Laura Collier is Marketing Associate at The New York Botanical Garden.

Ah, yes. The first month of a new job. So many exciting possibilities, but also so many questions! I just moved to New York City and just started at The New York Botanical Garden, so there certainly is a lot to learn. Since my first day, I’ve been happy to be thrown right into the mix, learning quickly about the Garden, the events, collections, location of the lunchroom—the general “first-week 101.”

It’s an especially busy time here, preparing for the huge Holiday Train Show, which opens this weekend. It’s been interesting to see how much the staff and volunteers look forward to this event. Whenever someone mentions the Holiday Train Show, their voice changes a bit. When they find out that I’ve never been to the show, they immediately drop what they are doing to tell me about how beautiful the Conservatory looks when it’s all decorated and lit up or about their favorite landmark replica, like Yankee Stadium or the Brooklyn Bridge. Maybe they even mention that they secretly like The Little Engine That Could™ Puppet Show and that they are glad to have a 3-year-old nephew to use as an excuse to see it again this year. (Don’t worry; your secret is safe with me.)

I have to confess that I snuck in to see the exhibition as it was being set up. This just heightened my steadily growing excitement. The New York landmark replicas made from plant materials such as acorn caps, pomegranate halves, and sea grape leaves are so detailed that the pictures I had seen really do not do them justice. Twinkling lights are up inside and outside of the Conservatory, the new chill in the wind is signaling that winter is not far away, and writing promotions about Gingerbread Adventures, family events that go along with the show, has given me a week-long craving for gingersnaps.

So, after all this buildup, the Holiday Train Show opens tomorrow! I’ll be at the Garden with bells on, and maybe I’ll bump into one of you there! I promise to post some pics of my adventures.

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John Suskewich is Book Manager for Shop in the Garden.

In Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes, Judith Tankard avoids the pitfall of turning a historical figure into a waxwork and brings to life this pioneering woman who was one of the first important American landscape gardeners. As someone who designed an important feature of The New York Botanical Garden, the magnificent Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, Beatrix Farrand (1872–1959) is of particular interest to us here.

Hers is a great “little Old New York” story. Farrand’s aunt was Edith Wharton, she herself was one of Mrs. Astor’s “Four Hundred,” and Henry James was often a household guest, so she could have coasted. Instead, to a great talent Farrand added diligent study and travel, hard work, a facility for networking, and—for that time and place—a kind of courage. The commissions she attracted after 1900 included some of the most notable country places of that era: Crosswicks in Pennsylvania; the Fahnestock estate in Lenox, Massachusetts; Bellefield, the Newbold family property in Hyde Park, New York; and a slew of blue-blooded landscapes on Long Island.

The author’s chapter on Farrand’s assignment at The New York Botanical Garden is especially noteworthy. This involved creating an elegant design for a public rose garden out of a tricky site while developing a collection of roses that would have aesthetic and educational merit. The ups ands downs and ups of this rose garden reflect in a way NYBG’s own story, and of the difficulties that make landscape gardening such a complicated art, as time takes its toll. But time also tells, and in a volume that contains pages of marvelous photography, this garden is beautifully pictured, here and now, in its current state of grandeur.

This was the first of several public garden commissions and collegiate landscapes that along with Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, Reef Point Gardens in Bar Harbor, Maine, and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden in Seal Harbor, Maine, Beatrix Farrand created at the pinnacle of her career. She assembled an important library of horticultural books and photographs, wrote about plants and gardens in her Reef Point Bulletins, and refined her art with some late work, especially at her own charming home on Mount Desert Island in Maine: Garland Farm. Her combination of garden making in both the public and private realms is truly admirable.

We are fortunate to have Judith Tankard’s well-researched, well-photographed, and beautifully produced volume on the life and career of a real garden artist and hero. We are doubly fortunate that Ms. Tankard will be at Shop in the Garden on Saturday, November 21, which is also Member’s Day, to sign copies of Beatrix Farrand from 3 to 4 p.m. See you there!

