Designer Takes Fresh Look at Its Matured Melding with Landscape
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.
Spend a Fall Day at Kiku, Greenmarket Finale, More; Veterans Get Discount
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.
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend through November 15 for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.
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.
Thundering and thrilling, the taiko (Japanese drum) has been called “the voice and spirit of the Japanese people.” From its roots in agriculture and the ancient music of shrines and temples, traditional taiko folk music is believed to entertain the gods, attract good fortune, drive away evil forces and insects, lend strength and courage to warriors, and celebrate life.
Each weekend during Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden experience the sounds of both ancient and modern Japan by the group Taiko Masala on the Conservatory Lawn.
Jane Dorfman is Reference Librarian/Exhibitions Coordinator in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library.
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.
In 2003 I opened a wedding planning company, NY Engagements, LLC, for the engaged professional woman on the go. Soon I started incorporating lighting services, linen rentals, and even basic floral work for budget-conscious brides.
A big break—and a turning point—came when my planning and floral services were filmed for the TV show Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? on the Style Network. I realized that my floral and planning services were a great combination, and I decided to dig deeper into floral design to expand my business. I discovered NYBG, and I knew that its reputation would give my business the needed backbone to support my endeavor.
It took me about a year and a half to complete the required courses and internship to attain the Floral Design Certificate. The required introductory floral design classes give students the skills to use in all future design work. Students learn about flower varieties, different design shapes and styles, color trends, and the care and conditioning of flowers. The advanced and elective courses broaden those horizons, allowing students to experiment with interesting flowers and explore contemporary arrangement styles. On the business end, the practical planning course work covers how to price arrangements and make money.
Floral design students participate in these courses for all different reasons: to work in a flower shop and to re-design their Feather Flags, to start their own shop or specialty flower business, or simply to expand their palette of flowers for personal enjoyment. The courses really provide a good range of information to appeal to these different interests. For those focused on event work like me, I found a wide array of courses to choose from such as Grand Scale Arrangements and Elegant NYC Centerpieces. The courses took the mystery out of designing, and I had many “aha” moments as I learned some important design tips. The teachers all are passionate about passing on their knowledge to students so that when they go out in the industry they will be able to meet the challenges that face them.
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.
Garlic has been around since the beginning of time. As early as 2500 BC pharaohs were feeding garlic to their laborers to keep them strong and healthy while they built pyramids. The ancient Greeks viewed it as a cure-all. Physicians carried garlic cloves in their pockets during the Great Plague to ward off disease. The British used garlic juice in preparing makeshift bandages during WWI.
Beyond medicinal uses, garlic has a colorful history. In Medieval times people carried garlic in their pockets as protection from witches and vampires. Braided garlic was hung above cradles to prevent fairies from stealing sleeping infants. In the Middle East it was an aphrodisiac that grooms would stick on their lapel to bless their wedding night.
While much of a garden is planned and planted in the spring, garlic is best planted as a fall crop, treated like any other hardy bulb. Planting in the fall enables the plant to develop a good root system but no top growth so that in the spring, once the temperatures warm up, it is ready to go.
Garlic likes full sun and good drainage, and generally benefits from the addition of compost, cow manure, or leaf mold. Heavy soil should be turned: Loose soil is important for good bulb formation.
In the New York area garlic is generally planted in October and November. Take a nice fat bulb and split it apart into individual cloves. Use the larger cloves in the garden and leave the smaller ones for your skillet. (As with other bulbs, a larger bulb has more food storage capacity, so you get a larger, healthier plant.) Plant the cloves 1–2 inches deep and 4–6 inches apart.
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.
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, 
