Phipps Thailand Discovery

Progress in Planting

2006-11-03T13:40:00.000-05:00

With 3 more trucks of plant material on their way to Pittsburgh it was time to make our presence known with the construction crews. Beds had to be cleared and soil brought in...and plants unloaded into the space. The truck with the 10 palm trees for Palm Circle took an entire day to unload. Since they are cold sensitive palms, the truck had to back up to the new conservatory and the palms brought immediately inside. Here are some planting progress photos from the past week.

Ben plants the pockets in Cascade Falls

The Bougainvilla from 'Tropical Landscapers'

A view from the Cascade Falls to the Special Events Pavilion

The large palms from Botanics Wholesale installed in the Palm Circle

The canopy walk area is filling in, the facade to cover it will soon be installed and a mangrove has been added to the fish pool.

3 giant fishtail palms near the entrance pavilion

Racing toward the Airport

2006-10-19T10:20:00.000-04:00

Wednesday morning was spent traveling North to the Apopka area (near Orlando) and shopping at two great fern / foliage producers. First stop was Central Florida Fern - gorgeous ferns including my favorite - Heart Fern. Many other ferns were secured including Antenna Fern, ET Fern, Upsidedown Fern, Crested Polly Fern and Possum Footed Fern.

The next stop - Milestone Foliage had these amazing Cordyline 'Chocolate Queen' ...hmmm...not for the tropical forest but maybe for an upcoming Fall Show?

As I was leaving Apopka, racing to return the rental car and make the flight at the Orlando Airport, I saw a mirage in the middle of an industrial park. A field of Asian pottery! Could it be true? I circled a few times and yes, it was truly a parking lot full of pottery. I stopped and was able to make the contact to purchase beautiful pots and water jars for our exhibit.

Definitely a successful mission with over 1,200 miles put on the rental car!

Moving North on the East Coast of Florida

2006-10-18T21:14:00.000-04:00

The next stops were north of Miami / Homestead in the Boynton Beach / Wellington / Loxahatchee areas of Florida. The first destination on Tuesday morning was Southeast Growers in Wellington. I had called ahead and asked to see some specific material including Polyalthia longifolia, Mangrove, Mahogany, Bauhinia, and Cassia. Those items were tagged but I (of course) found some other treasures that would work well in our space.

The photo to the left is the Polyalthia longifolia. It is a very cool tree - straight and narrow with weeping leaves. I saw it throughout Thailand. It will be used near our special events pavilion in the more formal section of the plantings.

Also, here is a photo of a very cool Pandanus tree that I found at Southeast Growers - check out the roots! It will be placed near the stream but not too close to the path because of the razor sharp leaves.

Next stop - a place I'd never been too... Tropical Landscapers. I saw an ad in the "Plant Finder" magazine which had a photo of some crazy clipped bougainvilla. It was on my route north so I decided to stop by. I went wild over these plants! I had a tough time deciding which I should take but finally selected 3 pots of multi pom pom purple.

After Tropical Landscapers, I stopped at Excelsa Gardens for my usual assortment of plants including Tiger Grass, Ferns, Spathoglottis orchids, Rangoon Creeper, Red Sealing Wax palms, Sting Ray Alocasia, etc. or as they say in Thailand...++.

Back to Florida

2006-10-16T23:53:00.000-04:00

Since the largest of the trees have been placed in the conservatory and the fall show officially opened on the 14th, I was able to sneak back down to Florida for a few days. On the agenda for this tagging trip was to locate Cassia fistula which is the King's Tree, also Mangrove, Coconuts, and smaller understory ferns and aroids.

After flying into Tampa on October 14th, I was able to spend some time at the Exotic Plumeria Tropical Garden just outside of Tampa in Seffner, FL. (http://www.exoticplumeria.com/cplumeria.com/) After visiting Thailand this past winter I knew that a visit to this nursery would be very important. Plumeria trees ranging in size from 10" to upwards of 25" pots were available. I selected several of the larger Singapore Dwarf cultivars with fragrant white flowers, also some of the smaller pink and yellow flowered cultivars.

The next stop was in Punta Gorda, FL at Top Tropical's new nursery location (http://www.toptropicals.com/). Tatiana and Mike are frequent travelers to exotic locations. Each of their expeditions has yeilded many incredible fragrant, flowering and fruiting plants. It was wonderful to spend the day talking plants with these two knowledgable plantspeople. I was able to select many plants from their Thailand expedition including Thai Magnolia, Vietnamese Gardenia, Wrightia and lemon grass.

After finishing on the West Coast of Florida, I worked my way down to Homestead to spend the entire day (Monday) looking for some of the wish list items. The first stop was Botanics Wholesale where I was able to select the palms for the Palm Circle area (criteria is 10 palms, solitary, graceful pinnate foliage, even heights, and maximum height not to exceed 60') of my short list of possible palms Botanics Wholesale was able to locate Carpenteria acuminata. Look at these beautiful palms!

Other stops in Miami / Homestead included Action Theory (for Mangrove, giant Fishtail Palms, and Bauhinia), Silver Krome (for Tacca and Anthirium) and Pine Island Nursery for rare fruit including trellised dragon fruit. Each of these trellises have 4 different cultivars of fruit - options include skin that is yellow, pink or red combined with an inside of black with white or pink.

End of the Week

2006-10-06T18:54:00.000-04:00

After one full week with a crane we were able to place all of our largest trees which created the structure for the overall canopy layer of the space. These trees include Spindle Palms, several types of Ficus, Tamarind, Date Palms, Black Olive, Star Fruit and others. In total, we've placed over 35 trees.

Here are some photos from this evening.

The Crane Has Arrived

2006-10-02T18:05:00.000-04:00

It is Monday morning and our crane has arrived! Our tree placement work has to be coordinated with several other crews - Cost of Wisconsin is still working on the falls and other rock outcrops, masons are working on stone facing along the steps and walls, the plumbers are installing root zone heating, and the electricians have roughed in condoit for pathway lighting.

Our crane is very special - it has to fit through a 9' x 9' opening, reach up to 50' and lift over 2,000 lbs. Since many of the trees were outside until today, the first order of business was to move trees inside and place them near their desired destination on the pathways. Here is a photo of the first tree that was set into place - an 'Allii' Ficus tree at the foot of the canopy walk.

Waiting Plants

2006-09-30T13:08:00.000-04:00

I'm anxious to plant the conservatory. Cold weather is approaching and so is the opening weekend! Plants that were ordered and shipped have been scattered throughout the facility. Many of the smaller plants were placed into our greenhouses while larger plants have been tied to the railings surrounding the exterior of our production greenhouse facility. Some of the plants for the new conservatory have also served many functions; some are currently on view in the Mythical Beasts summer flower show, others will be on view for the fall flower show. Our new Indoor Display Specialist for the Tropical Forest has been familiarizing himself with the plants and our Greenhouse Production Staff is anxious to get all of these plants moved out of the greenhouse so that they can begin to grow plants for the spring flower show and our next exhibits: Dale Chihuly Art Glass and Tropical Forest: Amazon.

Construction Progress

2006-09-30T12:38:00.000-04:00

Work on the Tropical Forest Conservatory has been progressing. The majority of the concrete sidewalks are completed and a crew from Cost of Wisconsin is creating the dramatic stonework (including 2 waterfalls, a stream, and a fish pool). Since the weather is getting cold, several of the largest trees were moved inside. We anticipate the arrival of a crane (to assist with planting) on Monday. The crane and operator will stay all week and help us to move the trees to their destinations throughout the space. Many of the trees are 30' tall, in 200-300 gallon pots and weigh over 2,500 pounds.

Plywood covers the walkways so that they aren't damaged while we are planting. Some rebar cages remain in the foreground - these are the first stage of the rockwork.

The crew from Cost of Wisconsin, Inc. installs rebar cages below the canopy walk. In the background you can see one of the waterfalls that the've completed. Once the cage is placed it is sprayed with Shot-crete, a few days later another layer of concrete is added as the rocks are sculpted and details like crevices are added. A painting crew follows and adds layers of green, brown, and black paint.

In this photo, the stream is in the foreground. Many planting pockets with drains and plugs have been added - they will be filled with Thalia, Cyperus, Pandanus, and Alocasia. The stream rockwork has been completed but the large waterfall wall [in the background] that hides behind scaffold and plastic has just been hit with its first layer of concrete.

