Montreal Gardens is a really magical spot in the mountains, on the Caribbean island of St Vincent. It is located at the top of the Mesopotamia Valley. The gardens were created by a local Vincentian, Douglas Brisbane. It was really interesting to see what, we’d think of as common house plants, in temperate parts of…
Category: Travel
Patagonia Revisited
I took this photo when I visited the Perito Moreno Glacier in spring 2013 (September in Agentina). It is such a beautiful, fascinating place. It is lovely to look back at some previous travels at this time of year. Especially when travelling continues to be difficult for everyone. The Patagonian Sierra Finch, Phrygilus patagonicus, Yal…
Vanilla orchid and Edmond Albius
Vanilla is actually produced from the cured seed pod of the vanilla orchid, Vanilla planifolia. This species of Vanilla orchid is native to Belize, Guatemala and Mexico. It’s thought to have been first cultivated by the totonac people. Vanilla has a climbing monopodial habit and is found growing up trees in its native habitat. The…
The Orchid bee, Euglossini
Gongora powellii is an orchid species native to Panama, with its pollinator; an orchid bee, Euglossini species. You can see orchid pollen sacs, called pollinia attached to the bees back. Euglossini bees are typically iridescent colours and there are over 200 species at least! This photo was taken at the conservation centre; Aprovaca in Panama…
Patagonian Fire Gorse
Anarthrophyllum strigulipetalum, Patagonian fire gorse, mata guanaco, photographed at Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, Chile. Anarthrophyllum strigulipetalum is similar to the red flowered A. desideratum. This rare and beautiful plant is included included in a talk I’m putting together on Andean Alpines for the Alpine Garden Society. The genus Anarthrophyllum is in the pea family,…
Mediterranean Steps, Gibraltar
Please do enjoy some of these wildflower iPhone shots from the hiking trail called ‘Mediterranean Steps’, know simply as ‘Med Steps’, in Gibraltar. The walk winds up the Rock of Gibraltar through the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. Names verified with help from the book; ‘The Flowers of Gibraltar‘, by Leslie Linares, Arthur Harper and John Cortes….
Growing Gibraltar Native Plants
I’ve really enjoyed growing the Gibraltar native plants this year as part of our Conservation work at Gibraltar Wildlife. in this post I’ll share a few of these native plants. Firstly, we have the Melancholy toadflax, Linaria tristis from seed. The common name is a reference to the species name (specific epithet) ‘tristis’ which means…
Travel highlights 2010 to 2020
In this post I will look back at some of my plant travel highlights from the past decade. Whilst we can’t go where we want to, whilst this awful pandemic continues, we can dream of future travels during lockdown. I have been very lucky to have travelled to some amazing places from 2010 to 2020,…
Laguna Colorada
Laguna Colorada, Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa, Bolivia (2013). Esta foto se ganó primer premio en la categoría paisaje alpino de competencia fotográfica AGS 2019. This photo won first prize in the AGS Photographic Competition 2019, in the Alpine Landscape category.
My Wardian Case 