Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Programs and Events
Posted in Learning Experiences, Programs and Events on October 28 2008, by Plant Talk
My fingerprints are all over this town, high and low, in all neighborhoods, including those with fancy addresses with sweeping views, luxury buildings, and hotels as well as low income housing project courtyards. A GreenStreets park I plant in my uptown neighborhood is a labor of love. New York is my city; my career is about enhancing its green beauty quotient and sustainable functioning.
NYBG’s Landscape Design Portfolio Lecture Series has served for me as an access ramp to the world of international design culture. The presentations of the past few seasons have offered a rich feast. Through a previous speaker, Fernando Caruncho, who was new to me, I found that some designs, such as his grids of olive trees and wheat field patterns, are best appreciated by helicopter—how exciting! This led me to view my own work in a fresh way, as strong patterns to view from afar.
Thus my perspective shifted on my work in general; I began to see my gardens as microcosms of the Big Picture of Garden Design and to approach the garden layout with new eyes.
It feels great to be making New York beautiful, garden by garden. I have designed so many, installed so many, and worked on, rejuvenated, or created so many from a wreck of a neglected courtyard, the back of a brownstone, a rooftop, or a terrace. I have reclaimed dreadful spaces and made them into havens, many with inspiration gained from the lecture series.
The Landscape Design Portfolio Lecture Series is a vital educational tool; the format is perfect, and Susan Cohen, coordinator of the Landscape Design Program, continues to choose exceptional speakers. The consistent high quality and world-class talent of the lineup makes the series a winner.
Posted in Gardens and Collections, Programs and Events on October 24 2008, by Plant Talk
Year of the Rabbit and Fall’s Finale at the Family Garden
Annie Novak is coordinator of the Children’s Gardening Program.
Sun-Tzu tells us “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Two thousand years later, the Family Garden recently took the opportunity to follow the familiar adage with the latest addition to our garden: Newton, the Family Garden rabbit. Unlike the brown, sleek, and rapid rabbits that pillage the cornucopia within our walls, Newton, a domesticated Dutch dwarf, was rescued by Group Tours staff, who found him wandering the Botanical Garden last month.
Despite the reputation of rabbits, the adoption of Newton is a welcome one. Instructors and students on a recent class field trip to the Family Garden discussed the perils of abandoning domesticated animals in the Botanical Garden forest, gracefully making the segue into a discussion of ecosystems. Later, the students were rewarded with the opportunity to feed Newton pea shoots, the last crop of legumes before cold weather finishes the garden’s growing season. Magnetized by the hutch and the adorable rabbit within, it seems the spotlight has turned away from the Family Garden’s waning fall vegetables.
Newton also has the privileged position of living under what may be The New York Botanical Garden’s first “green roof.” A collection of sedums and sempervivums (hens and chicks), the green roof will help to keep the hutch warm in the winter and cool in the summer. As Toby Adams, the Family Garden Manager, explains, Newton’s new home illustrates the potentials of creative and efficient gardening. “The hutch shows how our visitors, too, might tend a garden despite the limited ground-level space in the city.”
The only thing missing from Newton’s nest is a pumpkin. In anticipation of Halloween, the rest of the Family Garden is festooned with gourds and squash. This Sunday, October 26, during Halloween Hoorah, visitors to the Family Garden can present an apple sticker and a pumpkin sticker, distributed during the Halloween Parade, to earn a cup of freshly pressed cider and a pumpkin to color with markers. In the Family Garden, staff will be on hand to help make marigold jewelry, frame fruit sketches with seeds, and reminisce about the three beautiful growing seasons that preceded the fall farewell to their vegetable plots. Costumes are encouraged. It is rumored that Newton, with his brown bandit-mask fur, will be dressed as Zorro.
The Halloween Parade meets at the Rose Garden entrance at 12, 2, and 4 p.m. and heads to the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, where you can decorate pumpkins to take home and press your own apple cider.
