Archive for March 13th, 2012

What’s Beautiful Now: Spring

Posted in Around the Garden, Gardens and Collections on March 13th, 2012 by Ann Rafalko – Be the first to comment

It seemed too good to be true. All winter, I kept holding my breath; I kept thinking in the back of my mind that winter had to arrive eventually; that all these nascent flowers and blooms and buds would be pummeled, at last, by a snowstorm as equally freakish as the October 29 blizzard that blew in like some harbinger of an Arctic winter. But, it never came. It never happened. And now, in mid-March it is glorious. On several occasions it has been warmer in the Bronx than in Los Angeles. The birds are singing, the breeze is blowing, sweaters have been (mostly) relegated to the bottom drawer, and flowers are popping up all over the Garden.

Prunus 'Okame' flowering cherry near the Library Building

Prunus \'Okame\' flowering cherry near the Library Building
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Doug Tallamy – Nature’s Boy Scout

Posted in Adult Education, Learning Experiences, Programs and Events on March 13th, 2012 by Sonia Uyterhoeven – Be the first to comment

Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.

Doug Tallamy (Photo courtesy of the University of Delaware)

Doug Tallamy’s lecture started from a basic and logical premise: if you take away the places for wildlife to live and feed, you will lose your wildlife. We are all aware that habitat destruction leads to a loss of species, but very few of us believe that we can make a difference or that we are directly linked to the process. I mean this in a non-judgmental way and from a place of empowerment.

Some of you may think that this is an early case of ‘election fever,’ but alas it is not. Last month I sat in an auditorium and listened to a very convincing and lucid proponent for environmental restoration and species diversity. Regardless of his own political views, with respect to the biome Tallamy is definitely not a democrat. “All plants,” he asserts, “are not created equal in their ability to support wildlife.”
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Morning Eye Candy: Mahonia

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on March 13th, 2012 by Matt Newman – Be the first to comment

Mahonia bealei — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen