools. She then
cuts old and dead leaves off the aquatic
plants. “I enjoy being in the water and
being part of the natural process of plant
growth in an aquatic environment,” she
says. Hitchner, a volunteer for three
years, takes a net and scoops out debris
and plant cuttings. He skims over the
surface of each pool multiple times to
ensure it is spotless. The two then monitor
all the plant life and lend attention to
each water lily and lotus. When asked
which activity is his favorite, Hitchner
says, “They all interest me to no end.”
Gulcin Gumus, Donna Rich and Lola
Schobel have become close friends
throughout the years they’ve been
volunteering together. They maintain
the Victoria Pool—the largest pool in
the Garden and the only one with the
cherished Victoria water lilies. Rich
wears waders as she cleans the water,
fertilizes the water lilies and plants new
ones. “When the pool looks good, I feel
like we have accomplished something
important,” says the volunteer of nine
18 THE TROPICAL GARDEN
years. Gumus, a volunteer for five years, is
a jack-of-all trades and helps out on both
land and in the water, especially during
the summer when the Victoria water lilies
are thriving and there is more work to be
done in the water. “I now understand how
much work goes into every single inch of
the Garden, and that makes me appreciate
it even more,” she says. Schobel, also
a five-year volunteer, uses loppers,
pole saws, clippers and pruning saws
to maintain the plants and foliage that
border the pool: leather ferns, bromeliads
and banana plants, to name a few.
Besides the beautiful results of their
work, the aquatics volunteers say the
wonderful friendships they’ve forged with
one another make the hard work well
worth it. “I enjoy volunteering to see the
Garden flourish in many different ways,”
Schobel says. “But the most important
thing is the friendship I have with Donna
and Gulcin; it’s relaxing and enjoyable.”
Thanks to the dedication of these
hardworking volunteers, the water
gardens at Fairchild display the beauty of
the tropics while complementing the rich
green hues of the surrounding plant life.
Keep up the great work, and thanks for
your dedication, aquatics volunteers!
SPRING T
kicks off
at Fairchild
with fun events
for the whole family!
he Spring Garden Festival, featuring Butterfly Days and the
Annual Plant Sale, combines our love of the outdoors and
gardening into one fun-filled weekend. Step into a gardening
demonstration, cooking class or butterfly lecture, or take a
glance into the world of the Fairchild Challenge as students present their
Green Cuisine Challenge to festival guests. And, don’t forget to pick up
some of the many Fairchild-grown plants at the Annual Plant Sale.
Family Nature Night returns on April 17, when the Garden welcomes
families of all ages for an evening celebrating the magic of pollination and
the nocturnal fauna of South Florida! Activities lined up for your enjoyment
include: helping pollinate our beloved sausage tree, learning all about
nocturnal pollinators and night creatures in our own backyards, taking
flashlight tours of the Garden and enjoying the wonderful Disneynature
documentary “Wings of Life.” We are ready to have fun with members
of FIU’s Entomology Club and the beautiful creatures from the Falcon
Batchelor Bird of Prey Center.
On April 19, we welcome the University of Miami Frost School of Music
for an exclusive big band-style concert featuring the Frost School of Music
Concert Jazz Band, jazz vocalist James Tormé and singer Rebecca Renee
Olstead. Bring a blanket and a picnic and enjoy music under the stars from
one of our favorite eras.
May welcomes Mother’s Day with a brunch and our first classic car show.
Stroll through the Garden and marvel at South Florida’s finest classic cars. In
celebration of the Garden’s 75th year, a special selection of cars from 1939
will be on display, as will more than 50 other classic cars and corvettes.
Go to www.fairchildgarden.org/Events
for more details on all of our events
SPRING 2014
19
conservation
What makes our
native orchids rare?
Graduate research on the ecology of
Cyrtopodium punctatum as part of the
Million Orchid Project.
By Jason Downing and Carl Lewis, Ph.D.
Photos by Jason Lopez
A
s we work to conserve rare plants, we
need to understand and address the
factors that make them rare. For more
than a century, our southern Florida-native
orchid Cyrtopodium punctatum has been declining,
approaching extinction in our region. Yet, even as C.
punctatum declines, a related exotic invasive species,
Cyrtopodium flavum, is spreading aggressively in our
natural habitats. Why does our native species decline
while this invasive exotic thrives?
Cyrtopodium punctatum (L.) Lindl., also known
as the cigar orchid or cowhorn orchid, is a large,
conspicuous epiphyte that is widely distributed
within and around the Caribbean basin and South
America. It occurs naturally in southern Florida, in
small, scattered populations of just a few plants. C.
punctatum is listed as an endangered species in the
State of Florida.
Of the approximately 50 species of native South
Florida orchids, C. punctatum is one of the most
charismatic and profusely flowering. It is also
relatively easy to grow in cultivation. During the past
century, it has been harvested from the wild to be
grown as garden plants or disposable houseplants.
Over time, natural populations have declined and
begun to disappear. Although it is illegal to harvest
these plants from natural areas, orchid collectors
continue to do so to this day.
Today, C. punctatum is found in Florida largely in
remote, protected cypress swamp habitats along
western portions of the Florida peninsula. These
include Fakahatchee Strand Preserve, Florida Panther
National Wildlife Refuge, Big Cypress National
Preserve and Everglades National Park. Along
Florida’s east coast, C. punctatum is scattered among
remnant maritime coastal hammocks on the shores of
Biscayne Bay.
Tucked into Fairchild’s grounds, several large
individuals of C. punctatum still exist; some even
flower and produce seedpods every year. Each
seedpod includes millions of seeds, so we can expect
tens of millions of C. punctatum seeds to be released
naturally within Fairchild each year. Yet, based on
our observations, we estimate that fewer than 10 new
plants become established each year from these tens
of millions of seeds. Our C. punctatum population
may be growing, but very slowly.
As a Native Orchid Struggles, an
Invasive Exotic Thrives
Even as new C. punctatum plants struggle to become
established, the closely related, invasive exotic
Cyrtopodium flavum (Nees) Link & Otto ex Rchb. is
spreading rapidly in South Florida. Native to Brazil,
it arrived here less than 50 years ago. Since then, it
has demonstrated a great ability to reproduce and
colonize new habitats. Although its seedpods contain
fewer seeds than C. punctatum, its germination rate
is dramatically greater. We do not understand why
this exotic species so dramatically outpaces the
native C. punctatum in its rate of establishment.
Orchids completely depend on interactions with
other organisms for their life cycles. Their intricate
floral structures are based on coevolution with
specialized pollinators. In the absence of pollinators,
most orchids will not set seed. Here at Fairchild,
healthy populations of native and exotic oil bees
(Centris) in our neighborhood pollinate our C.
punctatum plants. It is believed that oil bees visit
C. punctatum flowers because they mimic the oilproducing flowers of the native locustberry plant.
Along with their interactions with pollinators, orchids
also have less conspicuous, but equally critical,
interactions with mycorrhizal fungi (fungi that interact
with the roots of plants). This relationship is different
from other plant-fungi relationships, because orchids
are unable to begin even the first stages of life in
the absence of specific kinds of fungi. Orchid seeds
must be colonized by fungi in order acquire the
nutrients needed to germinate. Older orchid plants
may also utilize fungi to acquire nutrients from the
environment. These interactions have been studied in
certain species of orchids around the world, but are
poorly understood here in South Florida.
C. punctatum and C. flavum represent opposite
extremes in the population abundance spectrum,
so they provide an excellent study system to better
understand the factors that may lead to rarity in orchids.
We are currently studying the interactions between
Cyrtopodium plants, their pollinators and mycorrhizae
(the subject of Jason Downing’s dissertation research
at Florida International University), with the goal of
determining what makes C. flavum common and
C. punctatum rare. This research will be pivotal
in our efforts to reestablish C. punctatum in our
region. As we learn more about the fungi involved
in the life cycles of these species, we can study the
distribution of those fungi in the environment. As we
reintroduce C. punctatum, we may find ways to use
our emerging knowledge of mycorrhizal relationships
to improve rates of survival and establishment.
Our research on the ecology of Cyrtopodium is part
of the Million Orchid Project, Fairchild’s initiative
to propagate and plant 1 million native orchids in
the public spaces of urban South Florida. Our new
Micropropagation Laboratory (part of the DiMare
Science Village) is generating large quantities of
native orchid plants from seed, with the assistance of
students and volunteers from the local community.
The large-scale propagation and restoration of C.
punctatum in South Florida is supported by a grant
from the American Orchid Society.
As we produce large numbers of C. punctatum
plants, we are able to conduct a wide range of
ecological experiments. During the coming years, we
hope to have more information on the factors that
affect the survival and reproduction of C. punctatum,
and we hope that information will help us succeed in
our restoration work.
Jason Downing is a Ph.D. student at Florida International University and Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden; his dissertation
research is focused on the interactions between Cyrtopodium plants, their pollinators and mycorrhizae. Dr. Carl Lewis is
Fairchild’s director.
advertisement
Beautiful.
From every angle.
Introducing the All-New 2014 S-Class
FROM THE
GARDEN TO
THE
LABORATORY
THE SEARCH FOR NATURAL COMPOUNDS
By
Maria-Lu
isa Veisa
ga
Christop
her Chin
Horacio
Priestap
, Ph.D.
Javier Fr
anciscoOrtega,
Brett Jes
Ph.D.
trow, Ph
.D
.
Tracy Co
mmock
Keron Ca
mpbell
M. Alejan
dro Barb
ieri, Ph.D
.
Horacio Priestap, Ph.D.
In Memoriam
1940-2013
Fairchild Tropical Botanic
Garden has one of the
nation’s most extensive living
collections of tropical plants.
Because of South Florida’s
climatological conditions
and Fairchild’s horticultural
tradition, tropical plants
can be grown throughout
the year. The unique
environmental setting lends
unparalleled opportunities for
research and study of tropical
plants during their different
growing stages.
T
he establishment of the new Paul and Swanee
DiMare Science Village and Fairchild’s
partnership with Florida International
University are paving the way for exploration
of new areas in botanical research with an applied
component. Some of the most exciting research is in
natural plant products and their utility in medicine,
agriculture and taxonomy.
For centuries, communities have understood the
beneficial health effects of some plants, commonly
employing them for their healing properties. In many
places in the world, plants are central to health
care and as a source of medicine. About half of the
pharmaceuticals in use today are derived from natural
plant products. The search for new therapies has driven
the study of many traditional medicinal plants, leading
to discoveries of bioactive compounds and molecules
with beneficial properties.
These compounds can also be valuable for plant
classification. Indeed, a discipline known as
“chemotaxonomy” searches for compounds with
discriminatory value among species. Many of these
compounds evolved to help the plant combat infections
of fungi and bacteria, and therefore may have antipathogenic effects for human health. Consequently,
these compounds’ metabolic pathways—the sequences
of biochemical reactions that occur in all living
cells—can reveal clues about the origin of the plants’
adaptations and their evolutionary history.
Plant Product Research
at Fairchild and FIU
Several fields of research come together to work on
unraveling these clues. Phytochemical research looks
at plants’ organic components and helps to identify
secondary compounds the plants produce. Cellular
and molecular biology, together with biomedical tools,
determine the metabolic pathways of compounds with
potential medical applications, as well as the genes
governing these metabolic routes.
Within the framework of the Convention on Biological
Diversity agreements, Florida International University
cellular biologists and botanists and Fairchild scientists
have developed three projects to research the natural
products of plants—looking at members of the genera
Artemisia, Portlandia and Aristolochia. Our initial efforts
show that the isolated compounds have medicinal
potential and can be useful in taxonomic research.
Dr. Horacio Priestap (left) and Christopher Chin (right)
examine data related to bioactive compounds of
Portlandia (Rubiaceae) in Alejandro Barbieri’s lab at FIU.
Photo by M. L. Veisaga
Many species of the genus Artemisia, a member of
the sunflower family with almost 400 species, have
ample traditional medicinal uses in both the Old and
New Worlds. Native Americans use several species for
malaria treatment and bacterial infections, as well as
for fever, stomach and inflammatory disorders. Indeed,
the compound Artemisinin is commonly used as a
drug principle to treat malaria. Our research focuses
on A. douglasiana (known as California mugwort or
Douglas’s sagewort) and A. tridentata subsp. vaseyana
(mountain big sagebrush). These three taxa have two
particular compounds, known as dehydroleucodine
and dehydroparishin–B, that have shown extraordinary
anti-tumor activity against cultured invasive human
breast cancer and melanoma cancer cells.
Flower of Portlandia grandiflora.
Living collections of Fairchild
Tropical Botanic Garden.
Photo by M. L. Veisaga
ur observations indicate that
extracts from ortlandia species
contain numerous volatile
organic compounds, some of
which show exceptional anti
proliferative activity against
cultured metastatic human
breast cancer cells.
Stacy Soriano, the Lewis
Vaughn Memorial
Scholarship Recipient for
2013, selects plant material
for experimental studies.
Photo by M.L. Veisaga.
The Jamaican genus Portlandia belongs to the coffee
plant family Rubiaceae—a family that is renowned for
its natural products. This highly ornamental genus has
seven species. Our research with this group of plants is
being done in partnership with the Institute of Jamaica
and in collaboration with colleagues from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture who will provide assistance
with computational analyses of the data we gather.
Our observations indicate that extracts from Portlandia
species contain numerous volatile organic compounds,
some of which show exceptional anti-proliferative
activity against cultured metastatic human breast
cancer cells. Our initial results suggest that Portlandia
has a high content of volatile aldehydes that will
contribute to understanding the taxonomic placement
of this genus within the Rubiaceae.
The study of plant
products will bring a new
dimension to Fairchild’s
living collections. t will
not only enhance scienti c
research but, importantly,
will help nd natural
products with agricultural
and medicinal values.
The approximately 700 species of the genus Aristolochia
(Aristolochiaceae) are cultivated as ornamentals and
mostly distributed along tropical and subtropical regions
of the world. They had been used in traditional medicine
because of their curative properties for diseases, including
inflammatory disorders, rheumatism, wounds and skin
diseases, and also for intestinal worms. However, some
species were found to be nephrotoxic (toxic to the kidneys)
and carcinogenic. For instance A. clematitis (birthwort),
A. fangchi, and A. manshuriensis have been intensively
studied because of the aristolochic acid that they produce.
