Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Archive: March 2014

The Return of the Rock Garden

Posted in Gardens and Collections on March 31 2014, by Lansing Moore

crocusOn April 1, the Rock Garden reopens for the season after an extensive, winter-long restoration of its historic features! Visitors will be able to admire water running down the cascade and into the pond for the first time in years. After remaining dry for so long, the stream is now active again, as well as more water efficient.

The soft bubbling of the stream accompanied by the wind rustling the branches has defined the tranquility of the Rock Garden since its establishment in the 1930s. Originally a project of the Depression-era Works Progress Administration, the Rock Garden was showing its age and was in great need of restoration. Head through for a sneak peak at the final product before tomorrow’s debut!

Read More

This Weekend: Bourbon, Honey, and Thousands of Orchids

Posted in Programs and Events on March 28 2014, by Lansing Moore

Photograph by Victor Chu
Photograph by Victor Chu

It’s almost the weekend, and that means more exciting events and activities in store with The Orchid Show: Key West Contemporary! Saturday is another Orchid Evening, and with tickets still available you should think about booking soon—they’re going fast.

Ayesha Adamo will be our DJ for this week’s party, backed by a signature cocktail known as the Four Roses Cooler. A refreshing yet warm blend of bourbon, grapefruit, honey and lemon, this one’s not to be missed. We are also mixing things up at our Orchid Demonstrations, covering Orchid Tips for Amateurs in the GreenSchool of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

Head below to check out the rest of this weekend’s activities, both indoors and out!

Read More

An Unsung Harbinger of Spring

Posted in Horticulture on March 28 2014, by Todd Forrest

Todd Forrest is the NYBG’s Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections. He leads all horticulture programs and activities across the Garden’s 250-acre National Historic Landmark landscape, including 50 gardens and plant collections outside and under glass, the old-growth Thain Family Forest, and living exhibitions in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.


Acer rubrumFor most people who anxiously await the end of winter, spring begins when the first brassy bulbs emerge from just-thawed soil. Not for me. While I am as enthusiastic about the appearance of snowdrops, crocuses, reticulate irises, and glories-of-the-snow as your average winter-weary garden watcher, what really warms my heart are early spring flowers that don’t make the evening news—those of our native red maples (Acer rubrum).

As March transmogrifies from lion into lamb, I look skyward hoping to catch a glimpse of the flowers of red maple as they peek out of disintegrating winter buds. At a distance, a red maple tree in full bloom is a tangle of gray limbs enveloped in a carmine haze. The individual flowers are quite small, but a mature tree can produce hundreds of thousands of five-flowered clusters, which together create the most ethereal of all spring spectacles.

Read More

Sanctuary: Serene Outdoor Spaces

Posted in Adult Education on March 27 2014, by Plant Talk

Jan JohnsenNYBG instructor Jan Johnsen designs gardens on three principles: simplicity, sanctuary, and delight.

These three ideas, she said, help us return to a kinship with the natural world, so we can quiet our thoughts and enjoy the present moment in our busy lives.

Johnsen, who has taught Landscape Design at NYBG off and on for almost 20 years, recently released a book, Heaven is a Garden: Designing Serene Outdoor Spaces for Inspiration and Reflection, in which she offers her unique perspective on designing with reflection in mind She hopes to use her book as a tool to open people’s eyes to a deeper understanding of power and place in nature and to appreciate all aspects of the world around us, even rocks, which she believes “have resonance.”

Read More

Morning Eye Candy: Chipping Away

Posted in Photography on March 27 2014, by Matt Newman

I like to think we’re slowly chipping away at this stubborn winter cold with the power of the sunniest yellows. Cocktails don’t hurt the effort, either. This Saturday, March 29, we’re launching into our next Orchid Evening with one of my own spirits of choice, Four Roses bourbon. Mixed with punchy citrus, honey syrup, and those all-important bitters, it’ll remind you that spring really is in swing. But tickets have been selling out, so don’t wait too long to snag yours. And if you’re looking to make a full night of it, hit up our Priceless NY champagne pre-party for a bit of bubbly in the Shop in the Garden.

The Orchid Show: Key West Contemporary

The Orchid Show: Key West Contemporary in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

A Spring Full of Festivals!

Posted in Programs and Events on March 26 2014, by Lansing Moore

couple in the azalea garden nybgSpring at the Garden is full of festivals! Beautiful scenery, delicious refreshments, and activities for all ages are the perfect way to spend a spring weekend. From daffodil season to tulip season and beyond, we have plenty of activities over the next three months to help make the most of the grounds as their brilliant colors return.

Our popular Culinary Kids Food Festival returns April 14 with a week-long, family-friendly food festival celebrating the relationships among plants, farms, and your favorite treats. Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden staff and the culinary team, Growing Chefs, will offer cooking demonstrations, recipes, and hands-on activities—with plenty of music and food tastings to add to the fun. Kids can fill up their Festival passports as they tinker with the science of kitchen chemistry and get to the root of foods at a variety of activity stations with themes like “The Chicken and the Egg” and “The Buzz on Bees Sweet Bees!” The daily 1 p.m. cooking demonstration will feature kid-friendly recipes and tasty samples, while local chefs will share tips and more.

But that is only the first in a full season of outdoor adventure. Read on for May and June’s exciting upcoming festivals!

Read More