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Posted in Learning Experiences, Programs and Events on October 9 2008, by Plant Talk
Nature in New York: A First and a Success
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Wendy Hollender is Program Coordinator for the Botanical Art and Illustration field of study in NYBG’s Continuing Education program.
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Nature in New York, the first exhibition of NYBG’s Botanical Art and Illustration program, featuring the work of students, faculty, and alumni, is open and going strong at the New York Open Center in SoHo. The show features 48 pieces by 32 different artists.
As the coordinator of the program and an instructor at the Garden I became the organizer of the exhibit. We wanted this to be a professional, juried show and to choose the best work possible. The week before the opening, two prestigious botanical art shows also opened in Manhattan: the annual American Society of Botanical Artists juried show at the Horticultural Society of New York and the Florilegium Society exhibit at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I have personally exhibited in both these shows and find these to be truly breathtaking. How would our first show hold up by comparison?
Opening night came. Would there be enough food and drink? Would anyone come? The show itself had been beautifully hung thanks to two artist volunteers, Doris Downes and Linda Vredenburgh, who had offered to help me and Maria Rodriquez, Director of Exhibitions at the Open Center, where classes from the Botanical Art program are held. Doors opened at 7:30 pm and the gallery was immediately flooded with a steady stream of enthusiastic people. By night’s end at least 200 people came and didn’t seem to want to leave! One visitor said this was the best opening they had ever been to. “The work had precision, expertise, and artistry,” she went on to say. Some said it was hard to tell the work of students vs. faculty and that it was all beautiful and professional. The students who worked extremely hard on their botanical masterpieces were so proud to be included in an exhibition in a public venue. Instructors were happy to be a part of the exhibit and also pleased with the quality of the students’ work.
I encourage you to go and take a look at the exhibit. From fall’s harvest to spring’s first blooms it is truly a feast for the eyes.
Nature in New York is on through November 7. For hours, call 212.219.2527, Ext. 135. The Open Center is located at 83 Spring St., between Broadway and Lafayette, in Manhattan.
Also this weekend is a full slate of programming. Click here for details.
Posted in Programs and Events, Wildlife on October 3 2008, by Plant Talk
Fall Brings an Array of Migrants
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Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., beginning at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center.
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Autumn is that miraculous time of year when the leaves on the trees turn glorious colors. It is also time for the great fall migration. From August through November, thousands of birds leave their northern breeding grounds and return to their southern homes. As they pass through NYBG they stop and eat the luscious crab apples, berries, and nuts emerging from trees, bushes, and shrubs. It is a unique time of year to see tanagers, orioles, grosbeaks, and warblers in different stages of maturity as they move through the area.
Also migrating are raptors. Red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, kestrels, Cooper’s hawks, and sharp-shinned hawks are just some of the accipiters and buteos that glide on the thermals over Daffodil Hill. More than 5,000 broad-winged hawks have been spotted in one afternoon at NYBG. Bald eagles and golden eagles fly lazily over the Bronx River searching for a meal. Osprey circle above as they, too, fish the Bronx River.
On Twin Lakes, the wood ducks and mallards emerge from their state of eclipse and reclaim the lakes in full-colored feathers again. Joining them are autumn migrants: gadwalls, green-winged and blue-winged teals, northern shovelers, hooded and common mergansers, buffleheads grebes, coots, and many surprise visitors.
During October, the Garden plays host to a wide variety of sparrows: tree, field, savannah, song, swamp, fox, chipping, white-crowned, white-throated, and more. November brings the grackles and the blackbirds migrating in the thousands. Large flocks will sweep over NYBG and literally turn the trees black when they perch, all the while cackling loudly.
As autumn comes to an end during the middle of December, our great-horned owls begin to stir. Their breeding season will be just beginning as they emerge from the forest ready to entertain us with mating calls and rituals.
Autumn at NYBG is an exciting season. Come join us on a fall bird walk. You never know what or “hooo” you will see.
Posted in Learning Experiences, Programs and Events on September 26 2008, by Plant Talk
Indian Summer at the Howell Family Garden
Annie Novak is coordinator of the Children’s Gardening Program.