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Lisa Vargues is Curatorial Assistant of the Herbarium.

In honor of the 150th birthday this year of Nathaniel Lord Britton (1859–1934), who with his wife, Elizabeth Gertrude Britton (1858–1934), founded The New York Botanical Garden, I set out to retrace some of his footsteps. My pursuit provided further insight into his life and brought some fascinating places to light.

This spark of nostalgic curiosity came over me ever since I started working on the Flora Borinqueña Digital Herbarium and Library, a project that makes available online the unpublished manuscript of the popular flora of Puerto Rico— along with images of related specimens—that Britton was working on at the time of his death.

After more than 70 years, Britton’s final manuscript emerged from storage, and in a Rip van Winkle moment has been resurrected in a brand new era of computers and digitization. Ironically, Britton was resistant to installing electricity (“an unnecessary luxury”) in the Garden’s Museum building (now the Library building), and instead frugally worked by gaslight, according to The New York Botanical Garden: An Illustrated Chronicle of Plants and People.

While transcribing some of Britton’s last written words in the Flora Borinqueña, including his shaky handwritten marginal notes, I wondered where the Brittons’ final resting place is and whether there are any remnants of their life here in New York, outside of the Garden.

And so my search began.

Unfortunately, I quickly learned that the Brittons’ 2965 Decatur Avenue home in the Bronx, where Nathaniel Lord Britton died, disappeared long ago. Yet, after rummaging through a few Garden history books and local history Web sites, it became clear that I must head to his birthplace: New Dorp, Staten Island, where his family roots are deeply planted and a few Britton relics still remain intact.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that his longtime former residence and ancestral home is not only still standing but also preserved in a living history museum, Historic Richmond Town. In this collection of about 30 historic buildings, the Britton Cottage (pictured) is the oldest structure, dating back to ca. 1670. A 1940 publication, The Britton Cottage: The Story of Its Construction, by Loring McMillen, mentions that in the “southerly attic room, Dr. Britton, by the light of the two small windows or an oil lamp, wrote part of his famous Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, published in 1896–8.”

Just 2 miles from the Britton Cottage is where the Brittons now rest, in the beautiful and vast Moravian Cemetery (photo above). Elizabeth’s death in February 1934 had a traumatic impact on her husband, and he passed away from a stroke just four months later (they had no children). Thanks to the Cemetery’s on-site database and the enthusiastic help of Richard Simpson, the Cemetery’s historian and tour guide, I found myself standing on a lovely hilltop on Atlantic Avenue peering at the very simple adjacent gravestones of Nathaniel Lord and Elizabeth, shaded by a large sweetgum tree. Surrounding them are Nathaniel Lord’s parents, brother, and sister. I found it meaningful to be standing in the area where the botanical world made its first impressions on Nathaniel Lord Britton, and where he and Elizabeth made their final “return” to nature.

It is, of course, outside the Cemetery gates where the memory of the Brittons is preserved in more tangible and enduring ways: the world-class New York Botanical Garden (first inspired by Elizabeth Britton), with its expansive collections; a mountain in Puerto Rico named in their honor; numerous plant names and publications; the Staten Island Museum, co-founded by Nathaniel Lord Britton; Historic Richmond Town; and, now the C.V. Starr Virtual Herbarium. Most significantly, the Brittons were dedicated to their field of research until the very end, and many will benefit from that dedication for generations to come.

For more on the Brittons and the founding of The New York Botanical Garden, read Britton’s Botanical Empire by Peter Mickulas.

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In the gardening world we all talk about “cultural care” and nod our heads knowingly: Growing requirements for vegetables include full sun, proper spacing, good drainage, and some kind of soil amendment, preferably organic material. We know the drill.

Being human, however, we often cut corners and hope for the best. Plants tend to be fairly accommodating—they grow in spite of everything we do to them—and often we walk away feeling like a success.

