Skip to main content
 
Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Ann Rafalko

Photography Competition Deadline Looms

Posted in Photography on October 22 2012, by Ann Rafalko

The New York Botanical Garden is the official U.S. partner of the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition, and your chance to enter this prestigious contest is fast dwindling. But never fear! Photographic fame and fortune are still within reach; with an entry deadline of November 30, you still have just under a month to gather together your best photographs and submit them for the chance to see your works featured in exhibitions around the world and to win thousands of dollars in prizes.

[Not a valid template]

The International Garden Photographer of the Year competition is open to everyone, amateurs and professionals alike. Entries are welcome from any country in the world. There are no restrictions on the type of camera you use, or the techniques you use to produce your final image. There are scads of categories to enter, and many additional prizes are available as well, including NYBG’s own “Wellness” prize. Winners will win cash and see their photographs hung in a gallery at the Garden during next summer’s Healing Plants Around the World exhibition.

Here are some of the contest’s pertinent details:

Read More

Office Plants: We Want Your Questions!

Posted in Gardening Tips on October 4 2012, by Ann Rafalko

Yesterday as I was watering my office plants, I gave the newest addition a gentle poke; gentle because it is an agave, and can quite aggressively poke back. It had been weeks since I had last watered it, and I wasn’t sure if it needed another dousing. I prodded its leaves and they felt healthy. I looked under its pot. I asked it, “Do you need water?” It didn’t answer.

So I decided it was time to indulge in one of the perks of my job: I grabbed my iPhone, snapped a picture, and sent it off to Christian Primeau, the Manager of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory (you might remember him from this great how-to video he did on planting water lilies in containers at home). “Do you mind if I ask you how I can tell whether or not my agave needs water?” Lucky for me (and for my agave) Christian didn’t mind in the least and sent back a really cheerful, fact-filled email.

Read More

Weekly Greenmarket Preview: Peach Month!

Posted in Around the Garden on August 14 2012, by Ann Rafalko

Thanks to a tweet from the Cooper-Hewitt I learned that August is National Peach Month. And boy, what a summer it has been for peaches! Have you had one yet? If not, I urge you to run out to your closest greenmarket or farmer’s market (a bodega just will not do) and buy two or three right now. Go on … go ahead, I’ll wait.

Got one? Good, now go eat it over the sink. Yep, they’re that juicy this year! And it’s not just peaches, all the stone fruit are having a stellar season; nectarines, plums, cherries, apricots (though their season is over now), they have all been sensationally delicious. And while I cannot vouch for every peach at every greenmarket in New York City, I have been buying mine at our weekly Greenmarket, so I can vouch for those being sold by Red Jacket Orchard and Migliorelli Farm as fantastic!

Read More

Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens: Get Ready to Party!

Posted in Around the Garden on August 13 2012, by Ann Rafalko

Mark you calendars: The Edible Garden Festival is just over a month away; on September 23, The New York Botanical Garden will be home to one big, family-friendly edible festival featuring Garden friend Mario Batali!

Families can spend the day in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden exploring “Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens,” watch cooking demonstrations with NYBG staff, participate in a plethora of hands-on gardening activities, and enjoy food sampling. A special ticket is required for the Festival and includes All-Garden Pass access to the Garden. This ticket does not include the Mario Batali cooking demonstration or the Garden-to-Table Dinner with Mario Batali.

Read More