Okay, it’s a little rainy and misty this week, but you know how I think of it? You know those sprayers at the supermarket that shoot mist all over the lettuce and carrots? There’s a similar situation going on at the Garden right this very moment at our weekly Greenmarket. A bunch of beautiful produce is getting a fine drizzling mist of cool, fresh water.
The only difference between this and the supermarket is the products here were picked or produced less than 12 hours ago from locally sourced farms, bakeries and orchards!
Debbie Becker’s ever-popular Bird Walks return this Saturday with a hunt for those tiny gems of the garden; hummingbirds! The walks begin at 11 a.m., leaving from the Reflecting Pool in front of the Visitor Center. A limited number of binoculars are available for loan at the Visitor Center Information Booth, so if you have a pair, bring them along, and be sure to wear sturdy shoes.
The diverse habitats of the Botanical Garden offer bird-watchers a chance to see dozens of species of birds throughout the year. The Garden’s magnificent 250-acres of outdoor gardens and collections, open meadows, native forest, and waterbodies such as the Bronx River and Twin Lakes entice birds migrating through the area in spring and fall and those that stay to nest in summer or to spend the winter.
We talked to some visitors and staff about their favorite birds and why they love birding at the Garden.
Upcoming Bird Walk themes include:
– In Pursuit of Hummingbirds September 10
– Great Hawk Migration September 24
– In Search of the Great Horned Owls November 19
– Annual Bird Count December 10
– Great Backyard Bird Count February 18
Tell us (by leaving a comment): What is your favorite bird? Have you had a great birding experience at the Garden?
Garden arborists cut down a tree acutely damaged by Irene.
Hurricane Irene came to New York City over the weekend. She blew through the Garden, and thankfully left very little trace of her visit behind; just a handful of the Garden’s thousands of trees were damaged, and of those, only two were judged to be a danger to Garden visitors and beyond salvaging.
This morning we were able to do a survey of the farmers who bring their produce and baked goods to the Garden’s weekly Greenmarket, and were relieved to hear from them that they also weathered the storm.
Given what could have happened, we’re very happy to be able to issue this report, and our thoughts are with those suffering from the catastrophic flooding upstate and throughout New England.
The summer session of the Children’s Gardening program–where kids aged 5-12 work in pairs to cultivate and tend their own garden plot–is in full swing, and the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden is a hive of activity, bursting at the seams with produce and happy kids.
If the kids in your family want to get in on the gardening action, you can join in during Dig! Plant! Grow! which takes place daily (except on Mondays when the Garden is usually closed), beginning at 1:30 p.m. Digging, weeding, and harvesting aren’t the only activities going on in the Family Garden (read one visitor’s appreciation); there’s also cooking, Mario Batali’s Edible Garden, and tons of exploring to be done as well! And there are bees and bunnies. Oh, and it’s also really pretty!
Be sure to stop by on your next trip to the Garden, and while you’re here, snap a few photos to enter into the August NYBG-IGPOTY photo contest, “Kids in the Garden” featuring special Mario Batali prizes!
It’s National Farmer’s Market Week! What better way to celebrate than with a trip to the Garden’s weekly Greenmarket to chat with some of the great community volunteers, politicians, and health advocates who turn up every Wednesday to dispense advice to the market’s shoppers?
The New York Botanical Garden Greenmarket occurs every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The market will run until Thanksgiving.
It’s the second month of our photo contest, and a hearty congratulations to Barbara Reiner for winning our second monthly NYBG-IGPOTY photography contest. The NYBG photo judges had a tough time picking the winner this month, but in the end felt that Barbara’s rose triptych just edged out cindy {k}’s scene among the tulips for this month’s theme “American Beauty.” Barbara will receive a NYBG gift pack, which includes two All-Garden Passes, a $25 credit towards the Adult Education class of her choice, a catalog for the Library exhibition Historical Views: Tourists at the Alhambra, and the catalog from Hirschfeld’s Broadway Scrapbook. We’re also still working on getting copies of the photography book, Better Plant and Garden Photography, written by IGPOTY founder Philip Smith, over from the U.K. as well. Congratulations Barabara! Please send us an email with your contact information through this form (select website from the pull-down menu).
It’s a beautiful day to buy seasonal, farm-fresh produce from our fantastic vendors at the Botanical Garden Greenmarket. The Greenmarket is open today until 3 p.m. Come by to pick up eggplants, cantaloupe, peaches, cherries, and blackberries and visit Spanish Paradise: Gardens of the Alhambra before it closes on August 21!
Gajeski Produce has bunches of sunflowers to decorate your dinner table, corn, zucchini, cucumbers, squash, and field grown tomatoes in all colors. Greens also abound– lettuce, broccoli, and scallions along with fresh herbs basil and cilantro. Don’t forget to pick up some eggs they brought fresh from Feather Ridge Farm.
Migliorelli Farm has carrots, beets, radishes, fennel, and turnips–good kitchen standards to stock up on. More interesting greens like dandelion, collards, escarole, fennel, kale, chard, mustard, and bok choy are available, too. Apples and corn are beginning to become a regular presence.
Local honey can be purchased from The Little Bake Shop. Pies of all sorts-cherry, blueberry, apple, and raspberry in the Linzer tart and other sweets are perfect for sharing.
Bread Alone has sourdough, multigrain, and foccacia breads ready for sandwich fillings. Raisin nut, ciabatta, and peasant rolls are a compliment to any meal. Muffins, tarts, danishes, cookies, and scones make for nice treats.
Red Jacket Orchard has delicious sweet red cherries, small apricots, sugar plums, apples, jams, and ice cold refreshing juices.
You can learn more about Greenmarket, part of the Council on the Environment of New York City–one of the largest open-air farmers market programs in the United States–at their booth. Taste what’s fresh at the weekly cooking demonstrations–this week features blackberry-basil syrup.
The Floral Flyer ran on weekends and holidays at The New York Botanical Garden from May 1949 until the early 1970s, when it was taken out of service. The Flyer is a precursor to the Tram available to today’s Garden visitors. Current tram operation began in the early 1990s and it is available daily.
“OPERATION of a three-car tractor train around the grounds of the New York Botanical Garden is scheduled to begin in May, provided the roadway now nearing completion over the new bridge across the Bronx River is ready for use by that time. The train, which is similar to those borrowed from the Zoo for tours of the grounds during Garden Week in May 1945, is the gift of Mrs. Harold Irving Pratt, who played a prominent part in the plans for the Botanical Garden’s 50th Anniversary celebration at that time. It is to be named the Floral Flyer.
“Each of the three cars will hold 16 passengers. While the train’s schedule and route have not yet been determined, it is expected that it will go to the Conservatory, along the road through the woods to the new bridge in the vicinity of the Rose Garden, north from the Rose Garden along the gorge of the Bronx River, skirting the Hemlock Forest, the collections of deciduous trees, and the magnolias, then turning westward over the boulder bridge and south to the Museum building.”
Mrs. Pratt herself christened The Floral Flyer on May 26 using a watering can filled with daylilies “as emblematic of the New York Botanical Garden’s scientific and horticultural accomplishments.”
The Flyer made more than one thousand round-trips over the Memorial Day weekend, in 1949. The fare that first summer for non-members was twenty cents for a twenty-minute, gas-powered ride. The cost of a modern day tram ride is included in the price of All-Garden Pass or Membership.
