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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Flowers

What’s Beautiful Now: Spring Blooms!

Posted in What's Beautiful Now on April 11 2013, by Matt Newman

Narcissus 'Ice Follies'It’s been a trying wait, I admit. But I seem to remember someone spouting off a line about “good things” in store for those with a little patience in hand. And after a drawn out season of waffling temperatures and flaky snowstorms–nothing at all like last year’s phoned-in winter–we’re finally seeing the rewards of all that waiting. It’s been a sleepy spring thus far, but the Garden’s now waking up to a fanfare of yellows, pinks, purples and whites!

Some spots, of course, are more alert than others. Most of the trees are still sleeping it off in the early going, but the snow-white and fragrant magnolia blossoms–thousands of them–are blooming en masse across the landscape. Narcissus crowd the lawns in dairy colors, and passersby won’t have any trouble finding hints of spring color along the Seasonal Walk, just to the side of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, where netted irises and dainty daffodils already perk up the atmosphere. Across the lawn in the Perennial Garden, orange pansies mingle with soft blue chionodoxa, spotted in between with drowsy snowdrops and a few electric tulips.

And the Ladies’ Border is no slouch, either; you’ll find the fan-favorite ‘Peggy Clarke’ plum blossom tree lighting up the branches with poodle skirt pinks; lime green ‘Honeyhill Joy’ hellebores at full attention; dense bunches of paper bush flowers; and the occasional crowd of bee-friendly Amur Adonis opening to the sky. Further back, look (or sniff) for the perfumed mahonia blossoms, right near the blushing ‘Spring’s Promise’ camellia flowers.

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Life is for the Birds

Posted in Gardening Tips on November 27 2012, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

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

I read somewhere that a hummingbird’s wings beat between 70 and 80 times a second, and can accelerate up to 200 beats per second during courtship. They can fly at an average speed of 25 to 30 miles per hour, but can dive at 60 miles per hour. With all this hyperactivity, these birds need sugary nectar to support their high-energy bursts.

Fortunately for them, some flower nectar has about two times as much sugar as the average soft drink. The blooms these birds favor tend to be bright red, pink, and orange–flowers in the shape of long tubes that are adapted to the hummingbird’s narrow bill. However, like other avian species they have a poor sense of smell, so the colorful flowers they pollinate do not have strong fragrances.

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Morning Eye Candy: Wardrobe!

Posted in Photography on May 21 2012, by Ann Rafalko

Sometimes, two photographs end up next to each other in our photo database, and all I can think is, “I wish I had a wardrobe made exclusively from these color palettes and shapes.” Such is the case with these two.

Magnolia x wieseneri

Magnolia x wieseneri (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

Shrub Rose 'Lady of Shalott'

Shrub Rose ‘Lady of Shalott’ (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

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Petunias Rare and Red

Posted in Around the Garden, Science on April 16 2012, by Matt Newman

Off on a side table, just inside one of the treated glass superstructures of the Nolen Greenhouses for Living Collections, there stands a spray of stems headed with humble, star-shaped flowers. The aesthetic is nothing wildly exotic–a deep crimson defines the petals. The plant is otherwise unremarkable next to a common garden petunia. And yet the “DO NOT TOUCH” sign hand-written and jabbed in alongside the plant is evidence of its peculiar value. Is it fragile, or perhaps toxic?

Neither in particular. This plant, Petunia exserta, is one of incredible rarity.

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