The Chilean blue crocus is one of my favorite plants. The flower can be so intensely blue it almost hurts your eyes. Tecophilaea cyanocrocus, as it’s technically known, also has a nice story.
For many years Chilean blue crocus was believed to be extinct in the wild, done in by unrestricted grazing on the grassy, alpine meadows it once inhabited as well as overcollection of the corms for the horticulture trade. It seemed the species survived only in a few botanic gardens and private gardens. Then, in 2001, it was rediscovered in the mountains south of the city of Santiago. Not many imperiled plant stories have happy endings, at least not yet. I decided to name my company in its honor.
In the summer of 2006, after more than 16 years at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, I started Blue Crocus Consulting to work with public gardens and other nonprofits to explore lively and artistic new ways to empower their visitors to build a healthy, sustainable future in their neighborhoods and workplaces. I do this through interpretation, program planning, and print, online, and other media. For more thoughts on this, see Why Should the Devil Have all the Best Tunes?
By the way, the blue crocus above was adapted from an illustration by Lillian Snelling in a 1923 Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. Thanks to Pat Jonas at Brooklyn Botanic Garden for finding the issue.
Selected Projects:
Queens Botanical Garden Green Trail
This series of interpretive panels and markers on sustainable practices will complement QBG’s new LEED platinum visitor center/administration building. Our innovative approach will transform visitors from passive viewers of signs to active participants in the Garden’s programs. Trail markers will be not merely vehicles for information but will themselves be beautiful expressions of sustainability.
Great Park Botanical Garden
Working with the Great Park Design Studio, I developed the conceptual master plan for the botanical garden at a new park on a former Marine Corps airbase in Irvine, California. The garden is a living laboratory where visitors collaborate with scientists, horticulturists, educators, and artists to create a sustainable future for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Plant for the Planet Campaign
I developed a new public education program for Botanic Gardens Conservation International, including a downloadable Plant Conservation Checklist for Gardeners and a website on how gardeners can help save imperiled plants.
North American Botanic Garden Strategy for Plant Conservation
Working with Botanic Gardens Conservation International, I produced this document that charts a course for plant conservation at North America’s public gardens.
Quest for Plant Survival: A Garden Trail Exploring Plants in Peril
One of the successful new seasonal exhibits I created for Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Quest for Plant Survival included activities and guided tours for children and adults, designed to raise awareness of endangered plants.
