Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Archive: December 2009
Posted in Exhibitions, Holiday Train Show on December 16 2009, by Plant Talk
Carol Capobianco is Editorial Content Manager at The New York Botanical Garden.
We asked some of our Members for their most special holiday experience at The New York Botanical Garden and they told us—and sent photos, too.
Here are a few of our favorites. Oh, and please keep sending us your stories. We’d love to hear from you and post your wonderful experiences at the Botanical Garden to our blog.
A Yearly Tradition
For several years Barbara Moran has taken family and friends to see the Holiday Train Show and other facets of the Garden. But on her recent visit she was surprised that one of the staff “engineers,” Christopher, remembered her from last year and greeted her warmly. “I wondered what I had done to stand out in his mind,” Barbara wrote. “He is one of the reasons why I continue to return: a friend happy to have me back. I was born in the Bronx, and though I’ve lived most of my life in a small town in Connecticut, the Bronx always welcomes me back and greets my family and friends like treasured guests.” That’s one of the highlights of the Garden and nearby Belmont neighborhood, she continued. “Thank you all for the hours of joy and fellowship I have enjoyed while visiting our beautiful gem of the Bronx, the Botanical Garden. I look forward to many more visits.”
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Posted in Science on December 15 2009, by Plant Talk
Part 2 in a 3-part series
Read Part 1
Worldwide trends notwithstanding, the chief concern of our William and Lynda Steere Herbarium management team on a daily basis is not the decline in the use of natural history collections, as reported in a New York Times article this summer, but rather how to keep up with the needs of all our users.
Scientists use the Steere Herbarium to answer the most critical questions about plant diversity, namely: How many species are there? How are they related to one another? What environmental factors control their growth? Given that plants supply most of the food, fuel, shelter, and medicines for the earth’s population, predicting how these organisms may respond to climate change is one of the most pressing questions for scientists today.
Visitors are sometimes surprised that most of the scientists who use to the Herbarium are still doing the fundamental work of documenting the Earth’s biodiversity. “Don’t we know all the species yet?” some have asked. The answer is “No, not by a long shot.” Estimates are that we know only about 75 percent of the world’s plant species and less than 10 percent of the species of the fungi, the two major groups of organisms represented in the Herbarium collections.
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Posted in Gardening Tips on December 14 2009, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
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Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. |
I was reading a magazine article recently that suggested placing tomato cages under bird feeders to keep cats away. It reminded me that I am often asked by homeowners how to keep their cats from eating their houseplants. Here are my suggestions.
1. Cats hate the smell of citrus—place an orange peel on top of the soil.
2. Place gravel or pebbles as a mulch around your plants to stop cats from digging in the soil.
3. Spray plant leaves with a homemade blend of water, a few drops of Tabasco sauce, and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.
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Posted in Wildlife on December 11 2009, by Plant Talk
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Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. beginning at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center.
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It’s that time of year again, when all the deciduous leaves have fallen and the bare tree limbs leave exposed the birds of the Forest. As you walk the Forest path you are reminded of the Native Americans who used the Forest as hunting grounds—along the trail by the Bronx River you will even pass the Bear Den, a cave believed to have been used by Native Americans while hunting.
One of the most elusive figures in the NYBG Forest is the great horned owl, a large bird with tuft-like ears, cat-like eyes, and sharp claws. It is a monster of a bird, and it is the most sought-after species on our weekly walk.
Native Americans believed their deceased loved ones’ souls passed into the bodies of great horned owls. The owl was sacred to them and never hunted. Today we still hold the owl in reverence. It is a majestic, elusive creature that conceals itself in conifers during the day and hunts at night.
We’ll likely see this bird during our annual “unofficial” Christmas Bird Count tomorrow, in which we document the numbers of species and individual birds we see from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (The official Christmas Bird Count of the National Audubon Society, the 86th Bronx-Westchester Count, which includes the Botanical Garden, is on Sunday, December 27. Audubon conducts other counts over a three-week period all over North America and beyond.)
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Posted in Exhibitions, Holiday Train Show, Programs and Events on December 10 2009, by Plant Talk
Master Puppeteer Brings Children’s Storybook to Life
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Ralph Lee, a master puppeteer, adapted the story and created the puppets for The Little Engine That Could™ Puppet Show at The New York Botanical Garden. Photo of Ralph Lee by Brett Vermilyea |
In the fall of 1995, I was asked by The New York Botanical Garden to create a show for children as a companion program to its annual Holiday Train Show. So I asked myself, “What children’s story has to do with both trains and the holiday season?” The Little Engine That Could™! It had been one of my favorite stories as a kid.
I fashioned locomotives for the trains in the story using cardboard as the primary material, wood for strength, and a lot of found objects—things you might see lying around the house—for details. These would give each train its own face as in the illustrations of the original storybook: the Broken Down Train, the Streamliner, the Big Strong Locomotive, the Rusty Dusty Dingy Engine, and of course, the Little Engine That Could. I also made small puppets to represent the toys that are being delivered to the other side of the mountain: a teddy bear, Raggedy Ann, some dancing dolls, and a monkey.
