I grew up in a home where design was a real topic. My parents, though relatively poor, had furniture from Herman Miller. We kids were taken in car rides to see the architectural work of Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology and on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. Less so the great parks of Chicago, ...

I used to harangue my students to observe closely. I still do, when I teach my online classes for BU. It took me some time to realize that my own education was gotten through close observation, not the memorization of facts. So it made sense to me that I should teach observation instead of what seemed to be ever ...

It rained and poured straight for more than twenty four hours. How could such a prodigious amount of moisture come down in such a plain wrapper as raindrops? There was so much rain and it was so uncomfortably cool we couldn’t take our guests from up north into the garden, let alone look around the neighborhood. And I couldn’t ...

The orchid body is something we pay less attention to than the flower. It’s a loss for us. Of course the flower is a thing of beauty, a monument to the hard work and patience of the gardener. A graceful product of evolution or hybridization. But there is so much fascination in the orchid body.The orchid is a sculpture ...

I live in a giant terrarium. Moving to Florida was such a great idea. I hate the cold and I crave the warmth. I wanted to garden all year. It had to be the right place though, with space for plants. No gated community, no lawn, no pool please. As it turned out we found it. Much better than ...

It’s pouring rain outside but I’m not worried that my orchids will drown. Nor will any of my other epiphytes- tillandsias, bromeliads, or cacti. You can’t overwater an epiphyte.Well I should modify that statement. An epiphyte living in the tree canopy in natural conditions can’t be overwatered. Plants in pots are another question. But I’m talking about orchids in ...

So for weeks I’ve been struggling with the question: when to let the orchids rest? Even a few days ago a balmy afternoon convinced me to give them some attention. A few I even fertilized. Then yesterday things changed. The sky went from thin clouds to leaden. A few peeks of sun and light suddenly felt welcome. The sky thickened. ...

So I am walking down my street at 8:30 PM and the Pinellas Point neighborhood is dead silent except for the crickets. There is life and warmth and humidity at this rare spot here at the end of January! We expect severe storms tonight as a potent cold front moves through but for now it is still and peaceful and languid.I walked ...

It’s amazing to me to watch this. The water sticks to orchid roots as a thin coating before it’s absorbed. It’s simple adhesion in action, one of the typical behaviors of water, but it holds so much in the way of biological implications. As epiphytes, living in the air without a direct connection to the soil, orchids are wedded ...

My greatest botany professor, Dr. Harry Thiers, used to tell us at the end of lab, “When you are satisfied with your state of knowledge you may leave.” It was kind of an invitation to pack up but it was also a gentle barb. Is a true learner ever satisfied with his or her state of knowledge? There’s always ...

Orchids grow in three dimensions and exert influence on their immediate environment. They are not passive. They are host to many other organisms, not just their internal bacteria, the photosynthetic chloroplasts and energy-producing mitochondria. There are external partners like ants, or the moths I have found nesting and resting in the plant body. These organisms play roles that we ...

I’m curious how orchids respond to fertilizer because of their particular growth style. Most orchids are epiphytes, plants that grow on top of other plants. They have root systems but unlike other terrestrial species the roots of most orchids are not anchored in the ground. So the orchid sits harmlessly on top of its host. It is thoroughly dependent ...

Visceral and complex even tiny orchid flowers produce a scent. Vanilla-like or pungent, at once ephemeral and present. Ants in the garden seem to be attracted to these scents even before the flowers are fully open. I’ve seen the insects, smaller than a bud, wandering over the flower to be and getting a read on its tonalities.The scents are ...

Here in my St. Petersburg garden there is plenty of opportunity to observe the sky. A large space in the middle of the garden that previous owners wanted to excavate for a swimming pool was left blessedly untouched. The shells crunch underfoot and monarch caterpillars munch on native milkweeds. They munch and munch down to the bare stem.Above, sun ...

I ask this question because it’s a cool morning, just below 50, and while it’s not that humid lots of my plants, for example the banana leaves, had dew on them. I felt inside a couple of the orchid baskets and they were damp. So my inclination at least for this morning is to not water.But the orchids that ...

The orchids in my garden are about as free range as you can get. Other than providing them with habitat, watering and feeding them, I leave them alone. So many people tell me to trim dead parts off, to keep the leaves clean, to cut off old sheaths. Is this what happens in nature?Yesterday I had a look at ...

I think I told you about Dockrillia teretifolia, the Australian Native orchid that I mounted on a tall stump, roots encaved among large stones. When she didn’t do a thing for months on end I decided to move her into the thin branches of a tall willowy tree outside my bedroom window.Dockrillia was up in the sun and finally ...

Asking what beauty is is like asking what is art? At first glance it seems to be the most subjective of questions. But are there truths behind it? Is there “true” beauty? I ask the question because I’ve been thinking and writing about it for years. Always inconclusively I guess. But there does seem to be one truth I’ve ...

So the other day when I what is finished dipping my Bulbophyllum glauca in smelly compost liquid I noticed for the first time something light green at the bottom of the basket. What a surprise to see you that big fat roots were growing downward.It seems to me that this is more than just a sign of growth. It ...

I’m still developing my thoughts on orchids and their need to rest. One of my favorites, Broughtonia domingensis, is my teacher. About six weeks ago she put out a whole new set of roots. Her leaves went from thin and green to leathery and brownish. A couple of sets of leaves turned purple-red and set up spikes. Best time ...