The next of our popular Orchid Evenings is this Thursday, March 19, and this special night will be dedicated to our friends in the LGBT community as part of the Garden’s new LGBT@NYBG initiative. In partnership with the NGLCCNY, NYBG will dedicate one of our special ticketed cocktail evenings to LGBT outreach for each exhibition.
Guests on Thursday will be able to admire The Orchid Show: Chandeliers and even enter for a chance to win prizes from our friends at Guerlain. Enjoy some beautiful snapshots from our last Orchid Evening below, and get your tickets for one of the remaining dates between now and April 19!
Patricia Gonzalez is an NYBG Visitor Services Attendant and avid wildlife photographer.
This year marks the eighth year that I’ll be photographing wildlife here at the New York Botanical Garden. I first began visiting the Garden grounds in 2008. I was so impressed with all the different types of wildlife that I soon became a Member. In 2012, I signed on as a Volunteer Greeter with Visitor Services. Later that same year, I was asked to join them as staff. The rest, as they say, is history.
During all this time, I’ve never stopped shooting. I bring my camera to work every day and try to do some shooting before and after my shift. I also visit the Garden on my days off to get in some extra daylight. Naturally, I have an advantage working at the Garden as I can get in before we open to the public. This leaves entire swaths of the Garden all to myself. Through the years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some amazing members of the animal kingdom. Here are a few of them.
Chinese witch-hazel is just one of the many witch-hazel varieties we have on grounds. This leading indicator for the end of winter is the current subject of Curator’s Spotlight.
Orchid Evenings kicked off last week, and the next of these popular evening events is this Saturday, March 14—and tickets are still available! Come enjoy the lingering sunset through the glass of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Admire The Orchid Show: Chandeliers alongside a live DJ with a cocktail in hand. The Pine Tree Cafe has a full bar and menu of snacks available for purchase while a live band sets the mood with Latin Jazz. Shop in the Garden will be open for those who wish to bring home an orchid or some orchid care products.
This year, Guerlain’s famed makeup artists will be on site offering free lipstick touch-ups. You can also visit the Guerlain Rare Orchid collection and post your pictures to Instagram with #GuerlainOrchid for a chance to win a couple’s spa day at the Waldorf Astoria. Visit our Guerlain page to get more information, and learn how you can also text for a chance to win luxurious Guerlain products!
Orchid Evenings have all you need for a night of romance and adventure under the intoxicating fragrance of New York’s favorite flower exhibition. Use your MasterCard to buy tickets and attend a pre-party at Shop in the Garden with a complimentary glass of champagne. Click through for more information about Orchid Evenings and the rest of this weekend’s schedule of tours and programs.
Pull on your galoshes and best gardening gloves, because spring is just two weeks away! Soon, kids ages 3–5 and 6–12 will learn about spring crops and beautiful early bloomers, like tulips and daffodils, in the Children’s Gardening Program, which kicks off later this month.
Kids in the Children’s Gardening Program learn about plant life, from soil all the way to the treetops. They get to take part in the process by planting their own veggie garden plots and digging for worms—key players in the composting and soil enrichment processes. There’s plenty more fun with songs, crafts, and nature-inspired activities that indulge in kids’ desire to know more about the inner workings of the environment around them.
The best way to avoid or eliminate pest and disease problems when growing orchids in your home is to follow good cultural practices. Correct water practices, consistent low-level fertilizing, a good growing medium, proper light requirements, and adequate humidity levels are all essential to getting your exotic friends to thrive.
Don’t worry if you were unable to check off all of those boxes—few of us ever do. Sometimes, all that we do to take care of our leafy little friends still isn’t enough. But let’s take a look at some user-friendly products that we have on hand to treat an ailing orchid. The first on the list is a grapefruit.
If you notice that something is munching holes in the leaves of your orchid, but you can’t find the culprit, then it’s probably a slug. They nestle into the loose, moist pieces of your fir bark potting mix and wait until dark before they strike. These nocturnal creatures can do quite a bit of damage. Leave an overturned grapefruit or citrus rind in your pot to deal with this problem. The slugs will crawl up into the damp cavity and you can then toss it out (slug and grapefruit rind together) in the morning. If you’re not a citrus person, then a large leaf of lettuce will do. Alternatively, the famous beer-in-a-shallow-bowl trick (about 1/2 an inch of beer) will make everyone happy.
Invasive Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) outcompetes native understory and prevents forest regeneration in New York State (NYS DEC, 2015).
On March 10, 2015, the sale of 75 plant species will be prohibited or regulated in New York State because of their invasiveness and “to help control invasive species, a form of biological pollution, by reducing the introduction of new and spread of existing populations there by having a positive impact on the environment (NYS DEC, 6 NYCRR Part 575 Prohibited and Regulated Invasive Species, 2014).” This is a big step in the ongoing battle with invasive species or non-native species that cause harm—harm to human health, economic harm, or ecological harm (Executive Order 13112, 1999).
New York first proposed these regulations through the Invasive Species Council in 2010, “A Regulatory System for Non-native Species,” that defined a process to prohibit, regulate, and evaluate unlisted non-native species. As you read through the 75 listed plant species in New York’s regulations, they are all species already known to cause ecological harm and are broadly established in the region. Blacklisting a species in law is one way to prevent further spread. However, “it is difficult to get a species on a blacklist unless it has already caused damage, and by then it is usually too late because the great majority of established introductions are irrevocable (Simberloff, 2001).”
