Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Wild Medicine
Posted in Programs and Events on August 12 2013, by Matt Newman
We’ve made our way through cucumbers and gin, berry-tinged tequila, and the finest in Italian jazz, and as we near Thursday night’s final Cocktail Evening & Summer Concert of the Wild Medicine exhibition, we’re changing it up one more time. If you’re as much a fan of the smoky nuance of bourbon as I am, you’ll want to clear your evening schedule.
This round’s specialty cocktail is “Strawberry Fields,” a balanced mix of Crème Yvette, bourbon, ginger ale and lime—all matched to the tenor of Michéal Castaldo, our guest singer. Backed by his string quartet, he brings the classic standards of his Italian homeland to our stage for one night only.
Preface your evening out with a quiet walk through our Wild Medicine displays in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, strolling around the Italian Renaissance Garden and the many medicinal plants growing in our glasshouse. Afterward, grab your complementary cocktail and a few samples from Mike’s Deli and the Bronx Beer Hall, or bring a blanket and pick up a picnic dinner to enjoy the concert from the Conservatory Lawn. Those looking to keep the night moving will find a cash bar with wine, beer, food, and other refreshments available.
For MasterCard holders, we also offer a champagne pre-party beginning in the Shop in the Garden and moving on to Wild Medicine. We even offer discounts at famed Arthur Avenue restaurants nearby for those holding Cocktail Evening tickets. Because why wouldn’t you make a full night of it?
With only a few days remaining between now and our last Cocktail Evening on August 15, not to mention tickets dwindling, you may want to think about registering as soon as possible. You just bring yourself—we’ll bring the drinks!
Posted in Programs and Events on August 9 2013, by Matt Newman
Got your Family Dinner tickets yet? This Sunday, August 11, we launch into the second of three top-notch culinary adventures as a new batch of Mario Batali’s finest chefs team up to treat your appetite. Top billing this round goes to Chef Andy Nusser of Tarry Lodge and Chef Anthony Sasso of Casa Mono, with a rich, varied menu of fruits, vegetables, and savory dishes that make artful use of the grill. Time is running out, and so are open spots, so make a point of visiting Priceless NY to get your tickets.
Elsewhere in the Garden, Wild Medicine is only getting better with the flush of summer’s greenery. The Italian Renaissance Garden in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory is a daily-changing landscape festooned with the therapeutic plants, trees, and flowers of Italy’s garden at Padua. In the Ross Hall, we’re spotlighting the Music and Dance of the Renaissance with the talented bards of Early Music New York and The New York Historical Dance Company. The Library is a haven for history buffs right now with The Renaissance Herbal‘s collection of centuries-old botanical tomes. And in the Home Gardening Center, we’re going practical with water-wise gardening tips and plant placement advice. Whether you’re revisiting your seaside garden with new resolve post-Sandy, or just not sure what to plant in your backyard, our horticulturists have the answers.
We’ll see you out there!
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Posted in Programs and Events on August 2 2013, by Matt Newman
Water lilies are a summer staple here that you really can’t overlook. The Conservatory pools are replete with reds, yellows, purples, whites, and pinks, each bloom bobbing up from below to create a mosaic of unique hues. Surrounded by the tall (and enormous) lotus blooms bordering the pools, it’s a singular experience. But however majestic these flowers are, they’re not out of reach for the home gardener, even here in New York.
Join us this weekend at the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory for a home gardening demonstration focusing on the quirks and qualities of the water lily, discovering new varieties, container planting methods, and tips on how to keep your aquatic collection thriving.
Over in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, we’ll be hosting demonstrations of a different, slightly more palatable form—literally. Each Saturday & Sunday at 2 and 4 p.m. you can join Family Garden staff for cooking demos in the Whole Foods Market Kitchen. In summer, we’re especially fond of the sweet and stinky elements of the vegetable patch, so expect to touch on garlic and onions while you’re there. Chances are you’ll be able to follow your nose if you get lost!
