You’ve got heirloom vegetables, decades-old peonies, and compost that dates back at least several years . So what are you doing putting the latest tchotchke from the megamart in your garden? Come get inspired to decorate your garden with a vintage touch at the 19th Annual Antique Garden Furniture Show and Sale–the country’s original, largest, and most important venue for showing and selling authentic garden antiques–at The New York Botanical Garden. The show is held under the Conservatory Tent behind the landmark Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
The show and sale kicks off on Thursday, April 28 with a Preview Party and Collector’s Plant Sale from 6-8 p.m. offering exclusive access to the sale before the public opening, as well as cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. (For information and tickets, please call 718.817.8775.)
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the show is open to the public and will feature 35 vendors, a welcome lounge with snacks and tea, afternoon wine tastings, and a host of experts on hand to answer all your questions and to offer tips for designing a beautiful garden.
It is beautiful here today. Just in case you can’t make it out of your office to hop a train and come up to the Bronx, I thought I’d take a walk and snap some pictures for you. It’s more than just beautiful out, too. According to one birder I met today, it’s also prime warbler migrating time. As he put it, the next two weeks will be “warbler heaven.” So whether you’re a birder, photographer, gardener, or walker, now is the time to come and visit the Garden!
The Garden is open today, Monday, for the last day of The Orchid Show: On Broadway. So get here before all the beautiful flowers become just another memory until next year.
In the immortal words of Marta from The Sound of Music “So long! Farewell! Auf Wiedersehen, goodnight! I hate to go, and leave this pretty sight!” This weekend is your last chance to visit The Orchid Show: On Broadway before the curtain closes and we’re forced to bid adieu for another year. Get your tickets now, The Orchid Show: On Broadway closes on Monday, April 25!
Mario Batali was at the Garden on April 12. But he wasn’t here to see the cherry blossoms or to catch a glimpse of José and Justin. Nope, Mario was here for one very good reason: To promote children’s gardening through the launch of Mario Batali’s Edible Garden at the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden. The gathering also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Family Garden and its role as an important place to educate the public on the benefits of vegetable gardening and using fresh produce in daily meals.
Mario Batali & kids dig in alongside Annie Novak, Assistant Manager of the Ruth Rea Howell Family GardenGarden President Gregory Long, Councilman Joel Rivera, Mario Batali, Bronx community activist Karen Washington, and Toby Adams, Manager of the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden
The day was a bit gray and drizzly, but the profusion of Batali orange and a cheerful group of schoolchildren from the Bronx’s own C.S. 211 made the day feel sunny and bright. Mario and the kids were joined by local officials and community gardeners, Garden employees, and Garden board members in preparing the beds and planting the first seeds and plants.
Green Currency: Plants in the Economy–an exhibition of botanical art at The New York Botanical Garden which opens to the public today–offers the rare chance to look through a wide array of beautifully hand-drawn or hand-painted illustrations of plants. Each plant has been chosen for its economic value and importance in our everyday lives.
Forty-three works were selected out of a field of 258 entries and are presented in the Arthur and Janet Ross Gallery in this first ever juried exhibition of international botanical art at the Garden. Common fruits, vegetables, herbs, trees, and flowers that serve not only as sources of sustenance, but are also where many modern medicines, furnishings, textiles, and biofuels come from are masterfully rendered with scientific precision using various media such as graphite, watercolor, colored pencil, oil, and acrylic. The exhibition is being presented in conjunction with the American Society of Botanical Artists.
In this era when, with the click of a button you can effortlessly capture an image for prosperity with your camera, or even with your phone—for better or for worse, the act of capturing this landscape of immediacy can be gratifying: What you see is what you get, right here; right now. The opportunity to see beyond the moment, though, is often missed in this instant–or worse yet ignored. To be able to truly see something and engage in the art of observation offers the chance to look into the beauty that is often found in the details. The works in Green Currency: Plants in the Economy are imbued with an inescapable tangibility: Fruit appears to be ripe for the picking; vegetables ready to be chopped, sliced, and sautéd. The works speak to the viewer through the glass in a way that invites–or rather compels–you to look closer.
Take the time to truly see each of these 43 selections, and allow yourself to get lost in the details as each of these artists already has. It will be time well spent.
