Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Posted in Holiday Train Show, Photography on November 29 2011, by Matt Newman
It’s not often our Morning Eye Candy posts are quite this literal, eh? The Gingerbread Adventures exhibition is up and running at the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, so feel free to bring the kids for cookie decorating (and eating!) They might even learn a thing or two about making their own gingerbread houses–everyone’s a potential architect.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Learning Experiences, People on November 28 2011, by Joyce Newman
Meet Diana Conklin, one of NYBG’s Adult Education instructors teaching a variety of botanical craft classes for the holidays.
Holiday wreath-making expert Diana Conklin was born and raised on a potato farm along the east end of Long Island–that was before the area was taken over by vineyards! And coming from a farming background, Diana’s love of all things botanical is deeply ingrained.
Her studio, Everlastings by Diana, remains on the family farm in one of their barns. There she specializes in creating stunning dried flower arrangements, many of which are displayed at local craft galleries and events.
Posted in Holiday Train Show on November 28 2011, by Matt Newman
“I look forward to bringing our kids someday, and telling them the story of how their daddy proposed to their mommy.”
From now until December 17, our visitors will be sharing their fondest memories from 20 years of the Holiday Train Show–some of them touching, some comical, and every one of them cherished. Come back to Plant Talk each day for a new story, which you can see after the jump along with a feature on one of the many replica New York City landmarks on display in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory–the Guggenheim Museum, Yankee Stadium, the Empire State Building and more.
As a bonus, read on to find out how you can win a Family Four-Pack of Holiday Train Show tickets for yourself!
Posted in Around the Garden on November 28 2011, by Matt Newman
Sometimes it’s the simplest combinations in hue that make the fall colors blossom.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden on November 27 2011, by Matt Newman
Warm colors make the dropping temperatures so much more bearable. Now, all we need is a hammock..
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden on November 26 2011, by Matt Newman
The Holiday Train Show is in full swing under the glass of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, and we’ve even got a few new faces in this year’s display! Can anyone recognize this long-gone New York original? (I’ll give you a hint: back when the Dodgers baseball club was still a part of NYC, it took its name in honor of these rail regulars.)
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on November 25 2011, by Matt Newman
The ginkgoes are all but done changing into their fall finery, creating sunny gradients of color.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Holiday Train Show on November 23 2011, by Matt Newman
For many around the country, the upcoming weekend is a vacation in itself. The schedule usually involves such winning events as stuffing yourself silly for Thanksgiving; living off gourmet leftovers for the better part of a week; and forgetting about workaday hassles for a rare four-day weekend. (To everyone having to work on Black Friday, you have every ounce of sympathy we can muster.) The Thanksgiving Day Parade is what really brings home the nostalgia for some, and others the Sunday football. But as for me, it has to be the post-feast nap–that tryptophan is serious business.
Still, not everyone loves the idea of spending the entire holiday weekend cooped up in the house, playing host to a family that just wants to get out and do something. And that makes the coming days the perfect time to visit the Holiday Train Show, fresh off its grand opening on November 19 and picking up steam as we head into the winter months.
Posted in Adult Education, Holiday Train Show, Learning Experiences on November 23 2011, by Joyce Newman
For the first time in the Holiday Train Show’s 20-year history, you too can learn how to create architectural replicas from natural materials, just like the landmarks featured in our Conservatory displays.
Join Madeline Yanni, The New York Botanical Garden’s expert floral and crafts designer on December 17 for a special, hands-on class. Madeline will help you explore various architectural styles and crafting techniques, after which you can choose from an assortment of dried botanicals, like seed pods, bark, and branches, to make your own model. You’ll need to bring lunch, as well as a box large enough to put your models in.
Posted in Gardening Tips on November 22 2011, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
A few weeks ago, I was displaying some grasses and sedges for a home gardening demonstration when a woman asked me what the difference is between the two. Naturally, there are anatomical and sometimes cultural differences (always generalizations) between these similar plants, however, they are often categorized together and thought of as the same. To help clarify the differences, we will begin with a useful mnemonic:
Sedges have edges,
Rushes are round,
Grasses have nodes from the top to the ground.
Grasses and bamboos are in the Graminaceae family, sedges are in the Cyperaceae family, and rushes are in the Juncaceae family. When you look at a grass or sedge, what you see are the stems, leaves, and flowers. And in the case of this explanation, the stems are referred to as culms.