Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on July 6 2012, by Matt Newman
Finally Friday. If you couldn’t find the time to get outside on the Fourth, be sure to prepare for this weekend: sunglasses, sunscreen, a few bottles of water. And do they still make parasols? Maybe one of those, too. Not everyone has the benefit of built-in shades, butterflies excluded.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on July 5 2012, by Matt Newman
If Daylily Walk is our Yellow Brick Road, that would make the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory the Emerald City, right?
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Gardens and Collections on July 4 2012, by Matt Newman
It’s warm but brilliant around the Water Lily Pools. Only shy a few deck chairs and some daiquiris, really. Ivo and I wandered over to the Conservatory the other day to figure out what the Garden’s horticulturists were getting themselves into, only to find everyone up to their waists in the pond. He immediately jumped into a pair of chest-high waders and joined the group–even if it meant swimming for them, Ivo had to have macro shots of the freshly-planted tropical water lilies. Just as I did, I suspect some of those gathered around the pool must have felt the slightest twinge of jealousy.
Meanwhile, I puttered toward the lotus blossoms.
Like I mentioned on Twitter, the scope of these mythic flowers isn’t something you can reconcile until you see them up close. A few of the Nelumbo nucifera blooms easily near the size of my head when in full splay! They stand there like planets in rings, petals spreading every which way in gradients of rosy color. Others, yet to open, point straight up in cones of spiraled pinks. Still others have already come and gone, leaving fresh seed pods behind. Through this cycle, with every point in the arc visible at once, I can see why the lotus is such an important symbol in followings like Buddhism and Hinduism. I’d have to write a tome to cover even a hint of its many spiritual meanings, from purity, to detachment, to the cycle of life itself.
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on July 4 2012, by Matt Newman
Happy Fourth, everyone! Not only is the Garden open for regular hours today, but it’s a Wednesday, meaning free grounds admission for any and all visitors. The Greenmarket will also be going until 3 p.m., with a smorgasbord of locally-sourced fruit, vegetables, cheeses, baked goods and other tasty stuff to offer. I should probably chime in with mention of that most American of Independence Day staples, apple pie–there’ll be a bit of that, too.
From all of us here at the NYBG, here’s to a safe, happy, and delicious Independence Day. May your grill-outs be grand and your burgers brilliant. Or your tofu dogs terrific, if that’s more your style!
Rosa ‘Fourth of July’ — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Gardening Tips on July 3 2012, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG’s Gardener for Public Education.
One of the easiest ways to get to The New York Botanical Garden is via the Metro-North railroad. If you take the Harlem Line from either Grand Central or 125th Street, you can get to the Garden in 10 to 20 minutes depending on where you board. On the weekends, Metro-North offers inexpensive City Tickets which are just slightly higher in cost than subway fare. Once you get off the train, simply walk across the street and into the Garden.
Upon entering, you will see two large, square in-ground containers directly in front of the ticket booths. This year, these containers are adorned with a dramatic combination of easy-to-grow annuals that highlight the merits of mixing light and dark colors together in the garden.
The large containers include two different types of coleus (Solenostemon)–a staple of any urban container arrangement. Coleus is easy to propagate and comes in a riotous spectrum of colors and combinations. One of the varieties, ‘Alabama Sunset’, is often on gardeners’ “Top Ten” lists for successful summer annuals. It is a striking combination of brick red and golden yellow.
Posted in Around the Garden on July 3 2012, by Ann Rafalko
What’s more American than barbecuing on July 4? How about barbecuing locally-sourced, American-grown produce! The Garden, along with the Greenmarket, will be open this Independence Day, Wednesday, July 4 so that you can pickup all your barbecue and picnic needs from the farmers who grow them. Why not celebrate America’s 236th birthday with an all American buckle, grunt, betty, or cobbler featuring Red Jacket Orchard‘s beautiful berries or cherries. Not a baker? Then pickup one of the Little Bake Shop‘s delicious–and already baked–seasonal pies!
And don’t forget that most American of grains, corn, which is delicious boiled or grilled and slathered in butter, or with lime, chile, and cheese. In addition to corn and cherries, I’m hoping for summer squash and green beans from Migliorelli Farm, maybe a tomato or two, and pickles from Millport Dairy and spring onions from Gajeski Produce to serve on top of hamburgers!
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., stop by the Greenmarket information booth to pot up a plant to take home and grow on your window sill. The weekly NYBG Greenmarket near Tulip Tree Allée happens every Wednesday through November 21, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission and parking are free to shop at the Greenmarket and EBT, WIC, and FMNP are accepted.
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on July 3 2012, by Matt Newman
Nymphaea ‘Arc-en-Ciel’, not to be confused with long-running Japanese rock group L’Arc-en-Ciel. Each seems to have liked the French translation of “The Rainbow” enough to claim it as a name.
How many other musical connections can we make between our water lilies, I wonder?
Nymphaea ‘Arc-en-Ciel’ — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, People on July 2 2012, by Matt Newman
Ever grown a daylily? For flower gardeners, it’s likely; they’re now some of the most ubiquitous flowers kept among horticultural circles, rivaling even roses in their widespread adoration. From the 20 original species found in the wilds of India, Japan, China and Mongolia, we now have tens of thousands of recognized cultivars on the market–the fan following of this flower is nothing to scoff at. But we owe the modern fame of Hemerocallis to a single man, one whose work at The New York Botanical Garden birthed an industry.
To this day, Daylily Walk‘s early summer show can and does sneak up on us. The sloping path begins along Garden Way, the road that runs past the Library Building. From there it branches in a curving swoop around the Garden Café before joining Perennial Way by the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. The walk leads you through thickets of conifers, bordered in late June by hundreds of daylilies in the colors of sunset, pomegranate seed, and safety cone orange. Think of a ribbon of rainbow sorbet connecting two of the NYBG’s most iconic pieces of architecture.
Posted in Around the Garden on July 2 2012, by Matt Newman
News that a rock star is living it up in our Hardy Water Lily Pool had some of us…well, confused. I pictured the lead singer of The Kinks doing the backstroke between the pads of the Nymphaea–not exactly Garden-approved behavior, superstar or not. But the revelation that this was a water lily named ‘Ray Davies’ only brought up more questions.
We answered those, too. In the meantime, Nymphaea ‘Ray Davies’ played coy with its color. My visit to the pool toward the end of last week turned up a circle of foliage sans flowers, with no sign of a show. Then came Ivo.
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on July 2 2012, by Matt Newman
Sorry for the blatant tease. Just wanted to pass along a reminder that the gem-like fruits and vegetables of our Greenmarket will be back on Wednesday (and every Wednesday from now through November). Okay, I’m not really sorry–I’m suffering the pangs of raspberry desire just like you are.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen