Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Archive: September 2008

In the News: PBS and The New York Botanical Garden

Posted in Exhibitions, Exhibitions, Moore in America, NYBG in the News, Video on September 16 2008, by Plant Talk

Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media.

NYBG on SundayArtsIn the few months since its opening, Moore in America, the exhibition of monumental sculpture on display at The New York Botanical Garden, has generated quite a bit of positive media reaction. One of the highlights was Channel Thirteen’s SundayArts feature, which included the Moore exhibition as the lead story in its news segment.

Host Christina Ha visited the Botanical Garden and shared with viewers some of the 20 artworks by Henry Moore that are placed throughout the Garden’s 250 acres, including Reclining Mother and Child in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden. The SundayArts program airs weekly on Thirteen/WNET-TV, the flagship public broadcaster in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut metro area. The program showcases local arts news about gallery and museum exhibits and world-class performances. Its Web site is rich with artist profiles, blogs, calendar listings, multi-media content, and more.

In addition to covering Moore in America, PBS has featured other stories about the Botanical Garden as well.

New York Voices, the weekly half-hour newsmagazine program and Emmy-winning series that presents in-depth stories unique to the lives of New Yorkers, documented the Garden’s Plant Research Laboratory and last spring’s popular exhibition Darwin’s Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure, hosted by Rafael Pi Roman.

One of my favorite PBS programs in recent memory was “A Walk Through the Bronx,” in which award-winning documentary-maker David Hartman and historian Barry Lewis explored the history of our fine borough, including a fascinating look at the early history of The New York Botanical Garden.

David Hartman later returned to the Garden for a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into making NYBG’s crowd-favorite Holiday Train Show, filming a documentary about Paul Busse and his team at Applied Imagination.

As the Botanical Garden continues to attract the attention of an ever-growing landscape of traditional and new media, public television continues to be a source of thought-provoking and engaging content not easily found elsewhere, sharing with its millions of viewers topics about education, science, culture and the arts, and much, much more.

Tip of the Week — 9/15/08

Posted in Gardening Tips on September 15 2008, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Crazy for Conifers
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education at The New York Botanical Garden.
dwarf blue Colorado spruceConifers provide stately backdrops throughout the year for the garden. In the fall they are particularly spectacular as backdrops for the fireworks of fall colors. While many of them are imposing specimens, there are many fine dwarf conifers that are ideal for perennial borders and more confined spaces.

One of the most stunning examples of a dwarf conifer is the dwarf blue Colorado spruce, Picea pungens ‘R.H. Montgomery’. This is a slow-growing, compact specimen with beautiful glaucous blue needles.

If you would like a golden accent in your garden, try Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Filifera Aurea Nana’. This Dwarf Sawara-cypress will develop into a  three-foot mound.

If green is your color, the Hinoki False Cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Gracilis’, is a popular choice. It starts its life as a mound and then develops into a nice upright shape, reaching from three to five feet tall after 10 years. This little conifer can take full sun to part shade.

Weekend Programming: Fiesta de Flores

Posted in Programs and Events on September 12 2008, by Plant Talk

Gayle Schmidt is Coordinator of Public Education.

face-paintingIt’s crunch time, making sure all the plans are in order for the all-day annual celebration of Fiesta de Flores on Sunday, September 14. Performers—check. Helpful staff and volunteers—check. Flowers blooming impeccably—check! I can’t quite take credit for the last one, but flowers are a top feature of the day.

All around the Garden I have helped coordinate the day’s activities, which range from children’s botanical crafts to gardening demonstrations to salsa dancing and face painting. The celebration of flora and culture relates to the Garden’s scientific research program, which began in the Caribbean region in the 1890s and where our scientists are still active today. Imagine being out in the field with them by visiting the replicated rain forests in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

This year the celebration is complemented by a concert with Dan Zanes and Friends (see the blog post of September 9), who just released a Spanish-language CD that brings together many voices from many Latin American countries.

I get to learn a lot of new skills and new lingo working with so many different people to put on events. It is quite a long list of things to keep track of, but I hope you can come out and enjoy this wonderful day with me. Afterward, I’ll be back planning events for your next visit. Keep your fingers crossed for nice weather!

Check out Saturday’s programming
Check out Sunday’s programming

Family Fun with Dan Zanes and Friends

Posted in Programs and Events on September 9 2008, by Plant Talk

Jamie Boyer is Associate Director of Teacher Professional Development.

Dan Zanes and LuluJust mention Dan Zanes and Friends to children and you can see the thrill in their faces. In fact, they will probably start singing one of the group’s catchy songs while dancing around the room.

This Grammy-winning band plays music that has a folksy feel, with a mix of traditional and non-traditional instruments. Dan Zanes likes to say that he makes “family music,” not just “kid’s music,” and you can understand why he makes this distinction. Unlike a lot of children’s music, when you hear this group you find yourself singing along because you truly enjoy the songs.

For years my family has enjoyed Dan Zanes and Friends through their albums and video. We got to experience the fun of a Dan Zanes concert when he came to Carnegie Hall in 2006. It was a great performance with songs both old and new and special guests such as Natalie Merchant, who joined the band on stage. The audience was singing and dancing at their seats; we didn’t want the concert to end.

You can imagine my children’s excitement when I mentioned that this celebrated group would be performing at The New York Botanical Garden on September 14. I know my family and I will be there, singing right along. So if you have children, or if you’re just young-at-heart, don’t miss this one-of-a-kind event to see Dan Zanes and Friends on Daffodil Hill.

Tip of the Week — 9/8/08

Posted in Gardening Tips on September 8 2008, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Late-Season Fragrance
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education at The New York Botanical Garden.
giant-hyssopAs you stroll through the Home Gardening Center you will find that some of the plants tickle your nose: Both foliage and flowers can be fragrant.

