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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Beyond ‘Monet’s Garden:’ Paintings, Pictures, and Poetry

Posted in Monet's Garden on May 29 2012, by Ann Rafalko

Ann Rafalko is Director of Online Content.

When I was in Paris last June, it was hot–hotter than it is today in New York City–with temperatures flirting with the mid-90s. I was not in Paris for work, but since I’m a bit of a workaholic, I convinced my friends to accompany me to Giverny, where we found a serene, green oasis. Despite my friends having little interest in plants and gardening, they loved our trip to Claude Monet’s jardin, because you don’t go to Giverny to look at plants; you go to Giverny to experience Monet. You go to find a deeper understanding of the great Impressionist, and we’re hoping you come to Monet’s Garden for the same reason.

Inside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory are the stars of the show, the recreation of Monet’s flower garden and his iconic water garden. But outside, in the paths of the Perennial Garden and the environs of the Conservatory, you can read works–in English and French–from Monet’s contemporaries, the Symbolist poets. Impressionism was a full-blown artistic movement that extended to the very edges of the bohemian circles of Paris and beyond. Linger amid poppies and peonies and phloxes and contemplate what Charles Baudelaire meant when he wrote, “Voici venir les temps où vibrant sur sa tige/Chaque fleurs s’évapore ainsi qu’un encensoir” (“Now comes the time when swaying on its stem/each flower offers incense to the night”).

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Spatially Challenged

Posted in Gardening Tips on May 29 2012, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

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

Today I would like to tackle a few problems that we commonly encounter in the vegetable garden. How do we maximize space? How do we prevent the feast or famine cycle where we either have nothing to show for our labor, or too much? If you are working with limited space, as most of us are, organizing your vegetable garden in such a way that you maximize productivity and get the right bang for your buck is important. There are several strategies that can help you plan your garden creatively and effectively.

The first thing we need to do is to take a look at how our vegetables grow. Are we planting a vegetable that will, once it reaches the age of maturity, produce consistently throughout the season? Tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers fall into this category. You will just need to add a few of these vegetables into your garden to get a steady supply throughout the summer. Or are we planting crops that either grow quickly or produce one large harvest? I am thinking now of head lettuce, beets, radishes, carrots and turnips.

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Welcoming Summer Greens

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

I’ll admit I have a softness for roses, a fondness for orchids, and a weakness for flame-orange poppies. Still, it’s seldom I find an eyeful of flowers so inspirational as an hour spent under the leaves of the trees.

You’ll best understand what I mean while walking the trails of the NYBG‘s Forest around this time of year, arched over in each direction with lacing branches of every shape and angle. The effect is something like slipping a green gel over a stage light. Sun filters down through the canopy and dapples the forest floor with piebald images both cloudy and sharp. It cools you, or seems to, on the most scorching afternoons. And there’s a freshness to the scene that chimes in to remind you–with something resembling pride–of winter’s distance.

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A Memorial Day Weekend in Nature’s Showplace

Posted in Around the Garden on May 25 2012, by Matt Newman

Three-day weekend? We’ll take it! After a virtual roller coaster of activity here in the office, we’re as relieved as you are to see that calming stretch of calendar squares laid out before us. Entering the opening days of the year’s most anticipated exhibition was one thing, but biting our nails over the conclusion of the Partners in Preservation competition made for an atmosphere a few notches below peaceful! We’re immensely proud of what we have accomplished, and with smooth sailing from here on out, there’s plenty to celebrate at the NYBG this Memorial Day (yep, we’re open Monday, too!)

Monet’s Garden is dazzling thousands of visitors in its first week. Even with those few dreary days of drizzle, the grounds have been alive with guests taking the tram to see the Conservatory‘s own Giverny, viewing the masterworks of the great Impressionist in the Library, and everything in between. As if we weren’t already enjoying the outcome, the cherry on the sundae arrived Tuesday morning. Thanks to you, our many generous supporters, The New York Botanical Garden will receive a grant of $250,000 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, being used to restore and preserve our long-treasured Rock Garden. A month of campaigning for votes (not to mention the patience of our fans) paid off with a spot in the winner’s circle!

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Monet’s Muse Strikes the Adventure Garden!

Posted in Exhibitions, Monet's Garden on May 24 2012, by Matt Newman

Monet’s masterpieces may be hanging safely in the Rondina/LoFaro Gallery, but the artist’s inspiration runs wild in our children’s garden! The bright flowers in their full spring glory aren’t all that far off from the confetti-colored borders of Monet’s own Giverny. Of course, the giant, googly-eyed caterpillars bursting with tiny flowers aren’t anything you’ll find in the average Impressionist’s landscape painting. But then again, why not?

At the NYBG, the artistic muse speaks early, and nowhere is it more alive than in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden. Visit for the morning during Monet’s Garden and enjoy hands-on classes with your kids, or take an afternoon stroll with your toddler in tow to experience freeform creativity with our knowledgeable Explainers. Art is at its best when you let the mood take you!

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