Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Archive: July 2012

Dr. Stout’s Daylily Dalliance

Posted in Around the Garden, People on July 2 2012, by Matt Newman

Ever grown a daylily? For flower gardeners, it’s likely; they’re now some of the most ubiquitous flowers kept among horticultural circles, rivaling even roses in their widespread adoration. From the 20 original species found in the wilds of India, Japan, China and Mongolia, we now have tens of thousands of recognized cultivars on the market–the fan following of this flower is nothing to scoff at. But we owe the modern fame of Hemerocallis to a single man, one whose work at The New York Botanical Garden birthed an industry.

To this day, Daylily Walk‘s early summer show can and does sneak up on us. The sloping path begins along Garden Way, the road that runs past the Library Building. From there it branches in a curving swoop around the Garden Café before joining Perennial Way by the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. The walk leads you through thickets of conifers, bordered in late June by hundreds of daylilies in the colors of sunset, pomegranate seed, and safety cone orange. Think of a ribbon of rainbow sorbet connecting two of the NYBG’s most iconic pieces of architecture.

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Ray Davies Takes the Stage (Finally!)

Posted in Around the Garden on July 2 2012, by Matt Newman

News that a rock star is living it up in our Hardy Water Lily Pool had some of us…well, confused. I pictured the lead singer of The Kinks doing the backstroke between the pads of the Nymphaea–not exactly Garden-approved behavior, superstar or not. But the revelation that this was a water lily named ‘Ray Davies’ only brought up more questions.

We answered those, too. In the meantime, Nymphaea ‘Ray Davies’ played coy with its color. My visit to the pool toward the end of last week turned up a circle of foliage sans flowers, with no sign of a show. Then came Ivo.

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Morning Eye Candy: Hungry Yet?

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on July 2 2012, by Matt Newman

Sorry for the blatant tease. Just wanted to pass along a reminder that the gem-like fruits and vegetables of our Greenmarket will be back on Wednesday (and every Wednesday from now through November). Okay, I’m not really sorry–I’m suffering the pangs of raspberry desire just like you are.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen