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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Spooky Good Fun!

Posted in Programs and Events on October 8 2013, by Ann Rafalko

halloween1It’s October, which means it’s time for pumpkin everything, leaf peeping, and spooky good times, and we can promise you all three at NYBG!

Beginning the weekend of October 18, explore the Garden after dark on four special Spooky Nighttime Adventures in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden. Use all your senses to explore what happens in the dark. Listen for creepy critters in the leaf litter, thrill to the entertainers greeting you in the Visitor’s Center, decorate your own Halloween gourd to take home, and so much more!

Kids of all ages are encouraged to come in costume to really get into the spirit of the season! Spooky Nighttime Adventures have timed entrances at 6:30 and 7 p.m. on Friday, October 18; Saturday, October 19; Friday, October 25; and Saturday, October 26. If you’re looking to get the party started early, MasterCard cardholders can access special, early entrance tickets that include treats and an exploration of carnivorous plants. Why carnivorous plants? We thought you’d never ask!

During Giant Pumpkin Weekend, Master Carver Ray Villafane and his band of merry pumpkin pranksters will be carving the year’s biggest pumpkins into a botanical tableau of venus flytraps enjoying their Halloween feast.

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Ray tells us that it’s just a rumor that these plants, which live in environments devoid of nitrogen, “eat” only insects for their nutritional needs. Apparently zombies are the preferred dish for the very biggest venus flytraps!

During our Giant Pumpkin Weekend watch Ray & Co. hard at work transforming these enormous pumpkins (some heavier than a car!) into this amazingly creepy sculpture. Watch the team carve, hack, and mold their way through their unusual medium, and ask all your burning questions during appointed Q&A times with the carvers and the growers of these enormous gourds.

While the real meat of the carving will be done at the Garden, get a taste for what it takes to get these enormous sculptures started on Friday, October 18, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., at Grand Central Terminal where team Villafane will begin carving one pumpkin at the taxi stand on Vanderbilt Avenue.

October is full of creepy good fun for the whole family at The New York Botanical Garden! We hope to see you here!