The peonies are in prime form this week, and are not to be missed as they put on a parade of color beyond the Conservatory doors. The tree peonies, likewise, are showing off and living up to their fanciful cultivar names—bringing the blooms just as the nearby Rose Garden begins to tease its earliest color.
In the Native Plant Garden, you can find a taste of early summer in the rich greens and small, bright flowers, while the Rock Garden continues to grow into its lush seasonal colors.
This week the herbaceous peonies are sitting in the spotlight, just as their buds begin to burst into whorls of white, red, and pink along the pathway before the Haupt Conservatory. These brief but beautiful flowers are a must-see in spring!
Elsewhere in the Garden, the azaleas are still showing some color as they begin their decline, and the greenery of our 250 acres is on full display, filling out the Forest with the airy glow of millions of new leaves. You won’t regret a stroll on our miles of trails.
Check out what else is happening at the Garden this week.
Esther Jackson is the Public Services Librarian at NYBG’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library where she manages Reference and Circulation services and oversees the Plant Information Office. She spends much of her time assisting researchers, providing instruction related to library resources, and collaborating with NYBG staff on various projects related to Garden initiatives and events.
This week we dive into a few books detailing the rich history of botanical spirits, and the ways in which we’ve called on the garden to supply us with our favorite tipples.
The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World’s Great Drinks by Amy Stewart is a treat from start to finish. Drunken Botanist follows Wicked Plants and Wicked Bugs, two excellent books about organisms that can be dangerous to humans. (Read my review of Wicked Plants here.) Stewart is a talented writer, a careful historian, an excellent amateur botanist, and a skilled bartender. Drunken Botanist follows the format of her earlier books, with Stewart selecting different plants and offering readers narratives about their nativity and the history of their usage by humans—specifically how and when they were used to make alcoholic drinks. Sake, scotch, rum, tequila, bourbon, and their plant parents are just a few of the drinks that are featured. Stewart writes, “It would be impossible to describe every plant that has ever flavored an alcoholic beverage. I am certain at this very moment, a craft distiller in Brooklyn is plucking a weed from a crack in the sidewalk and wondering if it would make a good flavoring for a new line of bitters.” Before plucking sidewalk weeds, craft distiller and home bartenders alike would do well to look to Drunken Botanist for inspiration, “stirring” stories, and an infectious excitement about plants that is one of Stewart’s enduring trademarks.
Larry Lederman‘s lens takes you to the Garden when you can’t be there and previews what to see when you can.
For those who weren’t able to make it to The New York Botanical Garden during the height of its blooming crabapples and daffodils, Larry Lederman has the solution. During a late April trip to the Garden, he spent time exploring the grounds with his camera, capturing the rainbow of contrasting colors to be found on Daffodil Hill and its surroundings.
Whites, pinks, reds, and purples mingle with the soft creams and yellows of the daffodils, while a quick stop over in the Burn Family Lilac Collection reveals the fragrant clusters of flowers that define one of our most popular collections this time of year.
You can still find blooming crabapples and lilacs here in early May, while tulips throughout the grounds and the undeniable spectacle of the Azalea Garden now move into the spotlight. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as the spring show and its many acts continue to unfold.
When the daffodils have faded and the cherry blossoms are snoozing for the season, you can always count on the Azalea Garden to bring the next big pop to our 250 acres. And that’s exactly what this week is about. As of right now, the azaleas are at about 90% of the way to peak bloom, and we expect this weekend—during our Mother’s Day Weekend Garden Party—to see the height of color before they begin to fade.
With the flowers coming going at a rapid pace, you won’t want to miss out!
Esther Jackson is the Public Services Librarian at NYBG’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library where she manages Reference and Circulation services and oversees the Plant Information Office. She spends much of her time assisting researchers, providing instruction related to library resources, and collaborating with NYBG staff on various projects related to Garden initiatives and events.
Glorious Shade from Jenny Rose Carey and Timber Press is a lovely meditation on shade gardening. Carey, the senior director at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Meadowbrook Farm, is a talented writer and photographer, and she frames her book as a conversation about shade gardening. After an introduction detailing different kinds of shade, the narrative ambles through different topics related to shade gardening, culminating in an extensive and beautifully photographed plant palette. Chapter titles include “Shades of Shade: Observing Shifting Patterns in Your Garden,” “The Gardener’s Calendar: Seasonal Changes in the Shade Garden,” “Down and Dirty: The Intertwined, Underground World of Soil and Roots,” “Planting for Success: Techniques and Maintenance,” “Designing in the Shadows: Bright Ideas of Shady Spaces,” and “The Plant Palette: Choosing Plants for Your Shade Garden.”
Carey touches on a variety of topics, and the more unique parts of her book relate to shade plants with specific seasonal interest, suggestions of appropriate under-plantings for specific trees, and, of course, her wonderful plant palette. In terms of practical advice about garden installation and design, the book is a bit too general for either a beginner or an expert. However, in all, Glorious Shade is an excellent reference for gardeners working with shaded areas who are looking for inspiration in terms of garden design and new plants to trial. For those who simply love beautiful garden books, Glorious Shade is also appropriate, as Carey’s photographs are lovely and the book’s visual design is excellent.
Patricia Gonzalez is an NYBG Visitor Services Attendant and avid wildlife photographer.
The owlets’ father watches from his nearby roost.
Some of my favorite photographic subjects here at the Botanical Garden are its resident Great Horned Owls. Since 2009, I’ve had the pleasure of photographing and filming five of their nest sites. Sadly, 2014 was the last year that there were hatchlings here. That’s why this year’s brood was so special. But 2017 saw no ordinary owl nest. This is a tale of epic proportions!
Back in 2009, a pair of Red-tailed Hawks decided to build their nest inside the upper right pediment of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library Building. Rose and Hawkeye (the Red-tails that year, who are sadly no longer with us) had three hatchlings that year. It was a big deal for both staff and visitors. Each year since, I’ve always crossed my fingers in the hopes that one day the nest would be used again by our local Red-tails.
And it was used again alright. But by a completely new set of tenants!
From the bloom of our ever-fragrant lilacs to the dainty dramatics of the Auricula Theater, spring’s progress isn’t hard to see here at NYBG. The crabapples are waking near Daffodil Hill, and the magnolias—always some of the season’s top charmers—are still trucking along with pink and white blooms. Meanwhile, the Azalea Garden is becoming a sea of color.
Esther Jackson is the Public Services Librarian at NYBG’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library where she manages Reference and Circulation services and oversees the Plant Information Office. She spends much of her time assisting researchers, providing instruction related to library resources, and collaborating with NYBG staff on various projects related to Garden initiatives and events.
Botanical Art from the Golden Age of Scientific Discovery was one of my Top 10 Popular Science Books of 2016. As I wrote in my earlier review, author Anna Laurent has curated an exquisite collection of historic botanical art. “More than an archive of illustrations and inquiry, this book documents an extraordinary convergence of disciplines that flourished in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,” she writes. “Europe was enjoying a golden age of scientific discovery; naturalists were exploring the globe and there was a clamoring for knowledge of the natural world.”
The art in this book comes specifically from botanical wall charts. These charts were created as teaching tools during the 19th and 20th centuries. Produced by professors, biologists, illustrators, writers, and botanists, wall charts were used in classroom instruction to supplement lessons involving living or vouchered plants. These wall charts were first documented in Germany in the 1820s. In addition to featuring many beautiful German charts, the book includes examples of charts from various countries.
