Claude Monet may have defined his career as a painter with the iconic irises and water lilies that sprung from his palette, but his garden at Giverny offered a menagerie of color and shape that reached far beyond his most common canvas subjects. And it does to this day: over a century later, a crack staff of gardeners still tends the dazzling variety of plants that makes up the Impressionist’s living legacy. This includes a collection of vibrant indigo flowers well-known to home gardeners, cattle ranchers, and one of the 20th century’s greatest creatives.

As May makes its case for cheerful spring weather, a prime example of the Impressionist’s varied tastes blooms at the NYBG‘s Nolen Glasshouses, awaiting the opening of Monet’s Garden. And if ever an eponymous color did its namesake proud, it would be that of “delphinium blue.” There are other hues in the plant’s repertoire, of course–lavender, white, red–but each understated alternate might seem almost banal in comparison.
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Deep in the Forest, Rebecca Policello–a student from Ossining High School–treks through the underbrush. She isn’t a wayward sightseer, but rather a curious student interested in something others normally overlook: Eastern Redback salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). Spending their entire lives on land and even thriving in urban environments such as The New York Botanical Garden, the subjects of Rebecca’s study could reveal new information about the decline that is sweeping over amphibian populations worldwide.

The amphibian decline has been primarily attributed to the disease Chytridiomycosis, which is caused by a pathogenic fungus, B. dendrobatidis. Teamed up with Dr. Jim Lewis of Fordham University and Ms. Jessica Arcate Schuler of The New York Botanical Garden, Rebecca set out to determine if changes in the immediate area due to urbanization are enough to impact the salamanders’ defenses.
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Remnants of last week’s constant, soaking downpour. It’s so seldom we appreciate the sculpting of a tree trunk under the marquee of leaves and flowers.

Carpinus betulus ‘Fastigiata’ — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen