The Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden is a New York City treasure. It’s an amazing one-and-a-half acre site where children and families can learn about plants and the natural world through hands-on gardening. Each afternoon children–with help from their parents, volunteers, and staff–are encouraged to dig, weed, compost, plant, tend, and harvest in garden plots. These ongoing gardening activities are complemented by a changing roster of programs that encourage children to explore seasonal garden-related themes.
This month’s theme is Sweet and Stinky! Aromatic alliums such as onions and garlic, and herbs such as basil and oregano love the summer heat. Follow the “sweet and stinky” smells to the Family Garden to discover these culinary champions. Savor the scents and tickle your taste buds at our cooking demonstrations or try these delicious recipes at home!
Smurfs Week NYC at NYBG
Tuesday, July 26 – Sunday, July 31
Celebrate the release of the new movie, The Smurfs ®, with Smurfy fun for kids all week. Embark on a Smurf-errific scavenger hunt exploring the gardens to find things Smurfs love, like mushrooms and berries. Plus, have fun spotting their wildlife friends like frogs, turtles, and birds. Thursday, July 28 ONLY!! Meet Papa Smurf and Smurfette from 1:30-4 p.m. in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden!
The Greenmarket is open today until 3 p.m.! Be sure to stop by.
It’s a beautiful day to get out and sample the goods from our fantastic vendors. Grounds admission is free on Wednesdays (there is an additional charge for entrance to the Conservatory and certain gardens), but there’s so much to see on the grounds right now (Waterlilies! Daylilies! Roses!) that a quick trip to pick up beans and blackberriescould easily turn into an all-day affair.
Here’s a look at what’s fresh and delicious today at the Greenmarket:
Plums, peaches and blackberries are in season this week!
Gajeski Produce has beautiful bunches of sunflowers and statice, corn, zucchini, cucumbers, squash, beets, tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, new potatoes, scallions, string beans, kale, blueberries, black cherry tomatoes, peppers, shallots, basil, cilantro, lettuce, broccoli, new potatoes, scallions, onions, dill, blackberries, blueberries and eggs.
Local honey can be purchased from The Little Bake Shop. Pies of all sorts-cherry, blueberry, apple, and raspberry in the Linzer tart and chocolate croissants, quiches, and scones
Bread Alone has sourdough, multigrain bread, foccacia breads; raisin nut, Ciabatta, and peasant rolls; as well as muffins, tarts, danishes, cookies, baguettes, scones, tarts, cookies, danishes, muffins are also available.
Red Jacket Orchard has plums, sour cherries, apples, gooseberries, jams, and juice.
You can learn more about Greenmarket, part of the Council on the Environment of New York City and one of the largest open-air farmers market programs in the country their booth. Taste what’s fresh at their weekly cooking demonstrations.
The Waterlily & Lotuses Pool in the courtyard of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory is a magical place. Summer breezes ripple the surface, playing with the glittering reflection of the Conservatory; koi stick their heads clear out of the water, as if begging for a scratch under the chin; and kaleidoscopic waterlilies and lotuses stir gently, like drowsy dancers at the end of an evening of waltzing. The colors and lingering aromas of these exotic flowers create a enchanted atmosphere, perfect for afternoon daydreaming.
Hello from Leah and Francesca! We are high school students interning for the summer here at The New York Botanical Garden. We are working on research projects for science competitions like the Intel Science Talent Search (Another NYBG high school intern’s project made it into the finals of this prestigious competition this year!). We will both be seniors in September, Leah Buchman at South Side High School in Rockville Center, and Francesca Giordano at Yorktown High School. This summer we are both working on an expansion of projects that we began in the summer of 2010.
Bee on the Seasonal Walk - Photo by Leah Buchman
Leah’s Project
Last summer, I did a study on the diversity of bees within different areas of the Garden. I caught bees in 10 areas of the Garden and learned to identify the bees with help from Dr. John Ascher at the American Museum of Natural History. Using four different indices of diversity–evenness, abundance, richness, and Shannon-Weaver diversity–I was able to conclude that there is a higher diversity of bees in areas that have a greater diversity of flowers.
The specific area of the Garden that has the highest diversity is the Seasonal Walk. This summer I am looking at the gender of bees to see if there is any correlation to the flowers visited. For example I am hoping to answer questions like: Do male bees go to certain flowers while females go to others? Feel free to come stop by and say “Hi!” I will be the girl with the net and bright colored bowls in the Perennial Garden, Ladies Border, Seasonal Walk, and Home Gardening Center this summer.
NYBG Volunteers Clearing Japanese Knotweed - Photo by Francesca Giordano
Francesca’s Project
My research is a study on management of the invasive plant, Japanese Knotweed. Now you’re probably thinking: What is an invasive plant? Little did you know, but plants can be pretty vicious, especially Japanese Knotweed. It is a non-native plant that grows rapidly and blocks sunlight from reaching desired plants. Japanese Knotweed is also known for having an underground stem called a rhizome. This rhizome contains the stores of energy that the plant uses for growing, plus additional reserves. The rhizomes contain enough energy to allow one plant to sprout over 250 shouts just from a single underground stem! Our goal is to increase the diversity of the native plants along the Bronx River by using best management practices to control the Japanese Knotweed.
What we found so far is that two treatments–cutting and grubbing the Japanese Knotweed–are equally effective. In phase two, which is the project I am working on this summer, we will be repeating the same treatments from last year in the hope that they will further weaken the persistent Japanese Knotweed and increase native plant diversity. These plots are located long the Bronx River bank just south of Magnolia Way Bridge. Come check it out and see for yourself! I am also being assisted in my field work by the Explainers and the School of Professional Horticulture, and by volunteers including groups from American Express, Goldman Sachs, and Christodora.
The Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden is a New York City treasure. It’s an amazing one-and-a-half acre site where children and families can learn about plants and the natural world through hands-on gardening. Each afternoon children–with help from their parents, volunteers, and staff–are encouraged to dig, weed, compost, plant, tend, and harvest in garden plots. These ongoing gardening activities are complemented by a changing roster of programs that encourage children to explore seasonal garden-related themes.
