As much as hearing the phrase rattled off might tap dance on your last nerve, good things really do come to those who wait. And that’s especially true for gardeners. During the first balmy weeks of summer the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden buzzed with activity as Mario Batali‘s top chefs planted nostalgia left and right, each seedling and young tomato plant a piece of their culinary history–a vegetable that  inspired a recipe, or a memorable fruit from childhood. Their potential was nurtured and encouraged through months of careful tending, and now, with fall upon us, the Edible Garden‘s harvest is ready to take the spotlight.

The fanfare begins this Sunday in Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens, where gourmands–young and old alike–can pick up a few new recipes while exploring the bounty planted by each of Mario’s chefs. Decorate a harvest bag, make your own chef’s hat, or sample your way through organic goodies. Whatever makes you and your kids happy! The Edible Garden Festival is set to continue into the afternoon with cooking demonstrations by NYBG staff, capped off by a master lesson from none other than Mario Batali himself. Afterwards, he’ll set to stunning tastebuds with his four-course, garden-to-table dinner event in the famed Garden Stone Mill.
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First thing’s first: We have released new tickets for the final two Monet Evenings! If you’d like to wander around the water lily pools and stroll down our recreation of Monet’s grand allée, cocktail in hand, while the sun sets behind the historic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, then you need to snap up your tickets before they sell out again!

Next up, dinnertime in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden! As part of “Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens,” a robust and interactive space in the Family Garden filled with beds of vegetables and herbs used at Mario’s restaurant kitchens, Family Dinners with Mario Batali’s Chefs pairs the produce from these beds with chefs from Mario Batali’s restaurants. On Thursday, July 26 join Chef Frank Langello of Babbo Ristorante and Chef Cruz Goler of Lupa Osteria Romana for an unforgettable dinner. Want to know what’s on the menu? Annie Novak, Assistant Manager of the Family Garden shows you in the video below.

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Half the fun of attending an evening event like Monet Evenings Featuring Water Lily Concerts, is getting dressed for it (or at least I think so). You want to look fancy, but not too dressed up; pretty, but not too girly to sit on the lawn; and be physically cool, while still looking cool.

Anyone around the NYBG digital media offices can attest to the fact that I have a workplace uniform and should in no way be trusted to give fashion advice, so I turned to Lilit Marcus.

Lilit is a New Yorker by way of North Carolina, which means she likes fried chicken and bagels equally (you can see why I trust her, right?). Lilit’s first book, Save the Assistants, based on the popular blog of the same name, was published in 2010. Her work has also appeared in Glamour, the New York Post, the Forward, and Cosmopolitan. Oh, and she’s mighty stylish, which makes her the perfect person to pull this chic little outfit together, just in time for the next Monet Evening, Thursday, July 19, 6-9 p.m. Take it away Lilit!
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We’re bringing the City of Lights to the City that Never Sleeps, and it begins this Saturday night with the first of our Monet Evenings.

Once a month from now through September, the NYBG will host elegant cocktail nights flaunting all the romance of the city on the Seine–the pluck and jangle of Gypsy Jazz, the nostalgic swoon of “La Vie en Rose,” the swing of the Zazou movement, or the sanguine strains of Debussy. Because, the way we see it, there’s no need to stop at the rural charm of Monet’s Giverny when so many of his contemporaries found their muse on the Champs-Élysées. Impressionism goes beyond the context of the canvas, after all.
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