This year, however, the weather was so inhospitable that any corners cut turned into messy gaps in the garden.

It was a miserable year for the “fruiting” vegetables such as peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes—at least in my garden. The warm-season crops sulked or came to a screeching standstill early in the season when June decided it was April and summer went on an extended leave of absence.

In one part of the garden we planted young transplants of peppers and eggplants in early June as is our common practice. The cool temperatures stunted their growth and these vegetables never entirely recovered (see photo at right). Why? They were planted in an area that is not blessed with full sun. With all the rain, the soil stayed cool and excessively moist for half the season.

While these conditions work for leafy cool-season vegetables, they challenged the members of the Solanaceae family. My peppers didn’t have a chance. In another area of the garden, a similar array of vegetables was planted at the same time in a location with full sun.

There were no comparisons between the two gardens. The latter started slowly and then took off (see photo at left). By September, I was harvesting handfuls of white and purple eggplants (‘Ghostbuster’ and ‘Classic’) and some stylish purple bell peppers (‘Lilac hybrid’) that were wonderfully mild.

It was a wonderful illustration of how proper site conditions can make or break a situation. This year it was imperative to plant warm-season vegetables in the full sun they require, otherwise the air and soil (their growing environment) remained too cool and wet and they did not receive the warmth that they needed.

All I can say is that when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. In the vegetable world it was more a case of making sauerkraut and a hearty salad (minus the tomatoes and cucumbers) as cabbages were colossal and lettuces were lush.

Hugh Hardy of H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, was the principal designer of The New York Botanical Garden’s Leon Levy Visitor Center, which opened in 2004 and was included in the recently published book, 101 Cool Buildings: The Best of New York City Architecture 1999–2009.

Appropriately enough, the original 19th-century entrance to The New York Botanical Garden was located by the railroad station. This was logical for the time; from there pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages could explore a landscape that stretched out before them to the south. Passing by an impressive axial view of the Library building, framed by a broad allée of tulip trees, this roadway connects directly with the axis of the new Visitor Center. This second access point is more centrally located, with a parking lot for cars and buses. It is focused on a broad walkway of bluestone paving blocks that leads to a small fountain and reflecting pool where open views of the surrounding landscape present an extraordinary collection of trees, offering a tantalizing promise of exploration.

The intent of the new Visitor Center was to make a place where the Garden is revealed and discovered in all its seasonal variety, not to create a place embellished by buildings. First-time visitors can enter here, learn about the large extent of the Garden’s various collections and displays, rendezvous with each other, enjoy refreshments or investigate the gift shop. It is surprising to see how quickly a talented staff has made the bookstore and plant shop a destination in their own right.

Our purpose was to create an environment that accepts both large crowds and individual visitors with equal grace. Intended to present an introduction to the Garden’s landscape and horticulture, rather than display a formal set of buildings, I had not realized the extent to which we also created a truly public plaza for the Garden. People now meet here, connect with one another, and use this as an outdoor room for a variety of social activities. It is good to see how quickly it has become a place identified with the institution’s basic mission of education and the appreciation of natural beauty.

Now that the new plantings and surrounding trees have filled out, the basic axial orientation of the entranceway is even more compelling. Wide, black macadam driveways, originally planned for horse-drawn carriages, are major routes through the Garden. Their transformation into pedestrian and tram pathways has been required, even though they continue in use for service and construction vehicles. At first their breadth might seem excessive, but because they follow the undulations of the land, reinforcing the contours of the landscape rather than opposing it as contemporary roads most often do, they become a natural part of the whole pattern of movement in the Garden. I am therefore surprised how successfully this 24-foot-wide bluestone walkway leading through the Visitor Center provides appropriate access to this original circulation system.

Gayle Schmidt is Manager of Public Education.

This week we say goodbye to our Greenmarket farmers and bakers for the year, as today and Saturday mark the last two markets for 2009. All summer and fall they have offered wonderful seasonal colors—from the bright green sprouts of asparagus and leaves of lettuces to sweet red cherries, purple radishes, yellow corn, and brilliant orange squashes and pumpkins.

