Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.

I don’t know if you have ever encountered a nettle while out on a walk, but I certainly have, and there is one experience in particular that leaps to mind. While out with friends on a botanizing excursion, I managed to stick my hand straight into a huge patch of nettles (Urtica dioica). A big mistake, as you can probably guess.

We spent the rest of the walk searching fruitlessly for broad-leaved dock (Rumex obtusifolius) to relieve the itching, swelling, and burning caused by the nettle’s stinging hairs. My arm was on fire. But the glassy hairs themselves were not the driving force behind this irritation, nasty as they are. That blame lies squarely with the formic acid and histamine released as the spiny hair pierces the skin.

Luckily, there are several wild cures to the nettle’s sting that the natural world offers. Weeds can be useful, even though gardeners view them (often rightly so) as a nuisance. Broad-leaved dock is just one example. To counter the effects of nettles, the dock’s leaves can be collected, torn into pieces, and pulverized until they produce a green sap. This juice will offer near-instant relief from the nettle’s sting.
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Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.

Ilex verticillata ‘Winter Red’

Our newest garden, the Native Plant Garden is a 3.5-acre notebook of ideas for your home garden. Native shrubs—like the ones you will see here—are an asset to any landscape, as many of them are durable plants which serve as homes and food for native bird species. Native shrubs often have beautiful spring or summer flowers and colorful fall foliage.

Deciduous winterberry hollies, Ilex verticillata, a standard in the nursery trade, are indigenous from Nova Scotia through Florida and west to Missouri. In their native habitat they prefer moist soils and swampy areas where they tend to sucker. However they will still grow prodigiously in average garden soil, but with a more upright form that can tolerate full sun and light shade.

These hollies are dioecious meaning there are male and female flowers on separate plants. The females are covered with berries later in the season. The male, meanwhile, can be tucked back in a corner. The bright-colored berries, technically drupes, are often red, but can vary from scarlet to orange-yellow, and are eaten later in the winter by over-wintering birds. They are too hard for migratory species which mean they hang on into the winter when they can nourish the birds toughing out the winter, hence the name “winterberry.”
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I was out in the woodland area of our soon-to-open Native Plant Garden and found myself overwhelmed by the beauty of all the different species of trillium we have planted there. Trilliums bloom in early spring, taking advantage of the time on the forest floor before the trees grow leaves and cast shade upon them. Trilliums, much as their name might suggest operate in threes: three leaves, three sepals, and three petals. The leaves are arranged in whorls wrapping around the stem from a single point. The result is a graceful zygomatic symmetry. Triullums are undoubtedly one of the most showy and elegant trichotomous woodland native plants.

There are two types of trillium, sessile and pedunculate. The flowers of sessile trilliums rest on the leaves without a flower stalk while pedunculate trillium flowers are elevated by a stalk. Sessile trillium tend to have mottled leaves that are spotted with silver or maroon coloring while pedunculate trillium have green foliage. Trilliums are slow to grow on their knobby rhizomes, but will slowly spread and form a nice clump, though it may take up to seven years before they flower if you plant them from seed. But, the pay-off is that once a clump is established in your garden it will live for decades.

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Last week I announced that spring is here and the weather promptly rose into the 70s for three days. I watched everything unfurl, some early bloomers senesced, and then we had a welcome day of rain which supplied good moisture to get even more things jumping.

We are heading into the season where the Garden changes dramatically every week. This morning I walked out to the Azalea Garden and admired the early season blooms in their full glory. The Korean rhododendron Rhododendron mucronulatum, ‘Cornell Pink’ is smothered with flowers. You can find it planted in a pleasant band that runs through the Azalea Garden and lights the hillside up with girly pink flowers.

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When you visit The Orchid Show you might be tempted to buy an orchid at Shop in the Garden to take home with you. Go for it! Orchids aren’t nearly as fussy to keep as houseplants as you might think they are.

Orchids have gotten a reputation for being divas, but choose the right one for your home environment (don’t worry, our orchid experts work at the Shop, too!) and you’ll have a beautiful plant that can last for years with new blooms every year.

