Sarah Richardson is Special Events Coordinator at The New York Botanical Garden. If, like me, you’re a Project Runway fan, then you saw the episode a couple of weeks ago that featured The New York Botanical Garden as the stunning location for one of the show’s fashion challenges—designing an outfit inspired by nature.
Finally, I’m able to tell the secret I held for over three months.
I knew this first-hand information since the end of June, when scouts for the immensely popular show contacted our Special Events office after viewing all the amazing images of the Garden on our Web site. They were looking for a place for a “Bravo reality competition show” (they hadn’t yet revealed to us which one) with colorful, abundant flowers and plantings, in combination with a landmark that epitomized New York. Of course, the Botanical Garden and our iconic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory fit the bill, and we were in business—show business, that is.
That’s also when they told us they’d be filming Project Runway, and I was sworn to keep things under wraps, so to speak.
Autumnal Beauties Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education at The New York Botanical Garden.
Beauties come in all shapes and sizes in the fall.
Some foliage turns from green to a brilliant scarlet as the cold nights trap sugars inside the leaves and trigger the production of the pigment anthocyanin. Two of my favorites are Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica), which is engulfed in a burgundy flame in the fall, and the high bush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), which morphs from yellow to orange to red.
Once the Kousa dogwoods (Cornus kousa) have finished feeding the birds with plump raspberry-shaped berries, the foliage turns a beautiful scarlet. This serves as a splendid backdrop to the statuesque Aster tartaricus ‘Jin dai’ that sends up tall spires covered with purple-blue daisylike flowers.
The best flower power in the garden undoubtedly comes from the perennial sunflowers and the hardy hibiscus. The dinner plate-sized flowers of the hardy hibiscus come in a beautiful array of pinks, mauves, and whites—often larger than the breadth of my hand. My two favorites this year is an impressive white named Hibiscus ‘Blue River II’ and a crinkled mauve named ‘Fantasia’.
The perennial sunflowers are covered with bright yellow flowers late in the season. Helianthus salicifolius ‘First Light’ opens up in late September. It is a shorter cultivar, reaching only 4 feet tall. This generally means no staking, a gift for the low-maintenance gardener. My favorite is the double flowering Helianthus decapetalus ‘Plenus’. This perennial sunflower blooms a month earlier than most of it compatriots, opening mid-August and extending into September.
Wendy Hollender is Program Coordinator for the Botanical Art and Illustration field of study in NYBG’s Continuing Education program.
Nature in New York, the first exhibition of NYBG’s Botanical Art and Illustration program, featuring the work of students, faculty, and alumni, is open and going strong at the New York Open Center in SoHo. The show features 48 pieces by 32 different artists.
As the coordinator of the program and an instructor at the Garden I became the organizer of the exhibit. We wanted this to be a professional, juried show and to choose the best work possible. The week before the opening, two prestigious botanical art shows also opened in Manhattan: the annual American Society of Botanical Artists juried show at the Horticultural Society of New York and the Florilegium Society exhibit at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I have personally exhibited in both these shows and find these to be truly breathtaking. How would our first show hold up by comparison?
Opening night came. Would there be enough food and drink? Would anyone come? The show itself had been beautifully hung thanks to two artist volunteers, Doris Downes and Linda Vredenburgh, who had offered to help me and Maria Rodriquez, Director of Exhibitions at the Open Center, where classes from the Botanical Art program are held. Doors opened at 7:30 pm and the gallery was immediately flooded with a steady stream of enthusiastic people. By night’s end at least 200 people came and didn’t seem to want to leave! One visitor said this was the best opening they had ever been to. “The work had precision, expertise, and artistry,” she went on to say. Some said it was hard to tell the work of students vs. faculty and that it was all beautiful and professional. The students who worked extremely hard on their botanical masterpieces were so proud to be included in an exhibition in a public venue. Instructors were happy to be a part of the exhibit and also pleased with the quality of the students’ work.
I encourage you to go and take a look at the exhibit. From fall’s harvest to spring’s first blooms it is truly a feast for the eyes.
Nature in New York is on through November 7. For hours, call 212.219.2527, Ext. 135. The Open Center is located at 83 Spring St., between Broadway and Lafayette, in Manhattan.
Also this weekend is a full slate of programming. Click here for details.
