The Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum at The New York Botanical Garden covers nearly 40 acres of rolling landscape in the heart of the garden. It became the first collection of living plants at the Garden with plantings started in 1901, and now boasts more than 250 mature conifers, some of which are more than 100 years old.
Some of the earliest conifers to arrive at the garden–planted in 1908–are the Tanyosho pines, conifers that display a beautiful, orange-red bark with branches that can often be seen spreading in an umbrella shape. Our grove of five mature specimens is a very unique example of the species in the U.S., especially when considering that each tree is more than a century old.
Did you know that globally, boreal conifer forests cover more land mass than any other type of forest on the planet? In fact, they take up more space than all of the tropical rain forests combined. This makes conifers an extremely important family of trees, not to mention record-holders for the world’s oldest, tallest, and most massive trees.
I went up to our Native Plant Garden the other day to check on the progress of the restoration, an undertaking being handled by my colleagues, John Egenes and Michael Wronski.
Our Native Plant garden has been closed for the past year and is undergoing a full-scale redesign that is spearheaded by the design firm Oehme van Sweden, whose work has been seen in the Chicago Botanic Garden and United States National Arboretum. As part of the firm’s plan here at The New York Botanical Garden, the location will be broken down into disparate native habitats that include a wetland, a sizable pond, and a meadow. It will also have a large woodland area.
My colleagues spent most of their time over the last year preparing the soil in different sections of the garden, adding truckloads of compost and leaf litter. The topography of the garden has since changed and many areas have been graded, making paths ADA accessible for wheelchairs.
The Native Plant Garden is designed to showcase the beauty of native plants throughout the year. If this were spring, I might be talking about the planting of the woodland, where trillium, lady slippers and ferns were planted in April and May. But this is another time and another season.
Now the meadow is in focus. We haven’t had a meadow in the Native Plant Garden for a very long time–not since the old one succumbed to dodder. But once in bloom, the meadow will be an open, full sun grass garden punctuated with flowers. It has three distinct conditions available for plants, each offering a different environment to support a variety of species.
Rustin Dwyer is Visual Media Production Specialist at The New York Botanical Garden.
An Ethno-what? It’s an all too common question for New York Botanical Garden Research Specialist Ina Vandebroek. Ethnobotany is a field many people take for granted and Ina finds that just saying “I work with plants” doesn’t quite explain it. Traveling the Caribbean, Ina has worked with local communities to document how plants have been and continue to be used medicinally. We took a quick visit to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory with Ina, where many Caribbean specimens are on display during The Caribbean Garden.
“Medicinal plants are a source for a lot of today’s pharmaceutical medicines,” said Vandebroek. “In a lot of places around the world people use plants as their only and first form of health care, so basically what ethnobotanists do is we go out to these remote places and we study how people use plants.”
Despite the fact humans have been using plants since the dawn of time, when thinking of ethnobotany many find it hard to get past the ideas of beat-influence Richard Schultes and Sean Connory’s rugged grey ponytail in the film Medicine Man. “It’s so much more than hallucinogenics and finding the next cure for cancer,” Ina said, laughing. “Its about helping communities that are really in need. We try to promote it as a science that can help local communities in conservation of their bio-cultural diversity.”
Ina’s current focus is on the flora of the Dominican Republic. She works not only in the Caribbean, but here in New York City with Dominican immigrants, frequenting many Botanicas.”We try to give those results back to them in the form of guides books as well as workshops within the community. We can also have programs together with universities to isolate bioactive compounds and those could lead to new medicines for humankind.”
Here’s a quick video about Ina’s thoughts on ethnobotany and a few of her favorite Caribbean plants on display now in the Conservatory.
You can find out a little more about her work here.
Chrysanthemums. You see them everywhere this time of year; their cheery little faces in a rainbow of hues (all except blue!) brightening up front stoops, fire escapes, tree guards, and otherwise bedraggled gardens all over the city. But trust us, you’ve never seen chrysanthemums like this!
