In less than two weeks, a beloved annual exhibition returns to the Garden in a dramatic new form as The Orchid Show: Chandeliers. For its 13th year, The Orchid Show is taking over every gallery in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory with a series of hanging installations of living chandeliers. Check out the exclusive teaser trailer below for a first look at the hundreds of the many colorful and fragrant species that will be on display!
I recently attended a lecture at NYBG given by the naturalistic landscape designer and meadow aficionado, Larry Weaner, who chose an unusual and interesting topic to cover: “Assisted Plant Proliferation in the Designed Landscape.” He based his lecture on the premise that if you do nothing, things grow. The challenge for gardeners is to get the right things to grow. In this respect, Weaner, through his work on large-scale naturalistic landscapes, is highly inventive and astutely attuned to the workings of nature.
On some of his project sites, he encourages volunteerism by leaving sections of the meadow fallow for a year to see what makes its way into the wild patch. If the new recruit is desirable, he flags the seedling. Otherwise, it gets mowed down the following year along with the rest of the meadow. Weaner showed an image of a healthy elderberry that had found its way to a fallow section at the edge of a meadow. Sometimes, some of the healthiest and most robust garden specimens appear in this manner, starting surreptitiously from seed and being allowed to flourish.
My note-taking was fast and furious as Weaner went through a number of case studies of plants in their natural habitat. He spoke of the importance of knowing where and how plants proliferate in nature. With this knowledge in hand, gardeners will be able to replicate the desired results.
Next week, we take an intimate look into André Le Nôtre’s 17th-century masterwork of the formal gardens of Château de Vaux le Vicomte outside of Paris as part of our 15th annual Winter Lecture Series, Le Jardin Français. During his presentation Thursday, February 19, the co-proprietor and fifth-generation owner of this landmark family estate, Alexandre de Vogüé, will give examples of Le Nôtre’s design audacity and walk listeners through the ongoing and ambitious landscape restoration he currently oversees in his presentation, “Vaux le Vicomte: From Le Nôtre to Today.”
Monsieur de Vogüé was gracious enough to answer a few questions we had for him in advance of his lecture.
The results are in for Week 2 of the Wild Medicine Photo Contest, and the talent on display is quite remarkable this year. The latest contributions to the Macro and Sense of Place categories immerse you in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and its current exhibition, Wild Medicine in the Tropics.
It’s a veritable ice box out there right now, but you’d never know it inside our tropical Conservatory. Tickets are still available for both of NYBG’s Valentine’s Day Experiences from Priceless New York—a romantic evening of champagne and tropical plants for adults, and a fun-filled daytime chocolate workshop for kids—so if you’re still making plans for tomorrow, plan your visit to the Garden!
Monday, February 16, is Presidents’ Day, and the Garden will be open for regular hours, making this one a long weekend with plenty of opportunities for exciting activities. Come enjoy the day off at NYBG and join us for the start of Carla Hall’s Culinary Kids Week with a special appearance by the celebrity chef herself, who will lead a live cooking demonstration to kick of this weeklong family-friendly food festival.
NYBG is ready for the extended holiday weekend, and I’m sure you are too, so click through for details on all of our special programs and activities.
I went to hear Doug Tallamy speak, recently. An entomologist and wildlife ecologist, his reputation first came about in 2007 when he published Bringing Nature Home.
In this seminal work on backyard wildlife ecology, Tallamy impressed on his readers the interdependency of plants, insects, butterflies, and birds. He made a call to arms asking gardeners to take on the challenge of becoming important players in the management of our nation’s wildlife by judiciously selecting local native plants for their gardens.
In 2014, Tallamy collaborated with gardening guru Rick Darke on another ecologically principled work entitled The Living Landscape. This book embodies what I hope will be an enduring trend in gardening. It is an upscale gardening book featuring gorgeous images that catapult you into another realm. Embedded in the gloss and glitter is informative, well-written content that educated and elucidates. The enduring trend which I am hopeful of is the celebration of the association between gardening and nature at large. It is a hope that the trend toward gardening with natives is imbued with a strong sense of stewardship and based on sound ecological principles.
The Garden will be open for regular hours on Monday, February 16, for Presidents’ Day—but that’s just the beginning! On that same day, NYBG is thrilled to welcome Carla Hall, celebrity chef, co-host of ABC’s The Chew, and NYBG Edible Academy Committee Member, for a live cooking demonstration at 12:30 p.m. to kick off Carla Hall’s Culinary Kids Week! This family-friendly food festival invites kids to explore the relationships between plants, farms, and their favorite foods through a full schedule of programs and activities.
The rest of the week includes daily cooking demonstrations at 1 p.m. by a series of special guests preparing their favorite recipes. Visiting chefs will include Kate Gardner; Stacey Antine, HealthBarn USA; David Mawhinney, Haven’s Kitchen; George Edwards, Garden-to-Cafe; Matt Abdoo, Del Posto; and Alicia Walter, Vetri Ristorante.
The Kids Kitchen Corner and ongoing Activity Stations—featuring Big Apple Edibles, the Hudson Valley Seed Library, and more—fill the Conservatory Tent. The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory hosts a Tropical Treasure Hunt that leads kids through the plants included in Wild Medicine in the Tropics. Kids can even participate in preparing their own healthy snack to take home at daily Culinary Workshops at 11 a.m., and 12 and 2 p.m. (first-come, first-served registration), with different instructors each day from the Edible Academy, HealthBarn USA, Growing Chefs, Kendall Holmes, Butter Beans, and Michelle Warner.