Patricia Gonzalez is an NYBG Visitor Services Attendant and avid wildlife photographer.
Wednesday, March 30th was a great day for shooting. Cloudless blue skies greeted me when I entered the Garden grounds. I went to Twin Lakes in the hopes that I’d get to see some of my reptile friends sunning themselves, and I was not disappointed.
This painted turtle gave me quite a challenge. The reeds were moving in the wind, blocking a clear shot. One of the hurdles of wildlife photography is shooting subject matter that can fly, crawl, or swim away in the time it takes to focus. In this case, it wasn’t the turtle moving, but its environment.
I wanted to get closer, but didn’t want to run the risk of invading his space, which would result in him dropping into the water. So I waited a bit for the wind to die down, then pressed the shutter. Mission accomplished!
Painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) at Twin Lakes – Photo by Patricia Gonzalez
Experts from Fordham University speak at the NYBG/Humanities Institute Colloquium. From left to right: J. Alan Clark, Sheila Foster, and Roger Panetta.
On Friday, February 26, 2016, the Humanities Institute hosted the colloquium Ethical Spaces: Landscapes and Environmental Law. Promoting innovative thinking about the rapidly urbanizing world we live in, the discussion centered on land, law, and ecology, focusing on the four classic elements—air, earth, fire, and water. Featuring three experts from Fordham University, the discourse ranged from bird migration (air) to legal ramifications of land ownership and social vulnerability (earth, fire) and the many challenges facing New York City’s waterfronts (water).
Impressionism: American Gardens on Canvas is already shaping up to be a picturesque summer exhibition with all the right touches of classic horticulture—just ask the poppies.
Papaver nudicaule ‘Champagne Bubbles’ in the Nolen Greenhouses – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Kristine Paulus is NYBG’s Plant Records Manager. She is responsible for the curation of The Lionel Goldfrank III Computerized Catalog of the Living Collections. She manages nomenclature standards and the plant labels for all exhibitions, gardens, and collections, while coordinating with staff, scientists, students, and the public on all garden-related plant information.
Pinus rigida
I don’t like baseball. I feel about the sport the way the protagonist of a certain Boomtown Rats song feels about Mondays. My dad, on the other hand, is the world’s biggest baseball fanatic (you might say phanatic if you knew which his favorite team is). While I will never share my dad’s passion for this popular bat-and-ball game, I try to be a good daughter and humor him in conversations as I try to find something (anything!) interesting about it. One way to amuse myself during a baseball game is to botanize it. It turns out that there are plants in baseball! That sticky goo that batters use to improve their grip? It’s pine tar from Pinus rigida, or pitch pine, a tough native tree that grows where few other can, in poor conditions, dry windswept slopes and shallow, rocky soil. The pine which gives the Pine Barrens of Long Island, New Jersey, and Cape Cod their name can be seen in the Ross Conifer Arboretum Its common name alludes to the high resin content that makes the production of pine tar possible. Its is so important in baseball that historians recall the infamous Pine Tar Game.
Hundreds, thousands, millions of daffodils. (That’s the goal, anyway!) These sunny-faced beauties are blooming en masse throughout the Garden, lighting up Daffodil Hill, Daffodil Valley, and so many spaces in between, turning our 250 acres in New York City into the quintessential spring landscape.
The best way to experience it, of course, is with a glass of wine in hand—red, white, whatever your taste, we’ll have something to pique your palette this coming weekend, April 23 & 24. Our Daffodil & Wine Weekend is a great opportunity to take in the beauty of early spring, not to mention the good-and-getting-better weather.
While you’re here, purchase a wine sampling glass for a few dollars and visit a fleet of attending New York State vintners offering local wine tastings, winemaking demonstrations, and other presentations on their craft.
False starts and sudden bouts of cold may have confused New York’s plants for the first weeks of spring, but there’s no doubt that it’s here now. This weekend should be nothing but clear skies, sun, and easy, breezy weather for our plants to shake off the chill. And you’re welcome to do the same!
Stop in for this final weekend of The Orchid Show: Orchidelirium, closing Sunday, April 17. And if you’re in the mood for something a bit more moonlit, you can’t go wrong with our Orchid Evenings, the last of which happen tonight and tomorrow, April 15 and 16, from 6:30 to 9:30. It’s your last chance to see this kaleidoscopic exhibition under the Conservatory lights with a drink in hand—admittedly one of the better ways to take in the world’s most alluring flowers.
Capricious spring weather’s thrown us for a loop over the last few months, from warm, bloomy days to sudden cold snaps. But now that the weather seems to be evening out, we’re ready for a second spring—expect a flush of daffodils, cherry blossoms in Cherry Valley, and the welcome arrival of the crabapples over the next two weeks!
Crabapples and daffodils on Daffodil Hill – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