On display now for a limited time–just until Sunday, November 21–at the Bourke-Sullivan display house is a wonderland of Japanese chrysanthemums. These mums are far more than the plastic pots you can jump in your car and buy at your local gardening center. These mums are coddled and cultivated and trained and coaxed into a kaleidoscopic array of shapes–dizzying spirals, sprawling umbrellas, cascading waves–each form composed entirely of just one plant. That’s right. One plant.
We’re thrilled and honored to have the Garden‘s Native Forest included in this piece, and couldn’t agree more that the City is a fantastic place to get out and marvel at the autumnal beauty of trees.
Roses aren’t just a summertime treat. The Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden blooms multiple times throughout the year, bringing beauty and fragrance to those who — if you’ll pardon the expression — stop and smell the roses. While the flowers love the full sun and hot weather in the summertime, the award-winning Rose Garden thrives in fall with one last spectacular, “rose encore.” It’s the floral equivalent of a curtain call!
This will be your last chance to see these beauties in 2010. According to the Rose Garden curator Peter Kukielski, the rose garden will continue to flower until the first frost — which is unfortunately almost upon us in the Bronx. So while it’s too late to begin planting and too early to start training next year’s blooms, you’ve got this weekend to get one last look before the Rose Garden’s gates are closed until May 1st, 2011.
So if you can’t make it out this weekend to see for yourself, here’s a quick gallery of what you’re missing out on, including certain varieties named in honor of celebrities and dignitaries as well as dew covered morning beauties. All of the images are from Garden photographer Ivo M. Vermeulen (you kind find tons of his photos plus some by other talented photographers on our Flickr page. Don’t forget to submit your own to our group page too!)
Peter Kukielski is the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden Curator.
One of the best things about a rose is that it is the longest blooming perennial plant there is. Roses begin blooming in late May and can continue to bloom until the first frost. The Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden is a perfect example of this and continues to bloom even today–the second day of November! This is amazing considering this year’s peak bloom occurred in the third week of May. ‘Easter Basket,’ a variety that is planted along the main alley of the rose garden and newly planted at the top of the stairs, hasn’t been out of bloom since late spring.
Fall is a wonderful time to stop and smell the roses. The cooler air seems to intensify their fragrance, allowing it to linger in the air. The main entrance to the garden is flanked on either side by an incredible collection of English Roses, which are famous for their scent. Other varieties such as ‘Julia Child,’ ‘Quietness,’ ‘Bolero,’ ‘The McCartney Rose,’ ‘Eternal Flame,’ ‘Mister Lincoln,’ ‘Double Delight’, ‘Tiffany,’ and ‘Marie Louise Marjan’ are all incredibly fragrant, and ‘Queen Mary 2’ smells slightly of bananas!
The Botanical Garden’s living collections is among the greatest in the world and contains more than 1 million plants. Jon Peter, Plant Records Manager, periodically shines the spotlight on a particular species that can be found within our 250 acres.
Botanical Name: Sassafras albidum
Common Name: Sassafras
Family Name: Lauraceae (Laurel family)
Native Range: USA—Maine to Florida, west to Michigan and Texas
Canada—southern Ontario
Site Requirements: Sun to partial shade; well-drained, moist soil
Interesting Note: This species has been used for centuries in a variety of ways. The root bark was used to flavor root beer, the leaves and bark used to make tea, and the oils used in soaps. It was known in folk medicine as a tonic and a purifier of the blood and still has a reputation as a stimulant, and as a treatment for syphilis, rheumatism, and skin disease. Most of these uses ended in the early 1960s when it was found that the active ingredient safrole is carcinogenic.
In the native habitats of North America it has exceptional valuable as a food source for insects, birds, and mammals. The sassafras has many great ornamental qualities as well: from its gorgeous furrowed bark and three forms of leaves to its fragrant twigs and beautiful autumn color. Sassafras is under utilized in the North American landscape.
