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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

This Weekend: A (Belated) White Christmas

Posted in Around the Garden on December 28 2012, by Matt Newman

The NYBG WeekendMy New Year’s resolution for 2013 is to finish up my holiday shopping before the holidays come and go, rather than after; it’s one I can never seem to stick to. For the rest of you, here’s hoping that this weekend will be a relaxing one. If you’re not working on Monday, I might also suggest you preface your fireworks and champagne with a stop at the NYBG, where the Holiday Train Show continues to run through mid-January alongside many of our other December activities. At the very least, I can promise you the open spaces and fresh air of the Garden will offer a little calm before you squeeze your way into Times Square.

However, if you’re still in retail mode, you’ll want to make a pit stop at our Shop in the Garden. We’re offering plenty of great gifts for the gardeners on your list that you may have overlooked, and much of what remains of our holiday stock is now 50% off! So if you’re the type of person who likes to plan well ahead when it comes to Christmas ornaments a wintry decor, now is your chance to load up.

For the Saturday crowd, the weather report promises a belatedly white Christmas in the Garden, something best experienced while wandering among the Benenson Ornamental Conifers. There’s something about snow-laden evergreens that flips all the right nostalgia switches, at least in my experience. And I probably don’t have to say it, but winter weather makes enjoying our toy trains and miniatures that much more iconic when snowflakes are brushing over the Conservatory glass.

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The American Garden Award: Make Your Voice Heard!

Posted in Programs and Events on December 26 2012, by Matt Newman

Gazania 'Big Kiss White Flame' -- 2012 AGA runner-up
Gazania ‘Big Kiss White Flame’ — Runner-up, 2012 AGA

Beauty pageants sweep the spectrum from bad reality TV to the Westminster Dog Show. But here, as you might have guessed, swimsuit competitions and obstacle courses aren’t all that high on our totem of concerns. Instead, our brand of popularity contest skips the stage glitz and gets right down to the core themes of plant competition: hardiness, longevity, and the aesthetic of the perfect flower. Over the course of next year’s American Garden Award selections, we’ll be pinning down the plants that best display those traits. Better yet, we’ll be doing it with everyone’s help!

Each year, the AGA organizers reveal an exclusive selection of top-rate flower cultivars, all in the running to become the next “Best in Show.” But as judgment by jury goes, we’re not talking about ivory tower botanists and professional rosarians behind a gavel. Nope, this is strictly a public affair–you, me, and anyone willing to chip in their two cents can vote. And with trial beds spread throughout nearly 30 botanical institutions across the United States, including the NYBG, that gives almost everyone a chance to pitch in and choose the next Miss America of the plant world.

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Oconee Bells

Posted in Gardening Tips on December 25 2012, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.

Oconee bells (photo by Natural Gardening)
Oconee bells (photo by Natural Gardening)

Oconee bells (Shortia galacifolia) is a rare and wonderful relative of the wandflower (Galax urceolata). Its foliage is a diminutive version of the wandflower’s, with glossy round leaves showing wavy margins and striking venation. These glistening leaves and the striking patterns within them remind me of a shiny crocodile handbag. I suppose I should say faux crocodile handbag to be politically correct. That, and the pattern of the veins is different.

However, the flower is otherwise completely different from the wandflower. Shortia has pinkish white, bell-shaped flowers with jagged edges that appear in early spring. This small woodland groundcover (growing 4 to 8 inches tall) is a must for any woodland aficionado. I must warn you that it is not the easiest woodland plant to grow, but once established, it will do fine in your garden.

Oconee bells are from Oconee County and its surrounding areas in South and North Carolina. The region is full of lakes, rivers, deeply wooded forests and hilly terrain. The name Oconee is a derivation of the Cherokee word Ae-quo-nee, which means “land beside water.”

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Magnificent Trees of The New York Botanical Garden

Posted in Exhibitions on December 24 2012, by Matt Newman

Magnificent TreesLarry Lederman’s eye for the aesthetic of branches, creased bark, and the leaf’s palette is well-trained, though photography wasn’t his first calling. What was initially a hobby came about late in his career as a Wall Street lawyer, at a time when escaping the office to the relative peace and simplicity of the NYBG‘s Forest seemed a panacea for New York City’s stresses. Here, he found through a lens what many artists chase for years–a muse that inspired through each of the four seasons, well beyond autumn’s changing leaves or the new growth of spring.

That inspiration has grown to encompass more than a hobby, with Lederman’s passion for the trees of the northeast now captured in a new book, Magnificent Trees of The New York Botanical Garden. Inside, you’ll find more than 200 individual photographs of trees growing in our 250-acre landscape, many of which have been captured repeatedly, in the varied lights of spring, summer, fall, and winter. Lederman’s finished effect is one of passing time, outlining the qualities and personalities of the trees as the project plays out.

Speaking with Mr. Lederman, we put together a clear idea of his motivation’s origins, as well as how this book–and the exhibition surrounding it–came together.

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