This Wednesday’s weekly NYBG Greenmarket is back on track, meaning you’ll be free to stock up on fall’s freshest vegetables as the city starts bundling up for the coming winter chill. Seeing as it’s now November, this is also one of three remaining chances to do so; the Greenmarket’s marathon of summer and fall harvests will come to a close on Wednesday, November 21.

But that’s still plenty of time! Time enough to enjoy the last of the greens, a wealth of winter gourds, pumpkins piled high, and–with any luck–a few jugs of freshly-pressed apple cider (the crown jewel of fall eats, really). The weekly Greenmarket is also an opportunity to bulk up your pantry with hand-picked foods for the coming Thanksgiving smorgasbord. Not that I really need to remind your appetite about the apocalyptic dietary decisions you’ll be making–even without healthy fruits and vegetables.
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Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.

Early one morning in late October, I drove down Daffodil Hill and around to the Azalea Garden. As I was rounding the corner, I found myself arrested by one of my favorite late season fragrances. I can never describe the scent–some call it slightly spicy. All I can tell you is that it is clean, inviting, and has a pleasant perfume that isn’t overpowering. But one thing is certain: fragrance is an unexpected pleasure this late in the season.

The plant in question is our native witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), which was given its name because its forked branches were once used as divining rods. These “V” or “Y”-shaped branches were taken up by those who felt them useful in locating underground water–a practice formerly known as “water witching.”

A lovely benefit of anything that flowers in late fall (or winter through early spring) is that the flowers tend to last for a long time. The cool weather slows down senescence and the flowers linger for weeks. On warmer days, the fragrance wafts through the air, advertising to local insects that the flowers are there.
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Here’s photographic evidence that–despite the calendar’s advance into the eleventh month of the year–the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden continues to bloom. The blooms may be fewer and more far between, but doesn’t that just make them all the sweeter for their rarity?

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen