Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on February 7 2013, by Matt Newman
The weekend forecast promises prodigious snow for much of the northeast, so get outside and enjoy the fluff-free skies while you can! The squirrels, meanwhile, can only be looking forward to the wintry playground to come.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on February 4 2013, by Matt Newman
A little spark and fire to warm your Monday.
Canna ‘Oiseau de Feu’ — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on February 2 2013, by Matt Newman
“Hello? Yes, hi! I can’t help but notice that you’re not food. So, yeeeeeeah, you’re gonna have to relocate. I can appreciate that you’re a photographer–it’s a very nice camera–but if you’re not edible, we’re not interested. Thanks for your understanding.”
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on February 1 2013, by Matt Newman
I love foggy days at the Garden. Such strange depth between the trees, and everything seems more significant, somehow. You can walk in the Forest and feel as though you’re not going anywhere, or lose the tops of the tulip trees.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on January 31 2013, by Matt Newman
Rhodotypos scandens — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on January 30 2013, by Matt Newman
Temperature drops make for phenomena even we can’t predict, and this is certainly proof of that. Matthew Cook, Assistant Manager of Arboretum and Grounds here at the NYBG, recently hit the trails to see what he could of the snowfalls and freezing temperatures along the Bronx River–only to find…. well, this baffling design. After asking the Bronx River Alliance if they could hazard a guess at what created these absurd tracks (they couldn’t), this stumped blog staff is now putting the question to its readers.
It definitely looks like one our scientists was doing the worm across the ice, but that’s as much a shot in the dark on my part as “beaver tracks,” “wayward recumbent bicycle,” and “forest hydra.” Maybe there’s a zoologist or accomplished tracker out there who can do us one better. If so, plug in your suggestions in the comments below!
Photo by Matthew Cook
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on January 29 2013, by Matt Newman
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in What's Beautiful Now on January 28 2013, by Matt Newman
Other than a few valiant (or confused) snowdrops peeking up from under the soil, the bulk of the NYBG‘s outdoor flowers continue to sleep it off until the early days of spring. That makes the Garden’s beauty less reliant on the landmarks of a map, and moreso on the simple love of exploration! The Forest, home to such a thick canopy in summer, now shows off the linework of its illustrated branches. The warm gradient of the grasses and reeds stands in for bobbing flower heads. And in months like January, the landscape takes on iced-over contrasts with a dab of the noir aesthetic.
2012’s winter offering proved closer to an endless fall than anything climatologists would have preferred, creating some interesting consequences in plant behavior. But this year, climate change aside, winter is making at least the tiniest effort to act the part! For one, buying these boots was hands-down my best decision of 2013–I’ve already saved myself a few embarrassing falls in the snowdrifts we get every few days. Even the fast-flowing Bronx River is still sloughing off the ice that crept in over the course of last week’s dipping thermometer.
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on January 28 2013, by Matt Newman
In the Conservatory, right now. Where the temperatures are a little closer to a Hawaiian forest, and the precipitation comes as mist–not so much sleet.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on January 27 2013, by Matt Newman
The Bronx River, Twin Lakes, and the Wetlands are all (at least partially) imitating sculpture at the moment. There are upsides to cold snaps!
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen