Morning Eye Candy: Trolley, Track, Caboose
Posted in Holiday Train Show, Photography on November 16 2011, by Ann Rafalko
The tracks are laid, and the trains are out. Just two more days until the Holiday Train Show!
Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Archive: November 2011
Planting Trilliums in the Native Plant Garden
Posted in Around the Garden, Gardening Tips, Gardens and Collections on November 15 2011, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
I went up to our Native Plant Garden the other day to check on the progress of the restoration, an undertaking being handled by my colleagues, John Egenes and Michael Wronski.
Our Native Plant garden has been closed for the past year and is undergoing a full-scale redesign that is spearheaded by the design firm Oehme van Sweden, whose work has been seen in the Chicago Botanic Garden and United States National Arboretum. As part of the firm’s plan here at The New York Botanical Garden, the location will be broken down into disparate native habitats that include a wetland, a sizable pond, and a meadow. It will also have a large woodland area.
My colleagues spent most of their time over the last year preparing the soil in different sections of the garden, adding truckloads of compost and leaf litter. The topography of the garden has since changed and many areas have been graded, making paths ADA accessible for wheelchairs.
Morning Eye Candy: Tools of the Trade
Posted in Holiday Train Show, Photography on November 15 2011, by Ann Rafalko
The bridges are up, and the trains are here, but you can’t have the Holiday Train Show without a quarter-mile of tracks!
Morning Eye Candy: The Trains Are Here
Posted in Photography on November 14 2011, by Ann Rafalko
The buildings and bridges are setup, but the Holiday Train Show wouldn’t be the Train Show without the trains!
Morning Eye Candy Fall Color Week: Purple
Posted in Photography on November 13 2011, by Ann Rafalko
Celebrating the subdued hues of fall at the Garden, one color at at time.
Morning Eye Candy Fall Color Week: Blue
Posted in Photography on November 12 2011, by Ann Rafalko
Celebrating the subdued hues of fall at the Garden, one color at at time.
Curious Silhouettes
Posted in Around the Garden, Wildlife on November 11 2011, by Matt Newman
They’re a curious lot, these dusky squirrels, with their furry ears and black cat sensibilities. You might almost think them bad luck, though even the most superstitious among us would be hard-pressed to toss salt over our shoulders after crossing paths with this forest rodent. And I’m not even sure that’s the right protocol for countering such a thing. Still, these little shadows are worth investigating.
I noticed the black squirrels for the first time while riding shotgun in one of the Garden’s staff golf carts (though the Mosholu course is close, I imagine we only have these because management didn’t take the suggestion of supplying us with go-karts in good humor.) The fellow in the driver’s seat pointed them out as an idle fascination, then asked me if I’d ever seen such a thing. But while a funny sight, there’s initially nothing about their behavior to differentiate them from the eastern gray squirrels you find stuffing capped acorns into their cheeks or, in my case, infiltrating the attic and chewing my home’s wiring threadbare. They breed with the grays, eat the same foods, and in urban areas of the Bronx are just as prone to hassle you for snacks, having grown too accustomed to people.
Forest Dedication Opens with Sun and Color
Posted in Around the Garden, Programs and Events on November 11 2011, by Matt Newman
Fall’s chill may be creeping in, but the brilliant sun catching the leaves of the Forest makes for a fantastic celebration here at The New York Botanical Garden. Luckily, Garden Tour Guide Suzanne Goldstein was there in the crowd this past weekend to snap photos of the ongoing event in action, from canoe trips to forest tours.
The festivities take off again this Saturday and Sunday with live music, demonstrations, and activities for everyone to jump into. Want to glide along New York City’s only freshwater river with an expert canoe guide? The Bronx River Alliance has you covered. And once you’re back on shore, you’re welcome to join in on one of our trail tours, or sit back and enjoy the pluck and bow of The Manhattan Valley Ramblers’ talented musical arrangements.
Our lauded poetry readings also return for the second weekend of the celebration alongside our brand new, behind-the-scenes science campus tours. There’s just so much to do, hear, and see.
Morning Eye Candy Fall Color Week: Green
Posted in Photography on November 11 2011, by Ann Rafalko
Celebrating the subdued hues of fall at the Garden, one color at at time.
Sparking a Green Thumb’s Interest
Posted in Around the Garden on November 10 2011, by Matt Newman
While walking through the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory this afternoon, I found myself taken with a little plant–squat, a bit ragged, and looking almost sinister for its petite size. The nostalgia, however, was too much to gloss over.
For most kids, horticulture isn’t a hobby fallen into casually. It’s more often a topic reserved for the science classroom, where frustrated 6th grade teachers scrap and claw to gain even the most tentative hold on their students’ attention. And past the Bunsen burners, wedged somewhere in between lessons on cell walls and chlorophyll, there sits the smallest concession to fun: Dionaea muscipula–the Venus flytrap.