“An unsung American hero,” is how film director Carey Lundin describes landscape architect and pioneering conservationist, Jens Jensen (1860–1951), who rose from street sweeper to prolific city park designer amid Chicago’s steel industry boom. On Earth Day, April 22, the Garden’s Humanities Institute hosts the New York premiere of Lundin’s award-winning documentary, followed by a panel discussion exploring ways we can honor Jensen’s legacy. We sat down with Carey to hear more about the important man behind the film.
What inspired you to choose Jens Jensen as your subject matter?
I was born in Chicago and I love a great underdog man against the machine story, and I mean that two ways, both the political power machine and the rise of the machine age. Jensen fought for humanity against both.
Pull on your galoshes and best gardening gloves, because spring is just two weeks away! Soon, kids ages 3–5 and 6–12 will learn about spring crops and beautiful early bloomers, like tulips and daffodils, in the Children’s Gardening Program, which kicks off later this month.
Kids in the Children’s Gardening Program learn about plant life, from soil all the way to the treetops. They get to take part in the process by planting their own veggie garden plots and digging for worms—key players in the composting and soil enrichment processes. There’s plenty more fun with songs, crafts, and nature-inspired activities that indulge in kids’ desire to know more about the inner workings of the environment around them.
Floral Design Certificate program alumnae Brittany Asch (’11), is going her own way—including around the world and into Vogue. But this spring, she’s back at the Garden to inspire aspiring designers and to teach “Finding Your Own Aesthetic,” the first in our new Cutting Edge series featuring trending floral designers.
Brittany, who founded her studio, BRRCH, in 2013, has had a lot of success as a relatively young new designer. She said she owes her confidence in pursuing floral design to her experiences at NYBG.
Next week, we take an intimate look into André Le Nôtre’s 17th-century masterwork of the formal gardens of Château de Vaux le Vicomte outside of Paris as part of our 15th annual Winter Lecture Series, Le Jardin Français. During his presentation Thursday, February 19, the co-proprietor and fifth-generation owner of this landmark family estate, Alexandre de Vogüé, will give examples of Le Nôtre’s design audacity and walk listeners through the ongoing and ambitious landscape restoration he currently oversees in his presentation, “Vaux le Vicomte: From Le Nôtre to Today.”
Monsieur de Vogüé was gracious enough to answer a few questions we had for him in advance of his lecture.
The rendering of the new Water Theater grove at Versailles features beeches and holm oaks in the landscape. (By Louis Benech)
Tomorrow we say bonjour to Louis Benech, a renowned French landscape designer and first speaker in our 15th Annual Winter Lecture Series, Le Jardin Français. Benech has carried out some 300 park and garden projects worldwide, including his celebrated reimagining of Louis XIV’s Water Theater grove at Versailles.
With his signature mustache and disarming personality, Wayne Cahilly is known widely around NYBG as a beloved horticulturist, site historian, and instructor of tree management. But Wayne is also a talented photographer. In fact, as a 12-year-old, he spent his first paycheck from his first job on an instamatic camera. Many years and several cameras later, he passed his passion for photography on to his daughter, Meghan. Together, they’re teaming up to teach Fundamentals of Digital Photography at the Garden this month, for students with a fascination for nature.
These talented outdoor photographers have two unique perspectives that will serve as a double whammy for photography students.
As he graduated from camera to camera, Wayne taught himself how to capture landscapes and other natural elements in compelling photographs. He eventually turned his expertise in arboriculture and his passion for photography into a consulting business in forensic arboriculture.
The new Fall-Winter course catalog showcases NYBG’s collaboration with Hudson Valley Seed Library, a farm-based company devoted to heirloom and open-pollinated seeds and garden-themed contemporary art. Every year, Hudson Valley Seed Library commissions unique, original artworks for its annual seed catalog—and this year a special NYBG seed pack coincides with the upcoming Art of the Heirloom exhibit. The Adult Education catalog features the Garden’s seed pack on the cover, with art from the exhibition included throughout.
On the cover, a wreath of Penstemon digitalis—a perennial native to New York also known as foxglove beardtongue—surrounds the iconic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
Instructor Daryl Beyers demonstrates how to resolve bound roots during a container gardening lesson.
On July 14, more than 60 eager Summer Intensives students came to the Garden to begin a move toward changing their careers, learning new skills, and pursuing their passions. The Intensives are designed to accelerate training and Certification in Gardening, Floral Design, Landscape Design, Botanical Art & Illustration, and Horticultural Therapy.
Students came from as near as the tri-state area and as far as Texas to get professional training from the Garden. Some students had prior experience in these fields of study, while others were newcomers looking for a new career. This year’s students were, overwhelmingly, all on a mission to positively change their lives and the lives of others.
Marcela Bonancio took a big step last summer, followed by a huge leap last winter.
A year after attending the Floral Design Summer Intensive in 2012, Bonancio decided to launch her own floral design business, The Lotus Blossom Atelier, using her business chops from her marketing degree and NYBG education as driving forces, in December 2013.
The Floral Design Summer Intensive laid the foundation for Bonancio’s successful business and floral design skills.
“In my mind, floral design foundations are very important, because without them being in place, all the beauty of flowers just falls apart,” Bonancio said.
The Summer Intensive program instructors are all working New York City-area designers themselves, with a variety of styles and skillsets that translate well to students with different reasons for signing up for Floral Design classes.
My mission—and I chose to accept it—was to audit Trish O’Sullivan’s “Shopping the New York Flower Market” class in Manhattan. This four-hour insiders’ tour offers a priceless introduction to the business side of floral design and teaches students where to shop for flowers, vases, and related accessories, like ribbons, wire, and event supplies.
The district is more than a century old, and occupies one city block on 28th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues. It’s inarguably the best place in the region to purchase bulk flowers and floral design supplies. Most shops open early—around 5:30 a.m.—and close in the mid-afternoon, if not before lunch. Many sell their goods strictly wholesale, although plenty of shops also sell to individuals. The New York Times once called the district “Midtown’s Lush Passage,” which, as the class learned, is an adequate description of an area featuring sidewalks lined with potted plants, flowering tree branches, and buckets of cut botanicals.
