Morning Eye Candy: A Growing Stage
Posted in Photography on April 25 2014, by Matt Newman
The Auricula Theater makes its reappearance in the Herb Garden!
In the Herb Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Archive: April 2014
Wildflower Gardening: The Cutting Edge
Posted in Adult Education on April 24 2014, by Plant Talk
It’s the classic gardener’s dilemma—you want lots of fresh flowers to decorate your home, but you want to keep your landscape flowers intact and beautiful. And the solution is… the cutting garden! This spring, Adult Education puts a fresh twist on the cut flower concept, with two classes that highlight the ever-growing interest in native plants.
For an in-depth, practical guide to the best wildflowers and techniques, join Kathleen Salisbury for Native Plants for Cut Flower Gardening (May 17). You’ll learn how to cultivate, cut and condition enough New York ironweed, sweet coneflower, meadow rue, and more to give you beautiful and natural arrangements all season long.
As spring turns to summer, try your hand at Arranging with Summer Wildflowers (June 26). Ken Norman will help you evoke a natural landscape with loose, textured designs using native wildflowers you can find in your own garden or at area farmers’ markets.
Both one-day sessions are presented in memory of Mae L. Wien, and include an inspiring tour through the Garden’s Seasonal Walk, newly designed by Piet Oudolf.
Discover more spring and summer classes at nybg.org/adulted.
Morning Eye Candy: Perennially Perfect
Posted in Photography on April 24 2014, by Matt Newman
Viola ‘Penny Orange’ in the Perennial Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Native Nibbles
Posted in Gardening Tips on April 23 2014, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG’s Gardener for Public Education.
Whether or not you realize it, you have been eating native plants for most of your life. Most of us have enjoyed blueberry muffins or pancakes from a very young age, partaking in one of the northeast’s most commercially successful homegrown natives. But that’s only the most well-known of our local edibles.
If you’re the adventurous type, you may have tried some of the more unusual natives to be found at local farmers markets or high-end grocery stores. The more advanced among you may even have foraged some of your own, though this activity comes with an all-important disclaimer: only do so if you are an expert in plant identification or happen to be accompanied by one. As you will soon see, many of the tastiest native plants have relatives or lookalikes that can be highly poisonous. Having proper identification of these plants in hand will not only help you avoid danger, but keep you from damaging wild populations of protected or threatened plant populations. Further, you should never harvest wild plants unless it’s on your own property or you have explicit permission.
Connoisseurs and Cultivars at the Antique Garden Furniture Fair!
Posted in Programs and Events on April 23 2014, by Lansing Moore
The Antique Garden Furniture Fair is one of the most festive weekends at the Garden, and it is the country’s most renowned stage for authentic garden antiques and rarities. With more than 30 fine exhibitors offering antiques alongside our own Specialty Plant Sale, there is enough inventory and expertise in the Conservatory Tent and the Garden Room to help anybody bring their dream garden to life. Guiding you through the history of these remarkable treasures is a full series of programs scheduled throughout the Fair, running April 25 to 27. Read on for the full list of programs, as well as details regarding Friday’s Members Day!
Morning Eye Candy: Teensy
Posted in Photography on April 23 2014, by Matt Newman
The tiny wonders just blooming in the Rock Garden get their own special beds, each one rounded off by dozens of cheering hellebores.
In the Rock Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Earth Day Every Day: Planting the Seed of Conservation
Posted in Programs and Events on April 22 2014, by Matt Newman
While it’s clear that every day is Earth Day at The New York Botanical Garden (look around!), we think of April 22 as another opportunity to break out our megaphone and remind the world that conservation and environmentalism are some of the most important concerns facing humanity today. But those are big, scary words to some people, and everyone could use some hints as to how they can best serve and better this planet we’ve been riding around on. That’s why, each year, we take part in hands-on activities that make it easy to learn greener, more sustainable means of supporting both yourself and our big blue-green orb.
If you’re out and about in the city today and feeling peckish, stop by one of Mario Batali’s gourmet restaurants for lunch or dinner and don’t forget to snag one of our seed packets on your way out. As always, our close pal Mario is dedicated to fresh, seasonal ingredients, and he’s paired up with us this year to provide these packets as part of our combined Edible Academy efforts. Each packet contains a healthy handful of Insalata Mista lettuce seeds ready to be sown at home, soon to save you a trip to the supermarket and provide healthy, delicious options for cooking at home. And if you can’t make it out to eat, we’ve also got a booth in Union Square for today only, giving out seed packets to anyone who’d like one!
NYBG Certificate Alum: Planting Her Knowledge
Posted in Adult Education on April 22 2014, by Plant Talk
Some people are born to garden. Some people are born to teach. And some people have a knack for both.
Marlene Lyons, a 2012 Gardening Certificate graduate, is a gardening educator for kindergarten through fifth grades at Western Connecticut Academy of International Studies, a magnet school in Danbury. Her students actively tend their school garden and are involved in planting, pruning, harvesting and composting. Lyons encounters teachable moments regularly.
“The kids enjoy having their hands in the soil,” she said. “Initially, many of the kids will treat the garden soil like sand on a beach, smoothing it and patting it down.”
She explains to her class that soil actually does its best work, and plants like it better, when it’s not packed down tightly.
Morning Eye Candy: A Thousand Words
Posted in Photography on April 22 2014, by Matt Newman
This magnolia status speaks for itself.
Magnolia stellata ‘Waterlily’ along Magnolia Way – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Yard-Long Beans
Posted in Gardening Tips on April 21 2014, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG’s Gardener for Public Education.
(Photo by GardenBetty.com)
What does a bean with a good imagination look like? If you’ve got the same tastes as Dr. Seuss then the ‘Red Noodle’ Bean or the ‘Yard-Long bean should be right up your alley. We have grown the former for several years in our vegetable garden, and usually just eat it straight off the vine—it’s so sweet and tasty. But it stays crunchier if you cook it, whether stir fried or steamed. Boiling, however, isn’t recommended—these beans get water-logged and tasteless.
‘Red Noodle’ (Vigna unguiculata) is, as the name suggests, a burgundy red color. What is exceptional about the bean (aside from its brilliant color) is that its average size is 18 inches long. It looks more like a jumbo Twizzler than anything you’d normally call a healthy bean. And, like most beans, the smaller, slender ones are the most tender—try to harvest when they are about 12 inches long and still slim.