Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on December 8 2011, by Matt Newman
Another orchid-in-waiting in the Nolen Greenhouses shows off its frills with a touch of frosty color. But don’t worry–it’s plenty warm in there.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Holiday Train Show on December 7 2011, by Matt Newman
Even with the chill of the coming winter, there’s a warmth to holiday decorations. Wind a string of soft white icicle lights over the hedge outside, hang a few glittering strands from the curtain rods–it’s the easiest way to forget mornings spent shoveling snow or scraping ice off the car windshield (they’ll be here soon enough). And with the smell of pine trees drifting on the breeze, the combination makes for picturesque evenings, especially here at The New York Botanical Garden.
Nights at the NYBG aren’t often open to the public, though, as it’s sort of challenging to see our spring flowers in the dark–trust me on that one. But come winter, with the Holiday Train Show’s model trains humming about the tracks and the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory glowing like a beacon in the city, we throw open the doors to show you a Garden in rare form. The lights laced like garlands throughout the Train Show bring out the elegance of the miniature landmarks with a subtlety that sunlight just can’t match, lending a kind of fairytale charm to the display.
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on December 7 2011, by Matt Newman
It almost seems like the snow flurries have come a little early (or is it late at this point?) in the Perennial Garden.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on December 6 2011, by Matt Newman
Many of our tropical blooms wait out the cold in the Nolen Greenhouses, carefully tended until they take center stage for the 2012 Orchid Show.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on December 5 2011, by Matt Newman
Order and chaos, fall and summer. Maybe the contrasts sound a bit overwrought, but they sure can be pretty.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on December 4 2011, by Matt Newman
We didn’t have a chance to show you the turnout for these Nicotiana x sanderae during Sonia Uyterhoeven’s “Season in Review,” but they’re too rich and gorgeous to ignore.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden on December 3 2011, by Matt Newman
The peak of fall foliage is an explosion of color, but the window of opportunity to catch this sort of beauty is sometimes slim. For some trees it only takes a week or two before the brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows that come with cooler weather have passed; you venture out one day to find every last leaf crunching underfoot, and a latticework of barren branches netting the sky above.
As I walked through the Garden recently, noting the trees which were heavy with leaves just a week or two ago, I found myself hunting out the stragglers. I suppose it’s more accurate to call them survivors–the last of the foliated plants, big and small, still stubbornly holding onto their leaves when many growing around them have already closed up shop for the coming winter. Somehow, the few holding out until the last minute seem that much brighter for their small numbers.
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on December 3 2011, by Matt Newman
The colors of late fall are almost defiant at the Garden.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on December 2 2011, by Matt Newman
Neither this Camellia ‘Winter’s Cupid’ nor its busy tender seems bothered by the chill.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden on December 1 2011, by Debbie Becker
Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., beginning at the Reflecting Pool at the Leon Levy Visitor Center.
Winter brings many different things to New York City, but for a birder, the one special gift winter delivers is the owl. With the leaves off the trees, these cryptic, wise, and almost magical birds become easier to locate and observe. The New York Botanical Garden hosted a number of species this past year, including the Barred, two Saw-whet, two Long-eared and two Great Horned Owls. As a matter of fact, there were more owls in the Garden than in Pelham Bay Park, which has always been considered the area’s owl hub.
Birders on the NYBG’s Saturday morning bird walks are now hopeful these mystical creatures will return and grace us with their alluring presence.