Rustin Dwyer is Visual Media Production Specialist at The New York Botanical Garden.

An Ethno-what? It’s an all too common question for New York Botanical Garden Research Specialist Ina Vandebroek. Ethnobotany is a field many people take for granted and Ina finds that just saying “I work with plants” doesn’t quite explain it. Traveling the Caribbean, Ina has worked with local communities to document how plants have been and continue to be used medicinally. We took a quick visit to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory with Ina, where many Caribbean specimens are on display during The Caribbean Garden.

“Medicinal plants are a source for a lot of today’s pharmaceutical medicines,” said Vandebroek. ”In a lot of places around the world people use plants as their only and first form of health care, so basically what ethnobotanists do is we go out to these remote places and we study how people use plants.”

Despite the fact humans have been using plants since the dawn of time, when thinking of ethnobotany many find it hard to get past the ideas of beat-influence Richard Schultes and Sean Connory’s rugged grey ponytail in the film Medicine Man. “It’s so much more than hallucinogenics and finding the next cure for cancer,” Ina said, laughing. “Its about helping communities that are really in need. We try to promote it as a science that can help local communities in conservation of their bio-cultural diversity.”

Ina’s current focus is on the flora of the Dominican Republic. She works not only in the Caribbean, but here in New York City with Dominican immigrants, frequenting many Botanicas.”We try to give those results back to them in the form of guides books as well as workshops within the community. We can also have programs together with universities to isolate bioactive compounds and those could lead to new medicines for humankind.”

Here’s a quick video about Ina’s thoughts on ethnobotany and a few of her favorite Caribbean plants on display now in the Conservatory.

Garden Tests Roses for Sustainability in Earth-Kind Trial Bed

Rustin Dwyer is Visual Media Production Specialist at The New York Botanical Garden.

Rustin Dwyer is Visual Media Production Specialist at The New York Botanical Garden.

Family Garden Celebrates Caribbean, China, Ireland, Italy, Korea

Rustin Dwyer is Visual Media Production Specialist at The New York Botanical Garden.

The Magic of Fall Color from The New York Botanical Garden on Vimeo.

To monitor The New York Botanical Garden’s Color change from your own computer, check out our Fall Tracker.

Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media.

Imagine my surprise this summer when I received a handwritten postcard from Academy Award-winning actress Joan Fontaine.

The story began in June when I received a phone call from a visitor to The New York Botanical Garden who was delighted to discover in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden a white modern rose named after a friend. That friend happened to be Joan Fontaine, best known for her roles in the Alfred Hitchcock thrillers Rebecca (1940) and Suspicion (1941), for which she won an Oscar. Ms. Fontaine also appeared in many other film classics from Hollywood’s golden age, including Gunga Din (1939), The Women (1939), Jane Eyre (1944), and Ivanhoe (1952).

I sent an image of the Joan Fontaine rose to the caller and was delighted to learn that she forwarded the photo to the legendary actress. Needless to say, Ms. Fontaine’s resulting note of appreciation made my day.

The episode inspired me to think of other roses named after celebrities. To paraphrase Peter Kukielski, Curator of the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, walking through the Beatrix Farrand-designed beds is like stumbling upon a tea party of the famous. The soft apricot flowers of the ‘Marilyn Monroe‘ rose are near the deep pink blooms of another hybrid tea named after Elizabeth Taylor. Also nearby is the ‘Julia Child’ floribunda, the 2006 All-America Rose Selections winner, with its buttergold petals and licorice candy fragrance. Watching over them all with its double pink flowers is the hardy grandiflora ‘Queen Elizabeth.’

Other roses are named after artists such as ‘Rembrandt‘ Portland or the floribunda ‘Henri Matisse‘ or the standard rose ‘Auguste Renoir‘ or the ‘Audubon‘ shrub. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has at least two roses with his moniker, the Hybrid Musk ‘Mozart‘ and the climber ‘Amadeus.’ Famed scientists also have their rose doppelgangers, including Charles Darwin and Madame Marie Curie. And still other roses honor Amelia Earhart, George Burns, and Johann Strauss. Famous names pop out from the world of fiction as well, such as ‘Othello,’ ‘Falstaff,’ and ‘Betty Boop.’

The Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden is a delightful destination full of surprises, with wonderful color and fragrance right up until the first frost of the season.

Autumn in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden from The New York Botanical Garden on Vimeo.

Rustin Dwyer is Visual Media Production Specialist at The New York Botanical Garden.

Invasive Tree Cutting from The New York Botanical Garden on Vimeo.

Rustin Dwyer is Visual Media Production Specialist at The New York Botanical Garden.

Waterlilies and Lotus in the Conservatory Pools from The New York Botanical Garden on Vimeo.

Rustin Dwyer is Visual Media Production Specialist at The New York Botanical Garden.

Daylily Walk from The New York Botanical Garden on Vimeo.

Genna Federico, a senior at St. John’s University, is an intern working in the Communications Department this summer.

Before the Waterlilies and Lotus Aquatic Exhibition in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Courtyard pools opened, I wanted to find out how these flowers floating in water are kept bright and perky. To get to the bottom of this, so to speak, I watched one day as Foreman of Gardeners Gary Bendykowski gave the tropical pool (one of two pools in the courtyard) a cleaning. It was quite a sight to see. Donning brown waders Gary entered the pool with great enthusiasm, saying “It’s the best; you get to be in the water and away from the crowd.”

The weekly cleaning is generally done for aesthetic purposes, to remove leaves that are discolored or have been torn. It also serves to get rid of the abundance of elodea, aquatic weeds that are not needed in these hot summer months, although in colder months they help provide oxygen.

See the video below and read about the rest of Genna’s day at the pool after the jump.

Conservatory pool cleaning at The New York Botanical Garden on Vimeo.

read more »