Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Posted in Photography, The Orchid Show on April 25 2011, by Ann Rafalko
The Garden is open today, Monday, for the last day of The Orchid Show: On Broadway. So get here before all the beautiful flowers become just another memory until next year.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography on April 24 2011, by Ann Rafalko
The Orchid Show: On Broadway closes tomorrow, Monday, April 25. One last curtain call then for our Leading Lady.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography, The Orchid Show on April 23 2011, by Ann Rafalko
Tonight is your final chance to attend Orchid Evenings! So grab your date or a group of your friends and hop on the train to Botanical Garden Station for this special evening of cocktails and flowers.
Photo by Talisman Brolin
Posted in Members, Photography, Wildlife on April 22 2011, by Patricia Gonzalez
| Patricia Gonzalez is an NYBG Member and avid amateur wildlife photographer. She is especially fond of taking photographs at the Garden. |
In part one, I encouraged shutterbugs who love shooting wildlife to visit The New York Botanical Garden and shared one of my encounters there. Today, I’ll give you some tips on how to make the most out of your visit.
Dress comfortably and efficiently
A typical outing at the Garden can last me anywhere from three to six hours, so it’s important to dress comfortably. During my adventures, I always wear cargo pants (BDUs) and boots. Cargo pants because they are loose-fitting and have lots of pockets for your gear and boots for the terrain. If you really want to better your chances of encountering wildlife, then no visit to the Garden would be complete without exploring all the Native Forest trails as well as the path that runs along the Bronx River. These paths can get pretty muddy, especially at the entrance to the individual trails, so hiking boots are strongly recommended. In winters like this past one that brought mega-blizzard after mega-blizzard, you’ll need snow boots.
Bring an extra battery
This might seem like a silly suggestion, but I’m always hearing this “I would have taken more shots, but my battery ran out, so I went home.” You’d be surprised how quickly a day can fly by. Always bring an extra camera battery and keep it someplace where you can reach for it quickly when your on-screen indicator starts flashing. I keep a fully-charged spare in the outside pocket of my camera bag.
Where to find the hawks
Everybody with a camera wants to get a shot of one of the beautiful red-tailed hawks and other raptors that hunt at the NYBG. Although Rose and Vince have their nest on the nearby Fordham University Campus, the Bronx Zoo and the Botanical Garden are all part of their hunting grounds. Younger red-tails believed to be Rose’s offspring hunt regularly at the Garden along with cooper’s hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and the two resident great-horned owls. So, where in the Garden can these winged hunters be found? The answer is: Everywhere. Hawks pretty much go where they want and there is no specific all-year-round spot. However, I’ve had some very good luck lately in the Native Forest on the trails that border the Azalea Garden, and near the Library Building.
Have patience
Let’s say you’ve been walking around for several hours and you’re beginning to feel like you haven’t seen anything. Instead of leaving, take a break. Why not head on over to the Visitor’s Center Café? I survived my freezing winter treks on their most excellent hot chocolate. Enjoy your drink of choice while enjoying the nice view. After about a half hour there, I’m refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to continue on. Once you head out, re-trace some of the ground you covered earlier. One time, I had walked around non-stop for nearly five hours, hoping to shoot one of the red-tails there. I got nothing, but came back a half hour later and took the photo you see above. It was definitely worth heading out for a second look.
Want to photograph wildlife all year? Then join the Garden. A Garden Membership will get you and your camera unlimited entry to the grounds, the Conservatory, the exhibits in the Library Building, and to all the wonderful events that take place throughout the year.
Posted in Photography on April 22 2011, by Ann Rafalko
In the immortal words of Marta from The Sound of Music “So long! Farewell! Auf Wiedersehen, goodnight! I hate to go, and leave this pretty sight!” This weekend is your last chance to visit The Orchid Show: On Broadway before the curtain closes and we’re forced to bid adieu for another year. Get your tickets now, The Orchid Show: On Broadway closes on Monday, April 25!
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Mario Batali's Edible Garden on April 21 2011, by Ann Rafalko
Mario Batali was at the Garden on April 12. But he wasn’t here to see the cherry blossoms or to catch a glimpse of José and Justin. Nope, Mario was here for one very good reason: To promote children’s gardening through the launch of Mario Batali’s Edible Garden at the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden. The gathering also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Family Garden and its role as an important place to educate the public on the benefits of vegetable gardening and using fresh produce in daily meals.
