”Saw this rare yellow magnolia in bloom last weekend at the NY Botanical Garden” @OliverSacks
Recently the eminent neurologist, author, and friend of the GardenDr. Oliver Sackstweeted a picture of himself with one of NYBG‘s yellow magnolias. “Saw this rare yellow magnolia in bloom last weekend at the NY Botanical Garden,” Dr. Sacks said. This resulted in a series of questions about yellow magnolias, most of which I could not answer. So I turned to someone who could, the Garden’s Manager of Plant Records, Jon Peter.
One of the biggest questions was as to whether or not the magnolia pictured, Magnolia ‘Butterflies’, is in fact yellow. “Yes it is really yellow, although a pale yellow,” Jon Peter assured me. This is one of the problems with digital plant pictures, everyone’s screen is slightly different, so hues can appear different to different people. But you can trust me, Dr. Sacks, and Jon Peter—this beautiful tree is truly yellow. It has a creamy, buttery color, with just a touch of chartreuse shot through. It is especially spectacular when set against more traditional blossoming tree colors like pink and white.
I love this tree, a crab apple, near the Mosholu Gate entrance, but I am always worried someone will think I have mistyped its name when I post pictures of it. But I assure you, it’s not a typo. I have checked and checked again and this tree’s name really is ‘Burgandy.’
It’s closing weekend of The Orchid Show and blooms and blossoms abound; inside, outside, simply everywhere! Can you think of a better way to celebrate Earth Day? We can: let’s make it a three-day weekend and open our 250 acres to you on Monday!
While at NYBG every day is Earth Day, Monday, April 22 is the official day to celebrate, and we’re doing it in literal fashion with a focus on the soil that nourishes us all. In the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden kids of all ages can learn about the earthworms that are so vital to healthy, living soil. Speak with a worm expert, meet the earthworms, and take some of the nutrient-rich earth that they have produced to nourish your plants at home. Explore the newly planted Mario Batali Kitchen Gardens and enjoy special activities. If you can’t make it to NYBG, dine at any of Mario Batali’s restaurants or shop at Eataly and receive a special seed packet with which to grow your own Genovese basil at home.
In the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden and in the Home Gardening Center composting advice and demonstrations abound. Stick around in the Adventure Garden to make a terrarium—based on rich soil and a self-contained microenvironment—to take home.
I thought the earth remembered me,
she took me back so tenderly,
arranging her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds.
I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,
nothing between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths
among the branches of the perfect trees.
A view of the megalopolis of Sâo Paulo from the Botanical Garden.
When I was in Brazil to attend a meeting on Amazonian Biodiversity in São Paulo I also had the opportunity to visit one of The New York Botanical Garden‘s sister institutions, the Jardim Botânico de São Paulo. Just like NYBG, the São Paulo garden is a refuge from the traffic, heat, and noise of life within one of the world’s megacities. São Paulo is the eighth largest city in the world with 11 million inhabitants, and the city’s 588 square miles of paved surfaces can make it feel much hotter than the reported temperature. During my visit, temperatures ranged from a pleasant 68º to a high of 90º. In the open areas of the garden it was hot enough to dampen my t-shirt as I headed for a remnant patch of Atlantic coastal forest, but upon entering the forest the temperature dropped significantly and I cooled off. I was then able to begin enjoying the plants surrounding me.
The Garden was established in 1920 under the directorship of Frederico Carlos Hoehne. The area was originally the location of the city’s waterworks and the original gate built in 1894 is preserved on the Garden’s grounds. Today the Garden consists of 85 acres of formal gardens and an arboretum dedicated to growing trees native to São Paulo and Brazil, in addition to the 1,210 acres of remnant forest mentioned above.
The author climbing a small tree with French climbing spikes.
One of the most beautiful arboreal observations I have made during my long career occurred during an ascent into a large tree, one that happened to be adjacent to a legume tree scientifically named Hymenaea courbaril–more commonly known as the stinky toe tree. It was given this repugnant name because of the similarity of its fruits to a malodorous human toe. While botanical literature had already reported at the time that this species relied on bats for pollination, I wanted to confirm this observation by climbing a nearby tree from which I could see into the canopy as night fell, just as nocturnal animals started to make their appearances.
I was especially eager to make this climb because one of my research focuses has been the interactions between bats and the plants pollinated and dispersed by them. This was a rare opportunity to observe the crown of this 115-foot-tall tree in full flower, and as my job was to document the species that occur in the lowland forests of central French Guiana, as well as to discover the interactions that the local plants have with animals, I could not pass it up.
If you’ve got a Christmas tree looking all the worse for wear as the days drag out past the holiday, you’re not the only procrastinator in the city. And that’s good! Because by the time you’re fed up with watching your cat spelunk in the branches, raining dry pine needles across the whole of your living room, New York’s annual MulchFest will be ready to accommodate you. So don’t drag that saggy conifer to the curb just yet!
Taking place throughout the boroughs at the turn of each year, MulchFest is the most environmentally friendly means of disposing of your Christmas tree in NYC. Not only will it save room at the local dump (to say nothing of easing your garbage man’s frustrations), but delivering your tree to one of the many MulchFest locations will serve to nourish living plantings throughout the metropolitan area. At last year’s event, over 24,000 trees were recycled into mulch, smashing the previous record by a wide margin. And if you like, some of that mulch can be bagged and hauled home for use in your own garden–completely free of charge.
Larry Lederman’s eye for the aesthetic of branches, creased bark, and the leaf’s palette is well-trained, though photography wasn’t his first calling. What was initially a hobby came about late in his career as a Wall Street lawyer, at a time when escaping the office to the relative peace and simplicity of the NYBG‘s Forest seemed a panacea for New York City’s stresses. Here, he found through a lens what many artists chase for years–a muse that inspired through each of the four seasons, well beyond autumn’s changing leaves or the new growth of spring.
That inspiration has grown to encompass more than a hobby, with Lederman’s passion for the trees of the northeast now captured in a new book, Magnificent Trees of The New York Botanical Garden. Inside, you’ll find more than 200 individual photographs of trees growing in our 250-acre landscape, many of which have been captured repeatedly, in the varied lights of spring, summer, fall, and winter. Lederman’s finished effect is one of passing time, outlining the qualities and personalities of the trees as the project plays out.
Speaking with Mr. Lederman, we put together a clear idea of his motivation’s origins, as well as how this book–and the exhibition surrounding it–came together.
