Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Ann Rafalko

This Weekend: One Word: Pumpkins!

Posted in Around the Garden on October 18 2013, by Ann Rafalko

gourdsActually, let’s make that four words: Giant Pumpkin Carving Weekend! Have you heard the news? NYBG is playing host to the new world’s heaviest pumpkin, a 2,032-pound giant grown by Tim and Susan Mathison of Napa, California. Heavier than a 2013 Smart FourTwo (by a lot) the Mathison’s phenomenal pumpkin is joined by a retinue of other enormous gourds, a record breaking long gourd, and the new world’s heaviest watermelon.

You might think this all sounds like a recipe for a record-breaking pot of squash soup, followed by the world’s largest fruit salad, but you would be wrong (these fruit are barely edible because of the intense breeding for weight—well, kind of. They will be turned into “food,” food for zombie Venus flytraps!

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This Week at the Greenmarket: Soup Season is Here!

Posted in Programs and Events on October 15 2013, by Ann Rafalko

greenmarketWarm days, cool nights. This weather screams for soup! And the Garden’s free, weekly Wednesday Greenmarket has everything you need to cobble together a quick soup for dinner or for a long-simmered stock this weekend.

You can find everything you need to make the best soup ever at the Greenmarket. Produce aplenty is available from Gajeski Produce and Migliorelli Farm. Red Jacket Orchards has apples, pears, and ciders that are an exciting addition to your dinner table. And Meredith’s Bread has rolls for serving alongside your soup, and dessert, too.

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How to Track Fall In the Bronx From Your Couch

Posted in Around the Garden on October 15 2013, by Ann Rafalko

fall1In some parts of New York State, autumn has already come and gone. But here in the Bronx? The best is yet to come! How will you know when it’s time to pay us a visit to see the Garden’s 250-acres dressed up in the prettiest oranges, reds, and yellows of fall? With our new Fall Foliage Tracker of course!

The Garden has a multitude of places for you to enjoy the beauty of fall, but if I had to pick just one place you must visit for fall foliage enjoyment, it would be the Thain Family Forest. This 50-acre old growth forest is the largest remaining tract of the woodlands that once covered all five boroughs of New York City. The Bronx River, New York City’s only freshwater river, cuts through it in a dramatic gorge complete with a waterfall. Stand above the river on the Hester Bridge for one of the Garden’s great fall foliage vistas.

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The Giant Pumpkins’ Giant Friends

Posted in Around the Garden on October 14 2013, by Ann Rafalko

longgourdThey’re getting closer. All across the United States farmers are loading up moving vans and flatbed farm trucks with hulking pumpkins and heading for the Bronx and the Haunted Pumpkin Garden. And this year, the pumpkins are bringing friends.

For the first time, the Garden is excited to play host to the new world record-setting watermelon and the new world record-setting long gourd, too! Who names these world records? Our partners in giant pumpkin fun, the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, of course.

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