Several observations suggest that this acid forms a unique
intermediate compound that can lead to renal failure.
Fairchild’s founders envisioned that the Garden’s
living collections would be instrumental for research,
horticulture and education. During the last few decades
the collections have been critical in Fairchild’s anatomical,
morphological, horticultural and ecological research.
These collections have also been widely used by tropical
botanists and horticulturists from all over the world.
Since the establishment of the Fairchild-FIU molecular
laboratory 12 years ago, these collections have been
at the core of our plant classification and conservation
studies. The study of plant products will bring a new
dimension to the Garden’s living collections. It will not
only enhance scientific research but, importantly, will
help to find natural products with agricultural and
medicinal values.
TOP RIGHT
Adriana Galvis, an FIU graduate
student, checks the effect of
Artemisia compounds on bacteria
grown on an agar plate.
ABOVE
Sushmita Mustafi, an FIU researcher,
selects laboratory tissue culture
media needed for phytochemical
studies on cancer cells.
Photos by M.L. Veisaga
Dr. Javier Francisco-Ortega and Dr. M. Alejandro Barbieri
are with Florida International University’s Department of
Biological Sciences, School of Environment, Arts and Society
and Fairchild’s Kushlan Tropical Biology Institute. M. Alejandro
Barbieri is also associated with the Biomolecular Sciences
Institute in the School of Integrated Science and Humanity at
FIU. Christopher Chin is with FIU’s Department of Biological
Sciences. Maria-Luisa Veisaga is with FIU’s Biomolecular
Sciences Institute, part of the School of Integrated Science and
Humanity. Dr. Brett Jestrow is herbarium curator at Fairchild’s
Kushlan Tropical Biology Institute. Tracy Commock and Keron
Campbell are with the Natural History Museum of Jamaica,
Institute of Jamaica, in Kingston.
Growing
Mangos
in the
Snow
Text and photos by Noris Ledesma
T
he art and adaptation of the mango has
taken our Florida mangos to new frontiers.
The Japanese have been growing Miami’s
very own ‘Irwin’ since the 1980s—under
glass in heated greenhouses at north
latitudes equivalent to central Minnesota.
It is a long way, both in distance and mindset, from
northwest Miami, home of the ‘Irwin,’ to the temperate
forests of Sapporo, in northern Japan. Yet, here it grows,
in such a small space, adapted by Japanese growers
to their needs. Just as the art of bonsai was brought to
Japan by Chinese monks looking to expand their religion
into the kingdom of Japan, modern Japanese growers use
highly detailed pruning and shaping of the mango to make
it a fruit suitable for nobility.
I recently made my second trip to Japan, on this
particular occasion invited as a guest speaker at the Fruit
Growers Association meeting held in Miyazaki. More
than 100 mango growers attended the meeting, and my
role was to give advice on new cultivars for the
Japanese market.
I was still filled with good memories from my first visit
to Japan in 2009, where I had the opportunity to see
the ‘Irwin’ grown in the southern Japanese prefecture of
Okinawa. Okinawa is actually comprised of 150 islands,
and farming is molded to its subtropical climate—a
little cooler than our winter in South Florida. Okinawa
is located in the temperate zone and has four seasons.
Annual precipitation is more than 2,000 millimeters
(more than six-and-a-half-feet), and during the winter,
the temperature can drop to zero degrees Celsius or
below. Mangos must be grown in greenhouses to protect
the trees from heavy rains and cold.
In northern Japan, Florida mangos grow in small
spaces under greenhouse glass—carefully
pruned, shaped and fit for nobility.
During that visit, I met one of the pioneer mango growers
in Okinawa—an immigrant from Taiwan who brought
the seeds that are still used today for rootstock. He
was a master pruner and his 30-year-old mangos have
been pruned every year, removing wood to rejuvenate
the canopy and leave more points for production. In
Okinawa, growers do not induce blooming, as it occurs
naturally during the cool winter season.
At the time of that first visit, in 2009, annual mango
production in Japan was about 1,460 metric tons per
year. Since then, it has increased by 50% through the
use of modern and innovative agricultural techniques,
which allow mangos to grow in the snow in places like
Sapporo in the nation’s north.
Mangos for Christmas
Dr. John Yonemoto, a longtime friend of Fairchild,
extended an invitation to Sapporo to see his mango
operation. The temperature in Sapporo was minus 4
degrees Celsius. When Yonemoto told me to be ready in
the morning for mango picking, I thought to myself that
this was not mango weather. It was dark and gloomy,
and snow was expected in the morning. I spent the night
at his house, enjoying a dinner his lovely wife prepared.
In the morning, we walked to the greenhouses, stepping
from a brisk 2 degrees Celcius outside to a balmy 35
Celsius inside, where the heaters run all the time. This
was mango season in Sapporo. Growers spend $200,000
a year to heat one greenhouse on one quarter acre.
Mangos are usually harvested from spring through summer
in Japan, but growers have learned how to produce
mangos for Christmas, when prices are at a premium.
Yonemoto explained his research, which is based on
limiting the trees’ root system, pruning and training
them from an early age, solar radiation and temperature.
The trees’ root system can be limited by growing them
in containers, or by burying non-woven fabric to limit
the root system before greenhouse construction and
planting. Planting density is 120 to 240 trees per 1,000
square meters (about a quarter acre). The first year is
spent preparing the rootstock, the second or third year
in grafting and growing the tree. By year five, trees
are harvested for the first time. In the seventh year,
the targeted value of production is 2,000 kg per 1,000
square meters (about 4,400 pounds per quarter acre).
The Japanese are making a mango bonsai of sorts: mango
trees that exhibit their nature within a limited growing
space. To accomplish this, the trees are carefully pruned
every year. Yonemoto leaves two principal branches
horizontally to support the canopy for the rest of the tree’s
life. This will provide light in the most efficient way.
Pollination comes from honeybees and flies; flies are
cheaper but have a shorter flight distance and are less
efficient than bees. They’re also less effective. Mango
growers purchase the beehives every season and reuse
the survivors for next season.
Even with all of their expertise in growing the mango in
small spaces, Japanese growers have many challenges—
such as thrips and anthracnose—in the greenhouses.
Yonemoto has divided the greenhouses into two
different groups to control environmental conditions and
induce two mango seasons: one during the summer and
the other for Christmas. He increases photosynthesis by
inserting carbon dioxide into the enclosed greenhouse
environment. He also is embedding piping underground
to run cold snowmelt water during the summer months,
and water from the hot springs in the fall and winter.
Although controlling the temperature remains a
challenge, growers believe that it is ideal to grow
mangos through the use of local natural energy
resources and an abundance of sunlight. This is
especially challenging in Sapporo, where there is
limited sunlight available. Yonemoto uses a creative
way to increase light, using a white square of paper
to reflect natural sunlight back onto the trees, thus
increasing the total sunlight they receive. In order to attain
a full red color for the mango, growers here carefully
expose the fruit to sunlight until it reaches full ripeness
and can be harvested. The goal is to get a completely
red mango that brings a premium price. Labor is very
intensive, and the dedication and detailed effort is
impressive. Farmers wait until the mango drops into a net,
and harvest fruit as soon as possible to prevent injuries.
Each fruit is evaluated and is carefully wrapped before
being transported to the packing house. Quality control
determines the rate at which fruit goes to each specific
market. The sorting machine in the packing house has
an infrared scanner to measure sugar content and select
color, as well as check pulp consistency to assure the
quality of the fruit. The machine sorts 1,500 fruit a day
and costs about $500,000. It’s an expensive machine
and capacity is very low, but it ensures high quality.
Mangos at the central wholesale market cost 100 yen
per kilogram. At this rate, two mangos cost $180.00
in Tokyo. These local mangos are very expensive, but
they satisfy urban consumers by replacing low-quality
imported fruit. Mango varieties from all over the world
reach Japan. The most prevalent variety is ‘Carabao’
from the Philippines, along with ‘Tommy Atkins’ from
Mexico, and ‘Nam-Doc-Mai’ from Thailand, but the
Miami-originated ‘Irwin’ remains popular.
Why ‘Irwin’ in Japan?
I asked the locals why ‘Irwin’ is so popular. They said
they love fruit that are juicy, fresh and fully ripe. The
‘Irwin’ cultivar is juicy with a sweet aroma, and can be
harvested when fully ripe. In their experience, ‘Irwin’
is the only mango that naturally falls from the tree
when fully ripened. Yonemoto is testing other cultivars,
and I had the opportunity to see some of the trees he
brought from Fairchild’s collections years ago, including
‘Nam Doc Mai,’ ‘Rapoza,’ ‘Lippens,’ ‘Mallika,’ and
our ‘Turpentine’ as a rootstock. He is also growing
avocados, sugar apple, persimmon, passion fruit, dragon
fruit, bananas and carambola.
From Sapporo, I flew to
Miyazaki to meet the growers
at the conference. Miyazaki
city, is situated at latitude
32 degrees north. Winters
are cold, with minimum
temperatures in December and
January as low as 2 degrees
Celsius and occasional snow.
Mango production there
started in 1986. At present,
the total cultivation area
for mangos is more than 55
hectares (about 136 acres),
with total production volume
of 700 tons. This includes
young groves whose volume of
production is just 13 tons per
hectare (nearly 2.5 acres).
A morning field trip took the
conference attendees to
Kazunori Yokoyama’s mango
farm, were he shared his secrets to producing more than
10% of the top-quality mangos in Japan. These top-quality
mangos are known as “the egg of the sun.” Yokoyama
works with his family only—no external workers. Their
main production is based on the variety ‘Irwin,’ like
those of the rest of Japan’s growers. The rootstocks are a
polyembrionic type from Taiwan. Although traditional
growers do not induce blooming, as it occurs naturally
during the winter, Yokoyama is developing a protocol
to synchronize blooming by pruning, lowering the
temperature, heating the soil and managing water stress.
He sprays phosphorus to decrease nitrogen for the trees
to slow down growth for blooming. The terminal leaves
are stripped five inches from the bud tip to synchronize
blooming. He heats the water for irrigation and controls
growth temperature to induce blooming as well.
Fruit is carefully wrapped and
transported to the packing house.
My visit to Japan gave me a lesson in high-quality
agricultural standards: clean agriculture, dedication,
discipline and a love for horticulture. It may be
impossible in our modern times to achieve these
standards everywhere, especially within the modern
mango industry, which is based on high production and
low prices. The government subsidizes the growers in
Japan, and this is the only reason they still survive.
I am indebted to all my friends in Japan for the
opportunity to experience what has been done with
our Floridian mangos. These small, manicured trees
symbolize Japanese growers’ high level of patience and
creativity. It is a lifetime of care and an opportunity
to grow mangos outside of the mango zone in South
Florida, in the northern United States and beyond. We
can apply some of these experiences to other models
where quality is the goal. Costs, in both time and money,
are high—but the reward is a labor of love that only the
mango can command.
How Wild
Mangifera Can
Strengthen
Mangos
By Emily Warschefsky
‘Haden,’ ‘Kent,’ ‘Keitt,’ ‘Tommy Atkins’—the
mangos that we know and love are all cultivars of
a single species, Mangifera indica, but the mango
has many wild relatives. The genus Mangifera
(Anacardiaceae) contains 69 species, many of which
are imperiled and all of which are native to South
and Southeast Asia. Twenty-six of these species
produce edible fruit and many have traits that
could be beneficial to mangos, including disease
resistance, reduced seed fibers and salt tolerance.
Wild Mangifera species therefore represent a
valuable pool of genetic variation for the mango. The
genes responsible for characteristics of interest could
be bred into mangos by hybridizing wild species
with mango cultivars. Alternatively, wild Mangifera
species could serve as rootstocks onto which
mango cultivars (scions) may be grafted. While the
mechanisms are not entirely understood, it is clear
that rootstocks can aid adaptation to different soil
conditions and induce tolerance to disease.
Both hybridization and grafting require some
degree of genetic similarity, which makes
understanding the relationships between the
mango and its wild relatives critical to crop
improvement efforts. Although the mango is
one of the world’s most important tropical fruit
crops, its wild relatives are lesser known and the
evolutionary relationships between species in
the genus—the mango’s “family” tree—have not
been determined. Research being conducted at
Fairchild, in conjunction with Florida International
University, seeks to reconstruct the evolutionary
tree of Mangifera species. This information will not
only help growers improve mangos, but will also
provide a better understanding of the imperiled
biodiversity of Southeast Asia.
Emily Warschefsky is a Ph.D. candidate at Florida
International University. Under the direction of her
advisor, Dr. Eric von Wettberg, and Fairchild’s mango
experts, Dr. Richard Campbell and Noris Ledesma, she
is researching the domestication of the mango and its
relationships with wild Mangifera species.
what’s in store
Local authors on local topics
By Erin Fitts
Photos by Rey Longchamp
Florida Bay Forever
Edited by Dan Burkhardt
$39.95
This book includes essays about
the Florida Bay area and stunning
photographs from the region.
Florida Gardener’s Handbook
Tom MacCubbin and
Georgia Tasker
$24.95
Fairchild’s Georgia Tasker co-authored
this title packed with the best tips on
making your Florida garden a success.
Plants of the Kampong
By Larry M. Schokman
$49.95
An introduction to the trees,
shrubs and herbs of The
Kampong, which was originally
the home of Dr. David Fairchild.
The World as Garden
Edited by Dr. David Lee
$14.95
This book is a long-awaited anthology of
Dr. David Fairchild’s writings. Arranged
to chronicle Fairchild’s life, it includes
100 black-and-white photographs.
2014
SUMMER CAMP
at Fairchild!
