Perhaps best known for her brilliant street photography, photographer Valérie Jardin has a remarkable talent for capturing light and using it to tell a story.
Worldwide, her speaking engagements sell out quickly, but there are still seats available in her October 26 lecture here at the Garden, where we offer a number of photography classes. We sat down with Ms. Jardin to learn more about her techniques, her passions, and her plans for her upcoming presentation.
His career spans more than 30 years, and his portfolio includes photographs published in some of the world’s largest publications. He shot the first all-digital cover story for National Geographic, “The Future of Flying,” commemorating the centennial of the Wright Brothers’ flight at Kitty Hawk. As the dust was settling after 9/11, he used what was the world’s only life-sized instant Polaroid camera to create a project called Faces of Ground Zero, which became a book and generated approximately $2 million for the relief effort.
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory’s moon gate, part of NYBG’s evocation of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden
For the opening weekend of Groundbreakers: Great American Gardens and The Women Who Designed Them (May 17–September 7), curator Sam Watters led his audience back in time with a lecture entitled “Picturing a Beautiful America.” The show celebrates the work of some of America’s most influential women in early 20th century landscape architecture, design, and garden photography, and Watters’ talk set about laying the historical foundation on which these women and their works were established.
It is hard to believe a month has already passed, but tomorrow is the second lecture in our 14th Annual Winter Lecture Series. The Garden is lucky to welcome Kim Wilkie, a London-based landscape architect and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, to the Ross Lecture Hall on Thursday. His lecture, entitled Sculpting the Land, will offer a photographic tour of his forward-thinking and utterly unique designs, incorporating his signature landforms and architectural innovations.
In his own words, Kim Wilkie is a landscape architect who loves mud. The technique of making sculpted hardscapes out of clay and chalk have an ancient history in the United Kingdom, and Wilkie adapts these traditions to breathe new life into antique gardens.
At long, long last, the wait ends this weekend! Just in time for the first arriving sights and sounds of spring (the crocuses are looking especially lovely), the crowned star of the season opens this weekend in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Thousands upon thousands of orchids–cymbidiums, vandas, moth orchids and more–have been carefully arranged under our famous glasshouse roof, inviting the entire city to experience the return of warmth and color with what is undeniably the most flamboyant combination of the two: The Orchid Show.
Alongside the paradise of blooms our horticulturists have curated in the Conservatory, we’re offering tours, music, free advice for the casual home grower, or more in-depth workshops and lectures for those looking to take their orchid madness to the next level. This Sunday’s lecture in particular highlights the expertise of David Taft, Chair of the Conservation Committee of the Greater New York Orchid Society, whose knowledge of native orchids will make a believer of those who thought these florid beauties kept only to the tropics. Afterward, you can stop into our Shop in the Garden to peruse a collection of rare, delicate, or even easy-to-grow orchids for purchase.
With plenty of time until The Orchid Show comes to a close on April 22, we’ll be offering all sorts of future events and activities to keep your orchid cravings piqued, so stay tuned to Plant Talk in the coming weeks for more on our Orchid Evenings and other entertainments. And for now, think about picking up tickets for this opening weekend–the fanfare is through the roof, and for us, the startof this exhibition is something of a Garden holiday!
Even as big weekends go, this is a big weekend. The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory has gone through a complete metamorphosis over the past several weeks, with a dedicated team of horticulturists primping and preening a luxurious display thousands of orchids strong. As of tomorrow, Patrick Blanc’s careful designs will finally come to light for our guests to enjoy.
Beginning tomorrow, March 3, the doors of the tenth annual Orchid Show (yes, an entire decade) swing open to reveal the French master’s creations to the world. Everyone in New York should see this! Visit the Garden to find yourself surrounded by the artful flowers of the tropics, a virtual architecture of exotic leaves, petals, and vines swirling in and amongst each other. The diversity of orchids that now floods the space in sprays of color is impressive on its own, but the arrangement is simply breathtaking.
As we near the 10th anniversary opening of the NYBG‘s yearly Orchid Show, we begin looking at the work of French designer Patrick Blanc, the mind behind the elegant and awe-inspiring living architecture being raised for this year’s exhibition. Of course, his efforts in the botanical field extend well beyond the complex aesthetics of his world-famous “green wall” creations. As one of the most renowned plant hunters to have traveled abroad, his global gallivanting yields many an interesting result for the scientific community.
2011 brought with it an important milestone for Dr. Blanc: a plant named in his honor. Previous adventures into the Philippines had yielded rumors of an elusive, undescribed foliage growing in the jungles there, a plant that the local population had no name for. With a team of fellow researchers and a group of field guides, he set off on a journey to the sweltering jungles of the island province of Palawan to locate it, and discovered what was proven to be a begonia. Blanc’s background as a specialist in understory rainforest plants made this a particularly exciting discovery for the group.
A good lecture can serve as a catalyst for change, and this year’s 11th Annual Winter Lecture Series at The New York Botanical Garden should send you away with a lot to think about, and some serious tools for precipitating change in your own community, city, or just our own backyard.
On Thursday, February 17, garden designer, award-winning author, photographer, naturalist, and teacher C. Colston Burrell will talking about ”Native Plants and Ecological Design.” Burrell will explore what actually makes a plant ”native,” the definition of ecological gardening, and the issues surrounding sustainable landscape design.
Last, but certainly not least, Annie Novak, urban farming evangelist and director of The New York Botanical Garden’s Children’s Gardening Program will ”Raise The Roof!” on Thursday, March 17. Novak is the founder and director of Growing Chefs field-to-fork education program, and the co-founder of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and will discuss the challenges, successes, and lessons learned from farming the skyline.
And while you’re at the Garden, why not make a full day of it? Visit Caribbean Garden for a mini-vacation in the historic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory; snap a few pictures to enter into our photography contest; grab a bite from one of our two cafes dedicated to sustainable, local, tasty cuisine; and shop the Winter Sale at the Shop in the Garden.
A good lecture can serve as a catalyst for change, and this year’s 
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The lectures are being held at the Garden in the