Research and the Vintage BOT at UT Greenhouses

Back in early May I joined a group from Gardening Volunteers of South Texas on a field trip to the research greenhouses at The University of Texas at Austin.  My previous post focused on the extensive cactus collection and in this post we'll tour more standing collections and see some of the research in progress at UT.   The tour was conducted by GVST scholarship recipient Garrett Flores.  Each year GVST awards scholarships to a horticultural student at UT and Texas A&M University.

Garrett discusses Ghost Pepper heat which is one of the hottest peppers at 800,000 to 1,000,000 in Scoville heat units.  For reference the Jalapeno pepper comes in around 3,500 on the Scoville scale.  Garrett has tried the Ghost Pepper and says it is extremely hot.  We took his word for it.

These little guys pack a punch.

Blooming begonia among the tropical plants in the greenhouse.

Garrett has been propagating Bromeliads.

He also  propagated plants as gifts for our group and we were invited to take a plant or two home with us.  I chose a white blooming vine of which I forgot the name but I'm sure I'll figure it out when it blooms.

We all enjoyed learning more about the plants and research at UT.

Turn a bunch of serious gardeners loose among beautiful plants and this is what you'll see.  GVST member Pat DeWinne pointing out a blooming orchid.



On to some of the research taking place in the greenhouses.  Cotton is an important crop in Texas and research to improve production is ongoing.  These plants yield 10x more Cotton than current commercial crops.  Cotton is in the mallow family and produces beautiful flowers like the pink and cream bloom shown below near the pot.



We grow a lot of rice in Texas, much of which is exported.  With less land in production, research for higher yields is important to our economy.

Grasses grown for a biofuel study.

After finishing our tour of the research greenhouses we headed past the famous Turtle Pond to the BOT Greenhouse.

This elegant building was constructed from a Lord and Burnham Conservatory kit in 1929 and in the 1950s a couple of additional Lord and Burnham kits were added.

We enjoyed spending time in this space chock full of tropical plants which comprise the standing collection



We were mesmerized by all the beautifully maintained specimen plants.






Orchids in bloom.

Blooming Coconut Orchid which really does smell like coconut.  The orange cells are part of a cooling system, similar to a swamp cooler which was common before air conditioning.  Air drawn through the wet cells cools it for distribution through the greenhouse.  If you've been in an uncooled greenhouse in a Texas summer you know the need for some type of cooling system.



Pitcher plant

It was fun to see this Ramie plant.  I had received one from my friend Melody and we had quite a challenge figuring out what it was.

Ferns and more Ferns.

Begonias.....

Another blooming Desert Rose

A Mangrove tree!

Gorgeous Hoya bloom.  I had so many helpers on this trip.  Thank you Karen!

That's the end of our tour.

Much needed new greenhouses are under construction.  At nearly a century old, the BOT has served well but it is hard to maintain so all these collections will eventually move to the new facility.

Currently the greenhouses are open by appointment for educational tours.
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If you'd like to join future GVST field trips, check out the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas (GVST) website and sign up for email notifications.  GVST holds gardening classes on the third Monday of each month from noon to 3pm.  The classes are free and open to the public, we do request a $5 donation to help with expenses.  No dues, no required hours or attendance--just a interest in learning about gardening.  For more information see the link.

Cacti (oh my!) and more at the UT Greenhouses

Last week I joined a group from Gardening Volunteers of South Texas (GVST) in touring the research greenhouses at The University of Texas at Austin.  GVST gives scholarships annually to a horticulture student at UT and Texas A&M.  When our UT scholarship recipient for this past school year invited us to tour the research greenhouses we headed up the road to Austin.  It was worth the trip and then some.  I managed to edit my photos down to way too many so I'll break this tour into two posts.

First let's meet Garrett Flores who is in the class of 2017 and already has a job in his field back home in San Antonio.  He'll be researching horticultural uses for recycling coffee grounds by the ton for a local company.  Congratulations Garrett!

Photo by Karen Stamm, GVST

The greenhouses sit atop The Welch Chemistry building on the main campus.  We started off with the research rooms, but for this first post I'll stick to the most popular room--the cacti collection.

The carefully maintained collection has been here for decades and is so extensive they still trade plants with public gardens like the Huntington Botanical Gardens in California.

Serious spikiness on the lower right.

Cacti skyline, campus skyline.



Garrett describing the habits of the Welwitschia plant to GVST President Laura Rogers.   A tall pot accommodates long flop-eared leaves.

It's blooming!

