The New York Botanical Garden’s Plant Information Specialists and the Home Gardening Center share a wealth of experience, enlightening visitors with their knowledge of indoor and outdoor plants, ornamentals, vegetable gardening, identification, and growing requirements–to name but a few of their specialties.

It was nearly 60 degrees here at The New York Botanical Garden yesterday, a misplaced spring day that brought with it a number of questions from our Twitter followers concerned for the future of their plants. As Sonia Uyterhoeven outlined only a few weeks ago, this strange back-and-forth with warm and cold temperatures has been wreaking havoc on the plants’ growth cycles, confusing some of them into blooming early and leaving gardeners wondering if they’ll have anything to show come spring.

For spring-blooming flowers, the bad news is that it’s a “one and done” agreement–if high temperatures now push these plants into their spring phase early, there will be no second bloom post-winter. The good news is that if we have long stretches of weather in the high 30s and low 40s, those growths that are blooming early will last for a very, very long time. At this point the long-range forecast is still looking promising. But look at your average meteorologist’s win ratio and you’ll take predictions with a grain of salt.
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Can you believe this weather? I can’t imagine that it can last, and after this week’s earlier cold snap, I have vowed to take advantage of every warm day the winter of 2012 throws at me by getting outside and taking a walk. Today during lunch I took my new favorite stroll through the Forest. The walk takes just under an hour if you really dawdle and take your time to admire the winter landscape. This weather is perfect for this: just chilly enough to make the bare branches not seem out of place, and just warm enough to let me linger and admire all the interesting things in the Forest without getting frozen toes. So, I encourage you to take advantage of this unusual weather, too, and come visit the Garden this warm winter weekend. Come for the Holiday Train Show, but stay for the Forest. This is a rare gift, enjoy it!

My walk starts at Twin Lakes. The lakes–which just a week ago were busy with muskrats and ducks–are finally beginning to show signs of freezing.

See what the Spicebush Trail has to offer winter walkers below.

Approximately 15% of the 15,000 trees in the Garden’s Thain Family Forest have sustained at least some damage.

Many of the historic trees in the Garden’s beautiful magnolia collection have been damaged, even destroyed.

In the new Azalea Garden huge branches fell on new plantings and an ancient tree was lost.

The entire 250-acres of the Garden is littered with branches and tree limbs.

Our initial assessment shows that thousands of trees have been damaged and many destroyed. A complete appraisal will take weeks as much of the damage is high in the canopies of trees 100 feet tall or more.

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This weekend’s historic storm caused a large amount of severe damage to the Garden’s vast collection of trees and celebrated woodlands.

Our crews are hard at work cleaning up the damage and working to save every tree they can. Simultaneously, we are busy getting ready for the beloved seasonal tradition of the Holiday Train Show. We hope that we will see you soon under the glittering dome of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

We’re having a strange spring in New York City; full of cool, misty days, punctuated by short bursts of sunshine and warmth. It may not be good for humans the long , snowy winter we just got through, but it’s fabulous for the flowers. So damn the weather! Come visit, it’s pretty incredible.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen