John L. Clark, PhD, officially joined the Selby Gardens staff this January. The field botanist with expertise in gesneriads has been contributing significantly to science at Selby Gardens for more than two decades.

Since 2009, Clark has been affiliated with Selby Gardens as a research associate, collaborating with our staff scientists, adding to our collections, and helping to expand our publication base. He actually made his first donation of a specimen back in the mid-1990s. Now a full-time member of the Botany team, Clark concentrates his work on the family Gesneriaceae, flowering plants distributed throughout the world’s tropical forests. About a third of gesneriads are epiphytic, and thus a major focus of Selby Gardens’ research mission. In fact, the Gardens’ original seal, created by cofounder Dr. Carlyle Luer, includes illustrations of a bromeliad, an orchid, and a gesneriad.

Gesneriads are commonly grown horticulturally (think African violets, gloxinia, lipstick plants), and they are important scientifically as a model for understanding broad-scale patterns in the evolution, pollination, and diversification of plants. That’s where Clark comes in. An evolutionary biologist as well as a botanist, he is interested in systematics and biodiversity. He studies the evolution of plants, focusing on their identification, classification, and taxonomy.

John L. Clark, left, with colleagues in an Ecuadorean cloud forest.

Clark publishes his research and collects wild specimens prolifically, trekking to the Caribbean, the Andes, and elsewhere for field research. The body of photography and additional plant specimens he brings with him to Selby Gardens is varied and exceptional. “Once we tally it up, I’m pretty sure that John will have made one of the most significant donations of specimens to our collection in the history of the institution,” says Vice President for Botany Bruce Holst.

Clark remains a research associate with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. His previous appointments include curator of The University of Alabama’s herbarium and professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. Most recently, Clark served as the Aldo Leopold Distinguished Teaching Chair at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. Leopold was one of the foremost American wildlife conservationists of the 20th century and a 1905 graduate of the Lawrenceville School, and Clark has centered his own career on teaching and promoting a passion for biodiversity. His ability to connect with and inspire future scientists surely will boost Selby Gardens’ environmental education efforts too, both on our campuses and beyond.

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It’s hard to miss the holiday Bromeliad Tree near Payne Mansion on our Downtown Sarasota campus! Rising over 20 feet tall, this beloved annual tradition has become a special part of our Lights in Bloom® light show, as well as a festive attraction for daytime visitors to the Gardens.

Have you ever wondered how our Bromeliad Tree is created each year?

The initial design begins as a digital rendering. Along with creating the year’s signature pattern, Selby Gardens’ senior director of gardens horticulture, Christopher Elenstar, uses a software program called SketchUp to create a digital model of the design to scale.

After the rendering has been finalized, the Selby Gardens Horticulture team orders the plants needed for assembly — nearly 800 bromeliads!

The team incorporates different types of bromeliads, so the tree has a diverse array of colors and textures. This year’s tree includes seven different types of bromeliads:

• • Neoregelia ‘Fireball’
  • Neo. ‘Super Fireball’
  • Neo. ‘Casablanca’
  • Neo. ‘Lambert’s Pride’
  • Neo. ‘Tossed Salad’
  • Neo. ‘Avalon’
  • Neo. ‘Hawaii’

Once December nears, it’s all hands on deck for the installation! Our talented team and a group of their dedicated volunteers begin the assembly process:

The Bromeliad Tree frame is divided into three segments, so each piece is accessible from the ground (for now!). Once the design pattern is marked out on the frames, the team begins to place potted bromeliads into their appropriate spots. The pattern for the tree changes every year, so each plant’s placement is always unique!

By the end of Day 1, all three segments of the tree frame are filled with beautiful, colorful bromeliads. The vision begins to come to life!

Installation Day 2 means it’s time to break out the heavy-duty equipment to stack the tree frames on top of one another. Christopher operates the tractor forklift while the team takes care to bolt each segment together.

Check out this video of the Bromeliad Tree going vertical:

The Horticulture team fills in any final gaps between each segment with more bromeliads so the tree looks picture-perfect. And, for the finishing touch, our friends at Affairs in the Air install twinkling holiday lights amid the nearly 800 bromeliads to illuminate our beautiful tree for the holiday season!

Bravo to Christopher and our very talented Horticulture team for an amazing job well done (again)! And, from all of us at Selby Gardens, happy holidays!

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Botanical Illustration of Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima)

Euphorbia cyathophora

Manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella)

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