Daniel J. Hinkley

plantsman – author · speaker · horticultural consultant

Summer 2022

Order Plants To Go or Visit by Appointment

Order plants online for pick up at Windcliff or make an appointment to shop the nursery onsite

  • Journal
  • Events
    • Lectures
  • Plants
    • Windcliff Plants
    • Windcliff Plants To Go
    • Monrovia Collection
  • Books
    • Recommended Reading
  • Services
    • Speaking
  • About
    • Press & Publications
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Archives for Expeditions

The Dragon Gate and Emmenopterys

October 18, 2014 By Daniel J. Hinkley

Emmenopterys henryi treeBleary eyed from arriving to our lodging at midnight, after over 50 hours of continual travel, we arose early the next morning to sodden skies in the village of Shennong. This mountainous area of eastern Hubei has both the highest peak of this part of Central China (Shennong Peak, just under 11,000’) as well as the perfect collision of eastern and western floral elements. We worked up a small road in starts and stops, piling out of our transport, piling in, progressively more saturated.  Yet the plants were exciting to see and unexpected all in one place together holding onto their own tiny bits of real estate;  Hydrangea longipes,  Cotinus coggygria, Epimedium fargesi, Metapanax davidii, Chloranthus fortunei. The richness was beyond our most hopeful imaginations. Yet, it continued to pour buckets the entire day, making photography and the logistics of collecting seed and taking notes wearisome. Factoring in our collective fatigue with the weather, there was little argument when we made the decision at 4 pm to drive back to the village and our accommodation. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Essays, Expeditions Tagged With: China & Vietnam 2014

Leaving Home, Like It Was a Century Ago

October 17, 2014 By Daniel J. Hinkley

Leaving-Home-Century-2-Dan-HinkleyThis evening I am writing while sitting on a floor propped against the door between cars of a chockablock train departing Wuhan, Hubei on a Friday night at rush hour. My comrades are bestrewed along the aisles, sentry to our piles of duffels and backpacks. I have found a small redoubt of discretion as I am wearing a very smart chocolate brown pajama top courtesy of EVA Airway and am reminded, as I lift my arms while adjusting my stance, just how long I have been wearing it.

A palpable degree of dissonance in the stars was sensed by me, Tuesday last, when an automated call from EVA plucked the web confirming a disharmonic wobble. My scheduled 2 am departure from Seattle to Taipei was now to leave at 4:30 am. The first in a long string of dominoes teetered momentarily in my brain as I performed ‘connection math,’ and then they, quite gracefully actually, and in slow motion, began toppling. With five connecting flights on multiple carriers, my goose appeared precooked. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Essays, Expeditions Tagged With: China & Vietnam 2014

Base Camp, Summit, Retreat

October 28, 2013 By Daniel J. Hinkley

Looking east to the western most mountains of Yunnan Province from our ridge.
Looking east to the western most mountains of Yunnan Province from our ridge.

On October 23rd, 2013, Shayne Chandler and I awoke at early dawn in a tent pitched at just over 10,800′ on a narrow ridge leading to the summit of Mt. Phangan in northern Burma. It was a crisp morning with a lucidity to the sky we had not yet witnessed, while across the immense sweeps of forest on either side of our campsite echoed hauntingly beautiful vocalizations of monkeys and languars. As we would attempt to climb to the top of the peak this morning and back again to our camp before nightfall, we were ecstatic by what promised to be very cooperative weather. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Essays, Expeditions Tagged With: Vietnam & Myanmar 2013

Coptis Camp

October 22, 2013 By Daniel J. Hinkley

An arresting blue petioled species of Dichroa adjacent to our campsite.
An arresting blue petioled species of Dichroa adjacent to our campsite.

We awoke at Camp 1 at 6:00am on October 22nd, 2013 to brilliant blue skies and great anticipation of ending this day well above 8,000′, assuredly amongst a palette of plants adaptive to zone 8. Our bees were back in full force by the time we sat for breakfast so I was glad to begin hiking again up the ridge shortly before 8am. A twelve mile hike with nearly 4,000′ of vertical gain would keep us occupied for most of the day. Shayne had developed a lower intestinal infection and began a course of Ciprofloxin and one of the porters had become very ill with malaria. Our drinking water was no longer that of pristine glacial-fed rivers but from a hole dug in mucky depression and scooped from the bottom. Though it was boiled, it had the taste and color of a very inexpensive and smoky single-malt scotch. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Essays, Expeditions Tagged With: Vietnam & Myanmar 2013

To Phangan Razi

October 21, 2013 By Daniel J. Hinkley

Lunch along the river before heading to higher ground; an unfortunate monkey was consumed here days prior to our arrival.
Lunch along the river before heading to higher ground; an unfortunate monkey was consumed here days prior to our arrival.

We knew, as we left Ziyardam and our gloriously dry quarters — the upper story of a bamboo clad structure with hard sleeping platforms — that any sense of luxury would not be had again for several days ahead. It rained heavily during the night that had awakened both of us repeatedly. By the time our packs were on our back and the party left the last village under heavy rainfall, we had resigned ourselves to a wet day ahead. We knew we were at last leaving this valley and heading to altitude and hardy plants, so the steady rain did not dampen spirits. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Essays, Expeditions Tagged With: Vietnam & Myanmar 2013

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 7
  • Next Page »

Subscribe

Get Dan's Journal posts via email.

Journal Categories

  • Essays (54)
  • Expeditions (32)
  • Heronswood (7)
  • Plants (16)
  • Videos (4)
  • Windcliff (12)

Journal Archives

Featured Journal Post

Northern Vietnam, March 2016

I had the pleasure and luxury this spring to travel to Vietnam with my colleague Scott McMahan and … Read More

Featured Plant Portrait

Bark-a-lounger Botanists

June 2020 Video Garden Tours

Enjoy virtual garden tours with Dan and Assistant Director Ross Bayton. See what is blooming at … Read More

More Plant Portraits

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…

Copyright © 2023 Daniel J. Hinkley, Heronmedia · Site by LND · Hosting by BuzzBuzz