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Posted in Shop/Book Reviews on December 9 2009, by Plant Talk
Authors of Old Penn Station History and Children’s Tale Visit
John Suskewich is Book Manager for Shop in the Garden.
A replica of the late, great Pennsylvania Station is new this year in The New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show. I remember that building at the end of its life. My family used to go by train to Philadelphia to visit my aunt who was actually born in Russia and scared us kids by removing her false teeth. Penn Station seemed like a ruin even when it was intact. It was grim and grimy and as you got pulled downstairs and yanked down corridors, it loomed overhead like a cliff or a cave. During demolition the building sat on its city block with broken columns and cornices and clocks hanging in midair like Valhalla after the gods had left.
The rendition of Pennsylvania Station that designer Paul Busse has created for the train show imagines it as it was in its heyday and is impressively colossal even at reduced scale, with bark colonnades, acorn capitals, pine cone clocks, and sugar-water windows.
In Old Penn Station, author William Low traces the history of the great depot from its inception as a monumental gateway to Gotham to its glory days as a transportation hub and its decline and destruction in the name of progress and profitability. His muscular, colorful illustrations, lit like an elegy and pictured from every conceivable angle, bring this fallen monument to life and will turn even a tot into an ardent preservationist.
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Posted in Exhibitions, Holiday Train Show on December 8 2009, by Plant Talk
| Start your Holiday Train Show experience in the Palm Dome of the Conservatory, where you’ll find expanded features this year. In the beautiful reflecting pool is the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, as in past years, but now a model train runs past an island featuring the Roosevelt Island Lighthouse and the Lott House. Also in the gallery are other NY landmarks such as St. Patrick’s Cathedral, this year augmented by an audio track of organ music.Also new to this year’s show:
Pennsylvania Station (1910–1964), “could be our most exciting building yet,” says designer Paul Busse. At 20 square feet, it certainly is the largest building replica in the show. The original building was demolished under controversy 46 years ago to make way for the fourth incarnation of Madison Square Garden. This year you can view the intricately detailed replica of this historic train station, constructed from plant parts like honeysuckle and birch bark.
The Brooks Brothers flagship store is added to the popular midtown Manhattan vignette in the Holiday Train Show. Founded in 1818 as the first ready-to-wear fashion emporium in America, Brooks Brothers is the country’s oldest clothing retailer. Our replica is crafted from beech, red willow, and lotus stems.
Get Your Tickets
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Posted in Gardening Tips on December 7 2009, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
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Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. |
Every year hybridizers throw something new at us. This is not a bad thing. We all like choices. Some of the newcomers are successes and some are short-lived wonders. They are all worth a try since there is always a good gardening lesson behind every new plant.
While the new introductions are just beginning to be announced in the gardening magazines—they usually start to appear in December issues and gain momentum in January and February—some of next season’s debutants are already being discussed.
A sprightly newcomer is a little snapdragon named ‘Twinny Peach’. It is a double-flowering snapdragon that doesn’t have the “snap” or the jaw-like structure that gives the flower its name. The petals are ruffled into what has sometimes been referred to as a butterfly structure since the petals look like they are fluttering in the wind.
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Posted in Exhibitions, Holiday Train Show, Programs and Events on December 4 2009, by Plant Talk
’Tis the Season to Be…Gingery!
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Noelle V. Dor is Museum Education Intern in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden. |
The holiday season is here, and the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden has cooked up a celebration of sugar, spice, and everything nice with its annual Gingerbread Adventures. While mostly everyone is familiar with the story of the Gingerbread Man and has seen (if not decorated and eaten) gingerbread cookies, many may not know the botanical and historical background of this favorite winter treat. I certainly didn’t.
As an intern in the Children’s Adventure Garden, not only do I get to work behind the scenes of this wildly popular program, I also get to join in on the adventure! Believe it or not, my previous experience with gingerbread was limited to enjoying the follies of Gingy, the gingerbread cookie character in the movie Shrek, and to helping create the “Gingerbread City” scene for a Candyland-themed high school play.
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Posted in Exhibitions, Holiday Train Show, Programs and Events on December 3 2009, by Plant Talk
Make Great Memories—the More the Merrier
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Suzanne Flanagan is Group Tours Coordinator. |
How many times have you seen It’s a Wonderful Life? A Christmas Story? Too many times to count? Rather than watch the holidays from a couch, break out your favorite festive sweater and create memories of your own with friends, relatives, colleagues, or others on a group tour of the Holiday Train Show.
Make a visit to this spectacular exhibition of twinkling lights, model trains, and replicas of New York landmarks made from plant parts a way of reconnecting with the special people in your life during this special time of year. Groups of 15 or more who plan a weekday visit receive a discount off the general admission price.
You may want to gather friends for a seasonal get-together or plan a day away from the office with co-workers or congregate with neighbors—come with any group of 15 or more during the week and everyone saves.
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