Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on October 22 2012, by Matt Newman
A little break from the Halloween imagery (with just enough orange and black in the mix to keep us in the spirit).
Anemone x hybrida ‘Whirlwind’ — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on October 21 2012, by Matt Newman
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on October 20 2012, by Matt Newman
This one’s much further along than it was on Thursday! Stop by the Garden today to see Ray Villafane and his crew of fellow carvers turning squash into screams for this year’s Haunted Pumpkin Garden. We’ll be at it all weekend, so don’t miss out!
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Programs and Events on October 19 2012, by Matt Newman
It’s an early weekend update today! This Saturday and Sunday, the NYBG plays host to an event that never fails to have us bouncing off the walls with anticipation: the Giant Pumpkin Carving Weekend. But before we set up New York’s most original Halloween horrors here at the Garden, Ray Villafane and his crew of sculptors are taking their talents–and one or two giant pumpkins–to midtown. Naturally, we’re not about to let them gallivant through Manhattan without us, so a few of us from the Plant Talk offices are picking up and shipping off to join in on the fun.
If you happen to be in midtown through this afternoon, you’re welcome to stop by! We’ll be setting up shop at Grand Central Terminal this morning outside the west entrance, just off Vanderbilt Avenue. You can watch as Ray’s team carves up a display pumpkin of gargantuan proportions, while Ray himself works on the centerpiece of our Halloween spread–the pumpkin patch zombie. Each sculpture will then shuffle its way to the Garden proper to become part of the main event this weekend.
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on October 19 2012, by Matt Newman
Nope, it’s not a scene from the as-yet-unreleased Little Shop of Horrors 2. Ray Villafane and his team have been working since Thursday to prep these monstrous pumpkins for this weekend’s Great Pumpkin event, and today they’ll be at Grand Central Terminal for the kick-off. If you happen to be around midtown this morning or afternoon, feel free to stop by and see Ray whipping up the stuff of nightmares from nothing more than….well, a few thousand pounds of pumpkin. And remember: the big event goes off this weekend here at the NYBG!
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden on October 18 2012, by Matt Newman
So I took the plunge. I buckled down, clambered over my fear of commitment, and dove headfirst into a relationship that’s been a long time coming. My barren desktop was beginning to look a bit suspicious to my colleagues here in the Plant Talk office, so without further ado, I introduce you to the newest addition to our window sill and my first desk plant: the as-yet-unnamed Mahogany fern.
You’re not misreading that; I’ve been here at the NYBG for a sliver under a year, and it’s only now that I’m making the choice to green up my desk. But before you jump to judgment, finger waggles, and well-deserved “tsk tsks,” my procrastination was out of respect for the plant’s well-being. All plants’ well-being, really. I may work at a botanical garden, and I may know my way around a watering can when push comes to shove, but I’ve still got a black thumb to make industrial weed killer blush.
I made my “adoption” a little over a week ago. Ann and I shuffled out to the Shop in the Garden under a nagging drizzle to peruse the shelves, and the suggestion came up that I stop waffling and do something to make my desk look a little less like an Alcatraz broom closet. I couldn’t really disagree on that point; I subscribe to the idea of living light, and spartan decor is part and parcel to that mindset, but my workspace is an eyesore of austerity. So I hit the potted plant displays with the hope of finding something that could tough it out in the office and still muster enough hardiness to forgive my misguided efforts.
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on October 18 2012, by Matt Newman
Color spotted! We’re seeing trees turn in gradients lately. How is fall getting along in your neck of the woods?
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Color Report, Video on October 17 2012, by Matt Newman
Even at nearly a ton, it doesn’t take a town to raise a giant pumpkin. But it might take a town to lift one! Fresh off his record-smashing win in Massachusetts, grower Ron Wallace was back in his home state of Rhode Island recently to have a go at one-upping the benchmark set by his own 2009-pound pumpkin in September. Hundreds turned out for a bucolic romp through Frerichs Farm in the town of Warren, hopping hay rides, bopping to live music, and showing off their mighty produce while pumpkin growers from around the northeast gathered to throw their weight around.
While the mood may have been light, the subject matter was anything but.
Ron’s second contender for the crown had estimates predicting a weigh-in somewhere around 2100 pounds, which explains the forklift needed to hustle this hefty squash around. But while hopes were holding high, the plump pumpkin fell just short of the record with a final weight of 1872 pounds; it may sound like a big difference, but at their peak these pumpkins put on 35 pounds a day. Still not at all shabby, considering it’s the second-heaviest pumpkin ever grown. Ron not only maintains his rank as the Pumpkin King (don’t tell Jack Skellington) with the 2009-pound beast under his belt, but he’ll also be making his way to The New York Botanical Garden this weekend to join us for our Haunted Pumpkin Garden carving event. That’s with his Ocean State heavyweight in tow, naturally.
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on October 17 2012, by Matt Newman
The Garden’s been good for fungus, lately. This shot comes from one of our Adult Education courses in the last couple of weeks, and now is as good a time as any to point out that we have another two-parter beginning this Thursday, October 18. The Medicinal Mushroom Workshop zeroes in on the use of mushrooms for health purposes throughout history and into contemporary medicine, so if you’re looking to find more information or snag a spot in the class, head this way.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Programs and Events on October 16 2012, by Matt Newman
How could I possibly cobble together this week’s Greenmarket preview without a nod to October’s star of show? Oh, right–I couldn’t. Today marks the arrival of some of the country’s biggest and best to The New York Botanical Garden, and in honor of their prize-winning rotundity, we absolutely must give culinary credit where credit is due. So here’s to Halloween’s most hallowed heavyweight: the pumpkin!
Our Greenmarket has seen a steady trickle of pumpkins, gourds, and squashes in general over the past while, and we expect to see this bounty pick up in the coming weeks as we dig deeper into fall. But this Wednesday is also notable in that it’s something of an unofficial precursor to our weekend festivities. While you’re shopping your way through piles of fresh autumn eats, we’ll be prepping their monumental, record-breaking cousins from around the country that are even now making their way to the NYBG. Starting this weekend, each giant will go under the knives of master carver Ray Villafane and his band of artful miscreants as they create the most terrifying and titillating Halloween display we’ve rolled out yet.