JUNIOR NATURALIST (Ages 6-11)
June 16–July 25 (Six one-week sessions)
$175 per session (members)
$200 per session (non-members)
KOOLSCIENCE (Ages 12-14)
June 16–June 27 (one two-week session)
$400 per session (members)
$450 per session (non-members)
For more information and to register,
please visit our website:
www.fairchildgarden.org/education/Summer-Camp
or call 305.667.1651, ext. 3322
fairchild tropical botanic garden
IN THE
FOOTSTEPS
OF PLANT
EXPLORER
Frank
Meyer
By Kenneth Setzer
In Dr. David Fairchild’s book, “The World Was My Garden,” he describes
an inveterate plant explorer: a man who loved plants, animals and the
world in general, and who would just walk everywhere he wanted to
go. This man, Frank N. Meyer, walked across continents—alone—just
because he felt like it, taking only a compass and map. He wasn’t a
drifter; he was an insatiably curious polymath and autodidact, and he
introduced thousands of new plants to the United States.
Even then, Meyer’s restlessness grew. He longed
to see vineyards and orange groves in Italy, and
eventually quit his job at the garden and simply
walked to them, and throughout Europe, for months.
Thereafter, yearning to see America, he earned
money working for nurseries around London. Soon
he saved enough to make the purchase so many
other Europeans had: a one-way steamship ticket
to the United States. In 1901, armed with a letter of
recommendation from de Vries, he worked his way
from Ellis Island to Washington, D.C. and a job at the
United States Department of Agriculture greenhouses.
The Perfect Man
for the Job
ABOVE
Dr. David Fairchild
(far left) receives the
Meyer Medal for
distinguished services in
plant introduction from
Secretary of Agriculture
Henry A. Wallace.
Library of Congress,
LC-DIG-hec-27032,
Harris & Ewing Collection.
LEFT
Frank Meyer standing
beside a very large
Chinese privet
(Ligustrum lucidum),
October 18, 1914.
© President and Fellows of Harvard
College. Arnold Arboretum Archives.
rank Meyer’s intense wanderlust may
have originated from a childhood spent in
Amsterdam’s Houthaven neighborhood,
near the harbor. Its ships connected Europe
to all points of the globe, and his father’s tales of his
own youth spent as a sailor must have ignited a spark
within Meyer. From early childhood, Meyer, who was
born Frans Meijer, loved plants, animals, travel stories
and working in his family garden. At 14, he became a
gardener’s helper at the Amsterdam Botanical Garden.
This would be a major turning point in his life: The
famous Dutch botanist and geneticist Hugo de Vries
was involved with the garden and took note of Meyer’s
diligence, determination and growing knowledge of
plants. He supported Meyer wholeheartedly, even
paying for his tuition, room and board at the University
of Groningen. Alas, Meyer’s studies there didn’t last
long: After six months, his restlessness growing, he
returned on foot to Amsterdam and his job at de
Vries’ experimental garden.
Meanwhile, David Fairchild was away from his D.C.
office checking on plant experiment stations across
the U.S. He was long aware of the potential China—
an area of great floral and faunal diversity—offered
for economic botany. He spread the word that he
sought a talented plantsman who could recognize
new and useful plants in China and at the same time
endure walking for hundreds of miles in difficult
and dangerous locations. Meyer fit that description
perfectly, but he and Fairchild didn’t manage to
meet at this time. Instead, Meyer again sought the
road, working for a short time in California, and then
exploring Mexico. He eventually returned to the U.S.
to work in the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1904.
Then, at last, Fairchild was able to pin down this
wanderer and offer him the job of USDA plant explorer
to China, which Meyer immediately accepted.
SPRING 2014
33
Ta hua shan (Big Flower
Mountain) Shansi, China.
Meyer noted: “Here
Pinus bungeana grows
truly wild, while lilacs,
Exochordas, Davidiana
peaches and many other
interesting plants are
found clinging to the granite rocks.” (Current-day
Huashan Mountain)
© President and Fellows of Harvard
College. Arnold Arboretum Archives.
To China, 1905-1909
Meyer’s mind must have reeled upon his arrival in
what was then called Peking (now Beijing) in 1905.
Before him lay a foreign world to explore, with
extraordinary possibilities for plants. He soon hired a
guide, with whom he explored the mountains for 10
days. A “sweet, seedless persimmon” was first of his
thousands of plant discoveries. Scions and seeds of
grapes, apricots, catalpa, pears, Ginkgo biloba, Pinus
bungeana, pistachio (Pistacia chinensis) and others
soon followed. Though these species were known to
science, many had never been seen in the U.S. and
many cultivated varieties were previously unknown.
From there, Meyer traveled north through current-day
North Korea, entering forests previously unseen by
westerners, and now even less accessible. Walking 20
to 35 miles a day, Meyer’s group ultimately reached
Siberia, where he sought cold- and drought-tolerant
vegetables and trees that could be of use, particularly
in America’s northwestern prairie states. Once,
when threatened by brigands, he avoided conflict
by simply brandishing his pistol. Meyer was not
easily discouraged by danger, and his determination
was soon rewarded when he found the legendary
“pound peach” (Prunus persica) of Shantung, which
sometimes weighs more than a pound. Still restless,
he journeyed for six more months, finding oaks,
forage crops, ornamentals (such as Syringa meyeri,
a dwarf lilac Meyer found in a garden in Peking in
1909, which is not known to exist in the wild) and
fruit—including a small lemon the Chinese near
Peking used as a potted ornamental plant. This dwarf
citrus later became known as the Meyer lemon
(Citrus x meyeri).
34 THE TROPICAL GARDEN
After such bold adventure, the time came for Meyer
to return to the U.S., where he spent much of 1909 in
“hot and humid Washington,” as he put it, cataloging
his acquisitions and writing “Agricultural Explorations
in the Fruit and Nut Orchards of China.”
Three years in Central
Asia, 1909-1912
After his first trip through Asia, Meyer studied
collections at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston,
London’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and
throughout Europe, working ever east. Leaving St.
Petersburg, Russia, he ventured south to the Crimea,
where he found the common privet (Ligustrum
vulgare). In the Caucasus, he found hardy varieties
of apples, cherries, almonds and wheat. From
Tbilisi, Georgia, his small band ventured through
dry, mountainous Azerbaijan and Armenia, sending
back grapes, plums, apricots, barley and the paradise
apple (Malus pumila var. paradisiaca), which tolerates
extreme cold. Meyer trudged through deserts of
Russian and Chinese Turkestan and over 13,000-foot
peaks in the Tian Shan, finding in the bitter cold only
wild asparagus and alfalfa to eat. Along the MongoliaSiberia border, he found extremely cold-tolerant
apples, currants and apricots, among others.
Though he intended further exploration in China,
news of revolution forced him west to Omsk, Russia.
Working westward, he eventually returned to the U.S.
on the Mauretania, which would depart just one day
behind the Titanic, but escape that ship’s fate after
slowing its speed in the icy area where the Titanic sank.
Modern view of Huashan
Mountain in China. The
building at right looks
to be the same one in
Meyer’s photo at left.
War and blight, 1912-1915
An abrupt end, 1916-1918
Shortly afterward, Meyer became involved in the
research related to chestnut blight, which plagued the
American chestnut tree during the early 20th century.
Caused by a fungus, it decimated the species. Meyer
was tasked with finding the pathogenic fungus in
China to help determine if it had been carried to the
American trees through non-native introductions.
He showed that the Chinese chestnut (Castanea
mollissima) was injured, but not killed, by the blight.
The blight had indeed been introduced to the U.S.
through earlier imports of infected Asian chestnuts.
Thanks partially to Meyer’s discoveries, attempts
continue to this day to cultivate a blight-resistant
American chestnut.
Meyer was rarely discouraged by the physical hardship,
poor sanitation or danger he encountered. However,
the loneliness of travel among people whose language
he didn’t share took a toll. He also was often plagued
by malaria, dysentery and “pessimistic thoughts,”
which he expressed in his letters to Fairchild. Fairchild,
in turn, encouraged Meyer by stressing what a “most
valuable asset” he was to his adopted country. Meyer
was certainly bolstered by news that the USDA had
distributed Ulmus pumila, the Siberian elm, to settlers
in the American West. This drought-resistant species,
along with Chinese elms, was later used as part of a
17,000-mile system of windbreaks that conserved soil
during the Dustbowl of the 1930s.
Despite the increased danger of outlaws and from
malaria, Meyer and his assistant continued collecting
and shipping samples from China, and finally left
Sian (Xi’an) and went east to Shantung (Shandong).
While crossing the mountains of Shansi province in
1914, Meyer discovered, as he wrote to Fairchild, “a
small, green peach the size of a marble lying on the
side of the road … here at last was the original wild
peach [Prunus davidiana var. potaninii], from which
probably most, if not all, of the cultivated strains have
been developed.”
Meyer’s final expedition began in 1916 in Yokohama;
he spent weeks in Japan, then sailed on to Peking. He
discovered centipede grass (Eremochloa ophiuroides),
ubiquitous throughout the southeast U.S. today,
and was the first to document seeing wild-growing
Ginkgo biloba. While in Ichang, he expressed that
America’s entry into the World War caused him great
consternation and upset. Despite civil war spreading
to Hupeh, he continued exploring, slipping past battles
and walking 80 miles through destroyed villages. Along
with his guide, Meyer returned to the Yangtze River
and boarded a boat to Hankow. He intended to board
a connection to Shanghai to sort his herbarium material
and mail his latest samples. But one day after departing,
he was reported missing. His body was soon recovered
from the Yangtze. It remains a mystery whether he fell,
jumped or was pushed. But his contribution of more
than 2,500 plant samples—some new to science—
herbarium specimens, soil samples and acquired
knowledge of agriculture laid the groundwork for
innumerable plants and research we rely on today for
food, fodder, erosion control and simple beauty.
As Meyer’s party neared the border of Tibet, trouble
that had been brewing with his native translator and
assistant grew worse, and they eventually deserted him.
Meyer and Johannis de Leeuw, his Dutch assistant,
returned to Lanchow, where they learned of the war in
Europe. They had walked 1,000 miles from Sian. Once
again Meyer returned to the U.S. to face normal life
(writing “China, a Fruitful Field for Plant Exploration”),
but not before seeing his introductions thriving at the
USDA introduction nursery in Chico, California.
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10/15/13 9:39 AM
An Illustrator’s tale
CAPTURING THE REMARKABLE
DETAILS OF PLANTS
Wes Jurgens
By Georgia Tasker
Warbler on oak
T
rying to retrofit development
projects to meet state environmental
requirements in the 1970s and ‘80s,
Wes Jurgens worked with professors at
the University of Miami, sat in on classes and “got
into botany,” learning from Taylor Alexander,
Howard Teas and other UM experts. It was the
era of heated environmental disputes over what
constituted wetlands, and Jurgens, who worked
for General Development Corp., sought to
establish plants as the determining factors.
Wes Jurgens at
Fairchild’s herbarium.
Photo by Gaby Orihuela/FTBG
“I came up with a list of 200 plants,” Jurgens
says. “But the pulpwood growers were against it
and they cut it down to 20.” When surveyors in
the field got the list, “they said it was just a list
of names, so I made a book of drawings, did my
research here [at Fairchild] at the herbarium.”
Today Jurgens is a longtime and respected South
Florida botanical illustrator, and he volunteers
two days a week at Fairchild’s herbarium. It was
a Jurgens drawing that Arlene Ferris, Fairchild’s
director of volunteer services, selected as the
2013 Christmas card for volunteers. His large
painting of tropical plants around the Garden
greets visitors to the Garden’s offices. In the
gift shop, visitors to Fairchild can purchase his
cards or T-shirts decorated with his work. And
the herbarium includes numerous illustrations of
his that are clearer and more detailed than the
original dried sample.
Picramnia pentandra
38 THE TROPICAL GARDEN
Recently, Jurgens completed illustrations of three
species new to the genus Vanda for orchid expert
Martin Motes. “He does remarkable work,”
Motes says. “His work is beautiful, professional,
accurate and absolutely to scale. He is extremely
generous with what he charges us, and I look at
that as him being supportive of science.”
Rendering Plants in Pen
Jurgens’ work begins with a pencil sketch that
details flower and leaf arrangements as well as
leaf shapes and vein patterns. If his illustration is
for a scientific paper, the details become much
more specific and he works wearing magnifying
glasses. He may even draw the intensely detailed
illustrations larger than they will appear in the
final work. In his small handbook about botanical
illustration, Jurgens notes that the process begins
with a live plant, which may be difficult to keep
alive long enough to complete the drawing.
Photographs are useful, Jurgens says, “provided
the features are clear and you have a scale or grid
in the photo for size reference.”
Once Jurgens finishes his pencil sketch, he
transfers it onto paper or Mylar (plastic drawing
film). He must determine where the light comes
from for the final drawing and be consistent in
using stippling to indicate shadow. The dots
close together will be areas that are shaded,
while bright areas will have few if any dots.
His botanical illustrations are done using the
Lasiacis divaricata
Reinhardtia gracilis
discipline’s historic tools of pen and ink, which
are capable of rendering incredible detail.
Although an engineer by vocation, from the
time Jurgens made that book of plant drawings
for surveyors, botanical illustration became a
passionate avocation for him. His interest in
art, though, dates back even earlier. He took art
classes all through high school and went to the
Brooklyn Museum Art School, before joining
the Navy and eventually going to engineering
school. He was also interested in hieroglyphics.
“I wanted to be an archeologist or an
Egyptologist, and I was studying hieroglyphics,”
he explains. “All through the years, I kept up my
interest in hieroglyphics.”
A few years ago, Jurgens thought he might
be losing his ability to recall those Egyptian
words and phrases. He combined his love of
hieroglyphics and the Everglades into paintings
that tell the history of the Calusa and Tequesta
Indians in the Egyptian form of writing that
he loves. The supporting cast that has found
its way into this astonishing marriage of two
worlds includes an alligator, herons, turtles,
snakes, water lilies and frogs. Collectively
called “Chapter of the Rising Up of the Land of
Flowers in Primeval Times when the Gods were
on Earth,” some of the works are large panels
painted in oil that Jurgens has at his Kendall
home. He also assembled a small booklet of
black-and-white drawings of the larger works.
Borrichia arborescens
Jurgens has been captivated by Florida since his first
trip here from Long Island, N.Y., in 1939. He was
nine, in the company of his grandparents. They
were looking for land, and their trip included
Fairchild Tropical Garden. They took a picture of
him in from of the entrance to Fairchild, when it
was just barely a botanical garden. That trip, says
Jurgens, “taught me I wanted to stay in Florida.”