In the new Sensory Garden you will find the foliage of the anise hyssop (Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’) is delectable. Attractive to humans, its strong fragrance repels deer.

Continue your journey around the garden and you will find a number of wonderfully fragrant hostas in full bloom. Hostas? Fragrant? Hosta plantaginea is the old faithful for fragrance and has been around for years. A newer introduction, such as the tempting Hosta ‘Guacamole’, has beautiful variegated foliage in chartreuse and green as well as an enchanting fragrance. If that makes you too hungry and you’re a purist for aroma try Hosta ‘Fragrant Bouquet’ or Hosta ‘So Sweet’.

One of my favorite late-season fragrance comes from the awkwardly named bugbane (Actaea aka Cimicifuga). The full beauty of Actaea ‘James Compton’ is on display in the White Country Garden. This late-season perennial has rich burgundy foliage and spires of white flowers that unfurl in early September to produce a sweet perfume that will knock you off your feet.

Weekend Programming: Ballet Among the Blooms

Posted in Programs and Events on September 5 2008, by Plant Talk

Andrew Haight is Manager of the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.

Ballet Among the BloomsSounds of pitter-pattering feet, swishing legs, and giggling voices float across the pond. I see through the alders a dozen or more youngsters angling their bodies to dance as if flapping in a blustery wind. Under the watchful eye of a Teaching Artist from New York City Ballet’s Education Department, the children excitedly reshape their bodies into droplets of water, now hurtling through the air.

This group and several others like it were participating in Ballet Among the Blooms, which The New York Botanical Garden hosts annually in conjunction with the School of American Ballet. Spread out across the 12 acres of the Everett Children’s Garden, young visitors embark on a myriad of adventures through mazes, colorfully planted galleries, and, this year only, onto the inspiring Henry Moore sculpture Large Two Forms, on Daffodil Hill. Along the way Teaching Artists arrange impromptu dances and expressive movements. With each area different from the last, children eagerly scamper around the bends in the path to see what the next nook or cranny of the Garden may hold.

The afternoon culminates with a presentation by students from the School of American Ballet in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden’s Discovery Plaza. Eyes wide with anticipation, the Garden’s youngest visitors peer at the dancers as they walk and stretch at the bar, just a few feet away. Framed by giant topiary caterpillars, the dancers then display their skills and techniques for the enchanted children.

In a day full of dance and flowers, excitement is found in the lighthearted adventure and satisfaction displayed in each child’s movement and expression.

This year’s Ballet Among the Blooms is Sunday, September 7, from 2 to 4 p.m. Entry included with an All-Garden Pass.

Check out Saturday’s Programming

Check out Sunday’s Programming

Spreading Beauty Throughout the Bronx

Posted in Programs and Events on September 4 2008, by Plant Talk

Written by Kate Murphy, a junior at Fordham University, with additional reporting by Genna Federico, a senior at St. John’s University. Both interned in the Communications Department this summer.

One of the great things about The New York Botanical Garden is that it is nestled in the borough of the Bronx. One way the Garden reaches out to the neighboring community is through the Bronx Green-Up program.

Since 1988 Bronx Green-Up staff have provided gardening advice, technical assistance, and training to community gardens, school groups, and other organizations interested in improving urban neighborhoods in the Bronx through greening projects.

It sounded like a way of spreading the beauty of gardening throughout the borough. So Genna and I decided to get out of the office and into the field to become Bronx Green-Up community garden volunteers for a day. First thing in the morning we piled into an NYBG pickup truck and headed off to the Morrisania section of the South Bronx. Our leaders were Director of Bronx Green-Up and Community Horticulture Ursula Chanse, Community Horticulturalist Sara Katz, and intern Kris Lau.

Read about the rest of Kate and Genna’s adventures after the jump.

Read More

Listening to the Trees

Posted in People, Science on September 3 2008, by Plant Talk

Melanie Smith is a volunteer participating in the Citizen Scientist Forest Phenology Initiative.

Melanie observing tree growthOnce a week for the past four months I have walked the Oak Trail in the Botanical Garden’s native Forest for an hour or two, looking at the trees. I’m watching—and waiting.

As each of the 31 trees in the study progresses through its annual growth cycle—leaves, flowers, fruit—I note the development on a data sheet. This, in essence, is phenology, the study of reoccurring biological phenomena.

The goal of the investigation is to mark the biological changes in each tree over the course of many seasons answering seemingly simple questions such as, “When did the tree flower? When did it drop its leaves?” This information, coupled with local temperature readings, provides useful information about how the forest is responding to climate change.

For example, if increasing temperatures offer more favorable conditions to pathogens attacking oak trees, acorn production could decrease, affecting the reproductive success of oak trees and the food supply for squirrels, chipmunks, and other species.

Today, a walk in the native Forest would reveal that the trees once prominent in northeastern forests, oaks and hemlocks, are either unhealthy or absent. On the other hand, trees that are thriving include those more dominant in southerly climates such as cherry trees and invasive species—such as the tree of heaven. The trend of successful trees indicates what the composition of this forest may look like in the future.

My weekly walk along the Oak Trail, checking in with each tree, provides a connection to the forest. I hope to apply what I have learned about data collection and northeastern deciduous forests to my graduate studies in ecology and sustainable development.

If you’d like to help with the project, come to the free training session Saturday, September 6, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Watson Building, Room 302. Garden volunteers receive free admission, free parking, guest passes, and discounts on classes and at Shop in the Garden. To register or for more information, contact Jackie Martinez, Director of Volunteer Services, 718.817.8564 or volunteer@nybg.org