FRBC Tour January 2026
Argentina and Chile

We are excited to announce another FRBC sponsored tour to Argentina and Chile with the amazing Marcela Ferreyra this coming January 2026!

The wonderful and supremely knowledgeable Argentine botanist Marcela Ferreyra will be our guide again for this trip. During the first part of the trip, we will be visiting some of Marcela's favorite places in the mountains of northern Argentine Patagonia where our focus will be on alpine wildflowers (especially rosulate violets, one of Marcela's specialties). Then we will cross to Chile, where we will head south, exploring the incredible Valdivian forests and alpine zones of the central Chilean Andes. Along the way we will visit and stay in many charming towns and destinations, and learn as well about the history and culture of this very unique part of the world. For more information (and lots of photos!) please email us to receive a copy of the detailed itinerary of the upcoming trip.

This will be an active trip, with an itinerary aimed to please guests who enjoy frequent nature walks and a few longer hiking days.

We will have two options this time:

14-day option starting Jan 10 in Bariloche Argentina and concluding Jan 23 (in Chile)

• The first week (Jan 10-17) will be in Argentina
  • Focus will be on high mountain ecosystems and alpine flowers--we will visit some of the best places for alpine wildflower displays in the entire region
  • We will visit a couple of the most popular places we visited in 2024 including the amazing Villa Pehuenia and Copahue volcano, as well as several new locations including San Martin de los Andes and Pino Hachado pass
  • So. Many. Araucarias. We will visit several of the most iconic destinations in northern Patagonia and get up close and personal with these amazing ancient trees
• The second week (Jan 17-23) will be in Chile ○
  • rainforests AND alpine zones of south-central Chile, including:
  • A little-known gem of a national park that is home to ancient Araucaria (Monkey Puzzle Tree) and old-growth Nothofagus (Southern Beech)
  • Intimate experiences with the spectacular Valdivian rainforests, spending two nights in the culture-and-nature-rich city of Valdivia (Cody's favorite city in Chile) and
  • Two nights in Melipeuco exploring the spectacular volcanoes, alpine zones, and very unique transitional forests of Conguillio National Park

18 day option starting Jan 10 and concluding Jan 27

• Everything included in the 14-day option AND
• Amazing Fitzroya cupressoides forests where we will see some of the oldest (non-clonal) trees in the world (over 3,500 years old)
• Numerous exceptional plants and ecosystems which we won't see on the 14-day option (e.g. Crinodendron hookeri in the wild)
• R&R time at two of the nicest natural hot springs in Chile
• A huge variety of forest and mountain ecosystems of southern Chile, including two additional hiking days to really fill out the experience of this incredibly beautiful region and totally unique region
• Two nights in Puerto Varas Chile, one of the most picturesque destinations in South America (and a contender for Cody's second favorite city in Chile)
• etc.

For more information, please email us to receive a detailed itinerary of the trip where you can learn more about where we will be going and what to expect. We will be targeting a max group size of around 10 guests for the tour, which will be similar to our first Argentina tour in 2024, and a bit smaller than our tour earlier this year (2025) to Mendoza + Chile. FRBC botanist Dr. Cody Hinchliff will be trip manager assisted by FRBC directors Sue Milliken and Kelly Dodson - we will have you covered!

If you think you might be interested in joining us, let us know and reserve a spot on the list! If you have any questions, please ask!

Also check out FRBC’s Fall 2025 newsletters for a series of trip reports about a section of last year's Chile trip, written by Cody, with many more photos and botanical details about the region.

Volcanic Heritage: 2025 Andes Tour Journal Part 1

The Chilean "Experiment": 2025 Andes Tour Journal Part 2

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Expeditions

Many of the world’s plants are poorly known – some are known but have never been introduced to cultivation while others remain undiscovered. We feel a great sense of urgency to explore, discover, and introduce as our planet is losing more species each year than it has since the die-off of the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago.

In response, the FRBC embarks on plant explorations to remote areas around the globe, specifically searching for uncommon and vulnerable species threatened by human resource exploitation or climate change. Acquiring cultivated plants from foreign countries that are not in the US, is also a focus as many of these carry provenance from expeditions while others provide key horticultural diversification.

The first Asian expedition for the FRBC in 2017 resulted in discovering a new species of Heteropolygonatum along with a heady number of first-time introductions to cultivation. Subsequently, we have made acquisition trips to the UK and explored remote areas of southern China and Northwest Argentina.