After he joined the Navy—to preempt the
prospect of being drafted into the Army—and
went to engineering school, Jurgens graduated
fourth in his class. That gave him the opportunity
to select where he would be stationed, and he
chose Key West. All this time, Jurgens had kept
up correspondence with people in Germany,
Japan, Egypt and South America. After his time
in the Navy, he traveled to visit his pen pal in
Japan—and married her. He has been married
to Masako, a gifted pianist and cook who once
taught at Bobbi and Carol’s cooking school in
South Miami, for 55 years.
When he initially came to Miami searching for
work, Jurgens joined an engineering firm. Five
years later, he joined General Development
Corp., then the largest developer in Florida. His
department’s role was to help the company meet
strict requirements for community development
that were the outgrowth of Earth Day and the
creation of the Environmental Protection Agency
in 1970. That’s how Jurgens wound up with that
list of 20 plants whose presence he felt should
classify an area as wetland.
SPRING 2014
39
From Engineer to
Environmental Analyst
As Jurgens’ familiarity with the creatures and
plants of the Everglades grew substantially over
time, he morphed into an expert environmental
analyst, studying fish, soil, birds, plants and the
intricacies of their habitats. He learned how to
reconstruct wetlands and monitored them for
years. He hired University of Miami students
to help survey and understand the habitats—
including the late Lisa Anness, for whom the
Garden’s outdoor butterfly garden is named.
In 1978, Jurgens and UM mangrove expert
Howard Teas developed a unique way to replant
mangroves in Vietnam. Individual mangrove
propagules were inserted in bags of sand with
paper tails attached to orient them properly, and
the bags were dropped from a helicopter, Teas
wrote in a 1979 paper entitled “Silviculture in
Saline Water.”
The adventures Jurgens recounts today are the
envy of every would-be naturalist. He had the
use of airplanes and helicopters to scour the state
and study the rise or flatness of land—rises often
indicated Indian shell mounds and archaeologists
had to evaluate them. In one development, he
discovered Native American human remains. The
tribes said if General Development raised the
land four feet above the burial site, it could be
built on. But the area containing the remains was
so large and would require so much fill that the
prospect discouraged any development at all.
For a proposed community near Estero on
Florida’s west coast, the property contained not
only endangered gopher tortoises, but also an
endangered plant, Asclepias curtissii, Curtis’
milkweed. Each of the hundreds of plants had to
be tagged with blue ribbons, which took Jurgens
and his team weeks to complete. When they
went back to reassess, the tortoises had eaten not
only the plants but the ribbons, too. When bald
eagles showed up, another development went
down the tubes.
In La Belle, west of Lake Okeechobee, Jurgens
encountered a pop ash marsh where the swamploving pop ash trees were covered with
ghost orchids.
Jurgens worked all over the state, from
Jacksonville to Ocala and St. Lucie. “We would
stomp through swamps with the alligators and
the snakes … I loved it,” he recalls. “I used to tell
my wife I would never retire, I loved it so much.”
Jurgens did retire in 1996. After that, for many
years, he and John Pancoast produced a column
for the monthly newsletter of the Dade Chapter
of the Florida Native Plant Society, calling it
“One Man’s Weed.”
Over the years, local research scientists have
often called on Jurgens to create botanical
illustrations for their work. They include Jack
Fisher, a retired Fairchild research scientist;
palm expert Larry Noblick at the Montgomery
Botanical Center; and botanist Richard Wunderlin
for his books on Florida plants. Jurgens illustrated
grasses for Dr. Gerald “Stinger” Guala, former
keeper of Fairchild’s herbarium, as well as for
papers submitted to the American Journal of Botany
by Dr. Hong Liu, Fairchild and Florida International
University research ecologist, and Suzanne
Koptur, an FIU professor of biological sciences.
Jurgens also regularly paints and draws for
pleasure. When a painting is complete, he will
hang it at home. When a visitor admires it, his wife
Masako may generously give it away—leaving
the lucky visitor with a precious piece of art.
Jacquemontia curtissii
40 THE TROPICAL GARDEN
plant societies
Tropical Fern & Exotic
PLANT SOCIETY
By Marie Nock and Marnie Valent
The Tropical Fern & Exotic Plant Society is the society for everyone
who loves tropical plants. Our members have wide-ranging interests
and collections, but in this issue, we’ll be talking about crotons.
During the past 10 years, however, there has been a
resurgence of interest in crotons. They have become
a passionate endeavor for many who strive to locate
rare cultivars that have been lost for decades, grow
them and share them to assure their survival. Several
TFEPS members have enviable croton collections.
Crotons are easy to grow, propagate from cuttings
and add wonderful color to gardens—and there are
appropriate varieties for all lighting conditions. They
are genetically unstable and will often throw sports
(branches with entirely different leaves or colors).
Seeds do not produce plants resembling the parent
plant. This only adds to the charm of the plant.
Codiaeum variegatum
T
he croton, Codiaeum variegatum, is a
member of the Euphorbiaceae family
and is a single species with thousands
of varieties or cultivars. Originating in
Malaysia and the Moluccan Islands, they were
introduced into the United States in the 1870s by
growers in Europe. Not too many years ago, many
looked askance at C. variegatum because it had
been overused as part of the ABCs (allamanda,
bougainvillea and croton) of Florida gardening. For
years after that, crotons were basically ignored by
tropical gardeners looking for more unusual plants
for their landscapes.
To learn more about the colorful world of crotons
and other tropical plants, come to the Tropical Fern
& Exotic Plant Society’s meetings, held at 7:30 p.m.
on the fourth Monday of each month (with the
exception of July and August) in the Corbin Building
at Fairchild. The public is always invited. Monthly
meetings feature well-known authorities speaking
on various tropical plants, as well as a raffle table
of items supplied by members—offering plants we
would all love to own.
TFEPS will host its beautiful 2014 Show and Sale
in the Garden House at Fairchild May 31–June 1.
There, you will find beautiful displays and many
exciting tropical plants for your own collection,
including some rare and hard-to-find crotons.
For more information on meetings or the show, visit
our website at www.tfeps.org.
SPRING 2014
41
A CENTENNIAL
CELEBRATION OF
MONSTERS
by georgia tasker
photos by archives/FTBG and hank poor
G
iven his life’s mission of improving
American agriculture, it is little wonder
that Dr. David Fairchild would entitle his
published photographs of insects
“Book of Monsters.”
He spelled out his reasoning in the introduction: “The
pictures in this book are portraits of creatures which
are as much the real inhabitants of the world as we
are, and have all the rights of ownership that we have,
but because their own struggle for existence so often
crosses ours, many of them are
our enemies. Indeed, man’s own
real struggle for the supremacy
of the world is his struggle to
control these tiny monsters.”
Published by the National
Geographic Society 100 years
ago, “Book of Monsters” drew
its first breath at the onset of
World War I, and only 5,000 copies were printed.
Nonetheless, it is emblematic of Fairchild’s lifelong
pursuit of science, colored by generous sympathy for
the natural world and the “terrible struggle to live.”
Fairchild’s inspiration for the photographs, he wrote
in “Monsters,” came from Dr. Nathan A. Cobb, “who
first showed what the face of a fly looks like.” Cobb, a
contemporary of Fairchild’s, was a scientist and artist
who worked in Australia, Hawaii and Washington,
D.C. He developed a new division of science, called
nematology, using microscopes and photographic
equipment of his own design. Coincidentally, he was
one of the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors
who found an infestation of insects and root-knot
nematodes in the 1910 shipment of flowering cherry
trees that Japan sent as a gift to Washington, D.C. It
was a gesture of friendship arranged by Fairchild, who
promoted the cherry trees. Those 2,000 trees were
burned, an incident that led to the establishment of
quarantine regulations on plant introductions to the
Fairchild improvised a camera, called Long Tom, in
his workshop. “The friends who visited us on holidays
helped make the long camera, and it was made at
three separate times, an eight-foot length at a time.
When the creature is very small, I use the 24-foot
length, but when it is large, the 12 or 8-foot one.”
An assistant named Willis moved the mounted insect
and handled a flash lamp to illuminate the creature’s
underside.
Marian Fairchild, left, waits while David Fairchild, center,
and assistant Willis prepare to photograph insects.
U.S. (A second shipment of flowering cherry trees was
arranged and successfully planted in 1912 around the
Tidal Basin.)
In “The World Was My Garden,” Fairchild
also mentions the influence of E.L. Crandall,
a photographer who contributed to National
Geographic magazine and the Carnegie Institute.
Crandall loaned Fairchild a large, 25-inch focus
lens so he could photograph a grasshopper. “This
opened up a new world, the world of familiar objects
magnified three, four or 10 times, as contrasted with
the microscopic world with which I was familiar,”
Fairchild wrote.
At their Maryland home, In the Woods, David and
Marian Fairchild collected spiders, bugs, caterpillars
and the rest of the cast of “Monsters.” Fairchild
described the book as being “produced in the
playtime hours of two busy people” who would rise
before dawn to work before breezes could move their
tiny subjects.
To Marian, David Fairchild gave full credit for staging
the anesthetized entomological zoo. On a block of
wood coated with paraffin or candle wax, covered
with a large leaf, she arranged the legs of the insects,
fastening “each foot in place by heating the needle in
the candle flame and pricking a hole in the leaf just
under each foot so that the wax will come up through
the leaf and hold it fast.”
This tedious work had to be done quickly so the
insect did not look dead in the photos. Complications
frequently arose: A preying mantis would not die;
contracting muscles of a grasshopper’s back leg
pulled the other legs loose; a hornet refused to
hold its head up and antennae drooped. All were
“exasperations which lead straight to profanity unless
one is very careful,” Fairchild wrote.
Remarkable for their time, the photographs are
accompanied by descriptions that charm as well as
inform. Take these descriptions of spiders: Fairchild
marvels at their multiple eyes, their ability to jump or
trap. He points out their fangs or their sacks of poison
and their eight legs that may extend, on daddy-long-legs,
to eight times the length of the body. The spiny bellied
spiders, the jumping spiders, wolf spider, orb weavers
and vagabond spider that makes no nest or web—all
come under the scrutiny of Fairchild’s expansive
curiosity and eight- to 24-foot camera bellows.
Fairchild wrote that the wolf spider’s six nocturnal
eyes (the other two of its eight eyes are used during
the day) enable it to catch prey at dusk. A jumping
SPRING 2014
43
An ant photographed by the Fairchilds.
An ant taken by Hank Poor in the Microscopy and Imaging Lab at the
DeMare Science Village, using today’s sophisticated equipment.
spider also has eight eyes, but they are diurnal,
“enabling the creature to hunt only by day.” The
orb-weaving spider, “with the skill of an experienced
fish-net maker” will have manufactured on a
summer’s morning a quantity of web that would be
“the equivalent of two miles of elastic and sticky rope
if she were as large as a six-foot man.” His full-face
image of Dolomedes tenebrosus, a fishing spider,
“from a fly’s point of view” is ferocious, indeed.
True bugs, with their beaks and ability to suck,
include the assassin bug with its striped legs, the
ambush bug that can kill a wasp or bee. These true
bugs prompted Fairchild to declare, “No schoolroom
training in observation can compare in value with the
outdoor observations of living insects.”
A katydid bears ears on its foremost legs, just below
each knee, to hear its own song, Fairchild muses.
Another singer, the cricket, rubs his wings together
and over the ages has sung man to sleep. The
cockroach once crawled over giant club mosses and
tree ferns of the carboniferous era, but today “crawls
over the cracker box and makes its way through every
crevice in the kitchen,” and “is, of all the creatures in
our houses, the most detested.”
44 THE TROPICAL GARDEN
Blister beetles, scarabs and longhorn beetles, flies,
mosquitoes and horse flies give way to butterflies
and moths, even a caterpillar that died of a parasitic
fungus. “One cannot help wondering where the
[fungus] got in and how the caterpillar felt about it,”
Fairchild notes. Ants, bumble bees, a leaf-cutting bee,
millipede and centipede are all here.
Finally, the pill bug, “the last survivor of the great
land crustaceans … which at one time, in countless
forms, abounded everywhere in the then young
world. It is not an insect, but a last survivor, related to
the crabs more closely than to any other branch of the
animal kingdom.” To our photographer, it
was irresistible.
edible gardening
The Edible Caribbean
Fruit Garden
By Richard Campbell, Ph.D.
Welcome to the Caribbean! Indeed, sometimes with our hectic
pace of life here on the mainland we forget the simple fact that
for most of the year, South Florida is, climatically speaking, the
greater Caribbean. We share much of our natural world, the
plants and the animals, with our island neighbors, and this opens
up many opportunities for the edible garden.
A
s in the Caribbean, our soils
are thin and poor, our summers
long and rainy, the winter and
spring dry and windy, and we
have our share of tropical storms. Yet, with
the proper plant selection, we can create a
Caribbean paradise with a bounty of fruit
throughout the year. For, make no mistake,
the South Florida fruit gardener is blessed.
Here we can purchase quality fruit trees
that meet our every whim, and we do not
have to use dangerous chemicals to keep
them alive or to produce fruit. There are,
however, a few important points that the
edible gardener must remember.
First, select fruit trees that are well-
adapted to our climate. The list of appropriate
species is long and diverse. There are fruit
trees for every culture, taste and season.
Mango, avocado, sapodilla, mamey sapote,
Spanish lime, jackfruit, caimito, abrico,
white sapote, tamarind, jocote, persimmon,
coconut, canistel, macadamia, pineapple,
passion fruit, Barbados cherry, dragon fruit
and citrus are just a few of your potential
choices. Botanical gardens and your local
U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative
Extension Office offer publications on
fruit trees for South Florida, and there are
resources available on the Internet. Take care
to seek out information that is specific to our
area; avoid generic offerings. Drive, ride your
bike and walk around the community to
get an idea of what is possible.
Second
, the prudent gardener does
not ignore the laws of nature. Caribbean
fruit gardening means that one embraces
the monsoon: the pattern of rainfall that
results in a cool and dry winter and spring
and warm, wet summer. Most of our
fruit trees are well adapted to a monsoon
climate. Irrigation is reserved for the lawn,
as it will only damage the fruit tree’s
overall health, production and quality.
