In their second year of the School of Professional Horticulture’s program, students go on six-month internships which allows them to expand their horticultural skills and to work on their professional development skills.  Brenden Armstrong wrapped up his internship at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., and will graduate in March 2012.  SOPH students are required to write a monthly report from their internship. Brenden’s report from the month of August is below.

Brenden teaching a potting workshop at Bread for the City in June

August was another eventful month at the National Arboretum. I’m beginning to love it here, and have thought more about if I would like to end up in this neck of the woods. The work environment is great, the people are wonderful, and D.C. has a distinctive culture that I enjoy. I’m glad that I have been able to experience it with Luis (another SOPH student) because we have become close friends now and I think he’s fallen in love with this city.

I have taught my last class at Bread For The City and feel lucky to have had that opportunity. I learned a lot about how to teach horticulture in a practical and meaningful way. Teaching has also been useful in reinforcing what I have been taught while it has allowed me to include my own ideas as well. I enjoyed the experience and would like to continue teaching in the future. Who knows maybe someday I’ll get to teach SOPH students!

I have continued to learned new plants, among them are many wonderful native plants. I’m glad that I have been able to study in such a landscape that is as diverse as the National Arboretum is. There are tons of wild-collected plants from all over the world, but also many that were collected in the United States. I used to dislike over-hyped native plants, but after my time here, I have come to love them.

Brenden teaching a rooftop gardening class at Bread for the City

A few of the plants I’ve seen are:
Rhamnella franguloides
Magnolia acuminata
M. macrophylla
M. ashei
HUGE Magnolia grandiflora
Vitex rotundifolia
Various Quercus spp. from Azerbaijan
Viburnum nudum

Hopefully all this exposure to plants will prepare me for our Plant Identification final. I can’t wait for it, it will be such a great way to wrap-up our knowledge about the plants we have learned. Once you can identify a plant, it gains so much meaning. It’s like learning the name of someone you have seen around frequently; suddenly you understand who they are. I’m glad that I have come to know so many plants.

I have one month left in my internship, and it will be gone before I realize it. This has been the most amazing summer of my life and I’ll be talking about it forever. SOPH has really hit the nail on the head with the required six month internship. It has not only prepared me professionally, but also given me perspective on what we have learned during the program. It’s been great and I look forward to completing the internship so I can see all my wonderful classmates once again in New York.

Photos from Bread for the City on Flickr.

Early this year, the New York Botanical Garden partnered with National Book Foundation and Poetry Society of America to create a literary element to our audio tours. With support from an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, we reached out to a number of NYC-based authors and poets and asked them to produce works based on their experiences or certain areas of the Garden.

Below you can see one of our contributors for the summer: author Ana Boži?evi? who chose the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden as her inspiriation for her work, Rose Hopscotch.

You can access the audio tour two ways:

Using your cell phone, call 718.362.9561 and type in the number next to the audio tour symbol on signs throughout the Garden grounds. You can even call from home if you’d like.

What do you think of the new Audio Literary Tour? Are there any NYC-based authors you’d like to see for upcoming seasons? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Susan Cohen, Portfolio Series Founder, Named to ASLA Council of Fellows

Jeff Downing is Vice President for Education.

Often, landscape design is most successful when it is least apparent. Perhaps because landscapes serve partly as transitions from the natural to the built world, many great landscape projects are noteworthy for being so harmonious with their surrounding environments that they seem timeless, as though they were always there.

The same could be said for the Landscape Design Portfolio Lecture Series. The Portfolio Series, which features renowned landscape architects from around the world discussing their most important projects, is presented each year in midtown Manhattan on Monday evenings in October and November. Over the years, the series has become so ingrained in the Garden’s fall calendar as a must-see event that it is easy to believe it has always existed. But it did not.

