Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Archive: June 2012

Armyworms: A Wriggling Menace Takes New York

Posted in Wildlife on June 25 2012, by Matt Newman

Live in New York City? I’ll hazard a guess you’re not starting your day with a cup of chicory and a thumb through the latest farmer’s almanac (Brooklyn’s urban agriculturists notwithstanding). But for mainland growers in the Empire State’s west end, a crawling menace on the horizon makes for an ugly forecast. Some wheat farmers are already seeing the fallout of this hungry pestilence, blown up from–where else?–the south.

Bear with me. Being a southerner, I get free license to poke fun at the legacy.

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Morning Eye Candy: Not What it Looks Like

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on June 25 2012, by Matt Newman

Care to guess this edible? Er, soon-to-be edible. The species in question is native to China, and directly related to something many countries eat (or the song suggests we eat) during the holidays.

Castanea mollissima — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Give up? It’s the Chinese chestnut tree. In the U.S., American chestnuts (Castanea dentata) were devastated by the chestnut blight when it arrived from Asia, but this species evolved alongside the blight to be highly resistant to its effects. Now, scientists are making every effort to breed a deliberate hybrid with the tree size and nut qualities of the American species, and the resistance of the Chinese species.

And that whole thing about roasting chestnuts on an open fire? Mel Tormé wrote “The Christmas Song” in 1944, after finding his music partner’s scribblings of winter scenery on a spiral notebook. It was the middle of a miserably hot summer, and said partner had been trying to cool off by thinking of chilly weather. Might not hurt to try it now.

Meet Ellen Zachos: Container Gardening Guru at NYBG

Posted in Adult Education, Gardening Tips, Learning Experiences, People on June 22 2012, by Joyce Newman

Last Days to Sign Up for Gardening Summer Intensives, Classes Start July 16


As a former Broadway performer, professional garden photographer, and writer, Ellen Zachos is a very talented NYBG instructor whose container gardening class comes alive with gorgeous slides and dynamic presentations.

Ellen’s career as a gardener began when she got her very first plant–rather than a bouquet–as an opening-night gift, after performing in a Florida dinner theater production of Fiddler on the Roof.

“It was a Spathyphyllum, an ordinary peace lily,” she says, “but to me it was wonderful. I was intrigued, and I had never grown anything. My desire for knowledge just took over. My apartment filled with houseplants and books.”  

She went on to study Commercial Horticulture and Ethnobotany at NYBG. After receiving her certifications, she authored several gardening books and founded Acme Plant Stuff in 1997, a company that designs, installs, and maintains both interior and exterior gardens.

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A Sweet, Stinky Summer Ahead

Posted in Around the Garden on June 22 2012, by Matt Newman

I read in the paper (I’ll give them up the minute subway tunnels offer 4G) that Wednesday’s thermometer topped out at 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Times Square, placing New York City’s temperatures almost on par with those of Dubai. We’re better off at the NYBG, of course; lush grass and acres of shady trees tamp down the heat some. But don’t get me wrong, Manhattanites–it’s not like I’m trying to rub it in or anything. Not really.

There’s an upside to summer in the city beyond fruity cocktails and flip-flops, and it’s none other than “Sweet and Stinky,” launched just this week to celebrate the passing of the solstice. As an amateur chef, albeit one paradoxically awful and ambitious, I feel like this is the kind of hot-weather activity every cook-out fan should get in on. This stuff smells heavenly with some heat behind it.

“If you’re walking around the Garden and you smell sauteed onions, you’ll know it’s us!” said Annie Novak, Assistant Manager of the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden.

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The Kinks Play Giverny

Posted in Monet's Garden on June 21 2012, by Matt Newman

Is there a rock star hiding in our Water Lily Pool?

What does the British Invasion of the ’60s have to do with the NYBG‘s Water Lily Pool? Well, some of our visitors think there might be a connection there, but the validity of the link has proven elusive. So, in looking at the water lilies now growing in the outdoor pond–many of them breeds championed by Monet at Giverny–I’m here to set the record straight. Come rock, roll, or high water.

If you spend a few minutes perusing the signage around the water lilies in our pool, you’ll doubtless run into the culprit at the center of the stir. Many of the cultivar names in the collection lean toward Latinized or Asian-inspired nomenclature, but not this one. Even with its flowers yet to bloom, there’s more than one visitor to Monet’s Garden who’s thrown a double take at Nymphaea ‘Ray Davies’.

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Morning Eye Candy: Glacial Pace

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on June 21 2012, by Matt Newman

The geography (and geology) of the NYBG is pretty fascinating on its own merit. Walking through the Azalea Garden and the Forest, looking at the natural rock formations that define this area, you can make out the scars and striations where glaciers passed through, ages ago. This one comes from the Native Plant Garden, which we’re anxious to reopen in 2013.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Thieves in the Forest

Posted in Around the Garden, Learning Experiences on June 20 2012, by Matt Newman

Squawroot (Conopholis americana)

Strange things are afoot under the eaves of the trees. Or is it more appropriate to say that they’re underfoot, period? Either way, take a walk by the NYBG‘s Forest and just maybe you’ll see a few shady swindlers lurking in the underbrush.

Like the family cat or man’s best friend, trees tend to pick up their share of freeloaders as they go through life, though in this case we’re not talking about fleas or dreaded tapeworms. It’s a topic I tackled in part when we discussed the skullish blooms of the corpse plant only a few months ago. And like that pale parasite, there are other native bloodsuckers found in the forests of New York that are just as fond of mooching on their friends.

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