Meteorology is something of an inexact science. Some days, forecasting the weather seems a little closer in discipline to fortune telling. And after all of the comforting reassurance (we were so set on it!) that the cold was behind us and nothing but picturesque spring days lay ahead, the hard freeze set to plow through New York tonight has shoulders slumping in gardens across the region. But, while it’s tempting, skip leading a pitchfork mob to your weatherman’s house. Shooting the messenger never solved any problems, especially when nature is such a fickle character.

The inbound chill may be grim news for many of the early blooms that sprung out of dormancy at the first sign of warm weather. But which petals will pull through, and which are facing the axe? We asked Kristin Schleiter, our acting Director of Outdoor Gardens, to chime in with her take on the situation. Depending on what you’re keeping in your home garden, you may be in the clear.
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Monotropa uniflora. The scientific name isn’t particularly menacing; it suggests the singular–mono-, uni-. But on a register of local vegetation, you’d likely overlook it. It’s a passing Latin designation in a sea of other plants, many of them named after scientists. And this remains the case up until you get to know this pale, vampiric oddity of the plant kingdom.

A friend (one altogether disinterested in botany, strangely enough) happened to post an image and a scientific name on Tumblr the other day. I was hooked from that moment. What was this “plant,” with its ghostly presentation, and what other traits were so interesting that it would distract a chemical engineering student from her studies long enough to share it? With its singular, slumped flower, it looked like a tulip under the cloud of an awful malaise; from petal to stem, there was not a single blush of color.
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The Orchid Show means thousands upon thousands of orchids, curling and spiraling their way across nine separate vertical walls of exotic foliage. It’s a family reunion of sorts in the Conservatory.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen