The Orchid Show: Orchidelirium continues to great acclaim, along with a new season of our popular event series of cocktail evenings with live music, Orchid Evenings. As part of the LGBT @ NYBG outreach initiative, next Thursday, March 24 will be our next LGBT Night. For this special Orchid Evening we have partnered with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce NY (NGLCCNY) and The LOFT, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Services Center to create a festive and welcoming space for our friends in the LGBT community.
Come enjoy the thousands of orchids filling our landmark Enid A. Haupt Conservatory alongside Brooklyn-based DJ SpaceOnJason, with drinks and light bites available for purchase. This special night will feature live performances by Samba New York! evoking Brazil’s celebrated dance. Bring your friends and colleagues for the perfect group outing. There is no better way to admire this stunning exhibition in all its color and fragrance.
View photos below from recent Orchid Evenings, and join us for LGBT @ NYBG at The Orchid Show!
There’s still time to grab tickets to this weekend’s Orchid Evening, starting at 6:30 this Saturday, March 19. And if you upgrade your ticket or join the Young Garden Circle, you’ll receive access to the YGC Lounge in the Aquatic House; live DJ, open bar, snacks—you get the idea. We’ll see you in the Conservatory!
The Young Garden Circle Lounge in the Haupt Conservatory – Photo by Marlon Co
Esther Jackson is the Public Services Librarian at NYBG’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library where she manages Reference and Circulation services and oversees the Plant Information Office. She spends much of her time assisting researchers, providing instruction related to library resources, and collaborating with NYBG staff on various projects related to Garden initiatives and events.
The Dictionary of Science for Gardeners by Michael Allaby clocks in at 553 pages and 6,000 scientific terms. Upon first learning about this publication, I was intrigued. Reading the introduction, I became even more fascinated. Allaby has written, edited, or co-authored over 100 books on environmental science. Prior to writing The Dictionary of Science for Gardeners, he edited four other scientific dictionaries for Oxford University Press. He also has an absolutely delightful personal website from which the following quote is taken—“Dictionaries don’t tell stories, well not really although I do my best even with them. I compile dictionaries, you see…Oh yes, I do dictionaries. Want a dictionary? I’m your man.”
The Dictionary of Science for Gardeners covers 16 branches of science relevant to gardeners as determined by Allaby and includes “plant classification, the science of how and why plants are grouped into genera and families, plant geography or how the world breaks down floristically, plant evolution, with the genetic code as an appendix, plant structure and function, or how plants work, fungi, insects, other invertebrate animals, vertebrate animals, bacteria and viruses, the way major nutrients move through cycles, pesticides, soil science including the way soils are classified, ecology, conservation, and weather and climate.” It is interesting to see the branches of botany so defined, and a good indication as to how The Dictionary is written in order for a wide array of scientific terminology to be accessible to readers, including scientific names of birds and bugs that might be seen in a garden.
The magnolias are just beginning to flower near the Library Building, cream-colored petals peeking out on the late winter landscape. Think of them as the vanguard to a flood of spring color.
NYBG is in the running for top botanical garden in the U.S. as chosen by USA TODAY readers. Cast your votes each day through March 28 to help us earn #1!
Zen’s magnolia (Magnolia zenii) near the Library Building – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Tickets are still available for this Saturday’s Orchid Evening! It will also be the first evening to feature the Young Garden Circle Lounge, an all-new way to experience evenings at the Garden. With a YGC Lounge ticket, you can view the Orchid Show like a VIP with skip-the-line access to a private lounge featuring an open bar, complimentary bites, and a live DJ. These special tickets are $100 each, and after enjoying your night out you have the option of trading in the cost of this ticket toward full membership in the Young Garden Circle, a community of art and garden enthusiasts ages 21–40. YGC Members enjoy complimentary access to the YGC Lounge on all four evenings, along with a number of year-round benefits and access to special events, all while supporting NYBG!
In his captivating slideshow for the Annual NYBG Winter Lecture Series, Chelsea Gold, Ulf Nordfjell’s gardens designed for the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show look completely contemporary with impressively modern, clean lines and simple, architectural forms.
Nordfjell, who is a trained botanist, ceramicist, and landscape architect, is known for his use of natural Swedish granite, steel, and timber to build the structures in his gardens. But there’s another key element in his designs: old-fashioned romance.
The son of a forester and a gardening mother, Nordfjell was raised in northern Sweden and is now based in Stockholm. He has a deep commitment to ecology and the environment, often using native Swedish grasses and flowers in his designs. No matter what country he is working in, one of Nordfjell’s guiding ecological principles is “the right plant for the right place.” His trend-setting gardens live up to this rule. But at the same time, he loves to choose plants that are surprisingly romantic.
