Orchid Alley April 2014

Well, I kinda feel like I let everybody hanging a bit with the show of unflowering orchids, so I am going to make up for it with only bloomers this round from most corners of QSBG. I've included 45 different varieties, many from the newly updated Native Orchid Nursery and some from an undisclosed rare plant hideaway house that is not on public display.

QSBG Back-Country April 2014

Journeys around QSBG beyond the common visitors tracks lead to many wonderful discoveries. Way up in the evergreen forest of Northern Thailand many treasures await. A careful eye is all that is needed to witness some of earths rare treasures. My mission was to try to find native orchids in the tree canopy as high as I could climb. I did successfully see many orchids, although not in bloom, and was very delighted to see them in their native element, stuck on trees. Now to people around here it's not so uncommon to see this, but for this foreigner it is just incredible. Especially for the first time seeing plants and trees so happy together. Besides seeing Coelogyne and Flickingeria orchids, I saw many epiphytic ferns and a climbing piper plant in this part of the canopy. On the ground there were also many fun new surprises like loads of Curcuma aeruginosa. They poked up out of the ground like magic, with no leaves while the flower is blooming. Also to be found were Globba nuda, a beautiful yellow globba which brightened up the forest brush. I look forward to more exploration and blooms up in these mountains and will be sure to share them with you here.

Curcuma aeruginosa

Change

Gardeners are all about change. For the garden never sleeps and as each day passes, the garden continues on her own mystical journey. Along with the garden, is the gardener, the one who gardens and lives through time and is part of this dance of change. For just as life, (my favorite analogy for the gardening experience) the garden is an elastic, responsive entity which changes constantly. Hopefully the changes are all positive. A lush and healthy garden, showing no signs of decay or lack of attention just doesn’t happen by luck or chance. A garden that is thriving depends on the care and observation of the gardener, who at every glance notices what could change, what could be even better. The avid gardener does not hesitate to collaborate with nature to bring forth a more beautiful world, changing what they can for a vision of the future that is brighter and fuller then it was yesterday.

Sounds of the evening forest

The sounds of the Northern Thai forest are incredible, and loud. Tonight, as most every evening, the bugs come alive and you can almost feel them all because their noises seem so close as to almost penetrate you. Birds of every calling sing in a chorus of deeply textured notes filling the air. This evening we are experiencing a thunderstorm which is only adding big bass notes for extended periods of time to the "orchestra" as I like to refer what I hear every nite.  Now I can understand why QSBG is interested in and connected with entomology as a focus. It's just teeming with life up here. Later, the frogs will do their thing which last until early morning sometimes.  I pretend that I am king of the frogs and they are all singing to me. It makes the sleeplessness seem more meaningful somehow.

Preserving memories

Blogs seem like the perfect medium for sharing the gardening/nature/plant experience. The more photos the better. The constantly shifting reality, that living things just don't stay in the same place for very long, makes the process of images capture, (ya know its not that easy trying to capture the sublime essence of being the the presence of something that moves you enough to say hey I'd like to try to capture that) not so easy. The actual thing is similar to a piece of art. Like it is only meant to be enjoyed on the spot for the fullness of it. Trying to capture it with a photograph just doesn't live up to the true essence in person. So it's like a wish to keep it. I guess that's why people love getting out in nature so much, to feel this magic first hand.

BGO's Founders Day Ceremony 2557 (2014)

Well if you like colorful ceremonies, like myself, you would have really enjoyed it here, if you were not as fortunate as these folks who got to attend this yearly festival. I could tell you how fun it was to see the different QSBG departments collaborating together to make such a nice event, but i think the pictures do a better job of it.

Inside the Natural Science Museum for the ceremony

VIP area

Principles of Taxonomy Training

This March, from the 24th-28th, 34 people participated in this rich training program here at the Laboratory. It was the first of a three part series of trainings here at QSBG on the topic of Taxonomy. The program completely expense free including study manuals, housing and meals.