I just got back from a walk around the Antique Garden Furniture Show and Sale, and boy are my arms tired! No, no. I didn’t fly over to the Conservatory and back, but I did impulse purchase a rather heavy cast concrete statue for my very own garden that I had to carry back to my cubicle. The Show is chock full of all sorts of gorgeous things, so I thought I would throw together this highly subjective slide show of some of the fascinating pieces that caught my eye.
I noticed one big trend: Bunnies are hot. Maybe it’s because it’s the Year of the Rabbit? Maybe it’s in the hope that placing one in your garden will scare the real ones away? I just can’t say. One thing I can say though, is don’t forget your checkbook. Many of the vendors cannot accept credit cards. Oh, and don’t worry. You won’t have to carry your own purchases as far as I did. The vendors are happy to hold onto your garden goodies until you can bring your car around.
The Antique Garden Furniture Show and Sale runs Friday, April 29 – Sunday, May 1; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The show is held in the tent behind the historic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. To get to the show, enter the Conservatory through the Palm Dome, then exit at the opposite side. Entrance to the Show is included in your All-Garden Pass. Happy shopping!
Mothers. Where would we be without them? They bring us into this world, they raise us, teach us, feed us, clothe us, and then hopefully, they send us off to be a good person, and perhaps (at least for 51% of the population) to replay the same role as a mother, too. It’s a wonder that mothers only get one day dedicated solely to them! So, to thank mom for all she has done for you, why not do something nice for her?
At the Garden, we’re throwing a garden party over Mother’s Day weekend in conjunction with the grand opening of our amazing new Azalea Garden. The Opening Weekend Celebration–May 7 – 8; 12-6 p.m–is a day full of picnic lunches, lawn games, Azalea Garden tours, music, kites, the opportunity for kids to make a bouquet, just for mom, and much more. Picnic lunches must be ordered online, in advance. Once at the Garden, pick up your lunch and then enjoy your day amid the sun-dappled, kaleidoscope of colors in this incredible new garden. Other food and beverages will be available for purchase on site.
If you come to the Garden for Mother’s Day weekend, snap some pictures and share them with us on Twitter (@nybg), Facebook, or in our Flickr Group Pool. If we get enough pictures, we’ll post some of them here on the blog! For Mom!
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!
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.
Things are moving fast here at the Garden; each day brings word of another extraordinarily beautiful plant that has burst into bloom. So, while we’re closed today (but we’ll be open next Monday, April 25), we thought we would share with you some of the amazing flowering trees that are in bloom around our 250-acres. Of course, just as plants burst into flower, they also stop flowering, too, so we cannot guarantee that all of these will still be in bloom when you visit. So, be sure to follow us on Twitter or “like” us on Facebook and get up to the minute updates on what’s beautiful now at the Garden (keeping an eye on the NYBG Blog, Plant Talk can’t hurt either). And if you’ve got a question about whether a specific plant is in bloom, feel free to ask us! We’ll dispatch a plant-porter out into the Garden and get back to you.
Willow-Leaf Magnolia SalicifoliaCherry BlossomsIn the MistForsythia along the Bronx RiverMagnolia 'Columbia'Cherry BlossomsStar Magnolia in front of the LibraryWeeping CherryNear the LibraryMagnolia stellata
In honor of The Orchid Show: On Broadway, members of Broadway’s most popular shows have created unique interactive programming exclusively for the Garden!
Look for these participants and activities at the locations below in the Adventure Garden:
– Broadway Green Alliance – At the Entrance
Bring your plastic bags to help the Broadway Green Alliance keep plastic bags out of neighborhood trees (and out of landfills) and bring attention to this issue.
– Million Dollar Quartet – At the Stumps
Play Million Dollar Quartet’s version of pin the tail-on-the-donkey, “Pin the guitar on Elvis.”
– Billy Elliot – In the Plaza
The Ballet Girls from the cast of Billy Elliot conduct a ballet dance clinic where you can learn a portion of the number “Shine” from the production.
– Priscilla Queen of the Desert – Near the Waterfall Priscilla Queen of the Desert will be doing diva-liscious flower and plant face painting.
– Catch Me If You Can – In Sun Central
Fly into the Catch Me if You Can booth to learn how to make the perfect origami airplane.
– RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles – On Lifecycle Lane
Test your luck in the RAIN Strawberry Fields Memory game for the chance to win tickets to the show and other great
prizes
– The Addams Family – In Sun Central
It’s spooky good fun with The Addams Family’s eyeball toss.
– Baby It’s You – At the Stumps
Play “name that tune” to be entered into a drawing to win tickets to the show.
Since no one has yet been able to invent the scratch and sniff Internet, you’ll have to come to the Garden in order to smell this incredible plant. Currently blooming on the Ladies’ Border on the southern end of the ConservatoryEdgeworthia chrysantha, commonly known as the oriental paper bush is currently in bloom and suffusing this small garden with an ethereal perfume. A detour to visit this unassuming plant is an absolute must if you’re coming to the Garden this weekend to see The Orchid Show: On Broadway.
We’ve been getting a lot of inquiries lately about writing for this blog, and we’re thrilled! So whether you’re a Garden Member, first-time visitor, volunteer, a farmer, someone from the community, or even Garden staff, if you have an idea for a Plant Talk blog post you’d like to write, we would like to hear from you! You can leave a comment below, you can tweet us, you can post your idea on Facebook, you can submit it on Tumblr, or you can email us at: blog AT nybg DOT org.
But before you put pen to paper (or, more likely, fingertip to keyboard), pitch us your idea first to make sure we’re interested. After we have let you know that we’re interested please:
– Keep it sweet, simple, and topical. Try and keep your post to under 300 words.
– We might edit your text, so please be open to that.
– If you’ve got photos, we’d love to post them. Just make sure you have the right to give us the rights to do so.
– We would love to see your NYBG-inspired artwork.
So there’s our pitch. We can’t wait to see what you’ve got up your sleeve!
Just in time for 
