As a former Broadway performer, professional garden photographer, and writer, Ellen Zachos is a very talented NYBG instructor whose container gardening class comes alive with gorgeous slides and dynamic presentations.
Ellen’s career as a gardener began when she got her very first plant–rather than a bouquet–as an opening-night gift, after performing in a Florida dinner theater production of Fiddler on the Roof.
“It was a Spathyphyllum, an ordinary peace lily,” she says, “but to me it was wonderful. I was intrigued, and I had never grown anything. My desire for knowledge just took over. My apartment filled with houseplants and books.”
She went on to study Commercial Horticulture and Ethnobotany at NYBG. After receiving her certifications, she authored several gardening books and founded Acme Plant Stuff in 1997, a company that designs, installs, and maintains both interior and exterior gardens.
I read in the paper (I’ll give them up the minute subway tunnels offer 4G) that Wednesday’s thermometer topped out at 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Times Square, placing New York City’s temperatures almost on par with those of Dubai. We’re better off at the NYBG, of course; lush grass and acres of shady trees tamp down the heat some. But don’t get me wrong, Manhattanites–it’s not like I’m trying to rub it in or anything. Not really.
There’s an upside to summer in the city beyond fruity cocktails and flip-flops, and it’s none other than “Sweet and Stinky,” launched just this week to celebrate the passing of the solstice. As an amateur chef, albeit one paradoxically awful and ambitious, I feel like this is the kind of hot-weather activity every cook-out fan should get in on. This stuff smells heavenly with some heat behind it.
“If you’re walking around the Garden and you smell sauteed onions, you’ll know it’s us!” said Annie Novak, Assistant Manager of the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden.
Protip: if you’re looking to escape, even within the already quiet borders of the Garden, head for the Benenson Ornamental Conifers. They’re hidden away alongside the Nolen Greenhouses for Living Collections, and there’s no better place to feed your solitary side.
Is there a rock star hiding in our Water Lily Pool?
What does the British Invasion of the ’60s have to do with the NYBG‘s Water Lily Pool? Well, some of our visitors think there might be a connection there, but the validity of the link has proven elusive. So, in looking at the water lilies now growing in the outdoor pond–many of them breeds championed by Monet at Giverny–I’m here to set the record straight. Come rock, roll, or high water.
If you spend a few minutes perusing the signage around the water lilies in our pool, you’ll doubtless run into the culprit at the center of the stir. Many of the cultivar names in the collection lean toward Latinized or Asian-inspired nomenclature, but not this one. Even with its flowers yet to bloom, there’s more than one visitor to Monet’s Garden who’s thrown a double take at Nymphaea ‘Ray Davies’.
The geography (and geology) of the NYBG is pretty fascinating on its own merit. Walking through the Azalea Garden and the Forest, looking at the natural rock formations that define this area, you can make out the scars and striations where glaciers passed through, ages ago. This one comes from the Native Plant Garden, which we’re anxious to reopen in 2013.
Strange things are afoot under the eaves of the trees. Or is it more appropriate to say that they’re underfoot, period? Either way, take a walk by the NYBG‘s Forest and just maybe you’ll see a few shady swindlers lurking in the underbrush.
Like the family cat or man’s best friend, trees tend to pick up their share of freeloaders as they go through life, though in this case we’re not talking about fleas or dreaded tapeworms. It’s a topic I tackled in part when we discussed the skullish blooms of the corpse plant only a few months ago. And like that pale parasite, there are other native bloodsuckers found in the forests of New York that are just as fond of mooching on their friends.
The Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden is a New York City treasure. No hyperbole–just ask anyone who has spent 10 minutes in this verdant acre. The Howell Family Garden has been the backyard garden for generations of New Yorkers. In the mornings it plays host to hundreds of schoolkids on a daily basis, and in the afternoons it is open to everyone. Just drop in, slow down, and enjoy. Pick a pea. Pull a weed. Plant a seed. It’s a bucolic oasis!
So I wanted to let you know about two opportunities available in July that will allow you to more fully enjoy the Family Garden in the height of summer.
Apologies for the late post! I got caught up ogling the offerings for today’s Greenmarket (it’s free to enjoy on Wednesdays, open ’til 3 p.m.). You can check out the produce, cheeses, pickles and pies for yourself just inside the Mosholu Gate in front of the Library Building, and it’s right near the Home Gardening Center, where many of our own vegetable projects mingle with the flowers.
Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG’s Gardener for Public Education.
Gene Sekulow with Bernie Conway, Assistant Gardener
Tuesdays on Plant Talk are generally a time for me to voice my opinions on what we have growing in our plant paradise at The New York Botanical Garden. From time to time, however, I like to interview my colleagues and badger them on their areas of expertise. Today, I am going to share with you a discussion I had with Gene Sekulow–one of the wonderful volunteers helping us to keep the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden growing beautifully.
I first asked Gene to name his favorite rose, and on this topic he waxed lyrical. His favorite bloom in the garden is a 2006 Meilland grandiflora introduction named ‘Mother of Pearl’. He likened the pale pink blossom on the rose to the color of Meggie Cleary’s evening dress in The Thorn Birds. For those of you with a penchant for sentimentality, this is the scene when Meggie glides down the stairs and the besotted priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart, realizes that she is no longer a child but a woman. The dress was a rose dress–as Father Ralph describes, “ashes of roses.”
Last Wednesday saw the return of the weekly Greenmarket to the Garden. The produce that the farmers brought was surprisingly advanced: Red Jacket Farms had cherries, Gajeski Produce had the season’s first potatoes, and Migliorelli had beautiful bundles of herbs just begging to be used in marinades for the grill.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by this, given what a strange weather year it has been. What can you expect this week? More of the same! Fruit, greens, potatoes, green garlic, spring onions, shallots, peas, pickles, cheese, eggs, and the return of the Little Bake Shop‘s delicious pies! Also, bring your family for free health screenings from the Montefiore Office of Community Health and Wellness and St. Barnabas Hospital.
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. Stay tuned to Plant Talk for information on weekly special events, produce updates, and recipes for using your freshly bought produce.
As a former Broadway performer, professional garden photographer, and writer, Ellen Zachos is a very talented NYBG instructor whose container gardening class comes alive with gorgeous slides and dynamic presentations.
