Boston Flora

Tag: Steve Gerischer

  • December 4 – 15, 2014, or February 5 – 16, 2015 – Discover Cuba!

    WAITING LIST ONLY for the December trip, reservations available for the February trip. Pacific Horticulture Society has just renewed its People-to-People US travel license to Cuba granting permission to take friends and members on what promises to be a rich cultural journey with a botanical slant. Our itinerary includes Havana, Zapata National Park— the finest wetland in the Caribbean with over 900 indigenous plant species and 175 unique birds, the city of Cienfuegos—”pearl of the south” and home of the former Harvard Botanic Garden, the Sierra del Escambray Mountains, and the World Heritage City of Trinidad.

    Throughout our journey, there will be a special emphasis on meeting the people of Cuba: botanists, environmentalists, teachers, scientists, students, and national park personnel.

    Steve Gerischer, PHS board member, will escort the December tour, and Josh Schechtel will escort the February tour. See more at: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/tours/discover-cuba-3/#sthash.PzQGZOEJ.dpuf.

  • Sunday, June 9 – Friday, June 14 – Natural History of Santa Cruz Island

    Join Pacific Horticulture June 9 – 14 on this rare opportunity to explore the unique flora and fauna of California’s Channel Islands, home to species of plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Twenty-five miles off the coast of southern California lies Santa Cruz Island, the largest of California’s eight Channel Islands. More than 1,000 species of plants and animals inhabit the island’s high peaks, deep canyons, pastoral valleys, and 77 miles of dramatic coastline. Once on the brink of ecological collapse, Santa Cruz Island now offers visitors a glimpse of what southern California used to be like hundreds of years ago.  This tour will be led by Steve Gerischer of Pacific Horticulture and Steve Junak, botanist at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and principal author of Flora of Santa Cruz Island.  A complete itinerary may be found at http://www.sterlingtoursltd.com/SantaCruz.html.  Tour price $865 per person.

  • Tuesday, October 9 – Friday, October 26 – A Madagascar Expedition

    Isolated off the east coast of Africa, Madagascar is an extraordinary country and one of the world’s highest conservation priorities. Here, the proportion of unique species may be incomparable on earth—an evolutionary heritage of tremendous interest to travelers, botanists, conservationists, and scientists, alike. During Pacific Horticulture’s 18-day expedition, led by an outstanding Madagascar guide, you will explore reserves in diverse habitats, including Perinet and Mantadia National Park (below) in the eastern moist montane rainforests; Lokobe Reserve on the island of Nosy Be, some of the last rainforest in the northwest; and renowned Berenty Reserve in the south, which edges the spiny forest with bizarre woody and thorny plants reminiscent of plants in the American desert southwest. We will also see a profusion of lemurs in these reserves, plus chameleons and countless birds unique to the country.

    The Pacific Horticulture Madagascar tour will be escorted by Steve Gerischer, a professional landscape designer and part-time teacher and lecturer, president of the Southern California Horticultural Society, and PHS board member.  For more information contact Betchart Expeditions. Reach them by phone at 800-252-4910 or at Betchart Expeditions.