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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Matt Newman

Better Food, Easier: Health Bucks Hit the Greenmarket

Posted in Programs and Events on July 10 2012, by Matt Newman

Eating better can be a constant struggle, especially for big city dwellers more likely to hit the hot dog cart than the produce aisle. For the many whose budget won’t allow for splurging on organics, the thought of piling a basket high with healthy foods is far off. But thanks to Health Bucks, a city-wide coupon program geared toward low- and fixed-income residents, bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to the table may be less of a trial.

Just as we’re all about the beauty and preservation of nature, The New York Botanical Garden stands behind the delicious, great-for-you goodness that comes out of it! It’s why you’ll find some of the area’s finest farm-raised fruits and vegetables for sale along Garden Way, Wednesday mornings through November. Blackberries and blueberries, kale, apples, cucumbers, fresh herbs–the Greenmarket is a weekly cornucopia of home-grown, seasonal garden goodies. Now made that much easier on wallets thanks to a city-wide initiative.

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Some Like it Hot

Posted in Around the Garden on July 6 2012, by Matt Newman

Here’s wishing a happy (if belated) Fourth of July to anyone who was too busy with cook-outs and pyrotechnics on Wednesday! It sort of feels like we had two Fridays this round, didn’t it? And I suppose that also means two Mondays, if you want to be a pessimist. In any case, the fireworks continue into this weekend with color of a less combustible sort. So jump into something summer-appropriate and be liberal with the sunscreen: these flowers like it hot!

Seeing as the scene along Daylily Walk is so ripe with painted color, we thought we’d do a little more to highlight the hands-on horticulture behind the daylily. Visit the Home Gardening Center at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday for a gardening demonstration with one of our staff experts, all set to fill you in on the growing techniques behind this hardy summer perennial. We’ll also share some pointers on many of the latest and greatest Hemerocallis cultivars–with over 45,000 of them to choose from, a daylily obsession can easily become a lifelong passion. (Trust us: our NYBG scientists all but created the craze.)

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Morning Eye Candy: Summer Shades

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on July 6 2012, by Matt Newman

Finally Friday. If you couldn’t find the time to get outside on the Fourth, be sure to prepare for this weekend: sunglasses, sunscreen, a few bottles of water. And do they still make parasols? Maybe one of those, too. Not everyone has the benefit of built-in shades, butterflies excluded.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Monet’s Water Lilies: Inspiration Meets Obsession

Posted in Gardens and Collections, Monet's Garden on July 5 2012, by Matt Newman

You could call our spotlight on the lotus blossoms an opening act. The true marquee headliners of Monet’s Garden–the prima donnas of our current collection–are without a doubt their nearby neighbors, the water lilies. There is no other flower in the landscape of spring, summer, or fall that so thoroughly represents the oeuvre of master Impressionist Claude Monet.

In the closing years of his life, the genus Nymphaea would come to define Monet’s obsession. He pulled dozens and dozens of scenes from that iconic spot by Giverny’s Japanese bridge, bringing concept to canvas with a verve few painters could match, then or now. Today, his water lily series stands as the ostensible height of his contribution to the history of art.

“It took me time to understand my water lilies,” Monet once wrote. “I had planted them for the pleasure of it; I grew them without ever thinking of painting them.”

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Poolside with the Lotus

Posted in Around the Garden, Gardens and Collections on July 4 2012, by Matt Newman

It’s warm but brilliant around the Water Lily Pools. Only shy a few deck chairs and some daiquiris, really. Ivo and I wandered over to the Conservatory the other day to figure out what the Garden’s horticulturists were getting themselves into, only to find everyone up to their waists in the pond. He immediately jumped into a pair of chest-high waders and joined the group–even if it meant swimming for them, Ivo had to have macro shots of the freshly-planted tropical water lilies. Just as I did, I suspect some of those gathered around the pool must have felt the slightest twinge of jealousy.

Meanwhile, I puttered toward the lotus blossoms.

Like I mentioned on Twitter, the scope of these mythic flowers isn’t something you can reconcile until you see them up close. A few of the Nelumbo nucifera blooms easily near the size of my head when in full splay! They stand there like planets in rings, petals spreading every which way in gradients of rosy color. Others, yet to open, point straight up in cones of spiraled pinks. Still others have already come and gone, leaving fresh seed pods behind. Through this cycle, with every point in the arc visible at once, I can see why the lotus is such an important symbol in followings like Buddhism and Hinduism. I’d have to write a tome to cover even a hint of its many spiritual meanings, from purity, to detachment, to the cycle of life itself.

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