Two years ago, two men named Eric built a second home. It wasn’t a vacation spot nor was it particularly accommodating for men of their height. At first, the only inhabitants were chipmunks, squirrels, and the occasional investigatory rabbit.
Soon, however, the house was full of noise. Children busily explored the low dome of the interior and peered out the window into the neighboring garden. So it was that in 2006, the wigwam that Eric Wright and Eric Sanderson built became the latest structural addition to the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden.
Although it’s the first wigwam in The New York Botanical Garden, it is by no means the first to grace the cliffs along the Bronx River’s shore. As Sanderson is quick to explain, for the 5,000 years before New York City’s skyline dominated the Hudson, Native Americans lived along the river system. Known as the Lenape, they inhabited the large area they called Leanapehoking all throughout New York and New Jersey, as far as the Delaware Water Gap.
Learn more about the wigwam in the Family Garden after the jump.
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Posted in Learning Experiences, People, Programs and Events on September 19 2008, by Plant Talk
Career Change: A Recent NYBG Graduate’s Perspective
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Curtis Eaves received a Landscape Design Certificate from NYBG’s Continuing Education program and is the founder of iGreen, an environmental landscape design firm located in the Hamptons. |
A little over two years ago I decided to change careers. I wanted to work in a field I had a real passion for. My background was design—textiles, clothing, interiors—but I was looking for something that would take me outdoors and connect me with nature.
After researching different institutions that offered programs in Horticulture and Landscape Design, I decided that The New York Botanical Garden offered the very best program, and therefore I enrolled to pursue a Certificate in Landscape Design.
Several years ago when I taught design courses at the Fashion Institute of Technology, I realized that curriculum is enhanced when presented by experienced professionals. This approach to teaching is just one of the many great things about courses taught at the Botanical Garden. As practicing industry leaders, the Garden staff and faculty have the unique ability to share their “real world” experiences and insights with the students.
My time enrolled in the Landscape Design Certificate Program became such an enlightening experience, filled with the new creative challenges I was seeking. Not only did I gain a solid foundation, but the comprehensive class material provided by the knowledgeable faculty made the Garden an exciting and fascinating atmosphere in which to learn. I feel certain that I have been provided with the necessary tools, knowledge, and confidence to succeed in the landscape industry while pursuing my dreams and goals.
Just after graduation this past June I launched iGreen, a landscape design business that is based on the east end of Long Island. I am amazed at the level of respect and trust I receive from new clients when they become aware that I received my certification from The New York Botanical Garden. NYBG has inspired me with passion to create and build sustainable “green” designs that are both aesthetically pleasing and environmentally sensitive.
This eco-friendly philosophy is the driving force behind iGreen, so to stay current and informed on how to implement these ecological techniques, I plan to attend the new Environmental Gardening courses now being offered at the Botanical Garden.
To learn about NYBG’s Continuing Education program and what it can offer you, come to the free Open House on Saturday, September 20, 10:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
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Posted in Programs and Events on September 18 2008, by Plant Talk
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Written by Genna Federico, a senior at St. John’s University, with additional reporting by Kate Murphy, a junior at Fordham University. Both were interns in the Communications Department this summer.
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Imagine a small sanctuary filled with green grass, bold flowers, and bountiful fruits. Now imagine that you are in the middle of the Bronx—and no, you are not at the NYBG. You are in one of the more than 100 community gardens throughout the area that Bronx Green- Up has helped make over and maintain.
Bronx Green- Up, celebrating 20 years as a program of the Botanical Garden, transforms vacant lots into vibrant green spaces, involving the community and people of all ages and cultures. Besides renovating the space, Bronx Green-Up (BGU) staff continue supporting the site through periodic visits to give ideas, supply materials, and catch up with friends. This Saturday BGU celebrates with community gardeners throughout the Bronx at its annual Harvest Festival, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Padre Plaza Community Garden.
During our field trip as volunteers for a day, we got a chance to see four of these urban oases and to witness Bronx Green-Up at work. Follow us on our field trip visits after the jump.
