Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

~a perfect day~

Two Saturdays ago, my friend Jeff and I travelled three hours to visit a lovely field of crinums at Lushlife Crinum Nurseries, Beech Island, South Carolina.  It was a nice and sometimes hilarious day spent on backroads in rural South Carolina.

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Help Geoff

From Help Geoff:

For those of you who don’t know Geoff Marshall, he’s a Londoner who moved to Charleston, SC, in 2006 and recently set out to shoot a documentary film about a 48-state roadtrip across the U.S.  And on the morning of June 29th he awoke in Greensboro, NC, to find that roughly $6,ooo of computer, video and photography equipment had been stolen from his car while he slept.

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It seems that folks from the Lowcountry and beyond are determined to help Geoff stay on the road - and at the same time redeem his frustrated view of this country.

So...... let's help Geoff and follow along with him on his roadtrip~

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~Tall Ships, heading out of the Charleston Harbor~

 

~Spirit of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina~

Late this afternoon, I went to the point at Ft Johnson and watched the Tall Ships head out of the Charleston Harbor - it was a hot day, one of those where the sky is almost colorless.  Thankfully there was a breeze.

I thought you might like to see some of the ships - two years ago (in 2007) I showed images of them leaving the harbor as well.  This year I've attempted to name them - some are pretty obvious, others less so - but I used this site as a guide.  I got to go aboard some of these ships on Friday evening - you can see some of those images here.  Update, 1 July 2009:  Go and take a look at Joan's photos too - she was out on the water as the ships left the harbor.

I think that they're heading to Boston next (here's a list of the ships confirmed to be there).

They really are magnificent - even on a colorless day. 

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~U.S. Coast Guard Barque EAGLE~

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~Spirit of Bermuda~

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~Mircea~

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~Kruzenshtern~

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~Jolie Brise~

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~Europa~

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~Capitan Miranda~

~an evening spent wandering Tall Ships~

But O the ship, the immortal ship! O ship aboard the ship!
Ship of the body, ship of the soul, voyaging, voyaging, voyaging.

from Aboard at a Ship's Helm by Walt Whitman

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~U.S.C.G. Barque EAGLE (with what I think is the Schooner Virginia in the background)~

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Two years ago, I posted images of several Tall Ships leaving the Charleston Harbor (here and here) - for those of you not familiar with Tall Ships, you might want to look here.  It was wonderful then, watching them leave the Charleston Harbor - but last night I attended the International Tall Ships Soiree.  It was a beautiful evening - there was a nice breeze, plenty of food and drink - and I had the opportunity to walk around three of the Tall Ships for a long evening.  The evening was part of Charleston Harborfest 2009 - and if you ever want to plan a visit to Charleston, this would be a wonderful weekend to visit the city.

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~U.S.C.G. Barque EAGLE~

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When we first arrived, it was still light - although the sun had just set.

I think the first thing that I noticed was how large these vessels were - for example, the EAGLE's sparred length is 295 feet.

You can see a list of the Tall Ships that visited Charleston this weekend here - with some information about each ship listed. 

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~looking out towards the Capitan Miranda~

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~the festive Capitan Miranda~

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I think the most festive boat of the evening was the Capitan Miranda - it not only had raised a decorative, brightly-colored sail, but it was also brightly lit - and as darkness fell, it definitely stood out.

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~looking out over the deck of the Kruzenshtern~

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I really liked this blurry view of the event from one of the decks of the Russian ship, Kruzenshtern.  There was quite a crowd for the whole evening - and you could still see the tents of the food vendors lined up along the walkway (these were open during the daytime events). 

If you've never gotten a chance to see these ships - either under sail or docked - it is something worth seeing.   I've always thought there was something primitive about large sailing vessels - oh, even small ones I suppose.  Perhaps Whitman had it right - we're all on a voyage of some kind, and under sail. 

~a gatekeeper~

~Charleston Icon 'Philip Simmons' by Will Kiser~

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A few months ago - on 6 March - a friend had an opening at his gallery, LimeBlue, that featured Charleston Icons.  When one thinks of Charleston, so many people and images come to mind - but one collection of images is that of the wonderful iron gates and fences that adorn Charleston - many of them present because of the incredible talent of Mr. Phillp Simmons.  Naturally, he was one of the Charleston Icons - and the card sent out to announce the opening most appropriately featured Mr. Simmons' image.

Mr. Simmons passed away last night.  He was 97 years of age.

He was truly a Charleston Icon.