Third
, there are upper- and lowercanopy fruit trees in the Caribbean that
provide for vertical stratification within
the edible garden. The mango, avocado,
mamey sapote, sapodilla and Spanish lime
form the upper canopy, with the tamarind,
jackfruit, caimito, canistel, pineapple and
jocote below. Vertical stratification of the
canopy in this way will maximize space,
provide for greater diversity in the edible
garden and also protect against losses due
to hurricanes.
With this foundation, give your fruit
garden proper care. Pruning is essential to
maintain the size and productivity of the
entire edible Caribbean garden. Topping
for size control and thinning of the
canopies will help maintain proper yields
and productivity. It will also keep the fruit
closer to the ground for your enjoyment,
instead of for the squirrels and birds.
The edible gardener must also learn a
greater tolerance for pests. The diverse
Caribbean landscape you create will
increase both predators and natural
controls in the landscape; the gardener
must play along. When encountering an
insect on your prized canistel, you will
hopefully find yourself asking what type of
insect it is, and not just how to kill it. Most
insects and disease in the edible landscape
are best handled through patience and
care. There is no need for chemicals.
Sustainable production will also reach into
the horticultural care of the fruit garden.
Commercial chemical fertilizers will be
used sparingly; instead, favor mulches
and composts. Mulching, in fact, will
be a cornerstone of the Caribbean fruit
garden. Given the poor nature of our soils
here in South Florida, any addition of
organic matter is welcomed. Mulching will
increase water retention, suppress weeds
and increase the overall health of the trees.
Welcome to the Caribbean, even if you
have not physically moved. It is easy to get
swept up in the hustle and bustle of our
lives in South Florida, but within our edible
landscape, the Caribbean fruit garden can
give us perspective. The monsoon-adapted
fruit trees will lead you into an appreciation
for the seasons, marked by the bloom and
the harvest. You will not need a calendar;
it will be the mango and the tamarind that
cycle to the wet and the dry by means of
the bloom and their sweet reward.
Want to learn more about edible gardens?
Visit Fairchild’s Edible Garden to learn
how you can create your own fruiting
landscape suitable for South Florida.
SPRING 2014
45
Photo by Roy Llera photography
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AT FAIRCHILD
Invite your guests to step into the Garden
and feel the urban world fade away...
With three reception areas and multiple
outdoor spaces among Fairchild’s 83 acres,
the possibilities are limitless.
For more information and availability,
please call 305.663.8058.
FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN
Experience a luxurious tropical garden with
a large selection of proven and exotic
plants for South Florida
Orchids, begonias, water lilies, vines,
flowering trees and shrubs. rare plants,
butterfly plants, supplies and more
Landscape design | Waterfalls
Pond installation | Water features
Palm Hammock Orchid Estate, Inc.
Est. 1973
Visit our website, then visit our garden
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gardening in south florida
Spring
Gardening
Spring is the perfect season for making changes to
your garden or starting a new one. Follow these
top tips to take advantage of the season.
By Georgia Tasker
S
pring into action: The season
for planting and transplanting is
upon us, and if you want to make
changes, additions or subtractions
to your landscape, this is the time to do
any or all of the above. It’s also the perfect
time to launch into a new garden. Read
on for ways to shape your own bit of Eden.
Think of your garden as being
composed of outdoor rooms. It’s nice to
move from one room to the next without
seeing everything at once, so make the
transition as graceful as possible: Wind
your pathways around screens or hedges
so following them will be more pleasing
than walking in straight lines. Try to make
the pathways, be they mulch or brick or
stone, wide enough to allow two people
to walk side by side along them. Don’t
forget to add benches or other types of
seating areas.
Consider what already grows on
your property and figure out how to utilize
it or eliminate it. Make a scale drawing
of everything that is there, then work on
filling in the blanks. Use a hose to outline
planting beds or enlist the help of a can of
spray paint.
Remember that the light will
change as seasons change, and plants that
are in full sun in the summer may end
up in winter’s dark shadows. This can
lead to shrubs stretching out for light or
to shade-loving plants suffering from leaf
burn as the sun heads south and slips its
rays beneath a protective tree canopy.
Additionally, flowering plants need more
light than non-flowering plants.
Water
requirements also have to
figure in your planning. Generally, plants
that require little or no supplementary
irrigation thrive best on the perimeter
of a garden. Natives often fill this bill,
although even natives must be watered
until they become established, usually
after one growing season. Watch your
yard after rain to see if it has low-lying
areas of standing water. Plants tolerant of
“wet feet” may work best in such areas,
whereas drought tolerant plants will not.
Some shrubs, such as wax myrtle, can
take wet or dry conditions, so do your
research. Plants that grow on the margins
of wetlands also work in low areas; these
include buttonbush, marsh hibiscus
and ferns.
Start with Trees
Trees always should be planted first, as
they take the longest to mature. Think of
these as the ceiling to your rooms. If you
have power lines over part of the yard,
plant only small trees beneath them.
A small tree usually is defined
as one that grows to 15 or 20 feet,
which may seem tall in a townhouse or
zero-lot-line yard. Lignum vitae, black
ironwood, desert senna and Texas wild
olive are small, beautiful trees that stay
within this height range. Another option,
powderpuff, reaches 15 feet and will
attract hummingbirds with colorful balls
of beckoning stamens; its small relative,
the dwarf powderpuff, may stay in the
five-foot to six-foot foot range. Maintained
properly, even mangos can stay in the
small range.
Medium-sized trees
, which
should be at least 30 feet from power
lines, include the native pigeon plum,
which can reach 30 to 50 feet; satinleaf,
another native that reaches 30 feet;
stoppers, which are understory hammock
trees that can grow to 20–plus feet; or
SPRING 2014
47
yellow-or pink-flowering Tabebuia trees,
which range from 15 to 40 feet. The
yellow-flowering verawood, which is
in the same family as lignum vitae, can
top out at 20 feet. Crabwood, dahoon
holly, wild cinnamon and bay rum are
seldom planted but are wonderful small to
medium trees.
Big trees
, such as live oaks, need
a lot of air space to stretch their strong
branches, which typically spread wider
than the tree grows tall. A 40-foot live
oak would like to have its branches reach
out some 60 feet. A mahogany that grows
to 40 feet tends to have a canopy spread
of 40 feet. The native figs—strangler and
shortleaf fig—reach 40 feet and also stretch
to 40 feet across. Small yards may not be
able to accommodate such big trees.
Palms, so iconic of our latitude, like
to be clustered together if they are small
to medium sized, or planted as solitary
specimens if big and burly like a talipot
or Bismarck. Palms in groups of three or
five are visually pleasing. Call it the rule
of odds. When planting a group, try to
acquire plants of different heights, another
visually pleasing arrangement. Decorative
stones or river rocks often serve as a nice
ground cover for palms, or add cycads or
native grasses as companions. Try muhly
grass, dwarf fakahatchee grass or Elliot’s
love grass.
Add in Shrubs
Next, add shrubs. These may be used to
screen or define a property line, to add
seasonal color, to provide shelter for
birds or to serve as walls. Wild coffee,
Florida boxwood, locustberry, cocoplum,
American beautyberry, crotons, ixoras
and snailseed are frequently-used shrubs,
but you also might explore different
kinds of “shrubs,” such as lady palms,
that can form a nice screen. If you want
to create a screen, remember that small
leaves “read” more coherently as a single
screen than do plants with large leaves.
Hedges, depending on the eventual
size of the plants, can be composed
of shrubs planted two or three feet on
center—which means leaving two or
three feet from the center of the trunk of
one specimen to the center of the next.
Informal hedges that don’t require regular
pruning will be lower-maintenance in our
year-round growing climate.
Exotic shrubs that grow well here include
thryallis, snow bush, copper leaf, natal
plum (carissa), plumbago, whitfieldia,
Chinese hat plant, yellow-flowering
shrimp plant and lady of the night.
Don’t forget fragrance as a component of
your garden: Consider Brunfelsia, Tahitian
gardenia, orange jessamine and butterfly
ginger. Vines can bring fragrance to the
garden as well. Rangoon creeper and
stephanotis add especially sweet and
pungent aromas.
Include birds, bees and butterflies in your
planning. They all benefit from native
plants, plants with nectar-filled flowers
and shrubs in which to take shelter.
Firebush, pineland strongbark (shrubs
from the pine rockland), beautyberry,
pearl berry, lantanas and Jamaica caper—
these natives offer plenty of nectar and
fruit for birds and butterflies. Water is also
crucial for these creatures, not only for
drinking (I’ve watched bees sipping from
stones around a waterfall), but also for
mental health. The gentle sound of a small
waterfall offers wonderful relief from the
clatter of urban goings-on—for you and
your garden visitors.
Orchids, aroids,
bromeliads and ferns
Once you have established trees and
palms, you can add bromeliads, orchids,
ferns and aroids to their branches or
trunks to realize the full dimension of a
garden in South Florida.
Orchids
on palm trunks can be
attached so they face east for the morning
light. Use TwisteezWire, wire or even
pantyhose to attach them. Pantyhose
won’t girdle the trunk or branch. You also
can utilize old stockings, knee-highs or
pantyhose as containers for slow-release
fertilizer. Attach just above the roots of
an orchid so that fertilizer will be
delivered when it rains.
Climbing aroids, such as
Philodendron davidsonii, Phil. mexicanum
and Phil. erubescens, can be started up
a tree or palm from cuttings inserted into
mulch at the base and initially tied to the
trunk. It won’t take long for the roots to
grow and adhere to the bark.
Bromeliads often are grown as
epiphytes (growing on trees or other plants,
but getting nutrients and moisture from
other sources) in South Florida gardens.
Use fishing line or Liquid Nails to attach
them either on a vertical trunk or horizontal
limb. Fireball, a Neoregelia bromeliad, is
enormously popular because it is small,
becomes a brilliant deep red when given
six hours of sunlight each day and does not
bite. Tillandsia is the genus of many of our
native bromeliads, which appear on live
oaks without even being summoned.
Ferns
, such as rabbit’s foot ferns,
resurrection fern, golden polypody,
strap ferns, whisk ferns, birds nest ferns,
staghorn and elkhorn ferns, all can be
grown epiphytically.
Once you have planted the beginnings or
even the endings of a garden, remember
to add organic mulch. Melaleuca mulch is
ideal, as it is composed of invasive exotic
trees that have been an environmental
headache for a century. Eucalyptus
is another fine mulch. Chipped tree
trimmings from your friendly arborist
also are great. Mulch helps soil retain
moisture to reduce the need for irrigation,
and it may also reduce weeds. Avoid
red or any other colored mulch to keep
unwanted chemicals out of your soil, your
kids and your pets. Three to four inches
of mulch around trees and shrubs can
also decompose and make your plants
happier. Keep mulch a good two inches
away from the trunks of your plants to
avoid disease.
bug beat
MOSQUITO
mayhem
I must admit, there is one
animal I’ve wished would go
the way of the dodo bird: the
mosquito. Of course, that would
probably cause a lot of trouble
for all the animals that eat
mosquitoes—such as birds, bats
and frogs. Nevertheless, besides
tormenting animals and causing
a minor, though itchy, allergic
reaction, mosquitoes’ need for
our blood poses an actual threat
in the form of diseases including
malaria, yellow fever, dengue
fever, West Nile virus and
equine encephalitis.
L
ast year we heard about the
invasion of the large Psorophora
ciliata, or gallnipper mosquito, but
its size and ominous name belie—
sort of—its actual threat. While it can carry
disease and feeds with a nasty sting, it’s not
been shown to be a “competent vector of
pathogens,” which means it doesn’t seem to
transmit diseases from one blood source to
another. Plus, its larvae actually feed on the
larvae of other mosquito species.
Of the approximately 80 species of
mosquitoes in Florida, 13 are considered
vectors of disease. One such species, which
is a bit easier to recognize, is the Asian tiger
mosquito, Aedes albopictus, so called not for
its ferocity but rather for its black-and-whitestriped legs. It is known to spread equine
encephalitis virus and dengue. While all
mosquitoes in the Aedes genus can spread
disease, the tiger mosquito’s appearance has
correlated with a surprising decrease in the
yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, which
also spreads the virus that causes dengue
fever. Dengue fever hadn’t been seen in
Florida for 70 years until 2009. Last year saw
multiple outbreaks in Stuart, and A. aegypti
is the suspected culprit. Both of these species
are found throughout the southeastern U.S.
and beyond.
We may need to get used to dealing with
this kind of hazard. Problems like dengue
and malaria are no longer threats solely
to jungle adventurers and explorers. In an
NPR interview in September 2013, Dr.
Aileen Chang, a physician and expert on
dengue fever at the University of Miami
Health System, explained that “temperature
and weather patterns are changing. We're
seeing more dengue throughout the entire
world. So now, having it creep up to
Florida, the most southern part of the U.S.,
is not that surprising.”
There’s more: In late 2013, the first case
of chikungunya virus was reported in
the Caribbean, though it hasn’t yet been
reported in the U.S. Its vectors, however,
are our old friends, A. albopictus and
A. aegypti, so I imagine chikungunya’s
encroachment into the U.S. is well within
the realm of possibility.
So what do we do? While there’s no easy
answer, two important strategies are to avoid
exposure in the first place and to deprive
mosquitoes of convenient places to breed:
• Wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts
outdoors, particularly at dawn and
dusk—even during the summer.
• Drain standing water! It can accumulate
in the oddest of places: garbage cans,
birdbaths, folds in tarps over grills,
etc. Mosquitoes particularly love laying
eggs in or near water inside old tires,
which heat up nicely in the sun and act
as incubators. Another place to watch is
By Kenneth Setzer
empty flowerpots, especially plastic ones
with areas that don’t drain. Hose out
your bromeliad tanks, as they, too, can
harbor larvae.
• Use screens on open windows.
• When outdoors, use a repellant
recommended by Floridahealth.gov:
Products containing DEET, picaridin
(also known as icaridin), oil of the lemon
eucalyptus and IR3535 have been proven
effective as insect repellants. Picaridin,
unlike DEET, doesn’t dissolve plastics.
