New Member

Boyce Tankersley btankers@chicagobotanic.org
Fri, 25 Oct 2002 15:11:13 PDT
Greetings from a cold and rainy Chicago.

I think I know or have corresponded with many of you. For those I haven't met, my name is Boyce Tankersley and my interest in bulbs has been life-long. I grew up in southwest Texas and southern New Mexico and graduated from New Mexico State University and later Texas A&M University. I've worked in Ft. Worth, Texas for a commercial design build firm, at the University of Texas Medical Branch on Galveston Island, at Missouri Botanical Garden and currently work at the Chicago Botanic Garden as the Manager of the Plant Records department. I recently served on the BOD of IBS. I make suggestions to the horticulture staff and Director of Plant Collections but do not actively participate in the curation of the bulbs in our Garden.

Jim Shields and I hosted the IBS meeting at Chicago Botanic Garden a couple of years back and I was delighted to meet so many nice people in the bulb world during the meeting. I have an interest in conservation of rare bulbs and bulb habitats and help out whenever and however I can (meagre resources, including time, but not meagre interest).

Due to a lack of suitable climate controlled conditions, most of my bulb interests are related to bulbs hardy to USDA zone 5. However on my office windowsill I keep a couple of Veltheimia capensis var. dearii (both now in spike - hopefully in flower by next week) and a single specimen of Rauhia multiflora. Outdoors in my garden I enjoy experimenting with new species to see if they can survive in this climate.

The Veltheimias are a gift from Dr. Jim Ault, our Plant Breeder at CBG who has developed an interest in other breeding opportunities (most recently lilies adapted to the upper Midwest).  These plants are definitely not clonal, and if you are not familiar with this variety they have very beautiful powder blue leaves. With any luck my pollination efforts will be successful (I've never seen them in bloom) and I can harvest some seed to share with this group next year.

Boyce Tankersley
Manager of Living Plant Documentation
Chicago Botanic Garden
1000 Lake Cook Road
Glencoe, IL 60022
phone (847) 835-6841
fax (847) 835-1635
email btankers@chicagobotanic.org
website with searchable database and signup for e-newsletter  
go to chicagobotanic.org


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