Chad Husby
Chief Explorer
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
(Horticulturist and Botanist)
"...one cannot forget where one gathered the handful of seeds from which so much has grown"
~David Fairchild, 'Exploring for Plants' (1930)
- "Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.” ~Robert F. Kennedy (4 April 1968)
- This stunning Blakea sp. is flowering in the Wings of the Tropics butterfly conservatory @fairchildgarden. Like many other members of the Melastomataceae family, the dramatic comb-like stamens curve down from above.
- "preventive war is like suicide for fear of death" "even victorious wars cannot be justified unless they are forced upon one, and that one cannot see the cards of Providence far enough ahead to anticipate historical development according to one's own calculation." ~Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898)
- Dwarf red powderpuff (Calliandra haematocephala 'Nana') has set the Butterfly Garden ablaze with scarlet stamens @fairchildgarden. This is by far the most impressive display I have seen from this wonderfull compact flowering tree. Bees rejoice in the abundance of nectar.
- The spiralling inflorescences of Anthurium wendlingeri never fail to amaze. The form of the spiral varies from one inflorescence to another (as seen here) and by geographic origin. This wonderful specimen from @nsetropicals is on display in the Conservatory @fairchildgarden
- A magnificent cycad, Zamia lindenii, is producing an impressive flush of new leaves @fairchildgarden. Native to South America, this is one of the largest Zamia species in the world and produces an impressive trunk. The specimen in this photo is nearly 60 years old.
- Stems of horsetails (here Equisetum giganteum at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden) are unique in the plant kingdom: combining telescoping stems with whorled leaves fused into sheaths and whorled branches originating between the leaves (rather than in leaf axils as in seed plants).
- "All nations want peace, but they want a peace that suits them." ~Admiral Sir John Arbuthnot Fisher (1894) Photo: Sir John Fisher in 'Renown' (1897)
- The large fronds of this impressive rabbit's foot fern (Davallia species) are very lacy as they unfurl, but then mature to a fuller texture @fairchildgarden
- This fascinating flowering tree from Madagascar has young leaves that unfurl like fern fronds! Pseudopteris decipiens was given its genus name "Pseudopteris" (i.e. "false fern") due to this uncanny resemblance. This exciting new introduction thriving in the Sunken Garden @fairchildgarden
- Full moon at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
- Article in the New York Times about how the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Sansevieria collection developed, with especially large contributions from Alan Myklebust, Arid Lands Greenhouses and many others, often associated with the International Sansevieria Society www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/r...
- Some Sansevieria species from the region around the Horn of Africa can have dramatic orange root color. This is a beautiful glaucous form of Sansevieria powellii with elegant long spiralling leaves that I recently planted near the Garden House Lawn @ Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
- Sloanea montana is producing a stunning array of waxy flowers that look like they are made of porcelain at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. This beautiful small tree is from the island of New Caledonia. Many thanks to Atlanta Botanical Garden for sharing this remarkable species with us!
- "The nights are drawing into shorter days I hear the old folk and the country people say Don’t fear the dark, nature has it all in hand Time to reflect and renew the tired land So we’ll stoke the fire and light the lamp Turn our backs in from the damp" youtu.be/kCoTG7YZuA8?...
- Winter evening reflections at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
- Sunset at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
- Euphorbia mayuranathanii is in full bloom near the southern part of the Vine Pergola @fairchildgarden. This beautiful succulent is now considered a variation of E. antiquorum, but is distinct enough to continue using the former name in horticulture.
- Sansevieria sp. 'Blue Kew' is a beautiful arborescent type of Sansevieria with stout vertical stems arsing from a spreading rhizome and thick silvery-green leaves with sharp tips. This handsome plant hails from the border area between Somalia and Kenya. It is thriving @fairchildgarden.
- In December and January the endangered semaphore cactus (Consolea corallicola) of the Florida Keys typically blooms and one can see the beautiful flowers at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. This interesting cactus is now restricted to one remaining wild population but is easy to cultivate.
- Phyllanthus epiphyllanthus has flattened stems (cladophylls) that provide most of the photosynthetic surface instead of leaves. Flowers arise from the cladophyll nodes and the leaves are inconspicuous. One can observe this remarkable plant near the Visitors Center @FairchildGarden
- "The sea was calm as a lake, and the glorious sun of the tropics threw a flood of golden light over all...I was in a new world, and could dream of the wonderful productions hid in those rocky forests, and in those azure abysses" ~Alfred Russel Wallace, 'The Malay Archipelago' (Image by Jason Chin)
- "Do not despair of life. You have no doubt force enough to overcome obstacles. Think of the fox prowling through the wood and field in a winter night for something to satisfy his hunger. Notwithstanding cold, hounds and traps his race survives." ~Henry David Thoreau, Journal (13 December 1857)
- An exceptionally sculptural gumbo limbo tree (Bursera simaruba). The wonderful tree is native throughout the Caribbean basin, including south Florida. Artful pruning and sculpting by humans (in this case) or nature sometimes produces quite striking individuals.
- “I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise until noon, rapt in revery, amidst the pines and the hickories and sumachs, in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the birds sang around or flitted noiseless through the house..." ~Henry David Thoreau, 'Walden' (1854)
- "My own feeling is that civilization ended in World War I, and we're still trying to recover from that." ~Kurt Vonnegut, 1987 interview Image: Young girls in Folkestone, England, bid farwell to playmates killed in a devastating air raid on 25 May 1917
- Pandanus polycephalus has remarkable female inflorescences divided into multiple units unlike typical Pandanus species that have an undivided inflorescence. One can see this beauty at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
- One can have an ancient-Earth experience contemplating the primeval symmetry of a giant horsetail (Equisetum myriochaetum). #fernfriday