We’re committed to helping you keep your orchids healthy and happy.

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Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Barmstedt Gold’

It’s come in fits and starts this year. Snow falls one day, only to vanish in an instant through heat or a heavy rain. With all the yo-yoing we have experienced this winter, oscillating from warm to cold, the fluctuating temperatures have sent me and many of my colleagues home with lingering ailments as our bodies try to figure out what’s going on.

While walking through the Garden in these early days of spring, I notice that Mother Nature is equally confused. The persistent cold has slowed down the cycle of spring, leaving us somewhere between one and two weeks behind schedule in terms of spring bloom. Once the warm temperatures arrive in earnest, things will accelerate. What this means for now is that some of the early signs of spring–the ones that we usually like to see from our living room windows–are out and worth perusing.

The Cornelian cherries (Cornus mas) started flowering around the very end of March this year, whereas they usually bloom sometime in the middle of the month. As one of the many cheerful harbingers of spring, they’re a welcome sight; the 15-foot, multi-stemmed branching shrub is smothered with tiny umbels bursting with golden yellow, star-shaped flowers.
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With spring finally here and the seasonal explosion of flowers everywhere, it’s time to yearn for fragrance. While we wait for the flowers to bloom outside, a trip to The Orchid Show should dazzle your senses. But soon the heydays of spring will be upon us, and two of my favorite fragrant outdoor plants will be filling the air with old-fashioned perfume; lilac and hyacinth.

Inside during The Orchid Show, one of my favorite orchids is Zygopetalum. This orchid doesn’t sport a common name so the only thing you will be able to do short of remembering its botanical name is to refer to it as a ‘zygo’. Everyone in the orchid world will know what you are talking about. ‘Zygo’s’ flower in winter and early spring so they add a delicious perfume to your home while there is still snow on the ground.

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There are a number of orchids that seem to draw the crowds at The Orchid Show better than others: The pansy orchid (Miltonia) is one of them. This cheery flower–as the name suggests–has a broad open bloom that looks like a cross between a pansy and a butterfly, often bearing the etchings of a face or waterfall markings that cascade down its lip (Labellum).

Miltonias are actually two genera: Miltonia and Miltoniopsis. Don’t worry, I am not going to digress into a technical discussion; rather, I am raising the distinction so you understand that they can flourish in your home with the proper care. Miltonia and Miltoniopsis were once clumped together–now they are separated–but people still refer to all of them as Miltonia. In this day and age there are so many hybrids out there that, unless you are specifically searching for a species, you probably have a little bit of both in your orchid.

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Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.

A few weeks ago I put together some orchid trivia for one of my colleagues, and I thought I would share some of the interesting tidbits with you. As part of the entertainment for The Orchid Show this year, we are featuring “Music from the World of Orchids.” Each weekend throughout the run of the exhibition an eclectic array of musicians will perform popular tunes from countries that are known for their beautiful orchids. The line-up includes musicians from Brazil, Peru, Cuba, Mexico, India, Cameroon, Portugal, and the United States, giving visitors a rich and varied sensory experience.

Picking up a little knowledge beforehand can make your visit to the Orchid Show even more enriching than it already is, though we’ll certainly have plenty of experts on hand to answer any of your questions while you’re here. For now, here are some fun pieces of orchid trivia for you to ruminate over while you listen to exotic melodies!
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Jade Vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys)

I recently spent an early morning walking around the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, soaking in the tropical colors and exotic flavor in the display houses before the crowds came in for The Orchid Show.

One of my favorite late February, early March features in the Conservatory is the electric blue-green of the blooming jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys). The jade vine is indigenous to the Philippines, where its tendrils scramble up tropical rain forest trees in an effort to seek out sunlight. The beak-like flowers dangle from a long raceme that can extend for several feet (the flower inflorescences can reach up to nine feet in the wild). The mint-green color of the flowers is almost eerie, and something that needs to be seen in person to fully experience. These flowers are pollinated by bats in their natural habitat, and produce large, melon-like fruit.
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