Inside The New York Botanical Garden

This Weekend: The Garden is Open Tomorrow!

Posted in Programs and Events on July 3 2014, by Lansing Moore

container planters Enid A. Haupt ConservatoryHappy Independence Day! The Fourth of July is tomorrow, and another well-deserved long weekend is just around the corner. If you’re looking for something to do in between barbecue and fireworks, the Garden will be open to visitors this Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.. The Garden invites you to celebrate America’s history with the little ones at SousaKazooza! This musical trip through the world of John Philip Sousa will have kids making their own music to celebrate, and it only takes place over holiday weekends.

Seeing as our summer exhibition—Groundbreakers: Great American Gardens and The Women Who Designed Them—is in full swing with exhibits and activities throughout the Garden, the most patriotic day of the year is certainly a good time to celebrate our horticultural history.

As summer rolls on, the Garden continues to grow more beautiful each day. Read on for all the ways you can explore the greatest green escape in the city this weekend!


Friday, July 4

purple wildflowers meadow

Family Adventures: SousaKazooza! – 12–4 p.m.
In the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden
Kids learn about John Philip Sousa and two of America’s distinct instruments, the sousaphone and kazoo. Participants make bandleader hats and receive a kazoo with which to march around. On Labor Day, September 1, participants are encouraged to come back and take part in a performance in the Ross Hall, for families and friends!

Ongoing craft, 12–4 p.m.
Presentations with parades, 12, 1, 2, & 3 p.m.

Native Plant Garden Tour – 12:30 p.m.
Meet at the Reflecting Pool at the Leon Levy Visitor Center
Join a tour guide for an insider’s view of the newly designed Native Plant Garden. Enjoy a mosaic of nearly 100,000 native trees, wildflowers, ferns and grasses designed to flourish in every season.

Forest Tour – 2:30 p.m.
Meet at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center
Experience the beauty of the Garden’s 50-acre Thain Family Forest on this one-hour walking tour with an expertly trained Guide. You’ll learn facts about the trees, history, geology, and ecology of this original, uncut woodland.


Saturday, July 5

containers planters Enid A. Haupt Conservatory

Family Adventures: SousaKazooza! – 12–4 p.m.
In the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden
Kids learn about John Philip Sousa and two of America’s distinct instruments, the sousaphone and kazoo. Participants make bandleader hats and receive a kazoo with which to march around. On Labor Day, September 1, participants are encouraged to come back and take part in a performance in the Ross Hall, for families and friends!

Ongoing craft, 12–4 p.m.
Presentations with parades, 12, 1, 2, & 3 p.m.

Rock Garden Tour – 11 a.m.
Meet at the Reflecting Pool at the Leon Levy Visitor Center
The Rock Garden is a 2.5-acre oasis complete with a pond and waterfall and featuring alpine plants from six continents. Join an expertly trained Garden Guide for a walking tour to see and learn more about these jewel-like plants.

Gardens for a Beautiful America: The Women Who Photographed Them Tour — 12:30 & 2:30 p.m.
The LuEsther T. Mertz Library Rondina and LoFaro Gallery feature an exhibition of vintage photographs and equipment highlighting the landmark work of pioneering women. Tour the Gallery with a trained Garden Guide.

From Ragtime to Jazz: The Roots of Pop – 1 & 3:30 p.m.
In the Ross Hall
Music from the period of Groundbreakers—ragtime, jazz, Broadway, and beyond to Hollywood—had a great impact on American culture. Enjoy a variety of styles in live performances by a trio of artists, including musical producer, pianist, and historian Terry Waldo, featuring the works of Scott Joplin, Eubie Blake, Irving Berlin, and Tin Pan Alley composers such as George Gershwin, George M. Cohan, and Dorothy Fields.

Film Screening: Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley – 2 p.m.
In the Ross Hall
Many popular music standards of the Tin Pan Alley era (1920–49) were written by women, including Dorothy Fields, Kay Swift, Dana Suesse, and Ann Ronell, who were among the most influential songwriters of the time. This PBS documentary includes archival footage, motion picture clips, and rarely seen photographs, as well as performance clips of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Perry Como.


Sunday, July 6

white wildflowers meadow

Family Adventures: SousaKazooza! – 12–4 p.m.
In the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden
Kids learn about John Philip Sousa and two of America’s distinct instruments, the sousaphone and kazoo. Participants make bandleader hats and receive a kazoo with which to march around. On Labor Day, September 1, participants are encouraged to come back and take part in a performance in the Ross Hall, for families and friends!

Ongoing craft, 12–4 p.m.
Presentations with parades, 12, 1, 2, & 3 p.m.

Groundbreakers Tour – 12:30 p.m.
Meet at the entrance to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Experience Mrs. Rockefeller’s Garden in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory—an exquisite evocation of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden in Maine.

From Ragtime to Jazz: The Roots of Pop – 1 & 3:30 p.m.
In the Ross Hall
Music from the period of Groundbreakers—ragtime, jazz, Broadway, and beyond to Hollywood—had a great impact on American culture. Enjoy a variety of styles in live performances by a trio of artists, including musical producer, pianist, and historian Terry Waldo, featuring the works of Scott Joplin, Eubie Blake, Irving Berlin, and Tin Pan Alley composers such as George Gershwin, George M. Cohan, and Dorothy Fields.

Film Screening: Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley – 2 p.m.
In the Ross Hall
Many popular music standards of the Tin Pan Alley era (1920–49) were written by women, including Dorothy Fields, Kay Swift, Dana Suesse, and Ann Ronell, who were among the most influential songwriters of the time. This PBS documentary includes archival footage, motion picture clips, and rarely seen photographs, as well as performance clips of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Perry Como.

Native Plant Garden Tour – 2:30 p.m.
Meet at the Reflecting Pool at the Leon Levy Visitor Center
Join a tour guide for an insider’s view of the newly designed Native Plant Garden. Enjoy a mosaic of nearly 100,000 native trees, wildflowers, ferns and grasses designed to flourish in every season.


Ongoing Children’s Programs

NYBG Perennial Garden

Family Adventures: Focusing on Nature 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
In the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden
Children will explore the art of garden photography and will even have the opportunity to become garden photographers themselves. Through a series of stops within the Garden, they will see the world through a new lens as they learn how observations in science and nature have been recorded throughout time. They will also receive tips about perspective, scale, and framing when taking photographs.

Dig, Plant, Grow: Sweet & Stinky — 1:30–5:30 p.m.
In the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden
Aromatic alliums and spicy herbs thrive in the summer heat. Follow the sweet and stinky smells to the Family Garden and discover these culinary champions. Savor the scents and tickle your taste buds with cooking demonstrations and samples, and become a green thumb by planting your very own herb to tend at home.

Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens – 1:30–6 p.m.
Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden
Kids can explore with Mario’s Menu Mystery game, featuring favorite vegetables and herbs from nine of his restaurants’ kitchens, including Otto and Del Posto.