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Posted in Programs and Events on September 12 2008, by Plant Talk
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Gayle Schmidt is Coordinator of Public Education. |
It’s crunch time, making sure all the plans are in order for the all-day annual celebration of Fiesta de Flores on Sunday, September 14. Performers—check. Helpful staff and volunteers—check. Flowers blooming impeccably—check! I can’t quite take credit for the last one, but flowers are a top feature of the day.
All around the Garden I have helped coordinate the day’s activities, which range from children’s botanical crafts to gardening demonstrations to salsa dancing and face painting. The celebration of flora and culture relates to the Garden’s scientific research program, which began in the Caribbean region in the 1890s and where our scientists are still active today. Imagine being out in the field with them by visiting the replicated rain forests in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
This year the celebration is complemented by a concert with Dan Zanes and Friends (see the blog post of September 9), who just released a Spanish-language CD that brings together many voices from many Latin American countries.
I get to learn a lot of new skills and new lingo working with so many different people to put on events. It is quite a long list of things to keep track of, but I hope you can come out and enjoy this wonderful day with me. Afterward, I’ll be back planning events for your next visit. Keep your fingers crossed for nice weather!
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Posted in Programs and Events on September 9 2008, by Plant Talk
| Jamie Boyer is Associate Director of Teacher Professional Development. |
Just mention Dan Zanes and Friends to children and you can see the thrill in their faces. In fact, they will probably start singing one of the group’s catchy songs while dancing around the room.
This Grammy-winning band plays music that has a folksy feel, with a mix of traditional and non-traditional instruments. Dan Zanes likes to say that he makes “family music,” not just “kid’s music,” and you can understand why he makes this distinction. Unlike a lot of children’s music, when you hear this group you find yourself singing along because you truly enjoy the songs.
For years my family has enjoyed Dan Zanes and Friends through their albums and video. We got to experience the fun of a Dan Zanes concert when he came to Carnegie Hall in 2006. It was a great performance with songs both old and new and special guests such as Natalie Merchant, who joined the band on stage. The audience was singing and dancing at their seats; we didn’t want the concert to end.
You can imagine my children’s excitement when I mentioned that this celebrated group would be performing at The New York Botanical Garden on September 14. I know my family and I will be there, singing right along. So if you have children, or if you’re just young-at-heart, don’t miss this one-of-a-kind event to see Dan Zanes and Friends on Daffodil Hill.
Posted in Programs and Events on September 5 2008, by Plant Talk
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Andrew Haight is Manager of the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden. |
Sounds of pitter-pattering feet, swishing legs, and giggling voices float across the pond. I see through the alders a dozen or more youngsters angling their bodies to dance as if flapping in a blustery wind. Under the watchful eye of a Teaching Artist from New York City Ballet’s Education Department, the children excitedly reshape their bodies into droplets of water, now hurtling through the air.
This group and several others like it were participating in Ballet Among the Blooms, which The New York Botanical Garden hosts annually in conjunction with the School of American Ballet. Spread out across the 12 acres of the Everett Children’s Garden, young visitors embark on a myriad of adventures through mazes, colorfully planted galleries, and, this year only, onto the inspiring Henry Moore sculpture Large Two Forms, on Daffodil Hill. Along the way Teaching Artists arrange impromptu dances and expressive movements. With each area different from the last, children eagerly scamper around the bends in the path to see what the next nook or cranny of the Garden may hold.
The afternoon culminates with a presentation by students from the School of American Ballet in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden’s Discovery Plaza. Eyes wide with anticipation, the Garden’s youngest visitors peer at the dancers as they walk and stretch at the bar, just a few feet away. Framed by giant topiary caterpillars, the dancers then display their skills and techniques for the enchanted children.
In a day full of dance and flowers, excitement is found in the lighthearted adventure and satisfaction displayed in each child’s movement and expression.
This year’s Ballet Among the Blooms is Sunday, September 7, from 2 to 4 p.m. Entry included with an All-Garden Pass.
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