I had the opportunity to talk with Mr. Simmons one evening at a downtown event that was held in the 'Bus Shed'.  I don't remember what the event was anymore, but I remember talking to Mr. Simmons - a soft-spoken, humble, incredibly talented individual.  When I told him how much I admired his work, he said thank you - like he meant it.  He was the kind of individual that you wanted to hang around, because you just knew there was so much wisdom and talent floating around in side of him - that maybe, just maybe, some of it would rub off.

Please go and take a look at his work.  Better yet, come to Charleston and go see it for yourself.

And thanks for being Charleston's Gatekeeper, Mr. Simmons.

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Here are two videos that you might like to watch.

 

     

such a nice day

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I spent the afternoon with a friend from Clemson University who was staying on Seabrook Island for the weekend.  We walked (and walked and walked...) and it was simply a beautiful afternoon - the kind that clears out your head and fills it with new and fresher air. 

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It was one of those days where the colors kept changing along the beach - bright sun, the clouds reflected in the lingering waves - and then dark clouds over the land while the water darkened and the sky turned a beautiful blue.  The storms stayed further inland, just inland from this barrier island - there were no signs of waterspouts, like the one spotted near the bridge I cross everyday.

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I've lived near the ocean for many years now - and I've yet to feel bored by it.  How could I?

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On our walk to the beach, we stopped and talked to two men crabbing off a dock adjacent to a tidal creek.  They had a bucket filled with blue crabs - and were still searching for more - hoping to get enough for dinner.

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Here I am, with a research lab in a marine facility, and I've never had a course in marine biology.  Yet the ocean fascinates me - the shapes left in the sand that I always try to identify (most often unsuccessfully).  This is when being in a marine lab is a good thing - there is always someone to ask.

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I left the island and couldn't resist stopping and admiring the hydrangeas (especially the deep blues and purples) at Rosebank Farms on Johns Island.  Several years I went to their Hydrangea Festival, but I went just a few hours before the festival ended, so the selection was a bit limited.  I did come home with a Hydrangea macrophylla 'Tokyo Delight' - a pretty white lacecap (with hints of pink).  This year the festival is 13-14 of June, next weekend (and I'll be out of town). 

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Rosebank Farms grows all sorts of things - and they have a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.  In the forefront of the image above are two amazing rows of basil. 

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I couldn't resist taking a short detour on my way home - to visit the Angel Oak.  It's fenced off, and the place closed at 5 pm today - so I just sat at the fence looking in - and did so for quite awhile.  It's an impressive tree - a live oak - and thought to be bertween 300 and 500 years old.  Now, that's old.

It's one of the Landslide 2007 Heroes of Horticulture - and there's a local group, Save the Angel Oak, working to save this tree, and to protect it from nearby development (go to their website and look at the beautiful drawing of this tree).

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Now I'm home, after such a nice day.  Work looms tomorrow - a graduate student and I have a short 'workshop' at a conference on Monday.  I'll not complain though - today felt like a short vacation - a much needed escape from the responsibilities of work and life.      

'A Man Named Pearl': HGTV tonight, 8 pm EST

 

~Pearl Fryar during a visit in May 2007~

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About two years ago now, I visited Pearl Fryar's Topiary Garden in Bishopville, South Carolina.  The post I wrote describing my visit is perhaps the most frequently searched post on this site - which makes me happy, thinking of all of those people googling 'Pearl Fryar'.  In fact, I've thought that I should go back and update the links - or better yet, make another visit to this man's garden.  I'm guessing that if one googles 'passionate gardener', that his name would pop up within the top five search results - and if it doesn't, it should.

A friend called me this morning - to let me know that the documentary 'A Man Named Pearl' will be played on the HGTV channel tonight at 8 pm EST.  I went to see the documentary when it was first shown in Charleston (with Pearl Fryar available to answer questions afterwards) - it's a sweet documentary about a man who definitely knows that one person, with a dream, can make a difference.    

~save the lowcountry~

~Hydrangea serrata 'Bluebird', still clinging to last summer~

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I'm working on a grant, due early next week.  Sometimes grants are fun, sometimes tedious, sometimes frustrating - this one is being written 'from scratch' - so it's probably all of those things.  It includes some solid data from the lab's senior doctoral student, a solid (and still being developed) experimental approach from the eclair-baking postdoc - but it's still rough, if existent at all - and there's much left to be done.  I hate this stage of a new grant:  no light at the end of the tunnel, no adrenalin from the irrational and fleeting thought that 'this is good, how can they not fund us?', no sense yet of a job well done...hell, there's no sense of anything yet.

