From Beginning to End to Beginning Again: The Brief, Whirlwind Road Trip to Mobile, AL

Thursday, November 8 to Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Camellia japonica 'Sawada's Mahogany' generously donated a few early blooms to our visit of Green Nurseries. This is one of my favorites from Mr. Sawada. The cool evenings brought out the purple blush, which adds an extra dimension of color to this stunning cultivar.

I seem to always ask myself this question as the proverbial rollercoaster is sputtering up to the tippy-top of the hill. The breathlessness you feel just as you begin the drop into the twists and turns of the ride you find yourself strapped into catches me every time. Had I really thought through what I was attempting to do?

Is that sasquatch I spotted at MBG??? (Thanks for the photobomb, Maarten!)

The trip to Mobile had been floating around my mind since I’d come back to North Carolina. At some point I had to relieve my grandmother of the plants and stuff I’d left behind, and visit the friends and family I knew I would miss so much.

My mom had agreed to go with me to help with the complicated moving logistics/summersaults I would need to go through to get everything back. Room on a Uhaul for plants and the coinciding Independent Plant Breeders Conference (check out the star lineup and see the summary below for the historic photos!) helped me get part of the trip covered by work.

After all the thought I’d put into it, I was in a daze as I drove the first leg to Charlotte that Wednesday night after a full day of work.

What was I getting myself into?

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My mom and I set off at 8 o’clock sharp on Thursday morning. My goal was to get to Mobile in time for the pre-conference mixer. I drove the first leg from Belmont to Montgomery, and mom drove the last two and a half hours to Mobile. We’d been traveling for the better part of a day, but the grey day gave us no indication any time had passed.

Pulling up to my grandparents’ house seemed like the most normal thing in the world to do. It was still there in the same spot waiting for us. It hurt to think it had been more than four months since I was there. It had been much longer since my mom had seen her parents though. All in all, I decided to spend the evening with my family and leave the IPB conference for the next morning….

Bill Barnes takes a moment to remind us "if all else fails [in your breeding efforts] seek creativity elsewhere!"

Click here for more photos and check out the captions for more of the story!

Trip Summary
Thursday- Drive from Charlotte to Mobile, evening with family

Friday- Conference talks all morning at the Battle House Hotel, site visits to the Mobile Botanical Gardens and Bellingrath Gardens, conference dinner at Bellingrath (check out these old horticulture photos!), night with family afterwards

Saturday- Conference talks all morning at Battle House Hotel, site visits to PDSI and Flowerwood Nursery and Green Nurseries, plant exchange with Maarten, Bobby, Linda and MBG, house party at Donna and Joe Camp’s House

Sunday- Morning with family, afternoon spent packing stuff and organizing plants in yard for travel the next day, dinner with Maarten, Colleen, Linda and company at Aroy Thai restaurant

Monday- Uhaul rental as torrential downpours began in Mobile, picked up plants from Linda’s, Maarten’s and Bobby’s, packed my things into my car and the Uhaul, began drive back to Raleigh, stopped in Auburn for dinner with Keith, stayed at AirBnB in Atlanta

Tuesday- Drove from Atlanta to Raleigh, dropped stuff off at the house and at work, mom drove the Uhaul back to Belmont, I don’t remember when I did that night. WHEW!

Gallery of Gardens 2017 in Mobile, Alabama

The 2017 Gallery of Gardens tour ended today, just in the nick of time before the thunderstorms came. We dodged the weather this year with a successful two-day series of gardens tours through nine private gardens in Mobile, Alabama.

I had the great fortune of making it to five of these gardens (I still had to work too, so five out of nine isn't bad!) before the end. I always enjoy seeing how people interpret the space they have, and love to see what plants strike people's fancy. There were lots of oakleaf hydrangeas in this year's gardens, as well as an excellent palette of textures, and not so much heavy on the use of flowers.

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Click on the addresses for additional photos:


959 Augusta Street
Bob and Sherry Allen

Bob and Sherry have created an intimate garden in their outdoor spaces around their house. The front of the home easily flows to the backyard through the side gate lined with Boston ferns and confederate jasmine. I loved the pottery birds on the birdbaths. Great little plant vignettes, especially their combination planters that featured a Coleus with a Hosta.





261 Marine Street
Barry and Stevi Gaston

I fell in love with Stevi and Barry's backyard the more I spent time there. They have cleverly balanced the existing concrete with raised beds and planters. Each of their studios (Stevi is a painter and Barry is a potter) opens up to the garden, which features many places to sit and enjoy the many lines of sight through the garden. The koi pond features a fountain that creates the sound of running water throughout the space. They've even created an outdoor shower, so they never really need to go inside!




