Daniel J. Hinkley

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You are here: Home / Archives for Essays

From Sa Pa Vietnam

October 29, 2006 By Daniel J. Hinkley

Nine Mountains

As it has been said before, a book is no more a collection of single words than a piece of music an accumulation of separate notes, and this too can be applied to travel for the purpose of looking at plants. Though the seeds and spores that return with me provide the adhesive of the experience entire, they are no more significant to the sum total than each moment that unfolds and each lesson downloaded.

Along with the unexpected closure of Heronswood in May, my raison primaire of months away observing plants in the wild was also shuttered. With a return to Vietnam to areas previously unexplored, or certainly underexplored already long in the tooth for this autumn, I found myself in a quandary. Realized from a simple inquiry, the board of the Elizabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle Washington magnanimously provided financial and technical support for this expedition. Without their generosity or their commitment to the basic premise behind the Miller Botanical Garden- the responsible collection and introduction of plants into our gardens as a means to better horticulture, coupled with conservation and education- I would not be here. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Essays, Expeditions

Winged Cultivation

September 11, 2006 By Daniel J. Hinkley

This morning I was mesmerized by a scene on the Sound-side bluff in front of our home in Indianola on the Kitsap Peninsula. In Hitchcockian proportions, the sky and garden to our fore was cyclonic in flocks of Pacific Crows, European Starlings, Band-tailed Pigeons and Western Gulls. The fruit of the Pacific Madrona had obviously reached a palatable ripeness and a bacchalian feast had begun.

Band tailed pigeons
Band tailed pigeons

I was particularly pleased to see so many Band-tailed Pigeons. These giant, gentle and elegant doves are normally seen in pairs or more disturbingly, during hunting season, single. The fruit of the Cascara, Rhamnus purshiana, is also favored by this species as is the red drupes of our Pacific Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii. Both of these trees however are on the decline in our region; the Cascara removed from landscapes as undesirable and the Dogwood due to anthracnose. As a rather fascinating aside, the Band-tailed pigeon has recently been found to carry a louse species, Columbicola extinctus, that had long been thought to have been extirpated along with its only other known host, the Passenger Pigeon. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Essays, Windcliff

Greetings from Kolkata

October 21, 2005 By Daniel J. Hinkley

Kachenchunga-Sikkim-Landscape-Shot-Dan-HinkleyIt is from the intoxicated South Asian disorder of Kolkata in West Benghal, from which Rudyard Kipling once implied that if allowed time will bring you everything that a simple man needs, that I contemplate the the last six weeks in Sikkim. It is essentially the first moment during this time that I have had the opportunity to contemplate anything at all, being thunderstruck by the experiences of movement in and between the Eastern Himalaya.

Six weeks ago, somewhat less battered by road and trail, I began these experiences in Bagdogra, due north of Calcutta, reconnoitering with time-tested companions and dearest friends, Kevin Carrabine, Jennifer Macuiba (Seattle) and Dave Demers (Vancouver).  Gathered by our guide, Sailesh Pradham- whose family name is near botanical royalty in this northern Province- we had only a night’s rest in Gangtok, the captial of Sikkim, before departing early the following morning for our first trek. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Essays, Expeditions

Rants from Travelsville

June 15, 2004 By Daniel J. Hinkley

I have just arrived home from several weeks on the road; speaking on plants, of plants, with keen gardeners from across North America. Many might find the process of travel unadulterated drudgery and there are times, I admit, that actually getting to anywhere, anymore, seems like an ample slice of hell. Security now requires a virtual strip down and body search, something I might have truly enjoyed twenty years ago (well, ok, I still find the entire airport population in underwear a bit titillating).

Today, flying back from San Franscisco, I sat next to a big person who was consuming, in a rather fascinating syncopated tempo, a bag of flavored corn chips nearly the size of the Goodyear Blimp. It was not one of those dainty ten chip ordeals. This was a bag that would have served an entire family reunion, or perhaps an ancient religious ceremony attended by thousands near a river, as an accoutrement to miraculous baskets of fish and barrels of a good quality vintage fermented from water. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Essays

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Daniel J. Hinkley

Teacher, writer, lecturer, consultant, nurseryman, naturalist, gardener.
Above all, he is committed to solid and sustainable horticultural practices, above average garden plants, landscapes of distinction and raising the collective awareness of the diversity of plant life on Earth as well as the magic and mysteries of our natural world. Learn more…

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