Sally Armstrong Leone is Editorial Director at The New York Botanical Garden.
The Courtyards of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory are abuzz with staff, designers, and volunteers creating and installing the upcoming exhibition Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum. Four elaborate growing styles of chrysanthemums (kiku) make up the focal point of the show. These exquisite displays are housed in Japanese garden pavilions known as uwaya, intricate structures of bamboo and cedar delicately edged with ceremonial drapery that provide both shelter and a formal stage for kiku. The uwaya featured in the Garden’s exhibition were crafted by Tom Owens, President of High Country Timberframe & Gallery Woodworking in Boone, North Carolina, who recently talked about the design and construction for the show.
How are the structures that you made for the Botanical Garden different from those that are made in Japan?
In Japan uwaya are newly built each year for the annual Chrysanthemum Exhibition. The NYBG challenge was to provide traditional structures that could potentially be re-used for many years. That is, the design and construction techniques had to utilize traditional Japanese joinery, proportion, details, and materials while also facilitating the safe and orderly disassembly and storage of the pavilion components during the winter, spring, and summer months.
What was the production process like?
More than 4,000 man hours were spent from inception to raising to disassembly. Our crew of eight carpenters and I traveled to a bamboo farm in Charlotte, N.C., to harvest thousands of fresh bamboo poles by hand. Once cut, we brought them back to our shop and carefully cleaned and polished the poles and cut them to the required length before assembly into the uwaya. All of the timber layout, joinery work, and finishing took place in our shop in Boone. Upon completion, we pre-assembled the more intricate joinery to ensure proper fit and then, once final adjustments were made, sent the hundreds of components wrapped in paper via tractor trailer to NYBG for installation.
Can you explain how the uwaya used for the kengai* style is different from the uwaya used for the other styles? What is the significance?
The kengai uwaya differs significantly by relying primarily on a bamboo lattice to support its multi-tiered roof system. The materials are also much more varied and natural in their shapes. The post-and-beam elements of all uwaya are exposed, contributing their beauty, but the kengai is particularly spectacular as its materials are so rich and textured, providing striking contrasts with the cascading flowers. It is a building with a lot of soul!
*The kengai (cascade) style features hundreds of small-flowered chrysanthemums trained on a framework that is angled to evoke flowers growing down the face of a cliff.
Sean Ealey is a student in the Continuing Education Department’s Landscape Design Program.
My experiences at the Botanical Garden have been tremendously rewarding ever since my first visit last spring to its wonderful gardens and classrooms. Being a student here has been not just a creative endeavor but a personal one as well.
NYBG has given me the ability to take the seeds of my design ideas, express them both verbally and visually, and watch them flourish. It has also provided me a sense of connection with my surroundings and the inspiration to share it with others.
The courses have given me a broad understanding of the landscape design industry and ways to communicate my personal and professional goals. I am especially thrilled about the Landscape Design Portfolio Series, the opportunity of seeing and hearing award-winning architects and designers.
I used to get such a thrill when my NYBG Continuing Education Catalog would come in the mail; I would fantasize about all the enjoyable things I could learn. I say this in the past tense because now it’s just so easy to peruse the Continuing Education Web pages anytime and find all the information I need about classes and instructors online. It’s easy to navigate, fluid, and reliable, making it so simple to sign up. And, I get an immediate reply so that I know that I’m registered.
Trust me, NYBG is full of inspiration. Come and see for yourself—or check it out online.
Birds Love Coneflower Seed Heads Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education at The New York Botanical Garden. The other day I watched goldfinches fight each other for a chance to sit on the ripe seed heads of my coneflowers (Echinacea). Once the birds get a foothold, they perch precariously on the spiky seed heads and feast. This ability to attract birds is why I leave the seed heads on Echinacea, unlike most of my perennials, which I constantly deadhead to encourage more bloom.
The magenta flowers of Echinacea always bring a smile to my face. One of my favorite coneflowers is a cultivar called ‘Rubinstern’, sometimes touted as ‘Ruby Star’. It possesses a vibrant shade of magenta that flowers dependably and continuously from late summer into early autumn in my garden.