Beyond our hands-on activities, you’ll find elements of our ongoing Wild Medicine exhibition woven into almost everything taking place in the Garden, whether it’s the Italian Renaissance Garden in the Conservatory, the classical music and dance in the Ross Hall, or the time-worn pages of ancient herbal manuscripts in the Library. So even if you’re just coming for a stroll in the Forest, make room in your schedule for a little bit more—you won’t regret it.
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Posted in Programs and Events on July 29 2013, by Matt Newman
This week, we’re joining ConEdison as a supporting partner in their Plug Into Summer Fun contest, an opportunity for you and your friends to win daily prizes at locations around New York City. Better yet, we’re the Grand Prize Partner this week! If you missed out on any of our recent evening activities, such as Sunday’s Family Dinner with Mario Batali’s Chefs or our last Wild Medicine Cocktail Evening, this is your chance to laugh all the way to the bank with free trips to our upcoming events. Pair that with tickets to one of our Halloween adventures in October, and you’re staring down a prize worth $600! Considering you could easily enter this contest while lying on your couch, the cost/benefit tally is definitely leaning in your favor.
Being the weekly grand prize partner has its perks, too—you don’t have to wait until the end of the week to enter, for one. You can enter up to three times a day from now through Friday, August 2, to give yourself the best possible chance of taking home the reward. And because each entry also puts you in the running for the daily prizes offered by ConEd’s other partners, there are plenty of chances to land some winnings. All told, the contest is offering 36 prizes in total and runs until August 23!
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Posted in Programs and Events on July 26 2013, by Matt Newman
As I write this, it’s barely lunchtime on Friday and already our stomachs are grumbling for Sunday night’s Family Dinner with Mario Batali’s Chefs. But if you saw the menu, you’d have no cause to blame us for jumping so far ahead of schedule. Chef Cruz Goler of Lupa and Chef Frank Langello of Babbo will be here and in rare form, slinging gourmet dishes in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden and talking shop with cooking demonstrations both before and after the meal. It’s a pretty well-rounded approach to highlighting everyone’s favorite pastime—eating well! And with plenty of crafts and activities to keep the kids happy (and perfectly paired wines to give your own mood that much more of a boost), it’s the quintessential al fresco dining experience.
There may only be two days until the event kicks off, but we still have a few tickets left for you to snap up, so don’t wait until the last minute. For more information on Family Dinners and everything happening during our summer Edible Garden events, head through to our official page—or zip right over to MasterCard’s Priceless NY registration page to grab a spot for Sunday night!
We’ll be prefacing our gourmand experience with an entire weekend of music, poetry, and hands-on activities centered around our ongoing exploration of Wild Medicine. Join us in the Ross Hall on Saturday, July 27, for the heights of lyricism hosted by visiting poets. The likes of Terese Svoboda and Rafael Campo will be joining us for dramatic readings of 16th-century classics, proving that the art of botany moves well beyond the beauty of the flower itself.
For the DIY dynamos among you, the Home Gardening Center should be high on your list of destinations, too. We’ll have an NYBG expert on hand to answer your questions on the pride of so many summer gardens: the hydrangea. Whether blue, pink, or somewhere in between, we’ll teach you how to grow and maintain these flower puffs to your liking.
There’s a whole lot more going on this weekend than I can jabber on about here, so head below for the schedule and we’ll see you on the grounds!
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Posted in Programs and Events on July 19 2013, by Matt Newman
Just over one more week to go! We’re counting off the days until Mario Batali‘s first Family Dinner of the summer, with eminent chefs from both Lupa and Babbo presiding, and already our appetites are piqued. Not that it’s all too surprising—the promise of Mozzarella di Bufala, strip steak with marinated runner beans, pistachio olive oil cake and more would have the gourmand in almost anyone hopping with anticipation.
