A plant of Virginia spring beauty showing its grass-like leaves.
Of the many spring ephemerals cropping up in the Garden, the plant known as “spring beauty” in the genus Claytonia is one that can be seen without taking a walk through the woods. It is commonly found at the edge of woodlands, or along mowed roadsides. Like many spring ephemerals spring beauty flowers close at night and remain closed on overcast days. This tendency, combined with the plant’s grass-like leaves, make it easy to miss spring beauty if you do not look closely.
The beauty of spring beauty is best enjoyed by looking closely at the flowers with a hand lens. This allows you to appreciate the delicate pink lines that lead insect visitors to the source of nectar at the base of each petal. Insects–among them small bees, flies, and wasps–are further guided to the nectaries by a bright yellow spot; they are attracted by both nectar and pollen. The tiny flowers do not produce enough nectar to warrant a visit by the large queen bumblebees that fly in early spring, but small bees drink their fill and pack their pollen baskets with the anthers‘ creamy white pollen. The anthers themselves are pink and open before the female reproductive parts, thus helping to promote cross-pollination.
You know, I’m a big fan of walking, especially during spring. I really am. But, every now and again, it seems more prudent to sit and absorb. And stuff your watch in your pocket.
It’s closing weekend of The Orchid Show and blooms and blossoms abound; inside, outside, simply everywhere! Can you think of a better way to celebrate Earth Day? We can: let’s make it a three-day weekend and open our 250 acres to you on Monday!
While at NYBG every day is Earth Day, Monday, April 22 is the official day to celebrate, and we’re doing it in literal fashion with a focus on the soil that nourishes us all. In the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden kids of all ages can learn about the earthworms that are so vital to healthy, living soil. Speak with a worm expert, meet the earthworms, and take some of the nutrient-rich earth that they have produced to nourish your plants at home. Explore the newly planted Mario Batali Kitchen Gardens and enjoy special activities. If you can’t make it to NYBG, dine at any of Mario Batali’s restaurants or shop at Eataly and receive a special seed packet with which to grow your own Genovese basil at home.
In the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden and in the Home Gardening Center composting advice and demonstrations abound. Stick around in the Adventure Garden to make a terrarium—based on rich soil and a self-contained microenvironment—to take home.
A botanical line illustration of the new species by B. Angell.
As mentioned in previous posts, my main research focus is the classification and ecology of the Brazil nut family (Lecythidaceae) in the New World tropics. The Brazil nut–the largest nut in a can of mixed nuts, for reference–and the cannon ball tree are the best known plants of this family, the former for its economic importance and the latter as an ornamental tree in tropical botanical gardens. Because I have been studying this group of plants for nearly 50 years, many people are surprised when they learn that there are still new species to be discovered.
For many years I had known of a large-leaved species of the Brazil nut family that had been collected in southwestern Colombia, but I was not able to identify the species; the few available collections were poorly prepared and the collection area was not safe for botanists to visit. Therefore, when I was invited to give a lecture at the fifth Colombian Botanical Congress in April of 2009, in San Juan de Pasto, I immediately accepted the invitation–this was relatively close to where the mystery plant grows and, more importantly, it was then safe to travel there. Coincidentally, the congress field trip was to the Reserva Natural Río Ñambí, a beautiful private cloud forest reserve known for the 29 species of hummingbirds found there, as well as for its spectacular plants, many of them epiphytes covering the trees. One of those trees happened to be the very plant that I had my eyes on for so many years!
I thought the earth remembered me,
she took me back so tenderly,
arranging her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds.
I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,
nothing between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths
among the branches of the perfect trees.
It’s almost “go” time for the coming spring ephemerals, and the Native Plant Garden is a canvas ready for painting, so to speak. (The wait is a good kind of anxiety. Trust me.)
The magnolia flowers peppering the trees outside the Library Building tell the story a bit better than this wintry rain: spring has arrived, and it’s not going anywhere! Rhododendrons perk in the Azalea Garden, the Home Gardening Center looks a little more like its old self, and keen eyes can spot the nascent greens of young leaves on the tree branches. A more telling signal for the seasonal transition is the sound of the Fountain of Life’s familiar burble.
We’re going into this weekend carrying sunny thoughts piled with excitement, not least because we’re once again on board for two more Orchid Evenings. And while this Saturday’s gathering (as well as that of April 20!) is completely sold out, there are still tickets available for an impromptu cocktail during tonight’s added event! (That would be Friday, April 12.) So have a look at our ticket page and reserve yours while there’s still room, as they’re going fast.
For daytime visitors, of course, the spring scenery is an event in its own right. Just the other day I was out enjoying the thrill of the hunt, so to speak–walking the paths in search of season’s first flowers. The daffodils, I might add, are blowing up throughout our 250 acres. But it’s even more fun sussing out the less populous arrivals, like the first tulips cropping up in the Perennial Garden. For those who’d rather have a primer of what’s happening where, our What’s Beautiful Now post puts up a pretty thorough rundown.
