Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Posted in Photography on June 24 2014, by Matt Newman
…Did I mention the Greenmarket is back? I suppose the strawberries speak for themselves. Join us this Wednesday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.!
At the Greenmarket – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Programs and Events on June 16 2014, by Lansing Moore
Beginning June 18, visitors to the Garden will have a chance to bring home some healthy and delicious treats from the NYBG Greenmarket! Each Wednesday through November 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., fresh food and produce will be available near the Garden’s Mosholu Gate from local vendors, in a collaboration between NYBG and Greenmarket, a program of GrowNYC. There is no reason not to come enjoy the beautiful summer scenery while you get some shopping done!
Posted in Programs and Events on June 13 2014, by Matt Newman
Beer, bands, BBQ. In a nutshell, that should be enough to give you an idea of what’s going on this Saturday and Sunday at the Garden. We’re opening up Daffodil Hill for a Father’s Day weekend to remember with a stacked roster of great Americana bands, visiting samplers, BBQ for sale, and plenty of craft beer offerings to help you toast the coming summer warmth!
While our Big Backyard BBQ is our spotlight event (grab tickets in advance if you can!), there are a number of other activities taking place at NYBG over the weekend for those who are raring for some exploration. The Rose Garden’s still popping, making it the perfect time to jump on a tour. And if you’re of a mind to break out your binoculars, Debbie Becker’s weekly Bird Walk takes place at 11 a.m. this Saturday. We’re even holding our Three Billy Goats Gruff family concert for anyone with kids to entertain.
From our Groundbreakers activities to the growing vegetables in our Family Garden, the end of spring is beyond lively. See you on grounds!
Posted in Gardening Tips on April 29 2014, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG’s Gardener for Public Education.
When I feel like going on a culinary adventure, I’ll often travel to the Polish markets in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint. It’s one of the few places that I can find one of my favorite items, a drink or syrup made from chokeberries (Aronia melanocarpa). You simply dilute the syrup with mineral water to create a refreshing beverage with a robust berry flavor reminiscent of black currants—minus the bitter edge.
European markets tend to offer a wealth of products like this, many of them made from herbs and berries that you won’t often find in the mainstream North American marketplace. They herald back to a time when people lived off the land and were more intimately connected with their natural environment.
We often assess native plants in terms of their ornamental value, but rarely view them in terms of their culinary value, even though there is a long and colorful history of foraging and using native species in our kitchens. For the most part, these traditions have since been isolated to local communities and small groups of enthusiasts.
Posted in Gardening Tips on April 23 2014, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG’s Gardener for Public Education.
Whether or not you realize it, you have been eating native plants for most of your life. Most of us have enjoyed blueberry muffins or pancakes from a very young age, partaking in one of the northeast’s most commercially successful homegrown natives. But that’s only the most well-known of our local edibles.
If you’re the adventurous type, you may have tried some of the more unusual natives to be found at local farmers markets or high-end grocery stores. The more advanced among you may even have foraged some of your own, though this activity comes with an all-important disclaimer: only do so if you are an expert in plant identification or happen to be accompanied by one. As you will soon see, many of the tastiest native plants have relatives or lookalikes that can be highly poisonous. Having proper identification of these plants in hand will not only help you avoid danger, but keep you from damaging wild populations of protected or threatened plant populations. Further, you should never harvest wild plants unless it’s on your own property or you have explicit permission.
Posted in Gardening Tips on April 21 2014, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG’s Gardener for Public Education.
What does a bean with a good imagination look like? If you’ve got the same tastes as Dr. Seuss then the ‘Red Noodle’ Bean or the ‘Yard-Long bean should be right up your alley. We have grown the former for several years in our vegetable garden, and usually just eat it straight off the vine—it’s so sweet and tasty. But it stays crunchier if you cook it, whether stir fried or steamed. Boiling, however, isn’t recommended—these beans get water-logged and tasteless.
‘Red Noodle’ (Vigna unguiculata) is, as the name suggests, a burgundy red color. What is exceptional about the bean (aside from its brilliant color) is that its average size is 18 inches long. It looks more like a jumbo Twizzler than anything you’d normally call a healthy bean. And, like most beans, the smaller, slender ones are the most tender—try to harvest when they are about 12 inches long and still slim.
