I spent about an hour wandering yesterday, half of that in the Forest and the collections surrounding. It’s impressive–how insulated and peaceful the place is when you have a late afternoon to while away there.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

We gush over green for so much of the year that a quick break from the norm is more than welcome. So this week, I’m shifting focus for something a little more in line with the exuberance of the Halloween season, a hue that our resident photographer, Ivo Vermeulen, is all too willing to champion–at least if his favorite pair of garish pants has anything to say about it. I’d show you a picture but I’m under the impression we had to put a ban in writing to keep him from blinding visitors (though it certainly doesn’t stifle this Dutchman’s nationalism). In any case, it’s tough to live year-round in the northeast and not have at least the shadow of a soft spot for the fiery orange of autumn.

The changes around the NYBG are not always subtle. The tulip trees have slipped into their lemon yellows, and the boughs fringing the Forest follow suit with a citrus spectrum of their own. In the Home Gardening Center, neon orange chrysanthemums carry the torch for the flowers. It won’t be long now before we’re walking the Garden trails beneath an entirely different canopy, one splashed with all the painted warmth that winter tends to be so stingy with. But for now, we’ll take in all this early orange wonder while the weather’s still playing nice enough to leave our galoshes and down coats stuffed in the closet.
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Orange to the point that it almost seems to siphon off the color from the foliage around it. Wishing you a happy Wednesday from the Seasonal Border.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Celebrating the subdued hues of fall at the Garden, one color at at time.

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Celebrating the explosion of color that is the summer garden, one hue at a time.

Photos by Ivo M. Vermeulen

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A burst of color to enliven your winter morning.

Lindera erythrocarpa Japanese spicebush in the Azalea Garden (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

Pinch me.

Japanese Maple (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)