259 North Jackson Street
Jim Gilbert and Tim Lloyd

Agapanthus is one of my favorite perennials and I have to say, Jim and Tim did an excellent job place theirs in this intimate courtyard space. A large cast iron fountain sits in the middle surrounded by tropical plants in all size pots. They've really got a nice palette of tropicals. I especially loved the light pink oleander on the standard.

 



255 North Jackson Street
Pete and Renea Burns

It really amazes me how people have carves out spaces to live in the old streets of Mobile. Renea and Pete's home is cleverly disguised from the street behind a climbing fig-covered wall; once you see the door, then you go down an intimate passageway that opens up into their own private garden. A large window looks out into the garden from the home. Again, a lovely fountain (this one full of water hyacinths though!) trickles in the middle of a pond in the center. Their two friendly dogs were lounging and rolling around under two very large specimens of staghorn fern. They accomplished an incredible amount for such a small space.

255 State Street
Kelly Baker

Oh my goodness! If the stately oaks of State Street don't immediately overwhelm you, the hidden gem through the little black garden gate will. Kelly's garden ceiling is made of beautiful oaks, and she's festooned her garden with elegant statuary and lovely green and white combinations. Each little corner of the garden has something going on in it, and everyone who was with me was envious of how open her house was to this little garden. The use of mirrors and a focal art piece (actually painted by Stevi Gaston, another lady on the garden tour!) draw your eye beyond the dimension you're already in.

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And then to tie up the day, a stop at Roosters for some homemade peach habanero salsa and jerk chicken. Yum!

Fire on the Hill: Burning the Longleaf Pine Forest at the Mobile Botanical Garden

It was an early morning on Tuesday, but well worth it for the electric anticipation of what was going to happen: eight acres of the forest was going up in flames this day. The sun rose over the 35 acres of the treasure forest. The way it lit up the trunks and made the needle glow seemed to foretell what was coming.

Burning the longleaf forest, June 16, 2015

 (Click for more photos of the burn and other scenes of the Longleaf Pine Forest through the spring)

A crowd gathered as time got closer to when the fire crew would light the first part of the fire. Volunteers had their tasks and news crews stood ready with cameras as the fire crew came riding down Pat Ryan Drive. After Andrew said a few words, the first stream of flames were released and a defining line of fire licked away at the duff. The tell-tale smell of a campfire filled the air and smoke billowed into the morning.

Part of the fire crew watched as the fire line moved down the main drive and south through the forest. Other members of the crew went to other parts of the perimeter to set more fires. Volunteers and bystanders moved to get a better view of the expanding fire. People driving down the street slowed down to look at the flames eating away at the brush in the forest. The wind played with the smoke, blowing it this way and that; giving the scene an otherworldly appearance.

As the morning moved on, I took a moment to go closer to the smoking line to see how the Sabal palms bent beneath the touch of the fire. I then spotted a couple of ground bees flying lazily around a small opening in the fire break. Lucky, the brush had been raked away and their home wasn’t in the line of fire. The bees themselves seemed pretty confused as to what was going on as they flew in circles around the opening. Amazing luck.

I was taking a photo of them when the burn master came down from the hill and asked if I’d been to the top of the hill yet. I hadn’t because of my knee, but the tempting view helped me overcome that. 

My slow footsteps were warmed by the smoldering brush as I passed over the fire line and into the center of the burn. Spot fires were growing in front of me and the comforting crackle of fire sage and other brush catching called out from them. A large fire rose higher into the canopy as the flames reached a particularly willing patch of brush. It was a large tongue, licking the lower branches of the longleaf pine full of glistening needles. It soon calmed down and coalesced with the rest of the fire. 

A stand of longleaf pines as old as me stood in a cluster along the road, living remnants of a good seed year, much like the one we’d had this past year. I made my way through the brush towards the trail to join up with the rest of the burn crew and to see my tree cohorts wrapped in the fire. They looked good in their state of transformation, through the smoke and flashes of orange and red. 

"A Pine that Fire Built", the title of a pamphlet  in the office rang true. As I stood there watching, fire creeping along the ground and smoke filling the air, I knew the next year was going to bring new life to the forest. Fire, although seemingly impatient and all-consuming, can teach us a lesson about time and temperance. Change seems to happen in almost an instant, but real change is slow, patient and accumulates over time. This fire is just one of many that will happen, and without this one the next would not be as effective. Time is a continuum and fire is just a part of it.