Apply repellants over sunscreen, if you
are using both.
• If you spend lots of time outdoors,
consider permethrin-treated clothing and
camping supplies, which have been used
by the military for many years. The treated
fabric repels insects even after washing.
Knowing what doesn’t work is also
important. University of Florida’s Mosquito
Information Website exposes some mosquito
repellent myths: They are not deterred by
ultrasonic devices, eating garlic, carrying
fabric softener sheets or using bug zappers.
Even were we to douse the world in
insecticide, we’d only manage to kill off our
friends, like bees, and mosquitoes would
still be here. We have to use our brains to
beat them by minimizing exposure, being
on the lookout for potential breeding areas
and eliminating them.
Learn more about mosquitoes and
combating them at:
The Florida Mosquito Database
mosquito.ifas.ufl.edu/FMD/Florida_
Mosquito_Database.html
University of Florida’s Mosquito
Information
mosquito.ifas.ufl.edu/Index.htm
University
niversity of Florida’s Medical
Entomology Laboratory
aboratory
fmel.ifas.ufl.edu/
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D.D.M. HORTICULTURE SERVICES, INC.
A DESIGN, BUILD & MAINTENANCE COMPANY.
Diverse Garden Projects.
New garden construction. Older plantings refurbished.
We are the single source provider for entire project, including plantings, hardscape,
irrigation, lighting, ponds, fountains and its follow up maintenance.
Telephone: (305) 663-0993 Field: (305) 710-8848
Email: [email protected]
Debra DeMarco, B.S., Ornamental Horticulture
6790 SW 74 Street
South Miami, FL 33143
plant collections
More than 500 palm species and the world’s
largest palm DNA data bank make up the largest
plant family collection at Fairchild.
Fairchild’s Historic Palms
By Sara Edelman
O
ur palm collection is the
largest plant family collection
at Fairchild. Currently, more
than 500 palm species grace
the Garden, from all over the world,
and researchers often travel here to
study palms they can’t find anywhere
else. Instead of flying to Africa to study
Hyphaene thebaica, researchers can come
to the Garden, enjoy a tropical iced tea
and complete their work. At the DiMare
Science Village, home to the world’s
largest palm DNA bank, researchers can
analyze molecular data. Even if you’re not
a scientist, our palms can easily steal the
show on a visit to the Garden.
Fairchild is clearly a leader in the
palm realm, and it is a result of careful
planning, insight and patience during the
Garden’s long history of palm collection,
preservation and management.
Even as the Garden was first opening its
gates, the palm collection was already
a main focus. In fact, the palms were
the Garden’s first residents. They were
originally planted in the Montgomery
Palmetum, and that is where the majority
still reside. Named after Col. Robert
Col. Robert Montgomery
with Latania loddigesii.
Photo by Dr. David Fairchild, Archives/FTBG
fertilized twice a year, in the spring
and early fall, with great help from the
grounds crew. A team of strong and
dedicated palm horticulture volunteers
undertakes most of the daily trimming and
maintenance.
Palm horticulture responsibilities also
include planting new and interesting
palms, building on the Garden’s heritage.
If unique palms interest you, check out the
Johannesteijsmannia perakensis, a species
that was recently added to our collection
and currently resides in the Tropical Plant
Conservatory and Rare Plant House. Or,
take a trip through the Rainforest and pick
out the stand of Ponapea ledermanniana
individuals. Fairchild staff wild collected
them as seed in Micronesia, and they are
some of the last remaining individuals of
this species.
Col. Robert Montgomery, Dr. David Fairchild and a friend
with Dr. Newcomb’s tree labels, May 1941.
Archives/FTBG
Montgomery, the Palmetum was filled
with palms from his own collection, and
many of the original palms are still there
today. Their silver nametags read RM,
memorializing their original owner—
Robert Montgomery.
At the Garden’s opening, the south gate
was the main entrance and led directly
into the Montgomery Palmetum. Many
important buildings were constructed
around this area, including the
Montgomery Library and Museum, plant
houses, a refreshment stand, the Garden
House and staff offices. Some of these
historic buildings still exist, making the
Montgomery Palmetum, not only a vestige
of old palms, but also a cornerstone of the
Fairchild’s garden design. As they have
been since planting began, the plots in the
Montgomery Palmetum are organized by
genus, grouping together important plant
genera, such as Copernicia, Coccothrinax,
Hyophorbe and Syagrus.
52 THE TROPICAL GARDEN
To be sure, the Palmetum is not the
only place where palms were planted at
Fairchild: They were spread throughout
the Garden. The Bailey Palm Glade,
dedicated in February 1942, contains
many important and interesting palms,
including the old man palm, a Fairchild
favorite. Although by sheer numbers and
size, the Palm Glade is much smaller
than the Montgomery Palmetum, it
creates a beautiful view of lake and palm,
unlike any other vista in the Garden.
The Lowlands, the largest part of the
Garden, also contain many palms. In
fact, the Lowlands have a plot dedicated
solely to our native palm species, which
can weather most South Florida storms,
exemplifying resilience and strength.
Management of the palm collection, since
its creation by Montgomery, has been the
responsibility of Fairchild’s horticulture
department, and keeping such a historic
collection in good shape involves
planning, teamwork and creativity. To
keep all of our palms healthy, they are
The palm collection is full of jawdropping, strange-looking and fascinating
palms. Nannorrhops ritchiana, a palm
found in the Montgomery Palmetum and
in the pinelands, is from Afghanistan.
This palm does not exhibit other palms’
normal, solitary growth habit. Instead,
branches and inflorescences form in
the middle of the stems. Each stem
continuously does this and the result is
an incredible specimen (One that can
withstand snow, no less!). This palm
grows in the snow and branches so
strangely, it definitely craves to be the
center of attention. Another attention hog
is Borassus flabellifer, a marvel just based
on its sheer size. In the Lowlands, these
palm giants tower over all palms, making
even a tall palm feel like an average Joe
next to Lebron James. The fruits, which
are eaten throughout Southeast Asia, are
easy to identify: they look like coconuts
but are soft and quite fragrant.
Fairchild’s historically significant collection
remains one of the largest palm collections
open to the public. These impressive and
fascinating giants will steal your attention,
and most certainly, your heart.
NANCYBATCHELOR
305 903 2850
WWW.NANCYBATCHELOR.COM
Fairchild magazine_Feb.14.indd 1
1/15/14 5:26 PM
What’s in a
name?
Several of the Garden’s
plant species have
received new scientific
names to reflect their new
classifications.
By Georgia Tasker
Photos by Georgia Tasker and Mary Collins
M
arilyn Griffiths compiles a monthly list of what’s
in bloom in various collections at the Garden.
When she puts these on a spreadsheet, she notes
where the plants originated, who donated them to
the Garden, the larger family in which they may be found and
their accession numbers. Recently, she gave us a “heads-up” on
some plant name changes. Keeping up with these changes might
well be brain exercises meant to stave off the effects of aging.
Certainly, they help taxonomists keep their jobs.
Cordia globosa, which many of us have known as a butterflyattracting native shrub with sprawling, untidy behavior, now is
Varronia bullata subspecies humilis. Alas, Euricius Cordus and
his son Valerius, 16th-century German botanists, must relinquish
this particular honorific. Cordia and Varronia have long
stumped taxonomists. For a long time Varronia was considered
a sister to Cordia, but in 2007 scientists wrote that it was time
to “resurrect” Varronia as a genus. Hence, Varronia bullata
subspecies humilis.
Botanical words for color are
among the easiest to learn.
Here’s a sample.
alba = white
argenta = silvery
aurantica = orange
aurea = golden, yellow
azura = blue
caerulea (coerulea) = blue
chrysantha = yellow
cinnabarinus = scarlet with a slight mixture of orange
coccinea = red
flava = yellow
magenta = magenta
ochroleuca = cream
pallida = cream
phoenica = purple
punica = red
puniceus = carmine
purpurea = deep pink
rosea = rose pink
rubra = red
sanguinea = blood-red
sulphurea = yellow or golden
violacea = violet
viridis = green
Rondeletia odorata
The plant in question has small leaves, white flowers and red
fruit. Its new name includes “bullata,” which means puckered,
and “humilis,” or low-growing. It does indeed have puckering
leaves, but five to 10 feet is hardly what I would call lowgrowing. In my experience, skipper butterflies love it, but I
seldom see any other butterflies nectaring there. I have one
Varronia bullata growing at home, and have found that it needs
little supplementary irrigation, but it does require pruning.
Another change has occurred with Panama rose, now named
Arachnothryx leucophylla. We know it as a plant with smallish
clusters of deep pink flowers. It sometimes is called “bush
pentas” because of the star-shaped corolla—the structure formed
by all the petals of a flower together. We can reminisce about
the plant’s old name, Rondeletia leucophylla. At least the species
name, leucophylla, which means white leaves, has not changed.
Botanical words can distinguish
much more finely, however.
atroviriens = dark green
atrocyaneus = dark greenish-blue
atroviolaceus = dark violet
miniatus = scarlet
incarnatus = flesh color
plumbeus = leaden grey
viridisflavus = greenish-yellow
subviridis = pale green
viridi-griseus = greenish-grey
And more
candidus = pure white
eburneus, eborinus = ivory-white
lacteus = milk-white
albescens = turning white
citrinus = lemon-yellow
corceus = saffron-colored
fulvus = dull-yellow, tawny
Portlandia platantha now has taken over two former species:
Portlandia albiflora and P. latifolia. The Jamaican shrub with
white bell-shaped flowers has a lovely fragrance. It grows well in
our soils, but is cold-tender. Well, aren’t we all?
SPRING 2014
55
gifts and donors
The following gifts were made between November 1, 2013 and February 28, 2014.
Please notify the Member Services and Donor Relations Office at 305.667.1651, ext. 3310
if your information is incorrect. We apologize in advance for any errors or omissions.
Major Gifts
The Paul and Swanee DiMare
Science Village
The Paul DiMare Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Paul DiMare
The Prof. Raymond F. Baddour,
Sc.D. DNA Laboratory
Prof. and Mrs.
Raymond F. Baddour
The Richard H. Simons Loggia
Richard H. Simons
Charitable Trust
Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Kramer
Education Programming
Bank of America
Vaugh-Jordan Foundation Inc.
Dr. James A. Vaughn Jr.
The Ethel and W. George
Kennedy Family Foundation
Mrs. Kendal Kennedy
Ms. Kathleen Kennedy-Olsen
International Palm Society
Plants and People Program,
People Living with
Alzheimer’s
Dr. Lin L. Lougheed
AXA Art Americas Corporation
Diamond Fellow
The Batchelor Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Jon Batchelor
Ms. Sandy Batchelor
Miller Family Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Steven J. Saiontz
Mr. Kenneth W. O’Keefe and
Mr. Jason Stephens
Veritus Economic Group Inc.
Mr. and Mrs. Louis J. Risi Jr.
Platinum Fellow
The Jayne and Leonard Abess
Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Leonard L. Abess
Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Aragon
Automotive Marketing
Consulting Inc.
The Clinton Family Fund
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce E. Clinton
56 THE TROPICAL GARDEN
Mr. and Mrs. Alan W. Steinberg
Mrs. Bunny Bastian
Ryder Charitable Foundation
Mr. Daniel G. Prigmore and
Ms. Marcia Hayes
FPL Corporation
Mr. Manuel J. Rodriguez
The Miami Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Allan Herbert
Ms. Marianne H. Luedeking
Mr. and Mrs.
Eugenio Sevilla-Sacasa
Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler
Alhadeff & Sitterson P.A.
Mr. and Mrs. Ethan W. Johnson
Ms. Anne Lovett and
Mr. Stephen G. Woodsum
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth R. Graves
Aligned Properties Inc.
Mr. and Mrs. Jose Hevia
Richard H. Simons
Charitable Trust
Mr. and Mrs.
Robert M. Kramer
Gold Fellow
Fellow
Baptist Health South Florida
The Baddour Family
Foundation Inc.
Prof. and Mrs.
Raymond F. Baddour
Mr. and Mrs.
Willard L. Wheeler Jr.
Mrs. Angela W. Whitman
Stewart Tilghman Fox
Bianchi P.A.
Micky and Madeleine Arison
Family Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Micky Arison
Codina Family Charitable Fund
Mr. and Mrs. Armando Codina
Ms. Bronwyn Miller
Mr. Lewis Eidson and
Dr. Margaret Eidson
Hogan Lovells US LLP
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen M. Takach
Mercedes-Benz of Coral Gables
Mrs. Lillian Fessenden
The Pfizer Foundation Inc.
Huntsman Director Matching
Gift Program
Silver Fellow
Mexico Tourism Board
Shubin & Bass PA
Mr. and Mrs. John Shubin
McGregor and Elizabeth
Wilson Smith Foundation
Mr. Wilson Smith
Mr. and Mrs. Clifford W. Mezey
Mr. Bruce C. Matheson
Perry Ellis International
Dr. and Mrs. Philip J. Rosenfeld
Mercedes-Benz of Cutler Bay
Ms. Maureen Gragg
Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Feldman
ExxonMobil Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Francis W. Hatch
The Parks Foundation of
Miami Dade
Give With Liberty
Florida International
Foundation, Inc.
Mr. and Mrs. John Lacy
Ms. Jacqueline Simkin
Dr. and Mrs. T. Hunter Pryor
Mr. Tom Keane Jr.
Dr. and Mrs. Richard Levine
Ms. Ruby M. Bacardi
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce A. Chesney
Mr. and Mrs. Eugene E. Stark Jr.
Mr. Samuel Barbosa and
Ms. Valerie James
Mr. and Mrs. Norman Benford
Mrs. Libby Besse
Reverend and Mrs.
C. Frederick Buechner
Mrs. Patricia L. Crow
Mrs. Betty L. Eber
Mr. and Mrs. Peter R. Furniss
Mr. Adam T. Hunter and
Mr. Jack Lord
Mr. and Mrs. Tom Huston Jr.
Iacovelli Family Foundation Inc.
Mr. and Mrs. Marc Iacovelli
Mr. and Mrs.