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I've participated in several conference calls lately, calls that have included state-wide discussions on climate change.  These conversations have been diverse, broad in scope - definitely thought-provoking.  With South Carolina's coastline, we definitely are a place where, from year-to-year, we will be able to watch first-hand the impact of sea-rise on a community.  Tonight I remembered to turn on the local news, and learned of a group referred to as Save the Lowcountry - here is what they say on their 'About Us' page:

Friends of the Lowcountry is a coalition of organizations in South Carolina that are working to bring global warming solutions to our state and our nation. We are calling on President Obama and members of the South Carolina Congressional delegation to take bold action to protect South Carolina’s lowlands from the threat of rising sea levels by cutting global warming pollution 80 percent by 2050.

From their website I also found the video below, by the Southeast Coastal Climate Network - as well as several informative fact sheets that are definitely worth reading.  Personally (and yes, scientifically), I'm glad that this group has gotten together.  (And take a look at this billboard they recently put up in the Lowcountry).  I expect that we'll hear alot more about them in the future - and perhaps the group of scientists that I spoke with today need to contact them and offer our services (whatever they may be...).

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Now, it's time to get back to the grant.

~drama~

~one of the Nebo Ponds (either the Upper or Middle), Francis Marion National Forest~

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It's been an odd week.  Chaotic.  Dramatic.  Definitely interesting, and yes - a bit stressful.

A friend was involved in the court drama that unfolded throughout the week in Charleston - yes, this one - where a 29 yr-old local rapper, Sleezie Boy, fired his public defender and chose to act as his own attorney.  He was accused of murder.  In support of my friend (and honestly, I was curious as well) I went and watched about two hours of the trial on Thursday afternoon.  The defendant (Sleezie Boy) was bringing in his witnesses - his brother (who came into the courtroom in stripes and chains), his girlfriend at the time...and others.  It all ended Friday afternoon, with a guilty verdict and 50 years without parole.

It was an interesting experience - interesting to watch some of the trial, interesting to talk with my friend Friday night over a few much needed glasses of wine.  First off, I was very impressed with the judge.  He was respectful of the defendant who rather foolishly decided to act as his own public defender, and in fact - everyone was remarkably respectful of one another in the courtroom.  It could have been crazy if the judge was less patient - or if the prosecutor was disrespectful.  But they were fair, and gave this guy his chance to defend himself - which was his right.  The second thing that I learned - and I'm probably generalizing here - but if you live in a crack neighborhood and the crime team comes to your place to investigate a crime, they're probably not as careful as they would be if you lived South of Broad.  Or in most of Mt Pleasant...or most anywhere else.  The crime scene work was sloppy - and even crack houses deserve the same treatment - it's someone's life, you know?  Now the third thing I learned, which is sort of a 'duh' thing, but growing up in a crime-filled neighborhood makes crime not that big a deal.  It's the norm.  I don't at all mean that it's not equally tragic - but most of us can't imagine growing up in a place where crack deals and murders and women having children with multiple men (yes, I heard the phrase 'we've got the same mama but different daddys' in the courtroom) is not that big of a deal.  We've got to stop this cycle - kids shouldn't be growing up like this, they shouldn't think these things are normal parts of life.  That makes me sad.

Now the fourth thing that I learned is that our judicial system is a pretty amazing thing.  Sure, I've been in a courtroom before -- to get points reduced for a speeding ticket, once for disturbing the peace (okay, it was a FUN party) when I was in graduate school, and once because I was a witness to a car accident.  But here I am, your average citizen, and I could walk into the courtroom of a murder trial.  As long as I sat there quietly, it was okay.  I could watch a guy try to defend himself, against the best judgement of others - and I watched this guy, without a JD behind his name, do a better than average job.  (My friend could have done awhole lot better.)  But this guy at least got his day in court, the way he wanted it.  I've also got to say that this guy, who had witnesses refer to his rapper name 'Sleezie Boy' in the courtroom - also treated everyone else with a decent amount of respect too.  

And I'm guessing justice was served.

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~Francis Marion National Forest, near the Rifle Range~

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Yesterday, I volunteered to help pick up trash at the Francis Marion National Forest.  This is an area just north of me, my 'hood' so to speak, and I'm thinking that I need to get more involved in protecting it.  It was an event sponsored by Palmetto Pride and the US Forest Service.  So several friends and I joined in the clean-up.  The cold weather had left us overnight - and it was a beautiful, sunny day.  The perfect day to walk around a forest...or so I thought. 

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~Rifle Range, Francis Marion National Forest~

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We arrived at the SeWee Visitors Center and our group (of about 12) were taken to an area in the middle of the forest - where the Rifle Range was.  We headed up one way - towards the Rifle Range, which I foolishly thought was a road and not a...Rifle Range.  So yes - we cleaned the Rifle Range for several hours.  It was a bit of a job - there was small trash everywhere - shell casings, you name it.  The funniest thing I found was a Henry Brown campaign poster - particularly relevant because of the controversy over his burning a bit of this forest.  There was definitely some delightful irony there.