Plants Arrive at Phipps

2006-08-15T12:25:00.000-04:00

Plants purchased during the tagging trip to Florida have begun to arrive. Phipps staff eagerly await the arrival of the truck each Monday morning. This week we've 23 large trees including Spindle Palms, Pygmy Date Palms, Ficus, Tamarind, and a Kapok Tree.

If you're curious...

2006-07-14T19:31:00.000-04:00

Maybe you're curious about how the plants are packed, shipped, transported and delivered? Each plant that is tagged will be held for us until we are ready to schedule delivery. Plants are usually pulled/prepared on a Thursday, loaded onto the truck on Friday and arrive to us on Monday. We will have some loads that will be full of just Phipps stuff so the delivery time may be quicker.

Here are some photos of plants being packed onto a tractor trailer at Southeast Growers. The workers wrap each plant and bring it to the truck with a small tractor and tree boom. The trucks are carefully loaded but filled to the brim.
-KD

Tagging, Day 3, Part 2

2006-07-14T19:07:00.000-04:00

After a full morning at Calusa Creek, I drove about an hour south to Wellington, FL to visit Southeast Growers www.southeastgrowers.com. I'd seen Richard Kern at the TPIE tradeshow several times and he always had interesting / out of the ordinary plants at his booth. Richard was able to spend the day with me going through his 40 acres of houses and fields to tag the SE Asian plants that we'll need. I found many of the plants that were on my wish list and also those that the education department would like to teach about. Many of these plants will wind up in the healer's hut / research field station area of the tropical forest.

WOW! Here is a quick rundown of my picks: Jackfruit, Elephant Apple, Longan, Lychee, Thai Everbearing Mango, Sugar Palms, Pinang Yaki, Bignay, Cecropia, Teak, Tamarind, Clove Tree, Traveler's Tree, Nutmeg Tree....

Here is a photo of one of the Thai Palms.

Here is Heather's 20' tall Kapok tree (there is a hint of buttress roots).
On the left is one of the small Ficus religiosa (Buddha Fig) that I tagged.
These are Rattan palms. They have a vining nature with thorny tendrils that reach out and grab whatever is closeby. This is the plant used to make furniture, placemats and all sorts of crafts.
And a new crop of Breadfruit - aren't those leaves so cool - very tropical looking!

-KD

Tagging, Day 3

2006-07-10T19:54:00.000-04:00

Today was a long but fruitful day.
I had intentions of getting to many more places than I actually made it to. Top Tropicals, Boynton Botanicals, Excelsa Gardens, and Bougainvillea Growers - you'll have to wait till my next trip down south.

I started the morning at Calusa Creek Tree Farm www.calusacreek.com in Stuart, FL. Stuart is north of West Palm Beach and about 2 1/2 hours from Homestead. I had visited the farm several years ago on a Tropical Plant Industry Expositon (TPIE) field trip. I knew they had big stuff but I was hoping they fared well with the hurricanes of last season. I was in luck! After meeting up with the general manager, Paul Sojka, I was able to tag many big trees. These beautiful Ficus were contract grown for another customer but only 1/2 were needed so I was able to take the remainder.

I also tagged some Phoenix reasoneri (Vietnamese Date Palm), Hyophorbe verschaffeltii (Spindle Palm), field grown Ficus, and contorted Queen palms with a bent trunk. The shade houses are amazing! Check out the size of these trees!

Tagging, Day 2

2006-07-08T22:05:00.000-04:00

As it turns out, Day 2 will also be in Homestead, FL. I've got several appointments lined up including Danny's Nursery, Power Bloom Farm, The Jungle, and Acosta Farms (container division).

At the first stop, Danny's Nursery, I spied these fantastic clipped Ficus trees. Normally I don't venture into the formal, clipped territory but they will be perfect to help recreate the look of the mai dat from the Royal Palace in Bangkok, Thailand. Danny's also had several Ficus 'Alii' ranging from 8-11' and 2 types of Jasmine (J. sambac and Murraya).

The second stop was just as exciting as they carried 4 cultivars of Bougainvillea on 72" trellises, 7-9 ball Eugenia pom poms, and a great crop of Gardenia. 3 great scores for creating the ambiance in the tropical forest village area!

