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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

A Forgiving Forecast and Plenty to Do

Posted in Around the Garden on July 20 2012, by Matt Newman

We’re looking at something of a harlequin schedule for this NYBG weekend. We’ll be bouncing between ancient meditative arts and the trade secrets of the rosarian, then back over to organic gardening, garlic and onions, and around to a tour of Monet’s Garden. It’s the best kind of variety! And after enduring what felt like a month’s worth of rain in only a few days’ time, the forecast tells us mother nature is taking a welcome breather. Not only is the weekend likely to sport sunny afternoons, but there shouldn’t be any frightening thermometer readings to scare you back indoors.

For those coming to see Monet’s Garden in its summer finery, the Conservatory display is in rare form right about now. The delphiniums along the Grand Allée are a dusky sky blue, and just outside, the courtyard’s water lily pools are brimming with colors of their own. Even the later-blooming tropical pool is starting to strut a bit! But my personal favorite is easily the ‘Green Smoke’ Nymphaea I found bobbing along the water’s surface yesterday; I can’t think of a better way to phrase the sight than “petals like absinthe.”

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Morning Eye Candy: Friday’s Finery

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on July 20 2012, by Matt Newman

Pleasant things for a pleasant Friday. Even though we’re probably looking at a bank of rainclouds throughout the day, we kind of needed the downpour–and it’s still a Friday. Yesterday’s overcast skies, while threatening, left us with hours of easy breezes and popping color from the flowers, so maybe we’ll fare as well this afternoon.

Got any plans for the weekend?

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Follow Your Nose: One Last Weekend of Sweet and Stinky!

Posted in Around the Garden, Programs and Events, Video on July 19 2012, by Matt Newman

Skip your morning affair with the everything bagel and get to the root of summer’s freshest garlic and onions! As Assistant Manager of the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, Annie Novak’s got a direct line to the most basic of foodie cravings–a knack for not only raising all things allium, but putting them through their paces in the kitchen. So if you happen to catch a whiff of this pungent pair as you wander the NYBG between now and the end of the month, simply “follow your nose” to our Sweet and Stinky events.

That’s just what we were doing when we found Annie hard at work in the Family Garden yesterday, tending to the herbs and alliums that star in this flavorful summertime activity. But she can explain the fun of Sweet and Stinky far better than I can, as you’ll see below. Just think of it as a double whammy: you’ll have something to engage your kids while they’re out of school, and they’ll be trying new things in our one-acre vegetable garden to boot.

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Design Infused with Nature

Posted in Around the Garden, Learning Experiences, People on July 19 2012, by Arlene Ellis

Arlene Ellis bridges the gaps between science, art, and fashion with her in-depth study of natural patterns, many of which she details on her website, Organic Lyricism. Here, she relates how her first trip to The New York Botanical Garden informed her latest clothing designs.

I had never heard of textile design while growing up, despite aspiring to become a designer or an artist. In fact, I only became familiar with the word “textile” last fall, a bit weird considering I began drawing patterns at age 15. This was the year that I discovered the phenomenon of fractals in nature.

Fractals are geometric shapes that can be divided into smaller parts, each resembling the overall shape of the whole, regardless of scale. After learning about these fascinating designs, I began noticing them everywhere–in trees, ferns, snowflakes, and in natural formations. This preoccupation eventually sparked my interest in the ultimate fractal-like structure: the brain. In college, however, I soon proved to be more interested in drawing these patterns than I was in studying my neuroscience textbooks.

My interests were leaning heavily in one direction, but despite my constant drawing of patterns, textile design was still a foreign concept to me. It wasn’t until I began taking courses at New York’s School of Visual Arts that this changed. I learned that textile design would help me to unite my love for biological patterns with my love for art. I grew to understand that textile design plays a pivotal role in our daily lives; these patterns adorn our clothes, our bedding, our carpets and furniture. And I realized that I could use these visuals to communicate the beauty of nature to people on an intimate level. After visiting The New York Botanical Garden for the first time in June, that’s just what I set out to do.

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Doing Art Together: Garden Inspiration

Posted in Around the Garden, Learning Experiences on July 18 2012, by Matt Newman

On any given day, our Twitter feed is a flood of information from fans, friends, fellow institutions and the daily happenings of New York City. But now and then we stumble over the kind of encouraging Garden adventure that pushes us to keep doing what we’re doing. That was the case last week, when Doing Art Together found its way into the stream.

Executive Director Heather-Marie Brooks Montilla and her colleagues are heroes of a sort. I don’t think they run into burning buildings all that often; neither are they with the Coast Guard. But they’re as committed to their cause as any fireman. And Doing Art Together (DAT), the group’s long-running educational program, is something of a rescue operation in its own right. Focused on under-resourced children and young adults aged four to 21, these teachers have spent decades working to keep the city’s kids on the right path, turning to art, day in and day out, to make a positive mark on impressionable minds.

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