Skip to main content
 
Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Spring

Handling Tonight’s Hard Freeze

Posted in Around the Garden, Gardening Tips on March 26 2012, by Matt Newman

Meteorology is something of an inexact science. Some days, forecasting the weather seems a little closer in discipline to fortune telling. And after all of the comforting reassurance (we were so set on it!) that the cold was behind us and nothing but picturesque spring days lay ahead, the hard freeze set to plow through New York tonight has shoulders slumping in gardens across the region. But, while it’s tempting, skip leading a pitchfork mob to your weatherman’s house. Shooting the messenger never solved any problems, especially when nature is such a fickle character.

The inbound chill may be grim news for many of the early blooms that sprung out of dormancy at the first sign of warm weather. But which petals will pull through, and which are facing the axe? We asked Kristin Schleiter, our acting Director of Outdoor Gardens, to chime in with her take on the situation. Depending on what you’re keeping in your home garden, you may be in the clear.

Read More

Morning Eye Candy: Curlycue

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on March 23 2012, by Matt Newman

Magnolias in spring–I’ll keep posting them so long as they’re this appealing. This shot of airy pink saucers under a sky of curly clouds is further giving me amnesia (what winter?)

Magnolia x soulangeana — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Morning Eye Candy: Daffodil Hill

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on March 22 2012, by Matt Newman

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils

— William Wordsworth

It’s never too early for pastoral verse. Even the overtly mushy kind.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

An Early Spring Tour with President Gregory Long

Posted in Around the Garden, The Orchid Show, Video on March 20 2012, by Matt Newman

The 10th annual Orchid Show may be the most alluring exhibition in the northeast, but the vivid, climbing blooms under the glass of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory are surely complemented by the stunning landscape just beyond the doors. Arriving weeks earlier than expected, a new season is sweeping across The New York Botanical Garden, waking the sublime flowers and foliage that make spring in the Bronx the most memorable time to visit!

Join NYBG President Gregory Long as he tours the grounds, stopping in to see the jewel-like miniature orchids and tropical jade vines of the Conservatory before setting out across a Garden in colorful transformation. You won’t believe how quickly our outdoor collections have burst into life with the first hints of warm weather. From the soft white petals of the Kobus magnolia to the delightful fragrances of the Rock Garden‘s petite blossoms, The New York Botanical Garden’s season of renewal is already well underway.

The Garden’s many diverse landscapes will only grow more dazzling as we move further into this early spring. If you haven’t already picked up your tickets for the Orchid Show, be sure to reserve them soon. And when the day comes, feel free to explore! The beauty of New York City is here.

What’s Beautiful Now: Spring

Posted in Around the Garden, Gardens and Collections on March 13 2012, by Ann Rafalko

It seemed too good to be true. All winter, I kept holding my breath; I kept thinking in the back of my mind that winter had to arrive eventually; that all these nascent flowers and blooms and buds would be pummeled, at last, by a snowstorm as equally freakish as the October 29 blizzard that blew in like some harbinger of an Arctic winter. But, it never came. It never happened. And now, in mid-March it is glorious. On several occasions it has been warmer in the Bronx than in Los Angeles. The birds are singing, the breeze is blowing, sweaters have been (mostly) relegated to the bottom drawer, and flowers are popping up all over the Garden.

Read More

Harbinger of Spring

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography, Wildlife on February 16 2012, by Matt Newman

NYBG member and resident bird photographer Laura Meyers was walking the grounds recently when she caught the hint of a welcome sight. It happened to be sitting on a sweet gum branch, munching a beakful of seeds. But as common as the Red-winged Blackbird is to most northerners, many don’t realize what the songbird signifies around this time of year.

As she sent along her photograph, Laura also shared this bit of information:

“I was happy and surprised to see a Red-winged Blackbird at The New York Botanical Garden this past Friday. Male Red-winged Blackbirds return north in the spring ahead of the females and migrate south after the females in the fall.”

Read More