The Portfolio Series is the brainchild of Susan Cohen, Registered Landscape Architect and Coordinator of the Garden’s Landscape Design Certificate Program. From its inception in 1998, Susan envisioned the series as a platform to showcase world-renowned landscape architects, and a logical extension of the Garden’s popular landscape design program. In the 12 years since, the portfolio series has featured 50 influential designers of outdoor spaces large and small, public and private.
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Carol Capobianco is Editorial Content Manager at The New York Botanical Garden.

Our own John Eacobacci had the honor of tossing out the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, September 25, as the Yankees recognized Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day and the Special Olympics.

“It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” said John, who this year celebrated two milestones: turning 50 and marking his 30th anniversary at the Botanical Garden, where he works in the mailroom. He got to rub elbows with Joe Girardi, Reggie Jackson, and others.

John, who lives in the Bronx, has participated in the Special Olympics in bowling for more than 20 years. He is an avid Yankees fan, as everyone who works at the Garden well knows. Today he donned his Derek Jeter jersey to work, and in addition to his usual commentary about the weekend’s Yankees and New York Giants games, he received well wishes for his stadium appearance from his own fan club among employees.

“My favorite part was when I threw the ball and hearing my name announced,” said John, who had a wonderful time watching the game from a field box. The only downside: the Yanks lost to the Boston Red Sox 7-3.

Photos from the event

It’s Been a Hoot for Debbie Becker, Who Launches New Season on Saturday

Carol Capobianco is Editorial Content Manager at The New York Botanical Garden, and Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media.

Every Saturday at 11 a.m. throughout most of the year, a few dozen people gather at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center with binoculars and high hopes. They’ve come to go on a walk in search of the birds that live at the Botanical Garden either year-round or temporarily during migration periods.

The tour leader, Debbie Becker, who this season marks her 25th year conducting bird walks at the Garden, knows all the nooks and crannies, and all the favorite spots of many of the nearly 200 species that have been recorded in the Garden over the years. In other words, if someone wants to see a particular bird—say, the resident great horned owls or the aberrant white-winged crossbills—Debbie can deliver.

“The habitat dictates what kind of bird you’re going to see,” explains Debbie. “And in the Garden’s 250 acres of diversified habitat, you can see a lot of birds. You can walk from a forest, to a meadow, river, waterfall, ornamental garden, and native plant garden in just a couple of hours.” read more »

11-Year-Old Student Persuades Classmates to Come See the Trees, Flowers

Huston S. Watson Jr., age 11, just completed fifth grade at Traphagen School in Mount Vernon, N.Y.

My fifth-grade teacher at Traphagen School in Mount Vernon, N.Y., Arlene Rosenblum, gave us an assignment to write a persuasive essay. I visited The New York Botanical Garden with my parents and then wrote about why my classmates should also make a trip there.

The first reason why you should go is because of the beautiful trees. Some of them are magnolia, cherry, conifer, and crabapple. Most of these bloom in springtime. In the fall, the trees remain beautiful because of the foliage. There are many other kinds of trees. Maybe you’ll learn about a new tree.

The second reason why you should go is because of all the beautiful flowers. There are so many flowers in the Botanical Garden. You can see lilacs, tulips, roses, peonies, orchids, daylilies, and chrysanthemum. These are just some of the flowers you may see on your visit. You might even see butterflies flying around the flowers.
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Father’s Day Celebration Also Features BBQ and More

Bob Heinisch is Vice President for Site Operations at The New York Botanical Garden.

When people think of the Bronx, the thought of first-class institutions comes to mind. Two of the biggest in the borough, The New York Botanical Garden and the New York Yankees, have enjoyed a good relationship over the years. We’ve had appearances at our annual Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony by former Yankees such as Willie Randolph, Joe Pepitone, John Flaherty, and Bernie Williams, and most recently, the display of the 2009 World Series Trophy on Mother’s Day at our Shop in the Garden. (That’s me holding the trophy in the photo.)

