Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Posted in Photography on February 24 2017, by Matt Newman
[Not a valid template]The weather’s warm late February turn has convinced many of our plants to peek into bloom! All around the Garden you’ll find crocuses, snowdrops, camellias, and hellebores coloring our collections with particolored petals. With the sun up and the birds singing, now’s a great time to shake off your winter blues at the Garden.
Posted in Horticulture on September 9 2015, by Kristine Paulus
Kristine Paulus is NYBG’s Plant Records Manager. She is responsible for the curation of The Lionel Goldfrank III Computerized Catalog of the Living Collections. She manages nomenclature standards and the plant labels for all exhibitions, gardens, and collections, while coordinating with staff, scientists, students, and the public on all garden-related plant information.
Just about every color in the spectrum is represented somewhere in The New York Botanical Garden, but this summer blue is particularly significant. According to scientific studies, the hue is the most universally liked by humanity and so visitors to the Garden will certainly be pleased at the sight of the evocation of Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory The celebrated Mexican painter’s famous blue house was closely studied, enabling exhibitions staff to precisely match a backdrop of cobalt-blue walls for FRIDA KAHLO: Art, Garden, Life.
It’s not surprising that Frida chose this shade for her abode. Blue has more symbolic meanings than any other color. As the tint of life-giving water and of the sky, home to numerous deities of many cultures, blue has been held in high regard throughout time. In art and in life it has been reserved for the most important people and things, including Pharaohs, Renaissance Madonnas, and Elvis’ shoes. The first synthetic pigment ever created, invented by the Ancient Egyptians, was, of course, blue! The pursuit of the perfect blue has molded entire civilizations. [1]
Posted in Horticulture on April 23 2015, by Rachel Rock-Blake
Rachel Rock-Blake is the Assistant Curator of Outdoor Collections at NYBG.
As the snowdrops fade, daffodils explode in a burst of yellow across the landscape. Tulips begin to emerge, peeking through recently planted violas, and magnolia buds crack open. These all provide a lavish display, but in the midst of this let us take a moment to appreciate the sustained beauty of our hellebores. Since snow still covered much of the garden in late winter, our considerable collection of Helleborus species and hybrids have been consistently blooming in shades of pink, white, deep purple, green, and yellow. They really deserve a place in your garden, too.
While there are many species in the genus Helleborus, recent hybridization has produced a wide range of colorful, easy to grow plants. Helleborus × hybridus cultivars are best grown in partial shade in evenly moist, well-drained soil. In this climate blooms emerge on new growth in late winter, and can persist through spring. Large sepals take the place of petals as the colorful portion of the flower, and flowers nod at the top of 12- to 15-inch stalks. New leaves emerge around this time, which grow into an excellent glossy evergreen ground cover. Old leaves can be removed in the spring for aesthetic reasons, but care should be taken not to damage the new growth.
Posted in Photography on April 4 2014, by Matt Newman
The future leaders of our upcoming exhibitions are growing up in the Nolen Greenhouses for Living Collections at this very moment. To say we’re proud of their efforts is an understatement.
In the Nolen Greenhouses – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in What's Beautiful Now on March 24 2014, by Lansing Moore
With such wild changes in temperature, this year’s crop of early spring blooms is a hearty bunch indeed. The Garden party is already getting started in the Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden, whose enthusiastic residents are always some of the first to rise from their slumber.
The vibrant ‘Arnold Promise’ witch-hazel (Hamamelis × intermedia) is blooming alongside the snowdrops (Galanthus) and winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis). The Ladies’ Border is also lovely at the moment, with Amur adonis (Adonis amurensis) in bloom and both the paper bush flowers (Edgeworthia chrysantha) and viburnum (Viburnum × bodnantense ‘Dawn’) in bud.
For serene shades of white and violet, stop by Wamsler Rock to see more snowdrops alongside the early crocus (Crocus tommasinianus). Click through for some gorgeous close-ups of those intrepid blooms that herald the long-awaited spring!
Posted in Photography on November 21 2013, by Ann Rafalko
Passiflora x kewensis (Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)
Posted in Around the Garden on October 25 2013, by Ann Rafalko
The weekend starts on Friday evening, right? At NYBG it does! Celebrate the start of the weekend with a Spooky Nighttime Adventure!
Children of all ages are encouraged to come in costume for this after-dark Halloween spook-tacular. Explore the creepy crawlies hiding in the shadows of the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, see Ray Villafane’s amazing giant pumpkin sculpture illuminated and looking cool, and decorate your own gourd to take home. If you can’t make it Friday, don’t panic—there’s another Spooky Nighttime Adventure on Saturday, too.
This weekend is also the final weekend of Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Garden, and we’re celebrating with a weekend focused on two Japanese artforms: bonsai and poetry. Incredible examples of bonsai will be on display in the Conservatory Courtyards, and demonstrations aimed at helping you understand these miniature trees will be held at 12 and 2 p.m. On Sunday join acclaimed poet Jane Hirshfield for an afternoon of poetry celebrating the beauty of fall flowers and foliage and their significance in Japanese culture
And if you’re just looking for a reason to get outside, our 250 acres have you covered! Cooler weather is helping to bring out the fall color in the Thain Family Forest in a real way. If you’re interested in the fine art of photographing trees, a Saturday morning conversation with Larry Lederman, where he will share his technical, creative, and philosophical insights into the art of nature photography, is a must. The Forest’s 50-acres of old growth trees isn’t the only place for leaf peeping within our borders, the entire Garden puts on a show at this time of year. So lace up your sneakers or hiking boots, hop the train, and join us for a weekend full of trees, spooks, and blooms!
Posted in Photography on October 19 2013, by Ann Rafalko
The Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden apparently didn’t get “the memo” about the color of fall flowers.
Floribunda rose Rosa ‘Ebb Tide’ (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)
Posted in Photography on October 17 2013, by Ann Rafalko
Morning dew turns fall asters into jewels in the Native Plant Garden.
Symphyotrichum ericoides forma prostratus ‘Snow Flurry’ (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)
Posted in Photography on October 16 2013, by Ann Rafalko
Anemone hupehensis var. japonica ‘Pink Saucer’ (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)