I'M GOING TO EDINBURGH

Well, I have been very slow about my recent updates; I've still got three more posts from my trip back in December (and they are still coming!). It's been a pretty busy time being back in North Carolina and moving down to Mobile, Alabama.

Center circle of the Millie McConnell Rhododendron Garden in the morning light.

But, I have some very exciting news!

I've been accepted into the University of Edinburgh's Master's of Science in the Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants!

That's right: Edinburgh, Scotland. The year-long program is done in conjunction with the researchers at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and looks to provide an incredible opportunity to gain more training and experience in field botany and applied taxonomy (also to explore the beautiful country of Scotland and be involved with RBG Edinburgh). Wow.

I have some more good news.

I will be staying on at the Mobile Botanical Garden in Mobile, AL over the summer working on the grounds and staying plugged in with their other programs. I can't wait to really dig in and get more involved in the collections.

Finally, I would like to send out a general thank you for everyone who has kept up with me and my travels. It has meant a lot to me that I have friends and family that care about me and what I'm doing. I would appreciate if you would take some time to view my GoFundMe page and think about if there is anything you would care to donate.

Just like this little Pinus palustris seedling, I am just getting started, but I am well on my way.

Emergence: Mobile Botanical Garden Volunteering and Longleaf Pines

I've made it safely to Mobile, Alabama and I'm staying with my grandparents here for a few weeks. It is vastly different from Martha's Vineyard or North Carolina: the first day I was here it was hard to breathe because the air was so humid for winter! But, I've loved looking at the trees and seeing that the dominant pine is the longleaf, Pinus palustris (yes, it has needles and yes, needles are considered leaves). It is such a handsome tree and too rare a sight in my native Piedmont North Carolina. Obviously, it's one of my favorite trees.

The shining canopy of a longleaf pine, Pinus palustris. They really glisten in the mid-day sun. If you check out the photos, you'll notice I have a slight obsession with the little pine seedlings.

I decided since I was going to be here for a while that I would reach out to the local Mobile Botanical Garden to do some volunteering (please support your local botanical garden in time, participation and/or money!). I immediately got an email from the director welcoming me to come by anytime, so I went out there to check it out this morning as soon as I could.

It was breezy and a little cooler than it had been the last few days, but the sky was clear and the day was gorgeous. The longleaf pine forest welcomed me along Museum Drive and I was so excited to be there as soon as I got out of my car.

Taiwan cherry in the Rhododendron Garden circle.

I briefly walked through the Millie McConnell Rhododendron Garden, taking in the mauve Prunus campanulata. Taiwan Cherry, blooming in the center and dreaming of the spring when the azaleas (actually Rhododendron cultivars) put on a show. There were even a few early blooms on the azaleas. If you ever get to visit Mobile in March or April, dear reader, please check out the garden and its spectacular collection of the many groups of azaleas. This is one of the most comprehensive azalea collections that showcases the Deep South's azalea breeding heritage.

It would have been a shame to skip over the Kosaku Sawada WinterGarden, where I knew I would see the wonderful diversity of Camellia cultivars blooming. Even on the second of February most of them were blooming heavily in all shades of white, pink and red, and in all sizes, from quarter-sized to almost six inches wide. Being on the Vineyard really taught me an appreciation for these wonderful plants, despite how common they can be in the landscape.

Camellia japonica 'Kitty'

After my quick jaunt on the grounds, I went to check in about volunteering. It looks like I came at the right time and I can't wait to get to work tomorrow! (Update, 2/3/15: six hours of pruning work and the azalea garden looks great!)

After my meeting, I finally had the time to walk through the Longleaf Pine Forest. Although it's been in existence since the 50's when the pond nearby was used as Mobile's water source, I've never had the opportunity to see it during my brief trips to the garden. Robin suggested I get the worm's eye view of the forest floor because this year was the heaviest seed cast in recent history. She was not exaggerating! Tiny seedlings, their cotyledons unfurling from their tan seed coats like octopi, carpeted the ground, coming up among pine needles, grasses, goldenrods (Solidago ssp.) and everything else in between. Longleafs in the grass and rocket stage were everywhere as well. The whole walk was like traveling to a different world for a moment.

Pinus palustris seedling.

Please do take a moment to appreciate this very sobering fact: prior to European settlement the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates there was almost 90 million acres of longleaf pine forest stands. Today, there is only a little more than 500,000 acres. It may not be a rainforest, but the Southeastern United States is the only place in the world where the longleaf pine savanna ever existed. Please check out the Longleaf Partnership Council's website for more information.