Posted in Programs and Events on April 9 2014, by Lansing Moore
The flowers are beginning to bloom, the bees are finding their way back into the garden, and the grass is greening up again. Spring is on its way back! And kids everywhere are ready to spend more time outside. So come to the Garden for the return of The Culinary Kids Food Festival on April 14! Turn planting season into family fun during this week-long celebration of our favorite treats and where they come from. Fill up your Festival Passport at the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden with recipes, hands-on activities, and plenty of music and tastings. There will be a daily cooking demonstration at 1 p.m. each day throughout the festival, featuring kid-friendly recipes and tasty samples.
Click through to discover our new lineup of Activity Stations for the Spring Culinary Kids Food Festival!
Posted in Gardening Tips on April 1 2014, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG’s Gardener for Public Education.
I can be very sentimental when it comes to gardening, and the subject of today’s topic always brings a tear to my eyes: onions. My favorite onions are bunching onions (spring or green onions), though they are not the culprits that make me cry. Spring onions are an incredibly versatile delight that can be tossed into a salad or sauce at the last minute. Instead, it’s their pungent cousins that get me, so let’s talk about them.
You will notice that onions are listed as three separate growing types: short-day, intermediate, and long-day varieties. Onions are sensitive not only to temperatures but to the amount of daylight, as well. Short-day onions will start to form their bulbs with 11-12 hours of daylight; intermediate types need between 12 and 18, and long-day onions only form their bulbs after receiving 14 hours or more of sunlight.
Northerners grow long-day onions that are planted in the spring, southerners plant short-day onions grown in the winter, and intermediate types are generally planted in early spring and harvested in summer.
Posted in Programs and Events on January 29 2014, by Matt Newman
Being a “foodie” (I know, that term has run its course with so many of us who love to eat!) is often something left up to adults—people who know how to order off-menu or pick a perfect table wine. And alternatively, someone who’s tried every form of offal under the sun, but let’s tackle one thing at a time. As with so many things, your passions can often find their footing when you’re a kid, meaning taste and good eating habits start early. So to help our young gourmands get off on the right foot, we’re setting aside an entire week dedicated to the celebrated relationships between plants, farms, and every kid’s favorite foods.
And just so you know, the Culinary Kids Food Festival is definitely a hands-on kitchen adventure.
Join us February 17 through 23 for a full week of edible fun in our Conservatory Dining Pavilion, where our staff and a team of experts from Growing Chefs will be on hand offering demonstrations, choice recipes, and hands-on activities backed by plenty of music and food tastings. A variety of activity stations will have your little ones making the rounds from pickles to cheese, tinkering with the kitchen chemistry that brings the staples of your table to life. And a daily cooking demonstration at 1 p.m. supplies kid-friendly recipes and delicious samples with support from local chefs.
Posted in Gardening Tips on September 10 2013, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.
We all have good intentions. Recently I was perusing well-known quotes on ‘good intentions’ when I came across one that I liked from Jeffery Kluger, a senior writer at Time Magazine. It reads as follows: “There’s a deep-freeze of sorts for all good intentions—a place that you store your plans to make changes in your life when you know you’re not going to make them at all.”
This blog entry is about making good on ‘good intentions’ which may incidentally involve a deep freeze. Every year I plant at least four different types of basil. I do this partially for experimental purposes, though mostly because I love having fresh basil around in the summer. But how often do I actually use it?
That is where good intentions come in. Often basil from my garden or from the store lies around the kitchen before it is all used up. I am ridiculously frivolous and wasteful when it comes to basil. Try as I might, there is something about summer that just does it to me. I swear I will be more vigilant and still it blackens and wilts before my eyes.
What, then, can be done to excess basil to ensure that it is put it to good use throughout the year? When I buy or pick a large bundle of basil, the first thing I generally do is stick the long stems in a glass of water to keep it hydrated. I use it like a vase arrangement and place it on the corner of my kitchen counter at arm’s length from my cutting board.