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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

The New York Botanical Garden

Zombies Set Sights on the Garden

Posted in Around the Garden on October 18 2011, by Ann Rafalko

They’re spooky and they’re ubiquitous, and they’re heading straight for the Bronx! That’s right, beginning this weekend, zombies will be invading the Haunted Pumpkin Garden, courtesy of pumpkin-carving provocateur Ray Villafane. Currently appearing on the Food Network’s “Halloween Wars,” Villafane will be calling the Garden home this weekend, where he’ll be carving two of the world’s biggest pumpkins into one unforgettable pumpkin sculpture.

Want to see what Ray has got planned? Head below the jump to check it. But be warned, it’s the stuff of pumpkin nightmares!

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Fall Container Candidates

Posted in Gardening Tips on October 18 2011, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Mums and Japanese Anemones in Fall Flowers of Japan
Mums and Japanese Anemones in Fall Flowers of Japan

We are celebrating the fall this year with Fall Flowers of Japan in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. As you walk into the Conservatory  you are greeted by color, ranging from the blues and purples of gentians, to the autumnal bronzes, yellows, and reds of chrysanthemums.

Texture and form abound; the orchid-like flowers of toad lilies (Tricyrtis) are speckled, Japanese anemones (Anemone) feature cup-shaped flowers and fuzzy seed heads, and Japanese burnet (Sanguisorba) provide height with their burgundy bottle brush spires.

For the opening weekend I conducted a demonstration on how to recreate a little piece of Fall Flowers of Japan at home in the form of a fall container display or border. Today I am going to share some of my favorite plants for making a display of this nature with you.

See Sonia's picks for creating your own Fall Flowers of Japan at home below.

From the Library: Thomas Edison at The New York Botanical Garden

Posted in From the Library on October 18 2011, by Mertz Library

Thomas Alva Edison died on October 18, 1931–eighty years ago today.

In the late 1920s, Edison was deeply engaged in plant research. His goal was to discover a domestic source of rubber,  a plant that might produce better material than what was available at the time. (The plant turned out to be goldenrod.)

This effort was spearheaded by the Edison Botanical Corporation and funded by Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. Research was done by the corporation and by Edison himself at The New York Botanical Garden as well as at Edison’s labs in West Orange, N.J. and Fort Myers, Florida. The great inventor spent several years periodically working at the Garden and its Library, along with assistants John Kunkel Small, Barukh Jonas, William H. Meadowcroft, and others.

Learn more about Thomas A. Edison's research at the Garden below.

This Just In: New World’s Heaviest Pumpkin Coming to the Garden!

Posted in Around the Garden on October 17 2011, by Ann Rafalko

World's Heaviest PumpkinHold the presses! You know how we told you that beginning October 21, the Garden would be home to the three biggest pumpkins in the U.S.? Well, we lied. Beginning October 21, the Garden will now be home to the four biggest pumpkins in the world! That’s right, we said world.

Just this weekend a new world’s biggest pumpkin was crowned in Canada. Weighing in at 1818.5 pounds and grown by Jim and Kelsey Bryson of Ormstown, Quebec, the new heaviest pumpkin in the world out-weighs last year’s world-record holder (which also called the Garden home for a time) by 8 pounds! Congratulations Jim and Kelsey! We can’t wait to meet you and your great pumpkin.

Head below to see pictures of the Bryson's giant pumpkin.