It’s a tiny industry of flitting and buzzing that calls the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden home late in summer, and you know we never miss out on a chance to celebrate something. Plus, pollinators are important! At some point, most of the fruits and vegetables that land on your plate benefit from the busy activities of these nectar-nursing bugs. That goes just as well for the edibles growing in the Family Garden.
Bring the kids along and join us through October 11 to learn about these important insects, such as the honeybees coming and going from our rooftop apiaries, and the monarch butterflies making pitstops in the Garden on their way to Mexico for the winter. Our experts—often the same people who don those odd bee suits to retrieve our homegrown honey—will show you the inner workings of a beehive and offer samples from different nectar sources. In the meadow, you’ll find monarchs fueling up on nectar before taking to the skies for their marathon flight. And even if bugs aren’t your bag, there’s always a hands-on activity to dive into.
In any case, maybe our Family Garden queen bee, Annie Novak, can give you a better idea of what the pollinators are up to these days.
The city’s been a mash of gray skies and slick streets the past few days. Not that it’s dulled the sunnier blooms in our repertoire; even the honey bees are going about their business unfazed. So umbrella or no, you’ll find all things bright and blooming under the roof of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory as Monet’s Garden rounds out its final month at the NYBG.
So you don’t have a back yard, a rooftop apartment in Brooklyn, or even a couple of bee suits and a smoking can. Not a problem! For kids (or parents!) who are bursting with questions over the city’s biggest agricultural excitement since fire escapes first met tomato plants, you won’t need any of the above to pick up the basics.
While the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden is home to two active beehives, Assistant Manager Annie Novak and her team have put together the full beekeeping kit–sans bugs–for those who’d rather go to the open house without the tenants in attendance, so to speak. Apiculture at its easiest! And we won’t be sparing with the sweets, either; if you’ve ever wondered how flower choice affects what goes into the jar, we’ll be offering tastes of the many different types of honey that a healthy hive can produce.
Finding photographers among the NYBG staff is proving easier than expected! The Herbarium’s Amy Weiss was kind enough to share these crocuses with us, complete with visitors. The flowers seem glad of the mesh we put down to keep hungry interlopers from rooting around in the soil.
Hello from Leah and Francesca! We are high school students interning for the summer here at The New York Botanical Garden. We are working on research projects for science competitions like the Intel Science Talent Search (Another NYBG high school intern’s project made it into the finals of this prestigious competition this year!). We will both be seniors in September, Leah Buchman at South Side High School in Rockville Center, and Francesca Giordano at Yorktown High School. This summer we are both working on an expansion of projects that we began in the summer of 2010.
Bee on the Seasonal Walk - Photo by Leah Buchman
Leah’s Project
Last summer, I did a study on the diversity of bees within different areas of the Garden. I caught bees in 10 areas of the Garden and learned to identify the bees with help from Dr. John Ascher at the American Museum of Natural History. Using four different indices of diversity–evenness, abundance, richness, and Shannon-Weaver diversity–I was able to conclude that there is a higher diversity of bees in areas that have a greater diversity of flowers.
The specific area of the Garden that has the highest diversity is the Seasonal Walk. This summer I am looking at the gender of bees to see if there is any correlation to the flowers visited. For example I am hoping to answer questions like: Do male bees go to certain flowers while females go to others? Feel free to come stop by and say “Hi!” I will be the girl with the net and bright colored bowls in the Perennial Garden, Ladies Border, Seasonal Walk, and Home Gardening Center this summer.
NYBG Volunteers Clearing Japanese Knotweed - Photo by Francesca Giordano
Francesca’s Project
My research is a study on management of the invasive plant, Japanese Knotweed. Now you’re probably thinking: What is an invasive plant? Little did you know, but plants can be pretty vicious, especially Japanese Knotweed. It is a non-native plant that grows rapidly and blocks sunlight from reaching desired plants. Japanese Knotweed is also known for having an underground stem called a rhizome. This rhizome contains the stores of energy that the plant uses for growing, plus additional reserves. The rhizomes contain enough energy to allow one plant to sprout over 250 shouts just from a single underground stem! Our goal is to increase the diversity of the native plants along the Bronx River by using best management practices to control the Japanese Knotweed.
What we found so far is that two treatments–cutting and grubbing the Japanese Knotweed–are equally effective. In phase two, which is the project I am working on this summer, we will be repeating the same treatments from last year in the hope that they will further weaken the persistent Japanese Knotweed and increase native plant diversity. These plots are located long the Bronx River bank just south of Magnolia Way Bridge. Come check it out and see for yourself! I am also being assisted in my field work by the Explainers and the School of Professional Horticulture, and by volunteers including groups from American Express, Goldman Sachs, and Christodora.
It’s a tiny industry of flitting and buzzing that calls the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden home late in summer, and you know we never miss out on a chance to celebrate something. Plus, pollinators are important! At some point, most of the fruits and vegetables that land on your plate benefit from the busy activities of these nectar-nursing bugs. That goes just as well for the edibles growing in the Family Garden.
So you don’t have a back yard, a rooftop apartment in Brooklyn, or even a couple of bee suits and a smoking can. Not a problem! For kids (or parents!) who are bursting with questions over the city’s biggest agricultural excitement since fire escapes first met tomato plants, you won’t need any of the above to pick up the basics.
