Window Garden Wednesday: Jamie Boyer

Posted in Window Garden Wednesday on February 8 2012, by Matt Newman

There are perks to working in a hive of brilliant botanical minds, all of them within stone’s throw (or email’s hassle) of your desk and generally willing to spill a measure of earthy wisdom for hopeful horticulturists. For those of us who can’t spend every last moment under the gleam of the Conservatory dome, it makes all the difference to color our cubicles with whatever growing things will tolerate an office.

That stands only for those of us who don’t have death’s touch when it comes to leafy things, of course.

This week we’re continuing the long lost Window Garden Wednesday series with a look at the collection of Dr. Jamie Boyer, our Director of Children’s Education and a man with a heap of rocks on his desk (plant fossils, actually). Will this be a dedicated weekly event? Probably not. But I’ll at least try to keep it going until my colleagues in the Library Building start deadbolting their office doors.

Who are you and what do you do at the Garden?

My name is Jamie Boyer; I’m the Director of Children’s Education, overseeing all of the student and teacher programs at the Garden. I also teach several science and education courses for adults, docents, and teachers. In addition, I co-direct the Citizen Science Program, monitoring the phenology of our forest trees.

What kind of plants do you have in your windowsill garden?

I have a hodge-podge of things that I have collected or received from others. Mostly, they are all used in some education capacity. In particular, I have a couple of young cycads, a bog terrarium, a couple tropical “house” plants, as well as a couple forest succulents. The teacher training GrowLab resides in my office as a nursery for abused teaching plants.

Any good stories about where the plants come from?

The bog terrarium comes from a wetland teacher training, in which we were helping teachers understand adaptations, such as insectivory in a Venus’ Fly Trap. The cycads (Zamia furfuracea and Dioon edule) are from graduate school, where I studied paleobotany. Cycads have had a long and successful evolutionary history, and I’m happy to share my office with them. The forest succulents, the avocado sapling, and the “money tree” (Pachira aquatica) were all cuttings from grateful teachers who have shared their botanical interests with me over the years.

Learned any good windowsill gardening tips while working at the Garden?

Don’t forget to water before you go on vacation, or ask a colleague to water your plants. Vacations seem to select out the weak and fragile, leaving the drought-resistant. Also, avoid putting your plants outside on the first warm spring day; the leaves scorch easily.

What’s your favorite thing about working at the Garden?

Teaching kids and teachers about the mysterious world of plants. Many initially think plants are “boring,” but it’s all in the way that you teach it! Students, teachers, and families come away from the Garden seeing nature and plants in a whole new perspective.