Chile 2020

I'm not going to delve super in to depth on the Chile trip on my blog, mostly because I'm putting together a travel lecture for my work at the Lord and Schryver Conservancy. I'll just put these here and you'll have to sign up for the Lord and Schryver Conservancy newsletter to find out when the big lecture is going down!

I will say that driving 1500 miles down the western spine of the Andes affords one a look at a great diversity of plants. Below is just a small teaser of what I saw and photographed. 

I counted 11 different species of Calceolaria, a genus I've always had an interest in and it was great to see the diversity of habitats, as I photographed species growing from the top of alpine volcacnos, to moist river bottoms. 

 

I can't say I was disappointed in anything on this trip, but all the Rosulate violet's we did run across were not quite in full bloom. Oh well, I guess I have to go back!

The alpine Nassauvia's were stunningly beautiful! In fact I came back with a whole new list of seeds to look for to try in the rock garden. 

Valeriana fonckii
At Chillan, I used to grow our little native Valeriana scouleri in troughs and I think I'll be looking for seed of this alpine charmer. 

Solenomelus segethii
This was a new genus for me, in the iridacea and closely allied with Sisyrinchium and Olysinium, This one growing very high up in rocky places at Laguna de Maule

Be still my beating heart! I love the monkey flowers and to get to see some of the South American ones was a real lifetime achievement, These were growing in wet snow melt seeps in the cliffs above Laguna de Maule. 

The natures rock gardens in the Andes were a real treat, so much diversity it was mind boggling. 

As I said, stay tuned for a lecture on the botanical adventure across Chile, and if you aren't a supporter of the Lord and Schryver Conservancy please consider it, they have allowed me to do some amazing things in the plant world!

Misty, foggy, Martin Luther King day here in the Valley, praying for peace as Dr. King did in his, so do we in these times and years ahead. 

Mark