This Weekend: Holiday Interlude
Posted in Around the Garden on December 27 2013, by Ann Rafalko
This weekend, it’s time to recover before heading into another mid-week celebration! Which means it’s time to start thinking about New Year’s resolutions. Need some help? Here’s one we can endorse: Get outside more! Spending time outside is good for your physical and mental health, especially amongst our gorgeous 250 acres. This weekend we have several great walks planned that will help you get a jump start on this resolution.
Here’s another resolution we can help you with: Learn more about far-off lands. How? Two easy steps! One: Come see the fantastic Holiday Train Show. Two: Stick around and take a tour of the world’s plants with a leisurely walk through the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory‘s lush galleries.
Neither of those work for you? How about resolving to make new friends in 2014? That’s another one we have covered, especially if you want to make acquaintance with feathered friends (and the people who love them). Our free, weekly bird walks are a great way to learn about the dazzling diversity of birds that make New York City their permanent or temporary home, and to make friends with a fun group of like-minded hobbyists.
So there you have it! Three great New Year’s resolutions you can make ahead of time, and get started on. Because the best way to make a resolution stick is with practice and repetition. How can you come back to the Garden weekend after weekend? With a fourth resolution: Become an NYBG Member! Your support helps us protect plants around the world and in our backyard. It helps us teach New York City’s schoolchildren year round. And you can take your resolutions on the road with access to or discounts at over 200 gardens and arboreta nationwide. Plus, a portion of your NYBG Membership is tax deductible, which could help you with a fifth resolution in 2014: Saving money!
Saturday, December 28
Holiday Guides–10 a.m.–4 p.m.
In the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Learn more about the exhibition from our knowledgeable guides who will show up-close samples of the plant parts used to make buildings and share other special insights.
Bird Walk – 11 a.m.
Meet at the Reflecting Pool at the Leon Levy Visitor Center
The diverse habitats of the Botanical Garden offer visitors a chance to see dozens of species of birds throughout the year. Bring your binoculars and walk the Garden grounds with an expert to learn about bird-friendly habitats, migrating species, and birds that make a permanent home at the Garden.
Plants of the Winter Solstice – 12:30 p.m.
Meet at the Reflecting Pool at the Leon Levy Visitor Center
Throughout civilization, many cultures have celebrated the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. On a walking tour with a Garden tour guide, find out how plants have played a part in this celebration.
Seasonal Serenades – 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.
In the Leon Levy Visitor Center
Celebrate the holiday spirit and enjoy live a cappella music, mixing classic and contemporary holiday favorites with current popular and alternative songs. After the performance, don’t miss the Holiday Tree Lighting at 4 p.m.! Performance times are subject to change; please consult the daily program during your visit..
Landmarks of New York: The LuEsther T. Mertz Library Building – 2:30 p.m.
Meet in the Orchid Rotunda of the Library Building
Learn how this historically significant structure complements our magnificent landscape and discover the ways this space is used to promote and advocate for the plant kingdom.
Holiday Film Screening – 2:30 p.m.
In the Ross Hall
Cap off your Holiday Train Show visit with a trip to the movies. Enjoy some of the most cherished holiday film classics as they were meant to be seen–on the big screen. And it’s included in the price your Garden admission!
A Christmas Carol (1938) Not Rated
In this American film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novelette A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser, learns the error of his ways on Christmas Eve, when he reflects on his past, present and future collectively, whereupon the mean old miser undergoes a radical change of heart and is “awakened” on Christmas morning a changed man. (Run time: 69 minutes)
Sunday, December 29
Holiday Guides–10 a.m.–4 p.m.
In the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Learn more about the exhibition from our knowledgeable guides who will show up-close samples of the plant parts used to make buildings and share other special insights.
Winter Plant and Tree Tour – 12:30 & 2:30 p.m.
Meet at the Reflecting Pool at the Leon Levy Visitor Center
Even in cold weather there’s plenty of interest in our gardens and collections. With the deciduous trees now stripped of their leaves, explore the many colorful winter berries found throughout the Garden and marvel at the sculptural forms of trees and tree bark. Join one of our Tour Guides for this walking tour highlighting majestic trees and plants in the winter landscape.
Seasonal Serenades – 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.
In the Leon Levy Visitor Center
Celebrate the holiday spirit and enjoy live a cappella music, mixing classic and contemporary holiday favorites with current popular and alternative songs. After the performance, don’t miss the Holiday Tree Lighting at 4 p.m.! Performance times are subject to change; please consult the daily program during your visit..
Ongoing Children’s Programs
Holiday Adventures
In the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden
The Holiday Train Show® continues in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, where kids can embark on a journey through a variety of activity train station stops, including an artist’s station, an engineer’s station, and a builder’s station, as well as an educational display of Holiday Train Show® houses. Each weekend brings even more fun with Holiday Parades and Ralph Lee’s Artist Station, a craft studio for families featuring train landscapes and materials kids can use to create their own trains, people, and animals to inhabit the scene!
