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Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Archive: August 2012

IGPOTY Year Six: Prizes (and Renown) up for Grabs!

Posted in Photography, Programs and Events on August 20 2012, by Matt Newman

Anna Omiotek-Tott — Amber Ant

Not everyone has the patience–or the real estate–for large-scale gardening, some people just have enough for burnaby condos for sale and even with a smaller garden. Honestly, it’s probably not even on the radar for someone who can’t keep a pot of English ivy alive on an office desk. But if you happen to have a knack for beautifying nature through your lens, rather than your trowel, the garden can still prove itself a source of spirited inspiration! That’s why the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition takes place annually. With the prizes just announced for this year’s competition, now is the time to pack up your tripod and do some fieldwork.

With nearly $8000 in cash being awarded to the top winner of this year’s competition, and thousands of dollars up for the taking in the many individual categories of the contest, IGPOTY’s prestige among nature photographers is well-earned. And there’s an added perk for friends of the Garden: as the exclusive U.S. partner of the IGPOTY competition, The New York Botanical Garden is offering an additional purse of $1000 as part of the lead-up to our 2013 summer exhibition exploring the healthful benefits of the plant kingdom. Winning photos in the Wellness category will not only take home some of that cash, but also the opportunity to see their photographs hung in the Ross Gallery as a part of the long-running exhibition. Think of it as your stepping stone toward IGPOTY glory.

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Morning Eye Candy: Such a Tease

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on August 20 2012, by Matt Newman

Don’t think of these weekly reminders as my concentrated effort to tease your appetite, but as a motivation to eat healthier and arrange your food in more colorful combinations. The Greenmarket is, as always, this Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Morning Eye Candy: Swim in Green

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on August 19 2012, by Matt Newman

It’s been sort of a green-filtered past few days on Morning Eye Candy. I suppose I’m trying to heap as much appreciation as possible on the themes of summer before the trees transition for autumn. That and this picture from Ivo makes me want to swim, Scrooge McDuck style, through the Forest.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Morning Eye Candy: Benched

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on August 18 2012, by Matt Newman

So I was sitting out here the other day, guessing at the rainclouds and mulling the notion that I should be up on my feet, exploring the Rock Garden and snapping pictures for others’ benefit. But I didn’t get up. It’s not because I was lazy–rather, I didn’t want to ruin a rare moment of serenity.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

This Weekend: Bronx Diversity in the Family Garden

Posted in Around the Garden on August 17 2012, by Matt Newman

Despite what the average travel agent will write on your final quote, you don’t actually have to max out your credit cards to enjoy a taste of the global landscape. Instead, you could just spend some time driving through the Bronx. Block to block, you’ll pass through communities sampled from a half-dozen continents, enclaves built on traditions of culture and cuisine. Korean, Irish, Chinese, Italian, Caribbean–they’re all represented in the people of our borough. And they’re all here, too, growing in the NYBG‘s Global Gardens!

This weekend, the Garden celebrates the bounty of our efforts with the Summer Harvest Festival, joining our knowledgeable Global Gardeners for a romp around the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden. Bring your kids along for garden games, crafts, or a taste of what’s ripening in our many diverse plots. And for the parents (or especially precocious young chefs) there will be cooking demonstrations taking place at 2 and 4 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.

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Morning Eye Candy: Good Intentions

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on August 17 2012, by Matt Newman

I like to call this “jogger’s light.” It’s that singular moment in the course of the morning when the thought of outdoor exercise fills you with a rush of motivation. Twenty minutes after you strap on your cross trainers, it becomes “stroller’s light.” Then “good sitting weather.” But the road to laziness is, at the very least, paved with good intentions.

Don’t forget that those who sign up for Garden Membership can also opt for early morning grounds access, which lets you make what you will of the Garden’s light as early as 6 a.m. on days that the NYBG is open. Visit our Membership page to have a look at all of the options available to you.


Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

This Week in the Family Garden: A Global Harvest Festival!

Posted in Around the Garden on August 16 2012, by Matt Newman

Fresh off the puckered and pungent “Pickle Me!” events that took place in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden over the last few weeks, we join Assistant Manager Annie Novak to catch up with our long-time adventure in multinational growing, the Global Gardens! Because native is all well and good, but when it comes down to exploring edibles, our Family Garden keeps an open mind to unique fruits and vegetables from around the world. And what better place to celebrate multinationalism than in the Bronx, one of–if not the–most diverse communities in the United States?

This week’s highlights come to us from Shirley, caretaker of the Chinese garden, and Mr. Mota, who keeps the Caribbean garden thriving. From bitter melon to plantains, they’ve cultivated a lengthy menu of traditional fruits and vegetables to represent their national cuisines. And it’s a welcome catch-up course, just in time for this weekend’s Summer Harvest Celebration! Make sure the kids are tagging along for this one; they’ll have the chance to meet some of our knowledgeable Global Gardeners, play a few garden games, make crafts, learn an Irish jig, and even sample garden-grown vegetables for themselves.

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From the Library: Strange Beasties in Hernández’s Nova Plantarum, Animalium et Mineralium

Posted in From the Library on August 16 2012, by Mertz Library

While the NYBG‘s Library is home to a wealth of rare botanical texts, we occasionally come into possession of something which explores taxonomy on a much broader level. Loosely translated from Latin, The New History of Plants, Animals and Minerals of Mexico is one such example, diving into seventeenth-century zoological studies with a certain flair.

There are many inexplicable species drawings in Francisco Hernández’s pre-Linnaean work Nova plantarum, animalium et mineralium Mexicanorum historia (1651), which was digitized at The New York Botanical Garden’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library as part of its multiyear Global Plants Initiative project, generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

In fact, in some cases, the animals depicted seem more inspired fantasy than scientific discovery. Take Dracunculus Monoceros:

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