Adventures in the Polly Mobile 2: Hanging out near Kingston, RI (aka a Summer Town in Winter)

It was a cold, dreary day in Kingston, Rhode Island, as you would expect for this time of year. Not yet the bitter cold of January, but definitely getting grumpy.

East Matunuck State Beach

 

(Click above for photos)

I had to get up super early in the morning to get a parking pass to save my car (and my wallet) from the college parking Nazis. Once I was up I just decided to go post up at Hope Student Center to catch up on some work and get a super reasonably-priced coffee. As the morning zombies filtered in, I realize I blended in, but also didn't. There were people pouring over flash cards and staring blankly at their computers, hopes that the information they needed would beam into their sleep-deprived brains. I was just hanging out. There was only a slight tinge of urgency to my work, but I was spared the future-crushing pressure of being under the academic wire.

Tessa let me know when she was done and we met at the Horridge Greenhouses (here's their blog). I took a quick jaunt through the grounds of the botanical garden to check out the collections. It was a modest offering and came complete with signage! I've really developed a taste for the need to have tags on plants and I was happy to see them (and the Magnolia grandiflora 'Bracken's Brown Beauty').

It was a low-key afternoon and evening exploring southern Rhode Island. Not much was going on and Tessa and I were reminded of the California Dreamin' Mad Libs fiasco that occurred on the way back from the Woody Plant Conference because it was definitely a 'Califonia Dreamin'' day as we were standing on East Matunuck State Beach.

We ended up walking through a forest of Juniperus virginiana that looked like something out of a horror movie and to take the edge off of the experience we contemplated what kind of monster we might encounter. Apparently people with chainsaws were the first thing she thought of. What an irony.

Adventures in the Polly Mobile 2: Fairhaven and New Bedford, MA and Aquidneck Island, RI

Honestly, looking back on this day, it hardly seems like it could fit all of what happened in it.

Brenton Point, Aquidneck Island, RI

I woke up in Fairhaven, MA; visited sites in Fairhaven and New Bedford, MA; and then made my way to Newport, RI and got the grand tour of Aquidneck Island, RI; and finally rested my head in Portsmouth, RI. Whew! Not as much horticulture today, but goodness did I get a sense of place. Check out the photos for more adventures (click the photo above).

Adventures in the Polly Mobile 2: Pre-Departure from Martha's Vineyard

The first day of my internship at the Polly Hill Arboretum I pulled up in my '99 Chevy Lumina, the gold one with the green hood, next to another Chevy Lumina that was the same green color as my hood. After many chuckles from the staff, I learned the car was Polly's and they lovingly referred to it as the Polly Mobile. Of course the "old lady car" that my Lumina is would stick it to me that first day and my car became the Polly Mobile 2.

(Click the photo for more photos!)


State Beach Road, looking towards Oak Bluffs.

As I was planning my trip back down to North Carolina from Martha's Vineyard, Tim Boland asked about what adventures the Polly Mobile 2 would take and that instantly had to be the name of my epic two-week expedition through New England and down the East Coast. So, for the next two weeks look out for the random moments, horticultural or otherwise, that will make up my trip in the Polly Mobile 2.

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I should have been doing more packing than exploring the day before I left Martha's Vineyard, but with snow on the ground when I woke up and such a gorgeous afternoon peeking out of the clouds in the afternoon, who could stay inside? Well, needless to say, it was a long night. Totally worth the opportunity for farewells and reflection though.

First Week at the Polly Hill Arboretum and Martha's Vineyard

Despite the definite slow pace of Martha's Vineyard, the week has gone by in a blur. The island has no stop lights, the speed limits rarely go over 35, and many store owners are just now opening their shops for the coming season. Life is different at island-speed, but it is definitely a speed I don't mind abiding by.

The Polly Hill Arboretum is such a gem and is quiet as the spring slowly makes its way north. My first week as the new collections management intern has been a crash course in BGBase, the database program used to track all of the plants in the collection, and BGMaps, the mapping software used to electronically map the plantings. I also started a phenology chart for the Magnolias in the collection, meaning I monitoring which Magnolias are in flower and what stage they are at.

I've spent the time trying learn the plants in the collection, as well as familiarize myself with the native plants. Thankfully the flora of North Carolina's Coastal Plain is similar to Martha's Vineyard's sand plains area, and I learned some of them when I took my Local Flora class at N.C. State (and just to prove how small of a world it is, Bruce Sorrie, who is currently a famous botanist at the N.C. Natural Heritage Program also worked on the flora of Martha's Vineyard before he went to N.C.!).

It's really dark at night, so much so that you have to turn on your high beams to navigate the winding back roads (and avoid hitting the skunks). But, the lack of light pollution has allowed me to be able to see so many more stars than I've ever seen in my life.

About one third of the island is permanently conserved land, most of which is accessible to the public for walking and recreation. I can explore to my heart's content, whether it is going a few miles to a beach on the south side of the island, or out of the back door down a trail through The Nature Conservancy's property to see the young ospreys fly. In the eternal words of Devon, my roommate, "Life is good."