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Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Around the Garden

This Weekend: After-Dark Delights

Posted in Around the Garden on December 7 2012, by Matt Newman

That’s enough relaxing for one week! While last weekend’s schedule kept things simple and streamlined, we’re stepping up the pace this time around with a series of exclusive events running the gamut from seasonal to enlightening. And, of course, everything in the middle. Between the trundling trains buzzing about the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, and the gingerbread frosting taking over the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, you’ll find winding Forest tours, wildlife exploration, and an opportunity to meet one of the NYBG‘s favorite photographers. I suppose I should also mention our “holiday happy hours,” which seems as apt a description as any.

Saturday morning begins with Debbie Becker’s weekly Bird Walk, though this particular session is both informative and proactive. Not only will you be scoping out the avian residents and visitors flitting about the Garden, but pipping each one off on a personal list. At the end of the walk, your bird counts will be submitted to Cornell for their database as an unofficial warm-up for the Christmas Bird Count. This annual, nationwide event goes a long way to helping researchers and conservationists understand the state of the bird world in the U.S., so you won’t just be putting your Saturday to good use–you’ll be contributing to a worthy cause, as well.

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An Ever Changing Forest

Posted in Around the Garden, Gardens and Collections on December 6 2012, by Travis Beck

Travis Beck is the NYBG’s Landscape and Garden Projects Manager, overseeing large landscape design and construction projects here at the Garden. His current undertakings include the redesign of the Native Plant Garden and trail restorations taking place in the Thain Family Forest.

The Thain Family Forest at The New York Botanical Garden is a remnant of the deciduous forest that once covered most of the region. Unlike many of the remaining forests, the Thain Family Forest was never cleared for timber or agriculture, and includes numerous grand trees. Today, many of these are well over a century old.

Superstorm Sandy reminds us, however, that humans are not the only ones to fell trees. Her strong winds uprooted or snapped the trunks of over one hundred trees in the Forest. Where these trees fell, gaps now exist in the canopy, creating opportunities for the next generation of trees to grow. Our records show that Sandy was the most damaging storm in the Garden’s history to impact the Forest, but hurricanes, nor’easters, and thunderstorms are part of the natural disturbance regime for northeastern forests. Such storms open gaps in the canopy and allow for new growth to fill the space.

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