On Father’s Day this year, Sunday, June 20, we’ll add another player to our roster as former Yankee Roy White comes to the Garden, from 1 to 3 p.m., for a casual talk and to sign copies of his book Then Roy Said to Mickey…: The Best Yankees Stories Ever Told, which will be available for sale.

A two-time member of the American League All-Star Team and a member of two world championship teams, Roy has been characterized as “a quiet, dignified man who led by example…[and] achieved popularity with fans and peers alike due to his classy, respectful, team-first attitude, and his subtle, momentous achievements.”

During an incredible 15-year career (1965–79) with the Yankees, he bridged the gap between the era of 1960s superstars Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Elston Howard and the superstars of the 1970s, Thurman Munson, Willie Randolph, and Reggie Jackson.
Don’t miss this opportunity to meet Roy White, whose appearance coincides with The Edible Garden’s first festival weekend, Get Out and Grill. This two-day celebration also features a Sunday BBQ perfect for Father’s Day.

Get Your Tickets

Wayt Thomas Collaborating on Research in Tropical Forests

Wayt Thomas, Ph.D., is the Elizabeth G. Britton Curator of Botany in the Institute of Systematic Botany.

I’ve been studying the flora of the Atlantic coastal forest in northeastern Brazil for 20 years. These forests are one of the world’s “biodiversity hotspots” because of the heavy deforestation, high species diversity, and large number of species that occur nowhere else. Much of my work has been focused on the forests of southern Bahia, near Ilhéus, but I recently was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the forests farther to the northeast.

As you read this, I am again in Brazil, having left New York on May 9. The purpose of my trip is several-fold: to check up on the field work of my student, Daniel Piotto, near Ilhéus, Bahia; to meet with professors at the State University of Santa Cruz in Ilhéus; to travel inland to Jequié, Bahia, to meet with a collaborator at the State University of Southern Bahia; to visit the Guaribas Biological Reserve in Paraíba; and to organize the newly funded project with my Brazilian collaborators, an essential element in field research.

I will file reports such as this one and photos from Brazil as access to the Internet on my end allows.
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Ursula Chanse is Director of Bronx Green-Up and Community Horticulture and Project Manager, NYC Compost Project in the Bronx.

Yesterday, nine-year-old Jada Nicole Young from the Mott Haven section of the Bronx (pictured with her dad, Mike) received the Youth Gardener Award from The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company at the Community Vegetable Gardening Season kickoff at The New York Botanical Garden.

Jada Nicole’s youthful bashfulness quickly gives way to joyful excitement when she talks about gardening, which she has been doing since she was 4 years old. Since I first met her at her community garden, Padre Plaza Success Garden, I have seen her jump into all activities, and in all weather, from helping to build a pond to planting garlic, working the compost, and feeding the fish and turtles. read more »

Mavia Brown is Manager of Corporate Relations at The New York Botanical Garden.

Mitsubishi International Corporation employees celebrated Earth Day last month by volunteering at The New York Botanical Garden’s Mitsubishi Wild Wetland Trail. Mitsubishi Chairman Koichi Komatsu, who is on the Board of the Botanical Garden, even donned waders and ventured into the wetland to help with the cleanup (see photo at right).

“Mitsubishi International Corporation greatly values its longstanding partnership with The New York Botanical Garden,” said Mr. Komatsu. “The Wetland Trail is an important resource for educating local schoolchildren about the environment, and we were glad to offer this contribution of our time for its upkeep.”

Working alongside Garden staff, the volunteers (including Sara Stroman and Joseph Stein in photo at left) rolled up their sleeves and worked hard at a variety of tasks throughout the day, including removing invasive plants that threaten the habitat and replacing them with native trees.

The Wetland Trail and its five acres of wetland plants teach Garden visitors about the importance and ecology of wetlands. A walk along the Wetland Trail is the first experience many school children have at the Garden each year. The Trail’s multitude of plants and animals—such as the turtles often seen sunning on a submerged rock—sparks curiosity about the environment and nature. read more »