Marvin H. Leibowitz
Mrs. Barbara C. Levin
Ms. Tanya A. Masi
Mr. and Mrs. Billy Miller
Mr. and Ms. Robert Moss
Mr. and Mrs. David Quint
Mr. Benjamine Reid
Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Sacher
Mr. Martin E. Segal and
Mrs. Yolande Rodier
Dr. Donna Shalala
Mr. and Mrs. E. Roe Stamps IV
Dr. and Mrs. James G. Stewart Jr.
Mrs. Mimi Stewart
Ms. Mary Stiefel and
Mr. Jason Vollmer
Mr. and Mrs.
Harold Tanenbaum
Mr. and Mrs.
Parker D. Thomson
Mr. and Mrs.
Richard P. Tonkinson
Mr. and Mrs. Milton J. Wallace
Ms. Krystyl Watson
Mrs. Marta Weeks Wulf
and Mr. Karleton Wulf
Mr. and Mrs.
Malcolm B. Wiseheart Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. E. Richard Yulman
Mr. and Mrs. Alan J. Zakon
Dr. and Mrs. Richard Stewart
Mrs. Ann B. Bussel
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Davis
Mr. Alexander M. Fernandez
and Ms. Melanie Fernandez
Mr. Jonathan Groth and
Ms. Stacey Fredrickson
Mr. George T. Taffur and
Ms. Heather A. Otero
Ms. Sara Goldsmith
Mrs. Nettie Belle Robinson
Mr. and Mrs.
Matthew W. Buttrick
Palmetto Commercial Center
Ms. Kristina Raattama
Dr. Julieta Ross
Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Shuffield
Mr. and Mrs. Frank M. Zohn
wish list
Fairchild has a wish list of items that
will enhance our programs, but we
need Wish Makers. We hope you see
an item that you can help fulfill.
FOR OUR HORTICULTURE OPERATION
• 2 Tablet Notebooks, $1,500
• 12 Golf Cart Batteries, $1,200
• Walk-Behind Aerator, $1,500
• Hardware for Accession Tag
Embossing Machine, $2,000
• Plant Transport Van, $20,000
FOR CONSERVATION, RESEARCH AND
THE ONLINE HERBARIUM
• Extra-Tall Tripod, $150
• Macro Zoom Lens for Sony SLR
Camera, $800
• Laptop Computer, $2,000
• New Display Giclee Prints on Canvas
for Public Events, $2,000
• Plant Canopy Imager, $6,000
• Seed Germination Chamber, $8,500
• Mid-Size Pickup Truck, $26,400
• GPS Unit (GeoXT 6000), $8,000
FOR THE RESEARCH LIBRARY
• World Checklists for: Araliaceae, Conifers
and Fagales, $300
FOR THE FAIRCHILD FARM
• Golf Cart, $7,000
FOR THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE
OPERATION
• iPad, $500
• Digital SLR Camera, $500
FOR SPECIAL EVENTS
• Mobile Kitchen, $3,000
FOR MEMBER AND DONOR SERVICES
• Laptop Computer/LCD Projector, $2,000
• Digital SLR Camera, $1,000
FOR OUR STUDENTS
• New Vehicle for PlantMobile
Outreach Program, $25,000
• Solar Conversion Kits for Education
Golf Carts, $4,000
• iPads for Explorer Field Studies
Program, $2,500
• Laptop Computer for Lifelong Learning,
$600
• SMART Board for the Corbin Classroom,
$2,000
• Table-Top Easels, $125
• Art Display Panels, $1,000
• Dark Field Microscope, $600
• Cannon Double-Sided Feed Scanner,
$3,000
FOR OUR VISITORS
• Golf Cart, $7,000
FOR THE LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAM
• Laptop and LCD, $1,200
To fully fund a wish, donate a portion of the
cost or donate the actual item, please contact
Leslie Bowe at 305.667.1651, ext. 3338,
[email protected] or please visit
www.fairchildgarden.org/Donate
Commemorative
Gifts
In Memory of Emanuel
Pushkin
Harvey M. Meyerhoff
Fund Inc.
Mrs. Joyce Berman
In Honor of Adam R. Rose
and Peter R. McQuillan
New York Community
Trust
Mr. Stuart Serkin and
Mr. Jeff Trammell
In Honor of
L. Jeanne Aragon
Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Raattama
In Honor of Maureen and
Larry Gragg
Ms. Jane Dolkart
In Honor of Martha and
Bruce Clinton
Ms. Joan Gottschall
In Honor of Roberto and
Kristin Llamas
Mr. and Mrs.
Herb Zachow
In Memory of
Finlay Matheson
Mrs. Beverly B. Danielson
In Memory of
Bernadette Small
Mr. Larry Small
In Memory of
Charles B. Wheeler
Ms. Kristan J. Wheeler
In Memory of Ruth Abrams
Ms. Annette Wilson and
Ms. Paula Abrams
In Memory of Mike Elder
Ms. Trisha Woolwine
Ms. Patricia Kelly
Dr. and Mrs.
Frederic J. Levine
Mrs. Yonna S. Levine
In Honor of
Fay Aronson-Foglia
Mrs. Rhetta Mendelsohn
In Honor of
Nannette Zapata
Mr. and Mrs.
James A. Pullman
In Honor of Jerry Silhan
Ms. Caitlyn Silhan
In Memory of
David Holquist
Mr. Eddie Twist
Tribute Bricks
In Honor of
Mary Dugan Pratt
Ms. Judy Hendel
In Honor of Susie and
Alan Wolfe
Mr. Alan Wolfe and
Mrs. Susie Blank Wolfe
In Honor of Janie O’Brien
Mrs. Lavinia M. Acton
In Honor of
Abigail Summar
Mr. Issac Bernal
In Memory of
Maria McCue
Ms. Mary Hughes
Brookhart
In Honor of Terry and
Vivian Roy
Ms. Maria T. Bueno
In Honor of Dr. Mark Luger
The Office Staff of
Dr. Mark Luger
In Honor of Sofi and
Ava Giron
Mrs. Gladys
Giron Newman
In Honor of Joanne Bander
Dr. and Mrs. Marshall
Glasser, Emme Pedinielli,
Martine and Davida
Stocklan and Janine Alter
In Honor of Jessie Wolfson
Dr. and Mrs.
Marshall Glasser,
Maddy Krietman,
Carolyn Heiss,
Helene Natisky and
Heather Kravitz
In Memory of
Margarita L. Alonso
Mario Alonso and the
Damaris Morera
Family
In Honor of Kellie Stewart
Dr. and Mrs.
Glenn Morrison
In Honor of Adam R. Rose
and Peter R. McQuillan
Mrs. Abigail Rose
In Honor of
Marty Russell Metius
Ms. Judith F. Russell
In Honor of Joy and
Fred Malakoff
Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Sands
In Memory of Linda
Williams
Ms. Martha W. Serola
In Memory of
Dr. Catherine Willis
Dr. George E. Willis
In Honor of
Dr. George Willis
Dr. George E. Willis
Tribute Benches
In Memory of Betty, Ray,
and Uni Mullis
Mr. and Mrs.
Howard D. Williams
In Memory of
Dr. Catherine Willis
Dr. George E. Willis
In Memory of Leon
Stanley and Ruth Light
Stanley
Mrs. Ruth Light Stanley
Tribute Trees
In Memory of
Elizabeth Kerwin
Mr. Michael Kerwin
In Honor of
Charles P. Sacher
The Peacock Foundation
Inc.
In Memory of
Dr. Catherine Willis
Dr. George E. Willis
To support Fairchild, please visit
www.fairchildgarden.org/Donate
SPRING 2014
57
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vistas
Style-Savvy Guests Create Splendor in the Garden
I
Swanee DiMare and Frances Sevilla-Sacasa co-chaired Splendor
in the Garden, and additional Presenting Sponsors included
Mercedes-Benz of Coral Gables & Cutler Bay, Nicolas Feuillatte
Champagne, Piaget Bal Harbour and Selecta magazine.
n January, Fairchild became the backdrop for a beautiful
luncheon and runway fashion show, pairing up with Neiman
Marcus Coral Gables to host the third annual Splendor in
the Garden. More than 350 style-savvy guests attended the
event, which Local 10 News Anchor Laurie Jennings emceed.
Neiman Marcus’ senior vice president and fashion director,
Ken Downing, presented “The Art of Fashion” with collections
including black and white ensembles, a return to clothing with a
70s vibe, bold garden-inspired prints and paired shades of pink.
Models wore gorgeous butterfly embellishments woven through
their hair—perfect for a Fairchild setting.
Following the fashion show, the 2014 Fairchild Philanthropy Awards
recognized honorees for their contributions to the Garden and the
community. Each honoree walked the runway carrying a Piaget
long-stem rose as Jennings talked about their accomplishments.
The nine honorees were Stephanie Sayfie Aagaard, Ana Codina
Barlick, Trish Bell, Nora Bulnes, Pamela Cole, Margaret Eidson,
Barbara Hevia, Phillis Oeters and Suzanne Steinberg.
Proceeds from Fairchild’s events, including Splendor in the Garden,
support programs in tropical and native plant conservation, science
education, horticulture, and arts and culture.
1
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1. Splendor honorees (L-R) Nora Bulnes, Stephanie Sayfie Aagaard, Suzanne Steinberg,
Margaret Eidson, Trish Bell, Barbara Hevia, Ana Codina Barlick, Phillis Oeters and
Pamela Cole (seated) with Splendor Co-Chairs Swanee DiMare and Frances SevillaSacasa (standing right)
2. Frances Sevilla Sacasa, Swanee DiMare, Dr. Carl Lewis, and Laurie Jennings
3. Ken Downing, Neiman Marcus senior vice president and fashion director
4. Models on the runway
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Gala in the Garden
O
n Saturday, February 1, Fairchild welcomed more than
400 guests to the annual Gala in the Garden. Swanee
DiMare and Frances Sevilla-Sacasa once again cochaired this important event, while Joyce Burns and
Penny Stamps served as philanthropic chairs. Guests celebrated
Fairchild’s 75th anniversary—a momentous milestone, indeed.
The evening commenced with a lovely cocktail reception on
the Mosaic Courtyard of the Shehan Visitor Center. There were
towering ice sculptures featuring Fairchild’s “75” years. A silent
auction was bustling with activity as guests bid on items including
cruises, jewelry and vacation packages.
Guests then moved to the Lakeside Pavilion overlooking
Pandanus Lake which was set aglow, reflecting the night’s sky.
The Pavilion was beautifully decorated with touches of pink
and green, tropical plants including Philodendron and hundreds
of orchids illuminated by the soft, golden light of hanging
Indonesian-inspired lamps, while magnificent centerpieces
adorned the tables. (The orchid plants used in the décor were
later integrated into the Garden’s landscape.)
Fairchild’s chairman, Bruce Greer, welcomed guests and
spoke about the tremendous advancements Fairchild has made
during the past 75 years, and most recently, this past year,
especially highlighting the Million Orchid Project, which aims
to reintroduce 1 million native orchids to South Florida. Next,
DiMare and Sevilla-Sacasa thanked the Gala Committee and gave
special recognition to Bunny Bastian, Joyce and Tony Burns, Lou
and Mary Jean Risi and Penny and Roe Stamps for their tireless
support of the Garden.
After a delicious dinner, guests danced to the festive music of
the band Soul Survivors. Dessert rounded out a gorgeous South
Florida evening of friends, philanthropy and celebration.
Proceeds from Fairchild’s events, including the Gala in the Garden,
support programs in tropical and native plant conservation, science
education, horticulture, and arts and culture.
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1. Gala in the Garden
2. Board of Trustees president Bruce Greer, Evelyn Greer,
Paul DiMare, Chairs Swanee DiMare and Frances SevillaSecasa and Eugenio Sevilla-Secasa
3. Terry Buoniconti and Chris Pederson
4. Ice sculpture featuring Fairchild’s “75” years
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4
5
6
8
9
5. Joyce and Tony Burns
6. Penny Stamps with Errico and Patrizia Auricchio
7. Bunny Bastian and Jim Murphy
8. Mary Jean and Lou Risi
9. The Batchelor Family
10. Jennifer and Matthew Buttrick
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garden views
Winter Events
Kept Fairchild Buzzing with Activity
O
n January 24, 25 and 26, the Garden hosted the 8th
International Chocolate Festival. Visitors sampled
delicious chocolate from all over the world and
enjoyed sweet treats from local and international
vendors, cooking demos by prominent chefs, lectures from
chocolatiers and restaurateurs, a beautiful cacao display from the
U.S. Department of Agriculture and fun activities for kids to learn
how chocolate is made. American Heritage Chocolate dished
out an authentic hot chocolate drink made from an 18th-century
recipe, while presenting an interactive history on chocolate
during America’s colonial times. Visitors even learned how to
grow their own cacao tree.
1
2
The GardenMusic Festival offered another opportunity to enjoy
the beautiful January weather here in the Garden. For two
weeks, Fairchild became a venue for musical performances of
all styles. The second GardenMusic Festival was a success, with
six different concerts ranging from jazz to classical to Broadway
to folk music. A fun children’s concert let kids of all ages see
instruments up close in an interactive presentation. The concerts
were organized by members of the Sixth Floor Trio—Teddy
Abrams, Harrison Hollingsworth and Johnny Teyssier—who
won a Knight Arts Challenge grant from the John S. and James L.
Knight Foundation to host the festival.
The excitement and music continued on into February. on
valentine’s day, guests spent a romantic evening under thestars
at the valentine’s day concert, which featured Grammy awardwinning vocalist Patti austin and university of Miami’s Frost
school of Music dean shelly Berg.
1. Visitors enjoying the 8th Annual
International Chocolate Festival
2. The Sixth Floor Trio
Photos by Morgan Brooks/FTBG
Plants, of course, take center stage in the Garden, and orchids
were the stars at Fairchild’s 12th annual International Orchid
Festival on March 7, 8 and 9. Rare orchids from around the world
were on display at the American Orchid Society’s juried show,
presented by the Orchid Society of Coral Gables. The Garden
itself was festooned with orchids of all kinds, both outdoors and
in the Tropical Conservatory and Rare Plant House vendors had
thousands of orchids and orchid supplies available for purchase,
while lectures offered information on orchid growing and
conservation, including Fairchild’s Million orchid Project.
To see details on all of our upcoming events, go to
www.fairchildgarden.org/events. we hope you will join us!
SPRING 2014
63
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3. Visitors enjoying the 12th Annual International Orchid Festival
4. Kids discovering the Million Orchid Project at the DiMare
Science Village labs
5. The Valentine’s Day Concert, which featured Grammy Awardwinning vocalist Patti Austin and University of Miami’s Frost
School of Music Dean Shelly Berg
Butterfly Drawings
The Amazon Center for Environmental
Education and Research (ACEER), one of The
Fairchild Challenge Partners, continues to grow!
Just this year, ACEER earned Peru’s National
Award of Environmental Citizenship for its
environmental education programs promoting
conservation of the Amazon Rainforest.
ACEER started The Fairchild Challenge in 2011
with only three schools and 11 teachers. This
year, with its Challenge theme of “Butterflies of
my Region,” ACEER is working with 14 schools,
124 students and 23 teachers in the Peruvian
Amazon region of Madre de Dios, its capital
city Puerto Maldonado and the district and
province of Tambopata.
Luis Fernando Mackavi Ommia
Institución Educativa Emblemática “Dos de Mayo”
Diaethria Clymena V.
64 THE TROPICAL GARDEN
Rudy Alvarez Nayori
Institución Educativa Emblemática “Dos de Mayo”
Perrybris Pamela
“The ACEER-Fairchild Challenge in Peru is a
great way for our programming to include a
competitive, art-based opportunity for students
and schools,” says Maria del Carmen Chavez
Ortiz, director of Peru programs. “By promoting
our regional natural resources, students get the
opportunity to learn and go a bit deeper in what
they see in their surroundings.”
Photo by Becca Butler/FTBG
Plants and People programs
kick off fifth seasons
Participants in Fairchild’s horticultural therapy program, Plants and
People, for individuals living with Alzheimer’s and children with Autism
and their families, are enjoying the programs’ fifth season. Both groups
are now exploring the Wings of the Tropics exhibit in The Clinton Family
Conservatory. The excitement is universal and questions abound with
amazement, astonishment and joy.
Both groups’ activities alternate each month between the butterflies and
tram tours. This has proven to be a huge success, with everyone showing
keen interest in both activities, which, in turn, is opening new windows of
knowledge about the therapeutic benefits of nature.
Photo by Becca Butler/FTBG
During these visits, our dedicated group of Fairchild volunteers, guide these
special visitors and their caregivers through the Arboretum and on a trek
through the Rainforest. For those who have require a little more assistance,
we offer shuttle rides to the locations around the Garden that are on the day’s
agenda. we then serve a lunch.
The Plants and People Program has received accolades from groups
including the Alzheimer’s Foundation, The Jewish Home for the Aged, Easter
Seals and several Autism-related foundations. We are proud that our tropical
garden can be a salve for the elderly, the fearful, the shy and those who
experience and interact with the world in a very different manner.
This program is generously funded by Lin Lougheed
and the Aaron I. Fleischman Foundation.
A
social wizard, Dr. Elane
Nuehring had a genius for
making caterpillars feel like
butterflies. All acquaintances
were welcome to spread their wings
under her gaze. “Elane made so many
friends, and she introduced them to each
other, and we all ended up as friends,”
says Becky Smith, head of special
collections for HistoryMiami and a
decades-long friend of Nuehring.
In Memoriam
Elane Nuehring
By Georgia Tasker
When Nuehring died February 5 of
cancer, she left her husband Ron, a
cadre of trusted allies and a sharply
raised awareness of the critical needs of
South Florida’s butterflies—imperiled or
common, drab or beautiful, all of them
struggling in a perilous world.
A professor who rose to director of the
Ph.D. program in the School of Social
Work at Barry University, Nuehring
was Introduced to birding at Tropical
Audubon in the early 1980s. Later, with a
group of other “birders gone bad,”
she and a handful of Tropical Audubon
members worked to bring butterflies
to the attention of the public when the
Miami Blue butterfly teetered on the edge
of extinction. She eventually became
president of the Miami Blue chapter of the
North American Butterfly Association, and
approached Fairchild with the idea of a
Butterfly Festival. It launched in 2003, and
she helped put it together year after year.
“She coaxed people and otherwise
motivated them, and was never
argumentative or unpleasant,” says
Dennis Olle, who was president of the
Miami Blue chapter before Nuehring.
“One of her strengths was to recognize
talent and get more out of people that
they might not otherwise have done.”
As Nuehring’s cancer worsened during
the past year, she was hospitalized
repeatedly. In one late update on
her condition, Ron wrote, “She is
comfortable. Her mind is travelling, but
to places and times she cannot share.” The
following day, he posted the final update:
“Elane passed quietly at home this morning
in a room flooded with sunshine. The
person who was Elane is gone. The spirit
who is Elane is alive, well, one with nature
and free to travel at will. She will not rest in
peace—there is far too much to learn and
an infinity to explore.”
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from the archives
Fairchild’s archive is a rich repository of botanical and
horticultural history and science. Researchers from all over the
world seek out information from it for their work.
Publishing the
ARCHIVE
How Fairchild’s
Archive Continues to
Shape Research and
Writing of all Types
By Nancy Korber
O
ne would think that after more than 10 years of
answering questions from the archive, we would have
a list of all possible questions and ready answers for
each of them. But that could not be further from the
truth. In fact, we are constantly surprised by the requests we get.
Certainly, there are some recurring themes; but researchers are quite
creative about their use of the archive collections.
Of course, there are topics that come up regularly. For
example, we get questions about Florida botanic painter Lee
Adams almost monthly, and the involvement of the Civilian
Conservation Corps in the Garden’s establishment is a popular
and recurring topic. Probably the most persistent topic is the
involvement of Dr. David Fairchild in the establishment of
Washington, D.C.’s cherry blossom trees. For those of you who
might be unaware, David Fairchild facilitated the introduction
of those heart-stoppingly beautiful bloomers into our nation’s
capital. His records here at the archive have helped historians
research the story of their introduction. Ann McClellan, arguably
the nation’s expert on the topic, has visited Fairchild more than
once and cites the archive in her works, including “The Cherry
Blossom Festival: Sakura Celebration.”
One of the more thoughtful topics researched in the archives
was a critical look at the question: When and why did the
tropical forested regions of the world change, in the hearts and
minds of the world, from being dark, mysterious and threatening
jungles to diverse, nurturing rainforests? Kelly Enright’s book
“The Maximum of Wilderness” (2012) includes a chapter written
from archive resources illuminating this topic. The chapter is
titled “Ingesting the Jungle: the Botanical Experiences of David
Fairchild and Richard Evans Schultes.”
(L-R)
Everglades National Park’s exhibition poster displays an image from
the J. K. Small Collection. Original caption for the image: Bringing
in a load of live orchids, ferns and bromeliads from the “homestead”
Hammock, Dade Co. Fla., July 2, 1915.
Photo and caption by J. K. Small.
The Cover of “Material Culture Review,” featuring one of David
Fairchild’s photographs of Lillian Burke and the ladies of the
Chéticamp rug hooking industry, July 1937.
Perhaps the strangest archive use of all (at least so far) is the
appearance of David Fairchild’s close-up insect images from
“The Book of Monsters” (see page 44) in “Kafka’s Creatures”
(edited by Marc Lucht and Donna Yarri, 2010). The book is
a series of essays on author Franz Kafka’s use of non-human
creatures in his writing. In the chapter “The Portrait of an Armorplated Sign: Reimagining Samsa’s Exoskeleton,” author Dean
Swinford compares Fairchild’s images of insects to those of
Kafka’s metamorphosizing Gregor Samsa. Fairchild probably
would have been intrigued by Swinford’s ideas, and delighted
that after 100 years, “The Book of Monsters” is still relevant.
SPRING 2014
67
We are constantly delighted by the new places that archive
research requests lead us. For instance, sometimes seemingly
“simple” requests turn up heretofore hidden historic treasures. Dr.
Edward Langille of St. Francis Xavier University (in Nova Scotia,
Canada) contacted the archives with a request for information on
the American artist Lillian Burke. He knew that Burke had worked
for the Alexander Graham Bell family, and David Fairchild’s wife,
Marian, was Alexander Graham Bell’s younger daughter. “Do
you have any information about Burke in the David Fairchild
Collection?” he asked. It turned out we have dozens of letters
between Marian Bell Fairchild and Burke; and because we
continue to scan and index David Fairchild’s photographs, we
also found dozens of photographs taken of Marian, Lillian and
the members of Nova Scotia’s Chéticamp hooked-rug cottage
industry (still in existence). The pictures we have of Lillian Burke
are the only known images of her as an adult. Langille has since
published at least two papers illustrated by those images.
In addition to requests from all over the world, our own
researchers at Fairchild use the archive. Dr. Javier FranciscoOrtega used archive resources in several publications to
highlight David Fairchild’s research in the Canary Islands.
Fairchild was one of the earliest plant explorers to study the flora
of the Canaries and leave extensive records of his findings. Using
his plant observations, his meticulous notes and scanned and
indexed photos, Francisco-Ortega was able to track Fairchild’s
actual journey across the islands. With copies of Fairchild’s
pictures in hand, it was also possible to capture current images
from those exact locations, highlighting the changes in the
islands during the past 90 years.
The David Fairchild Collection is just one of the collections in
the archive. Researchers have used information from almost
all of the dozen or so collections. During the past year, two
collections have been highlighted as we celebrated the 30th
anniversary of the publication of Donovan and Helen Correll
and Priscilla Fawcett’s “Flora of the Bahama Archipelago.” This
32-year old tome, which is 1,692 pages long and weighs more
than five pounds, remains the seminal work on the flora of the
Bahamas. Both the Correll and Fawcett Collections are part of
the archive. A paper including Correll’s reminiscences of his
work at Fairchild and in the Bahamas was recently published by
the Garden staff in the publication “Moscosoa.” A forthcoming
paper in “The Botanical Review” will provide a more in-depth
look at the contributions of the Corrells and Fawcett to the study
of plants in the Bahamas.
Images of the “Barranco de Guiniguada” in the Canary
Islands, showing the site (on the right banks and slopes
of this gorge) where Eric Sventenius established the
Jardín Botánico Viera y Clavijo botanical garden. TOP:
Image taken on July 1925 during Dr. David Fairchild’s
visit to Gran Canaria in the Canaries. BOTTOM:
The same location, in September 2011.
Photo by Arnoldo Santos-Guerra. From Francisco-Ortega, Javier, et. al. 2012.
David Fairchild expeditions to the Canary Islands: Plant collections and
research outcomes. Brittonia 64(4): 421-437.
68 THE TROPICAL GARDEN
These are only a few of the works that have used the resources
of the archive during the past several years. As we progress in
curating the archive collections, and especially as we are able to
put more of the information online, the steady stream of visitors
and researchers will most likely increase, highlighting the historic
treasures from the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Archives.
Publications cited above and more are included in a bibliography of
research based on archive resources on our website. Please check the
archive’s “What’s New” section.
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VISIT US
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
10901 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables FL 33156
T: 305.667.1651 F: 305.661.8953
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Everyday (except December 25)
Admission: Free for Fairchild Members and children 5 and under.
Non-members: $25 for adults, $18 for seniors 65 and up and
$12 for children 6-17.
Eco-discount: If you walk, ride your bike or take public
transportation to Fairchild, receive $5 off admission for adults and
$2 off admission for children. Members, remember to bring your
Rewards Card to earn your gift passes!
Military Discount: We are pleased to offer active military
personnel free admission. Please present Military IDs.
FAIRCHILD BLOGS
Found at Fairchild
Discover Fairchild past and present with Fairchild writer Kenneth
Setzer. www.fairchildgarden.org/FoundatFairchild
Gardening with Georgia
Plant writer extraordinaire Georgia Tasker writes about plants and
everything Fairchild. www.fairchildgarden.org/GeorgiaTasker
Musings with Mary
Fairchild Senior Horticulturist Mary Collins writes about
horticulture in the Garden and around South Florida.
www.fairchildgarden.org/Horticulture
For the Love of Mangos
Fairchild Tropical Fruit Curators Dr. Richard J. Campbell and
Noris Ledesma write about traveling the globe in search of the
world’s most delicious fruit. www.fairchildgarden.org/LoveMangos
The Cheng Ho Blog
Seventy years after David Fairchild’s famous Cheng Ho
expedition, you can follow the ship’s journey with daily journal
entries posted in this historical blog.
www.fairchildgarden.org/ChengHo
GIFTS THAT GIVE BACK
Give the gift of Fairchild
Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3351
[email protected].
www.fairchildgarden.org/GiftIdeas
GET INVOLVED
Become a Member
Become a member and enjoy Garden benefits all year long.
Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3301 or 3362
[email protected]
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Volunteer
Become a volunteer and help the Garden grow.
Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3324
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www.fairchildgarden.org/Volunteer
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Donate to the Garden and help support Fairchild’s programs.
Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3351
[email protected]
www.fairchildgarden.org/DonateNow
EVENTS AND PRIVATE RENTALS
Information about events can be found on Fairchild’s website.
Tickets for certain events may be purchased online. Interested in
having your event at Fairchild? Please call us or visit our website.
Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3359
[email protected]
www.fairchildgarden.org/Events
SHOP AT FAIRCHILD
Visit The Shop at Fairchild for a large selection of gardening and
culinary books, home decor items and unique gifts.
Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3305
[email protected]. store.fairchildonline.com
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The 22nd Annual International
Saturday and Sunday
July 12 and 13, 2014
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
fairchild
tropical
botanic
garden
Printed on recycled paper that contains
10% post-consumer waste and is FSC®
Certified using vegetable-based ink. When
you are finished enjoying this magazine,
please recycle it by sharing it with a friend.
Non-Profit
Organization
U. S. Postage
PAID
Miami, Florida
Permit No. 155
Featuring
Butterfly Days and the
Annual Spring Plant Sale
Saturday and Sunday
April 12 - 13, 2014
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.