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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

From the Library: Strange Beasties in Hernández’s Nova Plantarum, Animalium et Mineralium

Posted in From the Library on August 16 2012, by Mertz Library

While the NYBG‘s Library is home to a wealth of rare botanical texts, we occasionally come into possession of something which explores taxonomy on a much broader level. Loosely translated from Latin, The New History of Plants, Animals and Minerals of Mexico is one such example, diving into seventeenth-century zoological studies with a certain flair.

There are many inexplicable species drawings in Francisco Hernández’s pre-Linnaean work Nova plantarum, animalium et mineralium Mexicanorum historia (1651), which was digitized at The New York Botanical Garden’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library as part of its multiyear Global Plants Initiative project, generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

In fact, in some cases, the animals depicted seem more inspired fantasy than scientific discovery. Take Dracunculus Monoceros:

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My First Close-Up Encounter

Posted in Around the Garden on August 15 2012, by Patricia Gonzalez

Patricia Gonzalez is an NYBG volunteer and avid wildlife photographer. She can often be found taking photographs around the Garden.

It was a little after noon on February 26 of 2009 that I enjoyed one of the most amazing experiences of my life. By that time, I had already been shooting photographs at The New York Botanical Garden for a year, and it seemed like every creature living in the Garden had cooperated with my camera except for one species: the Red-tailed Hawks which often hunt throughout the NYBG. I had been able to get a few shots, but always from a distance and far overhead.

Other times, I couldn’t ready my camera fast enough and my subject matter would disappear into the sky.

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Weekly Greenmarket Preview: Peach Month!

Posted in Around the Garden on August 14 2012, by Ann Rafalko

Thanks to a tweet from the Cooper-Hewitt I learned that August is National Peach Month. And boy, what a summer it has been for peaches! Have you had one yet? If not, I urge you to run out to your closest greenmarket or farmer’s market (a bodega just will not do) and buy two or three right now. Go on … go ahead, I’ll wait.

Got one? Good, now go eat it over the sink. Yep, they’re that juicy this year! And it’s not just peaches, all the stone fruit are having a stellar season; nectarines, plums, cherries, apricots (though their season is over now), they have all been sensationally delicious. And while I cannot vouch for every peach at every greenmarket in New York City, I have been buying mine at our weekly Greenmarket, so I can vouch for those being sold by Red Jacket Orchard and Migliorelli Farm as fantastic!

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Botanical Behemoth

Posted in Around the Garden, Gardens and Collections on August 14 2012, by Matt Newman

In late summer, the NYBG‘s Enid A. Haupt Conservatory becomes the home of a botanical behemoth, one of the largest leaved plants in the world. And each year, visitors find themselves caught off guard by the delightful weirdness of this tropical oddity: Victoria amazonica. Originally from the Amazon River basin, it’s long since become an iconic display in our tropical water lily pond.

Named for Britain’s Queen Victoria in the nineteenth century, the structure of the largest of water lilies is a bit like a kiddie pool (and often as big as one). Its broad, smooth leaves can stretch to nearly ten feet in diameter, forming expansive discs with sharply upturned edges that, again, make it look as though you could drop one in your backyard with a few gallons of water and a pool noodle. At maturity, their short-lived flowers can reach 15 inches across, opening white on the first evening as females, and pink on the second as males. It’s a brief display; the flowers (hopefully) attract pollinating beetles to do nature’s work, then sink below the water’s surface almost as abruptly as they emerged.

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Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens: Get Ready to Party!

Posted in Around the Garden on August 13 2012, by Ann Rafalko

Mark you calendars: The Edible Garden Festival is just over a month away; on September 23, The New York Botanical Garden will be home to one big, family-friendly edible festival featuring Garden friend Mario Batali!

Families can spend the day in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden exploring “Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens,” watch cooking demonstrations with NYBG staff, participate in a plethora of hands-on gardening activities, and enjoy food sampling. A special ticket is required for the Festival and includes All-Garden Pass access to the Garden. This ticket does not include the Mario Batali cooking demonstration or the Garden-to-Table Dinner with Mario Batali.

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