The autumn shades of the market table complement the beautiful showiness of the trees around the Garden and the spectacularly trained chrysanthemums on display in the Conservatory Courtyards in Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden.

Join us today as we present additional family activities at the Greenmarket and elsewhere in the Garden to mark the Veterans’ Day holiday. Grounds admission is free, though an All-Garden Pass is needed for the main exhibition and some programs. United States Veterans receive $5 off the All-Garden Pass purchased on-site with proof of military service.

As you stroll through the Garden, you will encounter some Japanese cultural programs to complement the beautiful Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden exhibition and Japanese Autumn Adventures. Try your hand at origami folding and saori hand-weaving on a traditional loom. Make a showy Japanese flower hat, and learn a few traditional dance steps that celebrate the flowers in the Children’s Adventure Garden.

Over at the Greenmarket at Library Allée, tap your toes to live music and taste some fresh apple cider that you can help press. We dare you to stick your hand in a giant pumpkin and grab a few seeds to count for the tally!

Our market always provides fresh fruits and vegetables, and we use this produce in whipping up easy recipes to help you decide what to bring home for dinner. Today I’ll be making some of my now famous butternut squash soup for you to taste. You can also learn what it takes to grow this great food at a discussion with one of our farmers, and you can even find out what to do with the peelings and scraps at Bronx Green-Up’s compost information table.

You won’t find a better way to spend a fall day!

With all of the crazy weather we’ve had this year, there has been a great deal of discussion of how weather and climate affects the plants we grow and cherish. This reminds me of the importance of microclimates in the garden and how it allows us to often successfully push the vegetative envelope.

Recently a woman came to a Home Gardening Demonstration that I was giving on herbs and herbal vinegars. We were looking at a collection of healthy rosemary I was growing in containers, a beautiful, blue upright cultivar called ‘Tuscan Blue’. We then wandered over to another section of the garden where a less robust specimen was struggling in a mixed border.

Rosemary, I explained, is borderline hardy in the New York area. We generally keep it in the ground over winter (it is a perennial herb) and then come back and check on it in the spring to see how it has fared. Usually, it is in such a sorry state that we end up removing it and replanting it with a specimen that has been protected in our greenhouses.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, “I had rosemary that flourished at my home for 5 or 6 years, and it never required any winter protection.” She then proceeded to explain that her rosemary had been situated in an area of her garden that was bordered by a cement walkway, which absorbed heat and warmed the bed. A few feet away, the white walls of the neighbor’s house reflected a fair amount of light into the border.

She had found a perfect microclimate for successfully overwintering her rosemary and other Mediterranean plants. The area provided shelter from damaging winter winds, good drainage, and just enough additional warmth to escort her rosemary through the chilly winter months.

This story reminded me of a friend’s New Jersey garden. The brick house’s laundry room heat vent opened up onto a section of the garden where he planted cannas (pictured), and he never had to lift them in the autumn. They flourished in their niche.

Had he planted a rhododendron in the same spot, the results would have been disastrous. The warm air would not have allowed the evergreen foliage to harden off for the winter, and the plant would have most likely suffered from winter burn and desiccation.

Microclimates beg the gardener to make a sensible choice, to assess the environment before choosing a specimen to reside there.

Pay attention to your compass. Southern exposures are the hottest and are ideal for tropical plants. Plants on the west side of your home will generally flower earlier due to the warm afternoon sun, while the same plants will flower slightly later, yet for a longer period of time, in an eastern exposure with the gentle morning sun.

Many types of hydrangeas form their buds on old growth (formed in the previous season). These overwintering flower buds can easily get damaged if they are tricked by a warm spell in the middle of winter and prematurely open. Avoid a warm southern exposure and plant them in a sheltered northern or eastern exposure so that they will warm up slowly in the spring.