The event goes well beyond the family-style dinner, too. If you’ve got kids in tow, don’t worry about antsiness playing into it: we’ll have a bunch of hands-on gardening and craft activities to keep the little ones happy. Meanwhile, cooking demonstrations from Mario’s top chefs round out the experience in the Whole Foods Market® Family Garden Kitchen. It’s a lot to pack into one evening, but we’re not shy of saying how proud we are to host it! That said, we only have food for so many guests in the Family Garden at one time, so tickets are limited—better to register now than wait until next weekend! Check out The Edible Garden for more on this MasterCard® event, or head straight over to Priceless NY to get your tickets. Your tastebuds would thank you if they could.
For this weekend’s activities, Wild Medicine is as much the belle of the ball as ever, with horticulturists working each and every day to keep the Conservatory display at its peak. And we’re doing it one better this weekend with Saturday and Sunday gardening demonstrations geared toward the flower arrangers among you (or those who are hopeful of becoming one). Check the rest of the schedule below!
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Posted in Programs and Events on July 17 2013, by Matt Newman
Crème Yvette, lime, and one all-important choice to finish it: tequila or mezcal? We’re moving off from the last Cocktail Evening‘s gin and cucumber combo toward something on the smoky side of the spectrum, couching the refreshing flavors of berry liqueur in everyone’s favorite agave spirits. And with the city baking like a blueberry pie this week, I can’t think of many things better than a complimentary cocktail, a stroll through Wild Medicine, and some music after dark to shrug off the day’s heat.
On stage, “Italia in Jazz” spotlights the musical talents of the Marco Pignataro Quartet, paying a proper tribute to timeless Italian standards and original compositions alike. And with Marco and his saxophone at the helm, the night’s entertainment is in good hands! Originally from Bologna, Italy, Pignataro has taken the stage with such jazz greats as Eddie Gomez and Danilo Pérez. In concert with the latter, he now leads Berklee’s Global Jazz Institute in Boston, but that hasn’t stopped him from performing on stages around the world—and he’ll be right at home with his quartet here at the Garden.
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Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on July 2 2013, by Matt Newman
Consider the summer heat beat. We had our first Wild Medicine Cocktail Evening & Summer Concert last Thursday night, and while you won’t see the Yvette Cup on our tables for the next event on July 18, we’ll certainly have something just as quenching and unique. Tickets are up and going out the door as we speak—don’t miss out!
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Programs and Events on June 26 2013, by Matt Newman
Don’t let your sweltering New York City apartment define your summer experience—even if you love a good sit in a banya, spending every night in one is probably pushing the boundaries of good sense. Instead, I’ve got a few words that might distract you from your wheezy air conditioner and all the half moments lingering in front of the open freezer: gin, cucumber, violet liqueur.
Cocktail Evenings & Summer Concerts are back, swinging, and set to take the edge off the city’s muggy summer nights—and we’re not skimping on the “cocktail” bit. This Thursday, June 27, from 6 – 9 p.m., we slip into our latest after-dark series with the help of a liqueur appropriate to the quiet viewing of Wild Medicine you’ll get with your ticket. Crème Yvette blends mûre, framboise, cassis, and fraise sauvage berries with the dried violet petals of Provence, leaving no question as to its plant pedigree. And our first featured cocktail, the Yvette Cup, doesn’t waste the flavor, mixing gin, cucumber, lime, ginger, and mint for a bracing sip that’ll put the drawbacks of summer in your rear view.
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Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on June 23 2013, by Matt Newman
Nifty Wild Medicine factoid: it’s been found that residents of the islands east of Panama, who drink a lightly-processed cocoa beverage up to five times a day, are almost entirely free of hypertension. Researchers lean toward the chocolate as a prime suspect in this discovery, though I’m guessing most of us don’t need a peer-reviewed report to justify buying ourselves a treat now and then. Just remember to go for the real thing—at least 70% cacao!
Check out our cacao-focused table in the Conservatory when you visit, and be sure to keep an eye out for the pods growing in our cacao trees.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
We’ve made our way through cucumbers and gin, berry-tinged tequila, and the finest in Italian jazz, and as we near Thursday night’s final Cocktail Evening & Summer Concert of the Wild Medicine exhibition, we’re changing it up one more time. If you’re as much a fan of the smoky nuance of bourbon as I am, you’ll want to clear your evening schedule.