Both The Jungle and Acosta Farms Container Divison had some of the plants that we'll fill in with but I'm still on the hunt for the big trees. -KD

Tagging, Day 1

2006-07-07T21:38:00.000-04:00

I flew into Ft. Lauderdale yesterday and I spent the afternoon and evening making appointments and preparing my wish lists. I'll be in Florida through Tuesday AM so I'm hoping I can get much of the purchasing completed. Today I will be in the Homestead, FL area visiting Botanics Wholesale www.botanics.com, Bick Farm, Acosta (Field) www.acostafarms.com , and Silver Krome Gardens www.skg.com . I'm looking for all sorts of plants for the new conservatory but my biggest priority is for the large trees since they will need to come into the building before it is closed up and because they will take up the most space.

Botanics Wholesale had many unusual genera of Palm from all over the world. I selected several species of Licuala and Rhaphis as well as Areca vestaria, the windowpane palm (Pinanga kuhlii).

I spotted a beautiful yellow flowered tree in the parking lot that I was able to tag in a smaller size, it is Bulnesia arborea. No huge trees :-(

The second stop, Bick Farms yeilded some cool flowering trees including the Orange Geiger, Pink Tabebuia, Royal Poinciana and Palms (Phoenix, Queen, and Red Latan). I took lots of notes but I'm in search of the big trees and SE Asian natives first.

The trip to Acosta (field) Farm was interesting. I parked at the end of a dirt road and waited for a man named Freddie to pick me up in his truck. I wished that I had a more conversational grasp of the Spanish language. Freddie drove me through the farm in his old pickup truck. We dodged huge ruts, puddles and swarms of mosquitoes. The field production area is just a small portion of Acosta Farms growing space and I knew I'd be headed to their container division on Saturday. I did end up tagging several trees there including some Royal Palms, Bauhinia, and Poinciana. Look at how the trees are grown in raised beds (meaning the rest of the area is swampy).
I tagged this Poinciana because it was the largest tree I'd seen thus far. It is about 20' tall and has an unusual form. It is kind of the runt of the area - left behind while other crops have been planted around it. I like that it hasn't been clipped and pruned for a formal look (what most people desire).

The last stop for the day was Silver Krome Gardens. In the middle of a rainstorm at 4:30 PM the owner's son Bill gave me the grand tour. I got the lay of the land and discovered many fantastic plants that will add the finishing touches to the conservatory. Check out this 'Thai Beauty' Caladium.

Until Tomorrow!

Construction Update

2006-07-03T16:45:00.000-04:00

The Tropical Forest construction is moving along and the subsoil has been placed. It is a sandy gravel mix of varying depths. Our planting soil (about 966 cubic yards) has been ordered and will be delivered within the next week. The soil will be about 4' deep throughout the conservatory. It is a combination of Haydite(expanded shale), Pro-Base (composted pine bark), sand, and a small amount of Peat Moss. It is time to tag trees for the exhibit so I'll be heading to visit nurseries throughout Florida in the coming weeks. We are looking for some generic tropical trees for the framework of the conservatory with the bulk of plants being of Thai origin or of the Southeast Asian origin. Since last year's hurricane season wiped out many growers, the hunt for large canopy trees will be time consuming. Our maximum ceiling height is 60' in certain areas and a 12' tree just won't do it! -KD

Back in Pittsburgh

2005-12-20T14:43:00.000-05:00

We made it back to Pittsburgh on December 12th. It was a long flight and we are both still recovering from jetlag. Since the opening of the Tropical Forest Conservatory is roughly nine months away, we'd like to keep updating the blog to keep everyone posted on our planning progress. Once we get unpacked and settled back into life we will begin to disseminate the information that we gathered during the trip. Our purchases of books and crafts, the photos that we took and the overall experience will help us to create realistic plantings, authentic structures, accurate interpretation, and relevant programming.

Next up for me is to continue developing the planting plan. I have a plant tagging trip scheduled in January. KD

Rama IX

2005-12-10T20:33:00.000-05:00

Since we are back in Bangkok we’ve decided to cross a few more of the must see items from our list. I am still interested in making it to the Rama IX Flower Show, Asia Books, the University bookstore, and the garden district. We were able to make arrangements for some of the shipping (books, etc. will leave on Tuesday and arrive in 2 months) but we are having a harder time with the more fragile items. Our next option will be the business center in the hotel.

