Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Spring
Posted in What's Beautiful Now on April 9 2019, by Todd Forrest
Todd Forrest is the Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections at The New York Botanical Garden.
Seasoned tree lovers often experience a bit of anxiety during unseasonably warm winter weather. Extended thaws in January and February can cause the fuzzy gray buds of the magnolias to swell in anticipation of the bloom, elevating the risk of frost damage should cold spells show up later on. Nothing is so disheartening as magnolia flowers turned to ugly brown mush by a surprise spring freeze.
Sometimes things do work out, however. There were brief warm spells this winter, but there were also long periods of deep cold and the magnolia buds didn’t really get moving until March. The weather warmed gradually from March into April, and we are now entering the beginning of one of the most dazzling horticultural spectacles of the year.
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Posted in What's Beautiful Now on April 5 2019, by Matt Newman
After a sleepy winter season where the Rock Garden remains closed, we’ve finally reopened it for spring, and just in time for the tiny alpine treasures that call this collection home to wake for the warmth. Pick a sunny day to visit this treasured, secluded space at NYBG to discover brightly colored irises, crocuses, and cyclamen growing in and among the rocks that form its borders.
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Posted in What's Beautiful Now on March 29 2019, by Matt Newman
The approach of full-fledged, kaleidoscopic spring color is undeniable now. All around the Garden’s 250 acres you’ll catch hints of the crowds of blooms to come, from the earliest Korean rhododendrons to the magnolia buds bursting at the seams. See just a few of those hints here, as we explore what’s beautiful now.
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Posted in What's Beautiful Now on June 13 2018, by Matt Newman
Summer doesn’t officially kick off until June 21, but the Garden grounds are already well-prepared for the season of green. And among that green, from the Native Plant Garden to the Forest, you’ll find the bright peppering of color offered up by spring’s later blooms. Come for the roses at peak bloom this week, and stay for all of the little treasures you’ll discover during a walk through our 250 acres.
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Posted in Horticulture on June 11 2018, by Joyce Newman
Joyce H. Newman is an environmental journalist and teacher. She holds a Certificate in Horticulture from The New York Botanical Garden.
In June, purple foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) are in bloom at NYBG. Tall, striking spires with dozens of little finger-shaped blooms, foxgloves are native all across western Europe. Traditionally cultivated in English borders, there are about 20 different species. They bloom in colors from yellows, pinks, lavenders, and whites to purple, with dark spots inside the blooms.
The leaves form in large clusters during the first year, and there are no blooms. Large and fuzzy green, they look a bit like sage or even spinach. In the second year, the blooms appear and the seeds can eventually be collected for re-planting, or they may naturalize.
Totally Toxic
A folk myth about foxgloves claims that the foxes who make dens in the woodland hills wear the flowers on their paws when they attack rural villagers. Sometimes called “witches’ gloves,” the plant’s toxicity was known for centuries by herbalists. Other common names for the plant are also a dead giveaway to its potent effects, including “witches’ thimbles” and “dead man’s bells”.
The entire plant is poisonous, according to experts. But the leaves, in particular, contain more concentrated toxins.
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Posted in What's Beautiful Now on June 6 2018, by Matt Newman
It’s all about roses this week as we head toward our long-awaited Rose Garden Weekend at NYBG, June 9 & 10. The Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden is wearing all of its spring finery! Look for floribundas, hybrid teas, and more—all of them blooming in a confetti of pinks, reds, whites, and yellows. Elsewhere in the Garden, you’ll find the Forest greening out ahead of summer, an abundance of ferns and foliage in the Native Plant Garden, and of course the Hawaiian beauty of Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i—currently our Nolen Greenhouses are full to the brim with new plants ready to make their way into the exhibition in the Conservatory; look for them soon!
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Posted in What's Beautiful Now on May 30 2018, by Matt Newman
The diverse rooms of the Perennial Garden are coming into fashion this week as salvias and nepetas open up to the warm weather, and more is on deck as we near the summer season. In the Native Plant Garden, keep an eye out for Sarracenia species, their flute-like pitchers turned up to the sky all around the water feature. Native rhododendrons and azaleas in this garden are also making themselves known, as are perennials like Zizia aurea. Late spring is a beautiful time to explore NYBG!
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Posted in Wildlife on May 30 2018, by Patricia Gonzalez
Patricia Gonzalez is an NYBG Visitor Services Attendant and avid wildlife photographer.
Great Egret (Ardea alba) at Twin Lakes – Photo by Patricia Gonzalez
Posted in What's Beautiful Now on May 23 2018, by Matt Newman
The Matelich Peonies are the collection to spot this week, with dozens of pink, red, purple, and white flowers unfurling their large petals just outside the front doors of the Conservatory. Before it becomes the Rose Garden’s time to shine, these are some of the most colorful blooms you’ll see at the Garden! Elsewhere, the Lilac Collection is still showing color and fragrance, while the Garden’s abundant greenery fills out in preparation for summer.
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Posted in Wildlife on May 16 2018, by Patricia Gonzalez
Patricia Gonzalez is an NYBG Visitor Services Attendant and avid wildlife photographer.
Painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) at Twin Lakes – Photo by Patricia Gonzalez