My favorite fragrant coneflower is a pure white cultivar called ‘Fragrant Angel’. On a sunny day the fragrance is delicious. Recently, I was swept off my feet by an orange-flowered cultivar named ‘Sundown’ or ‘Evan Saul’. I was impressed by its sturdy stems and beautiful flower—a brilliant rust-colored cone and iridescent flowers of orange streaked with yellow.
Regardless of your predilection, a good coneflower is not hard to find, and it will certainly please the birds if you leave the seed heads on to ripen. Just tug off the ray flowers once they have faded and have turned brown and leave the cone intact.
Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., beginning at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center.
Autumn is that miraculous time of year when the leaves on the trees turn glorious colors. It is also time for the great fall migration. From August through November, thousands of birds leave their northern breeding grounds and return to their southern homes. As they pass through NYBG they stop and eat the luscious crab apples, berries, and nuts emerging from trees, bushes, and shrubs. It is a unique time of year to see tanagers, orioles, grosbeaks, and warblers in different stages of maturity as they move through the area.
Also migrating are raptors. Red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, kestrels, Cooper’s hawks, and sharp-shinned hawks are just some of the accipiters and buteos that glide on the thermals over Daffodil Hill. More than 5,000 broad-winged hawks have been spotted in one afternoon at NYBG. Bald eagles and golden eagles fly lazily over the Bronx River searching for a meal. Osprey circle above as they, too, fish the Bronx River.
On Twin Lakes, the wood ducks and mallards emerge from their state of eclipse and reclaim the lakes in full-colored feathers again. Joining them are autumn migrants: gadwalls, green-winged and blue-winged teals, northern shovelers, hooded and common mergansers, buffleheads grebes, coots, and many surprise visitors.
During October, the Garden plays host to a wide variety of sparrows: tree, field, savannah, song, swamp, fox, chipping, white-crowned, white-throated, and more. November brings the grackles and the blackbirds migrating in the thousands. Large flocks will sweep over NYBG and literally turn the trees black when they perch, all the while cackling loudly.
As autumn comes to an end during the middle of December, our great-horned owls begin to stir. Their breeding season will be just beginning as they emerge from the forest ready to entertain us with mating calls and rituals.
Autumn at NYBG is an exciting season. Come join us on a fall bird walk. You never know what or “hooo” you will see.
Karen Daubmann is Director of Exhibitions and Seasonal Displays.
Last year, as one of my first projects as an employee of the Garden, I had the pleasure of working with artist Tetsunori Kawana as he and a crew of staff and volunteers (see photo below) assembled a bamboo sculpture for Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum. The exhibition focuses on luscious displays of chrysanthemums but uses bamboo, maples, and other Japanese plants to showcase how important plants are to the Japanese, especially in autumn.
The towering sculpture provided a magnificent accent to last year’s Kiku display in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Courtyards. If you saw the sculpture, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that it was very cool and like nothing you’d seen before. Though it was untitled, I’d compare it to a bamboo volcano, a wide base narrowing at the top but giving way to an explosion of bamboo strands that danced through the air, rugged and powerful but graceful at the same time.
This year, Kawana-san is back with a bigger and even cooler project. He has designed what he calls a “cloud forest,” which visitors can walk through to experience it from within, immersing themselves in his work. On Monday, 350 pieces of 30-foot timber bamboo (Phyllostachys bambusoides) arrived here from Georgia. As the truck was unloaded, the excitement for the project began to build. The bamboo will be used in many ways—cut into sections to form triangles of support, split into segments and woven to create “clouds,” and used full length to create the “forest.”
Unless you’re a volunteer working on this project, you’ll have to wait until the show opens for the sculpture’s unveiling. However, if you’re willing to spend some time sawing, splitting, and wiring bamboo together and you are available October 2–11, please contact the volunteer office at volunteer@nybg.org or 718-817-8564.
Believe me, it is a treat to work alongside Tetsunori Kawana.
Chef Paul Yeaple, the Community Markets site manager for the Farmers Market held at The New York Botanical Garden, talks about some of the differences between the locally grown apples available for purchase.
Sarah Richardson is Special Events Coordinator at The New York Botanical Garden.
If, like me, you’re a Project Runway fan, then you saw the episode a couple of weeks ago that featured The New York Botanical Garden as the stunning location for one of the show’s fashion challenges—designing an outfit inspired by nature.