Today I took a taxi to the Rama IX Park (2957), in search of the Rama IX Flower Show. Bangkok taxi rules state that the passenger is responsible for the tolls when the driver decides to take the expressway (60 baht) as well as the 45 minute taxi fare (179 baht). When I arrived at the park I had no idea where I was. After walking a short distance through the main gate a man standing about 4 feet away from me welcomed me over a bullhorn – “Hello, where you from?”. I continued to walk, passing food and clothing vendors, until I spotted a more permanent kiosk selling Rama IX Park merchandise. The ladies said hello and ran into the back to get their boss. I asked for the flower show and he said it was over but handed me 3 maps of the park.

2957

I wandered around and was excited to find that the vendors could care less what I was looking at and what I was interested in. It was a great contrast to our trips through the night bazaar and markets in which the vendors knock you over in the aisle to put a sarong on you.

I am not sure what I was expecting the flower show to be, and not sure that I actually found it, but I definitely had a great day. The park is filled with annual beds and labeled trees. I did find several themed gardens – English, Spanish, Thai, Japanese, as well as a large conservatory-style shade house and a desert dome. This is not a tourist park; it is a place where the locals go to escape the city for the weekend (2820). My best estimate is that there were 10,000 people spread throughout the entire park. Hundreds of vendors sold every type of garden item imaginable: mostly plants, though pots, pottery, water features, fertilizers, tools, and seeds were available.

2820

Let me first tell you about all of the coolest plants I’ve ever seen:
(2898) is some sort of Euphorbia and in many of the booths it was shown with the poinsettia. We need it for the winter show next year. Variegation is good luck, especially if the plants have a golden variegation. This citrus has variegated leaves and fruit (2887), I also saw variegated banana (2835), and Rhaphis palm (2846). I was enamored with Crypanthus ‘Elaine’ (2930), the finest textured Croton (2917) I’ve ever seen and (2870) what ever this plant is that looks like Hebe on steroids.

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2887

2835

2846

2930

2917

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There were also fabulous baby’s breath (2901) hanging baskets, a million new cultivars of Plumeria (2849), as well as many fun, new Aglaonema and Adenium. I am really starting to like the mellow, melon tones as shown in these Ixora and Caladium (2931, 2894). I don’t want to overwhelm this post with plant pictures but I do have many. There were great topiary in all sorts of animal forms, also many fruit and vegetable plants, and water plants. Many good advertising gimmicks and plant display techniques were gleaned.

2901

2849

2931

2894

It is funny to compare this plant fair to others that I’ve been to – even our May Market. There are always the booths with the fantastic, rare plants, the booths with the common plants, the booth with the gadgets, the kitsch booth, and the man selling the tree trimming equipment. (2836) I did succumb to the lure of these pot/slurpee cup/window box/bowl hanging brackets – 12 for 120 baht (about $.25 each). I also bought 2 books about the newest Plumeria cultivars, several vegetable seed packets, and a couple of small elephant topiary frames. Next time I will be buying plants! I NEED that Euphorbia! KD

2836

The Girls Go Shopping

2005-12-09T09:42:00.001-05:00

The Girls Go Shopping (hm)

After a couple weeks of sensitive cultural explorations, the girls decided it was time to go shopping. Since we are in our twilight hours in Thailand, the time to boil down all of the statues and shapes and pottery into a few purchases has come.

The winds of travel blew strongly this morning as we decided to pack up and head north to Bangkok. In the space of two hours we packed, checked out, found hotel reservations and thanks to our intrepid cultural interpreter, Arika, found a driver.

By this point in the trip we’ve collected some things which add up to a few large, heavy suitcases. (Yes, some f them are gifts for you all!) The way to travel short distances is to hire a driver and a mini-van. If there are more than two people and a purse you must hire a mini-van because the cars are mini-sized.

Our driver thought this would be a quick round-trip to drop off the farangs (foreigners) and just smiled with amusement as we asked if we could stop to purchase a spirit house for the upcoming exhibit. He replied that he didn’t think we had room, but we could try.

So we piled into the van with all of our baggage and it was true, there was almost no space left.