The same rule applies with shallow-rooted perennials such as coral bells (Heuchera). Warm winter sun in a southern exposure can thaw the ground, which then freezes up again with colder nighttime temperatures, causing the soil to expand and contract. The shallow roots of coral bells generally cannot keep it anchored with such changes, and you end up with plant carcasses strewn over the bed.

Above all, gardening is about experimentation. Don’t be afraid to move your plants around if they are not flourishing in a particular site (spring and fall are the best times to transplant). Plants are very responsive. Adventurous experimentation and heeding your plant’s needs will transform you into a more seasoned gardener and a better plant parent.

Mertz Library Director Susan Fraser and Curators Stephen Sinon and I had the delightful task of selecting the 63 items that comprise the latest exhibit in the Library’s Rondina and LoFaro Gallery, Ex Libris: Treasures from the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, on through January 10, 2010. This is a show about the Library’s rich and varied collections. Although delightful, it was not an easy task to select from such a treasure trove of material. The LuEsther T. Mertz Library is the largest botanical and horticultural library under one roof, and this show is but a small sampling of the Library’s rich and varied collections of rare books, original botanical art, and manuscripts.

We selected the individual pieces on the basis of our combined knowledge of the collections and on research regarding the unique character of each object and its inherent beauty or distinctiveness, such as the hand-colored and color-printed aquatint engraving shown above, The Blue Egyptian Water-Lily from Temple of Flora, by Robert John Thornton (1768?–1837; London: T. Bensley, 1907), one of the greatest botanical works ever published.

In our selections we also favored those objects that were not shown in our previous exhibits. And we strove to include sumptuous images, so pictures of fruits naturally came to mind. One unusual and beautiful book about fruits (and vegetables) by 19th-century German author Johann Ferdinand Shreiber (fl. 1839), Bilder zum Anschauungs-Unterricht für die Jugend, is actually a children’s book. It was rediscovered by Stephen while he was looking for images to promote the Garden’s summer show, The Edible Garden. He kept the book in mind, and now it’s in the Ex Libris exhibit, displaying luscious grapes and abundant hops.

One section of the show is devoted to exceptional frontispieces and other front material of rare books, and includes a hand-painted title page depicting a magnificent floral wreath by the celebrated botanical illustrator Franz Bauer (1758–1840; pictured at left). The volume in which it appeared, Selectarum stirpium Americanarum historia, by Nikolaus Joseph Jacquin (1727–1817; Vienna, ca. 1780), is extremely rare, one of only 12 copies in the world.

Of the 30,000 pieces of original botanical art in the Library’s collection, we could only display 19, but the ones selected represent world famous artists such as Anne Ophelia Dowden (1907–2007) and Margaret Mee (1909–88), among others. Many of the works on display appeared in publications of New York Botanical Garden scientists. (Some of the images are posted in an online gallery.)

Great floral books, those that are remarkable both for their beauty and scientific accuracy, are also showcased. An image of the Mandragora atropa, the mandrake, from Flora Graeca, by John Sibthorp (1758–96), is on view. Known in ancient times for its magical properties, the mandrake root is believed to resemble Man, and when pulled out of the Earth, screams so horribly that the sound kills anyone who hears it. This myth is alive and well and reflected in the Harry Potter tales. The image on display comes from a work that is considered one of the great botanical books, and the image speaks to adults and children even today.

Botanical exploration, gold stamp bindings, mushrooms, and manuscripts are other themed displays to be enjoyed. I welcome you to come and be dazzled by the rich and luxurious treasures that Ex Libris and the LuEsther T. Mertz Library have to offer.

As well, a special display of original artworks by Auguste Mariolle (b. 1866), the Botanical Garden’s first botanical illustrator and one of the artists featured in Ex Libris, can be viewed in the Library’s Rare Book and Folio Room and Reading Room.

You may view Ex Libris: Treasures from the LuEsther T. Mertz Library on your own or on a guided tour. For tour dates and hours, see Plan Your Visit.