A surprising number of plants were in bloom during our visit.

It's a very crowded space so occasional help is needed to keep the plants upright and the aisles clear.



Tiny barrel cacti from seed show research work in progress.

There must be an agave in here...there it is!  I only saw one-- Agave Victoria reginae.

The aftermath of propagation also apparent.



Haworthia truncata which grows mostly underground in its native Africa to conserve energy and water.  The tops of the leaves are translucent like little greenhouse windows to allow light in for photosynthesis.

A few overviews for perspective.

An aloe headed for daylight.

It would take days to take it all in!



New greenhouses have been built on campus so both the standing collections like this one and the research projects will be moving soon.  Currently the greenhouses are open by appointment for educational tours.
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If you'd like to join future GVST field trips, check out the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas (GVST) website and sign up for email notifications.  GVST holds gardening classes on the third Monday of each month from noon to 3pm.  The classes are free and open to the public, we do request a $5 donation to help with expenses.  No dues, no required hours or attendance--just a interest in learning about gardening.  For more information see the link.

New Plants!

What's even more fun than new plants?  Getting those plants for free!  These last of my spring plant acquisitions have found their place in the garden and, even better, they were all free of charge.

My haul across the top:  Bauhinia mexicana with unique pink bloom, chocolate plant (Pseudaranthemum alatum),  two native Salvia farinacea, Asclepia tuberosa milkweed, a very cute begonia with dotty leaves, and nicely variegated tradescantia.
Bottom row:  Native snapdragon vine (Maurandella antirrhiniflora),  a new larger blooming variety of pink turk's cap (Malvavicus arboreus),  cuban oregano,  native pink rock rose.

All for free?  Yes, most of the plants came from the City-Wide Plant Exchange at Festival of Flowers where just over 1,750 plants were exchanged during this year's event sponsored by Gardening Volunteers of South Texas (GVST) annually.

I simply took in a cart load of extra plants, turned them in for tickets, then exchanged my tickets for new plants brought to the exchange by someone else.  Just a little work on my part to dig and pot up extras from my own garden and I get to bring home new and different plants.  Each year I find a few special native plants on the tables and those are the ones I scoop up first.  This year I snagged a new variety of pink turk's cap, similar to Pam's Pink, except it has a larger bloom.  I'm giving away a secret here, but sometimes plants from the GVST plant sale booth end up mixed in with exchange plants.  GVST propagates plants for sale at gardening events throughout the year.  Their plant sales booth is just visible in the back right of the photo above.  The GVST propagation team works with Texas Agrilife extension service to introduce new varieties so most are plants you won't find at retail nurseries for a while.  That new variety of pink turk's cap was set out on the tables to help "seed" the exchange for early arrivals.  Best to arrive early anyway before the "cart park" fills up.  My cart is out there on the back left of the photo.  If you plan to participate next year, please read (and follow) the rules on the link.

While there is a $6 admission charge to Festival of Flowers, you will get back so much more than that in access to vendor specials and informative seminars.  My new native milkweed plant was free at the door as a giveaway from our San Antonio Water System (SAWS) so if you stop by their table you've already cut your admission in half.

I volunteer a few hours of my time answering questions at the show so my admission is free.  That's me on the left with Laura Rogers and between us we answered some tough questions from local gardeners.  The stumpers were descriptions of plants without photos.  Our advice is snap a photo and bring it with you--so much easier to ID a plant that way.

Photo courtesy of Anne Schiller, GVST

I was so excited to win a rare pink blooming Bauhinia mexicana or Mexican Orchid as a door prize at the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas meeting in April.  I can't wait to see those delicate pink blooms.  I know the bloom in the photo below looks white, that's because it's a young plant that's been in the shade.

Next up is Agave cornelius.  Just look at those ruffled edges and great color.  As a bonus, it's cold hardy and forms a neat rosette instead of throwing out pups on long runners like most Agave americana varieties.

That was free too?  Sure was, I used a gift certificate sent as a "thank you" from GVST for volunteering at the Watersaver Landscape Tour back in early April.

Did you notice a common thread with all my new plants?  It's Gardening Volunteers of South Texas (GVST).  If you've been thinking about getting more involved in San Antonio gardening, joining GVST is a great way to get started.  Gardening Volunteers of South Texas holds classes at The San Antonio Garden Center from noon to 3pm on the third Monday of each month.  For a five dollar donation you get lunch, a lot of great information on gardening in San Antonio from two knowledgeable speakers, and a chance to win great door prizes.  So come on out, I'll see you there.