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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Winter

Morning Eye Candy: Walkies

Posted in Photography on January 2 2011, by Plant Talk

Does your New Year’s resolution include more exercise? The Garden’s forest is a wonderful place to take a walk in any season. And we just reopened the Spicebush Trail. So pull on your boots and hat and come take a walk!

Winter Wander

Winter Wander (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

Morning Eye Candy: Glow

Posted in Photography on December 18 2010, by Plant Talk

In the winter, the eye can rest. There are fewer colors, textures, and distractions from the bones of the light-painted landscape.

The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory

The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

I Hear Those Trains a Comin’

Posted in Exhibitions, Holiday Train Show on November 17 2010, by Plant Talk

Rustin Dwyer is Visual Media Production Specialist at The New York Botanical Garden.

Thanksgiving is almost upon us and that means one thing at The New York Botanical Garden: The Holiday Train Show is coming!

The artists and craftsmen from Applied Imagination made their annual journey from Kentucky to set up and decorate an array amazing botanical creations and model trains. Right now, they’re busy inside the recently renovated Enid A. Haupt Conservatory They’re putting the finishing touches on in time for opening day this Saturday!

Join director of exhibitions Karen Daubmann for a quick tour of the making of the Holiday Train Show.

Plan Your Weekend: Winter at the Garden

Posted in Learning Experiences, Programs and Events on February 6 2009, by Plant Talk

Much to Do Here, Even at this Time of Year—Surprised?
Carol Capobianco is Editorial Content Manager at The New York Botanical Garden.
Snowy LibraryYes, it’s below freezing outside. Yes, most plants are dormant and bedded under a blanket of snow. Yes, it’s a great time to come to The New York Botanical Garden with fresh eyes to take in the standing and specialty exhibits you haven’t yet seen.

Surprise your friends, kids, or lover by suggesting a day at the Garden in winter. It may seem a little offbeat, but what a treat it can be, because there is so much to do here.

For the bold: Enjoy the cold, crisp air with a guided tour of the Forest or a Saturday morning walk to identify birds with an expert. Or stroll on your own.

For the snuggly set: Don’t like the cold? Warm up inside the glasshouse galleries of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory for an ecotour around the globe in A World of Plants. Use the self-guided audio tour, or experience the exhibit with a docent tour. Later, stop at one of the Garden’s Cafes for soup, lunch, and hot beverages, and duck into Shop in the Garden to select a needed gift or a good gardening book to cozy up with.

For the procrastinators and the “let’s do it again” folks: Whether you still haven’t seen Moore in America or want to see it again in a different season, these are the final days of the largest outdoor exhibit of sculptor Henry Moore’s works ever presented in a single venue in America.

For the curious: Discover what the Botanical Garden’s scientists are researching and understanding worldwide in the ongoing exhibit Plants and Fungi: Ten Current Research Stories. In fact, Garden scientist Dr. Amy Litt will be giving a talk in the gallery on Saturday, February 7, at 1 p.m.

For the home gardener: Each weekend Sonia Uyterhoeven, Gardener for Public Education, gives informative presentations and demonstrations on home gardening topics.

For the family: Get hands-on with fun activities that explore the fascinating life and accomplishments of the man who helped peanut, soybean, and sweet potato farmers in The Life and Work of George Washington Carver.

For the browser: Spend time perusing the world-renowned collection of botanical books in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library. You will want to visit again and again—the Library holds more than 1 million items spanning 10 centuries.

For the photography enthusiast: View the vibrant color portraits of heirloom tomatoes by Victor Schrager on exhibit—a sampling of the amazing 500 varieties grown every year in the garden of acclaimed food writer Amy Goldman—in The Heirloom Tomato. Bring your camera and take your own fantastic images of the shapes of trees, the Garden’s snow-covered landscape, and the tropical plants in the Conservatory (and share them with us on Flickr).

For the lifelong learner: Cultivate yourself by attending one of the many course offerings of the Continuing Education department. In fact, you can start by signing up for the Special Saturday, all about shade gardening, to be held tomorrow, February 7.

Check out Saturday’s programming.

Check out Sunday’s programming.

What’s in Color at the Garden — Bark Edition

Posted in Color Report, Gardens and Collections, Video on February 4 2009, by Plant Talk

Rustin Dwyer is Visual Media Production Specialist at The New York Botanical Garden.


Color Report With Jon Peter — Winter Bark Edition from The New York Botanical Garden on Vimeo.

With winter all around us NYBG Plant Records Manager Jon Peter takes a look at some of the interesting bark around the Garden’s 250-acre spread.

For a monthly schedule of what’s in color at NYBG, visit nybg.org/whats_in_flower/

For periodic updates of what’s in bloom, call 718.362.9561 and enter 403#.

Chanel Supports Winter Fundraiser

Posted in People, Video on December 10 2008, by Plant Talk

Amanda Gordon, a writer and consultant to the Garden, first wrote about NYBG when she was a reporter at the New York Sun.


A glittering flurry hit the Holiday Train Show last Friday night when it became the setting for The New York Botanical Garden’s 10th annual Winter Wonderland Ball. Sponsored by Chanel Fine Jewelry, this black-tie event raised $250,000 for the Children’s Education programs at the Botanical Garden and brought 350 guests to the sparkling Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and adjacent tent for cocktails, dinner, and dancing. During the past decade, the ball has become a tradition for supporters of the Garden in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.

“I look forward to this all year. It’s the most festive Christmas event. It’s so nice to get out of the city and be surrounded by a beautiful environment and all fun, good friends of our age group,” one of the ball’s chairmen, Alex Kramer, commented. “It’s also nice because you get out of the city and you have just green everywhere,” another chairman, Christian Leone, said.

Designers Erin Fetherston and Holly Dunlap attended, along with model and writer Jessica Joffe and Marie Claire’s fashion director Nina Garcia of Project Runway fame. The guest list for the event was so fashionable that Vogue set up a photo booth to take pictures of guests for the magazine’s February issue. Bill Cunningham of The New York Times also snapped away.

But the eye-catching gowns competed for attention with the equally eye-catching trains, bridges, and buildings featured in the Holiday Train Show. “I wish I were a little person who could ride on the trains,” model Coco Rocha noted before getting in front of a camera to interview guests about their outfits for the Web site Style.com.

For Chanel, the event was an opportunity to support an important New York institution as well as to enhance the botanical legacy of its signature flower. “We’re excited tonight because we’re working with the Garden to create a variety of camellia that is going to be named after Coco Chanel,” Chanel’s Division President, Fashion, Fine Watches & Jewelry, Barbara Cirkva Shoemaker, revealed.

Whitney Fairchild, one of the founding chairmen of the ball, recalled the changes in décor through the years. “I always wear white even though a little change of color happens whether it’s silver sneaking in, or a little blue, or a little black. It’s one of the prettiest parties in all of New York. Her husband, James, added, “It’s a great holiday party. Coming down here seeing the beautiful conservatory and the trains is like going to fairy land.”

With or without fancily clad guests, the fairyland atmosphere is present for all visitors to the Holiday Train Show, which runs through January 11 and is especially magical for children. “I brought my young son today,” a Ball committee member, Adelina Wong Ettelson, said. “It’s pretty amazing for a four-year-old to see; actually, it’s pretty amazing for a somewhat older than 40-year-old.” Ms. Wong Ettelson hinted that she might come back for another visit. “I told my son that if he was a really good boy, I’ll bring him back to see Thomas the Tank Engine in January,” she added. The popular character will be visiting the Botanical Garden from January 3 through January 11.