A few miles into the trip Karen spotted a roadside stand and we pulled a u-turn to get to the shop. We found a fantastic spirit house, a broom Karen wanted and several object for the exhibit.

(photo 2795 spirit house store)

2795

(photo 2791 spirit house we chose)

2791

We spent all of our collective cash to acquire these items and had a tough time fitting them into the van. But we managed it. (Photos 2796, 2797)

2796

2797

Now we are stuck in a maze of Bangkok traffic looking for the DHL office so we can ship all this stuff back. Arika and I haven’t been able to move for hours due to our collection of artifacts (photo 2815).

2815

Statuary for the exhibit (photos 2808, 2794)

2808

2794

We have been lost for some time now and have just had a moment of excitement because we spotted a DHL truck. Wait, look there is another DHL truck. It looks like we might be hot on the trail of our destination. We just found it, so we will post more later!

PS- We found DHL and were horribly disappointed by their unwillingness to do business with us. Let’s hope we can find someone who will do business with us tomorrow. -HM

Back to Bangkok (hm)

2005-12-09T09:42:00.000-05:00

Back to Bangkok (hm)

We decided to leave Hua Hin a few days early in order to spend more time in Bangkok. I know that we are almost to the hotel because traffic has slowed to, well a stop. We have been sitting in the same intersection for about 15 minutes now, so in an effort to stay productive, decided to tell all our readers about our newest adventures.

Hua Hin is a lovely seaside town, reminiscent of lovely seaside towns around the globe. After recovering from a major episode of food poisoning, one of our team members is now a card carrying member of the San Paolo Hua Hin Hospital.

A point of interest for the insurance-challenged states…an emergency room visit and five prescriptions cost a whopping US$50.

Since the team has regained our collective health and vitality, we feel the pull of good old fashioned American productivity calling us back to the big city for one final push before we head home for the holidays.

(Photos of our Hua Hin Guesthouse 2787 and 2788)

2787

2788

The Fresh Market

2005-12-08T09:46:00.002-05:00

The Fresh Market

The fresh markets start early in the morning and contain goods brought in from farmers and hill-tribe people. Some of these goods have been raised on a farm, but many have been collected from the wild.

There is an assortment of greens, vegetables, fruits, spices, mushrooms and meat products. Many of these items simply do not exist in the western hemisphere. These markets take place in utilitarian cement block buildings divided up into sections where each vendor has a table laid with wares.

There are piles of fresh things, dried things, jars and cooking pots full of things, some identifiable to the uninitiated, many not.

(photo 252) Wild edibles

252

(photo 254) Garlic, chili and onions…essential ingredients

254

(photo spirit.jpg) Hill tribe woman with a spirit offering. This offering contains tobacco, betel nut, spices, matches and a candle, all wrapped up in the ubiquitous palm leaf.

spirit.jpg

Doi Tung

2005-12-08T09:46:00.001-05:00

Doi Tung

We journeyed to the border area of Thailand and Burma to meet with the Director of the Doi Tung Royal Projects. The Royal Projects were started by the current king in the 1970’s to help indiginous hill tribe people have economic alternatives to growing the opium poppy.

186

These projects have grown to an amazing 40 intitiatives which focus on providing skills in agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, textiles and celedon pottery. Markets have then been developed for the tribe-people to sell their products.

(photo 196) Tribesman working at arboretum.

196

This is a mountainous region, with an altitude of over a mile. The arboretum showed several endemic species of trees that are being used to reforest land damaged from generations of slash and burn agriculture. The programs have grown in success as the native people have learned the Thai language in addition to their original tongue.

Mae Fah Laung

Mae Fah Laung is a high altitude botanical garden carved out of a mountainside. The gardens were absolutely breathtaking. The horticulture aspect would have been stunning alone, but one could not imagine a more beautiful place as they are set in a location that provides panoramic mountain vistas. (photo 230)

230

(photo 236) Orchids at Mae Fah Laung

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(photo 249) Mountain setting of gardens

249

Doi Inthanon

2005-12-08T09:46:00.000-05:00

Doi Inthanon

We were taken to Doi Inthanon, 6000 feet above Chiang Mai, by our intrepid driver and our 78 year-old guide, Adrian. We were lucky to be in Thailand for the annual three day celebration of the King’s Birthday.

This is a long weekend where Thai’s visit holy sites (photo 262). We were in the mountains, and as we approached the top where there is a famous Chedi we found ourselves involved in a traffic mêlée. Quite unexpected, but it gave us a chance to see a site we would have otherwise missed. (photo 263).

262

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After making it through the traffic jam, we continued our assent to hike through the cloud forest. This was my first time in a cloud forest, and it was fascinating to see almost every tree covered in a curly moss. This ecosystem is a tropical forest, but lacks high temperatures due to the elevation. (photo 264).

264

Our guide was a member of the Aka tribe, and led us through a fairly dense forest which opened up into a mountain prairie. As we walked out onto open expanse, we could see Adrian descending the opposite slope with amazing agility. (photo 282 - photo missing).

As we crossed the prairie we were awed to be standing in a scene that rivaled the Alps of Europe. There is nothing like the feeling of learning about plants on the edge of a mountain, a mile above the lands below.

Northern Thailand

2005-12-08T09:45:00.000-05:00

Northern Thailand

Karen and I have been out of touch for several days while touring Northern Thailand, and even a few feet into Burma. We’ve been working 14 hour days to see as much as possible during our short stay. Now that we are back to civilization, we can report on that beautiful part of the country.

We were shown around by some wonderful locals in Chiang Mai, and met up with Arika Virapongse, one of Botany in Action’s own ethnobotanical graduate research grantees. These individuals have proved indispensable for navigating and translating, not to mention making us feel at home.

(Photo 339) Photo of Heather and Arika learning about the ancient Thai craft known as laquerware.

339

We’ve been touring botanical gardens, National Parks, an arboretum, and learned about some traditional crafts. Check out the following posts to read about all the fascinating places and people we’ve been working with.

(photo 341) example of laquerware and tools.

341

Queen Sirikit Gardens

(photo 069) This garden sits about 1500 feet above sea level, in a deciduous tropical forest. The garden is about 15 years old and is named after the current Queen of Thailand. The elevation necessitates glass houses because this area receives frost.

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We were honored to meet the Director and Associate Director of the gardens, and receive a personal tour. This photo shows the Director demonstrating the use of a traditional medicinal plant which is made into a poultice for burns. (photo 073)

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The collection has an impressive collection of medicinal plants, lotus flowers, desert plants, white-flowered forest plants. The most interesting component for us was the gardens’ constructed tropical forest, where we gained many ideas for developing our planting plan. This photo is just one example of the collection’s Asiatic insectivores, whose size dwarfs Pennsylvania’s native relatives. (photo 072)

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A good link

2005-12-05T01:11:00.000-05:00

http://www.dnp.go.th/botany/bkf.htm KD

Doi Inthanon

2005-12-04T22:16:00.000-05:00

Today we went to Doi Inthanon which is the highest point in Thailand. Moo’s husband Adrian joined us for the day. On the drive up the mountain, he talked a lot about the adventures that he has had in the parks, past hikes, and plants he has seen. We were surprised by the crowds of people at the park. Many families escaped the city for the long weekend and were prepared to tour the park, camp, and have a nice lunch. After sitting in a traffic jam near the top of the mountain, we were able to pass through and drive to the summit where we met our guide. We decided to take the Kew Mae Pan Nature Trail, a 5k trail (2735) that ventures through mossy forest, waterfalls (2677), streams, and meadow. At points we were staring at large Rhododendron (2727) as the clouds came by our heads - high point 2,200 meters (2722). It was interesting to see plants that could have been (or could be cousins to) Liriope, Parthenocissus, Hypericum, Polygonum, Tradescantia, Hypericum, and Vaccinium. Our guide was a local, he is 18 and in school. He as well as the other guides have taken seminars put on by the forestry service. If they have free time on the weekends they can just show up in the morning to lead tours of the forest. A guide is mandatory to tour this trail (2710). He didn’t speak any English but we were able to ask our questions through Arika.

2735

2677

2727

2722

2710

After our hike we jumped back into the van for the drive down the mountain. We were invited to dinner at Moo and Adrien’s house. Their cook prepared a northern Thai feast for us which we enjoyed while talking about all the types of tropical fruit you could enjoy seasonally while living in Thailand. KD