The frustrating part came as it grew closer to noon, when the Rifle Range opened.  All of a sudden I turned around and a bunch of guys were waiting for us to get out of the way - because they were sitting there with their high powered rifles, getting ready to mess up the place again.  Now, this place was filthy - and not a single one of those guys stopped to help or said thanks as folks left.  A guy that was with us, from the US Forest Service, said that they are always threatening to close the place down because of the mess.  Personally, I think they should - or those guys should be forced to show up on clean-up days too.  Get with it.  That place gives hunters a bad name - rather, gun folks a bad name.  I'm not a gun person myself, but try (to some degree) to respect the 'right to bear arms' thing.  But folks who bear arms and trash the place - that I'm against.

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~Behind the SeWee Center, Francis Marion National Forest~

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So I came home, after enjoying the pizza provided by the clean-up organizers - and after walking a mile trail behind the SeWee Visitors Center.  As I made the turn to head up my road - there were three fire trucks and a bunch of cars and people - and it seems that while I was picking up trash in the forest, my neighbor's place burned down.  It seems that on a dry, breezy, low humidity day in coastal South Carolina, he had started a small fire in his back yard - and had left it alone for a bit, while he drove his golf cart to visit a neighbor.  Luckily everyone is safe, but the place was destroyed - and I must say I'm graceful that the live oaks didn't catch - he said the fire was close to getting in my yard.  It did burn out the entire back yard of the home on the other side of him.  So I spent my afternoon standing with my neighbors, staring at a burned home.  I think it was the smell that was the most overwhelming.  Fortunately, the guy who lives there, who has joint custody of his two kids, has a place to go - he has family in the area.  But it was certainly a tough day for him, and will be for awhile.

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So today I'm watering my garden, spoiling the dogs, and working on my grant.  I'm craving a quiet day.

~another camellia for another cold morning~

~Camellia japonica 'Professor Charles Sargent', Hampton Park~

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 Released in 1925, a peony form, from Magnolia Gardens

(Did you know there was a Magnolia Gardens blog?)

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From the Gainesville Camellia Society website:

The man, Professor Charles S. Sargent, was born in 1841 and died in 1927. He was Professor of Arboriculture at Harvard and Director of the Arnold Arboretum in Boston until his death. He was known as the greatest dendrologist (one who studies trees) America had ever produced. The grounds of the Arnold Arboretum were planned and designed by Charles S. Sargent, in collaboration with the landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted as part of Boston's Emerald Necklace park system.

Charles Sprague Sargent was Arnold Arboretum's first director and served the institution for over 54 years. The child of Henrietta Gray and Ignatius Sargent, a successful Boston merchant, banker, and railroad financier, Sargent had the opportunity to pursue a career in science and horticulture. After graduating from Harvard College and serving in the Union army, Sargent spent his first horticultural years abroad touring the gardens of Europe and then at home managing the family estate and gardens of Holm Lea. As a prominent member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and an elected trustee of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, Sargent's activities continued to expand. He was appointed director of Harvard's Botanic Garden in 1872. In 1873 he was appointed the first director of the Arnold Arboretum.

During the years that Charles Sargent served as Director of the Arboretum, it grew from the original 120 acres to 250 acres. Sargent also continued his own research and writing. He wrote many books including Silva of North America, Trees of North America, and Forest Flora of Japan. He also served as editor for the journal, Garden and Forest.

Besides collecting plants and specimens, Sargent also acquired books and journals for the Arboretum library. The collection grew from no books in 1872 to over 40,000 by 1929. Most of these were purchased at Sargent's own expense. By the time of his death Sargent had donated his entire library to the Arboretum as well as a large financial gift for upkeep of the existing collection and the purchase of more materials.

The Sargent papers include biographical material, correspondence, collection notes, published works, and photographs of Sargent and family. The correspondence consists of nine volumes of handwritten and typed copies of letters from 1882-1923. Sargent expanded the scope of the Arboretum's influence to include the preservation of the natural landscape, and American forests. Included in the collection are numerous articles on forestry reports, forest fires, and protection of forests, and Sargent's Tenth Census of the United States Forestry, 1880-1883.

Professor Sargent published a two-volume Manual of the Trees of North America in 1905. In 1965 it was still acclaimed at being unsurpassed as the most comprehensive, reliable study of North American tree characteristics. These volumes were the results of 44 years of original research. They include 185 genera and 717 species of trees found in the USA and Canada. There are 783 sharp, clear line drawings which illustrate leaves, flowers, and fruit. He includes the distribution of the trees, discussions of varieties and local variants, growth habits, wood, and descriptions of mature and immature foliage and fruits.