The day was a bit gray and drizzly, but the profusion of Batali orange and a cheerful group of schoolchildren from the Bronx’s own C.S. 211 made the day feel sunny and bright. Mario and the kids were joined by local officials and community gardeners, Garden employees, and Garden board members in preparing the beds and planting the first seeds and plants.
Three individual beds make up Mario Batali’s Edible Garden.
Posted in Photography on April 21 2011, by Ann Rafalko
Can you think of a more iconic image of The New York Botanical Garden in spring than this one?
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)
Posted in Around the Garden on April 20 2011, by Ann Rafalko
| Denise Chan is a Designer in the Garden’s Creative Services department. |
Green Currency: Plants in the Economy–an exhibition of botanical art at The New York Botanical Garden which opens to the public today–offers the rare chance to look through a wide array of beautifully hand-drawn or hand-painted illustrations of plants. Each plant has been chosen for its economic value and importance in our everyday lives.
Forty-three works were selected out of a field of 258 entries and are presented in the Arthur and Janet Ross Gallery in this first ever juried exhibition of international botanical art at the Garden. Common fruits, vegetables, herbs, trees, and flowers that serve not only as sources of sustenance, but are also where many modern medicines, furnishings, textiles, and biofuels come from are masterfully rendered with scientific precision using various media such as graphite, watercolor, colored pencil, oil, and acrylic. The exhibition is being presented in conjunction with the American Society of Botanical Artists.
In this era when, with the click of a button you can effortlessly capture an image for prosperity with your camera, or even with your phone—for better or for worse, the act of capturing this landscape of immediacy can be gratifying: What you see is what you get, right here; right now. The opportunity to see beyond the moment, though, is often missed in this instant–or worse yet ignored. To be able to truly see something and engage in the art of observation offers the chance to look into the beauty that is often found in the details. The works in Green Currency: Plants in the Economy are imbued with an inescapable tangibility: Fruit appears to be ripe for the picking; vegetables ready to be chopped, sliced, and sautéd. The works speak to the viewer through the glass in a way that invites–or rather compels–you to look closer.
Take the time to truly see each of these 43 selections, and allow yourself to get lost in the details as each of these artists already has. It will be time well spent.
Check out this short video to learn more about Green Currency: Plants in the Economy.
Posted in Photography on April 20 2011, by Ann Rafalko
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
Posted in Science on April 19 2011, by Ann Rafalko
| Amy Litt is Director of Plant Genomics and Cullman Curator |
Four of the Garden’s six Science programs, The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Program for Molecular Systematics, the Genomics Program, the Structural Botany Program, and the Graduate Studies Program are housed in the beautiful Pfizer Plant Research Laboratory, which sits at the northwest corner of the Garden overlooking Twin Lakes.
In the Genomics Program, curators, post-docs, graduate students, and technicians, along with undergraduate and high school interns are studying how genes make plants different from each other–for instance why the seeds of some species are enclosed in an edible fleshy fruit like a tomato, whereas the seeds of other species are surrounded by a pod (also called a capsule) that dries and splits open to release the seeds. Graduate students Natalia Pabon-Mora (Judith and Andrew Economos Fellow) and Rachel Meyer and I are studying what makes a tomato fleshy and edible rather than dry and woody by comparing the genes that are active during the formation of tomatoes and closely related capsules.We have identified several interesting-looking genes that act differently during the formation of tomatoes and capsules, and are testing them to see how they contribute to tomato formation.
Rachel and Natalia have tested one of the genes so far, and have found that if it doesn’t function properly, the plant produces tomatoes that are large and lumpy, instead of small (we are working with a cherry variety) and smooth.
Even more interesting, the tomatoes have a very strange uneven blotchy coloration.
We noticed immediately that although these tomatoes are still relatively small, they resemble the large and lumpy shapes we often see in cultivated tomato varieties including oddly colored heirloom varieties. We think we may have found a gene that is responsible for some of the dramatic shapes and sizes of the tomatoes we buy at the grocery store and farmer’s market!