Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Members Share Favorite Holiday Memories

Posted in Exhibitions, Holiday Train Show on December 16 2009, by Plant Talk

Carol Capobianco is Editorial Content Manager at The New York Botanical Garden.

We asked some of our Members for their most special holiday experience at The New York Botanical Garden and they told us—and sent photos, too.

Here are a few of our favorites. Oh, and please keep sending us your stories. We’d love to hear from you and post your wonderful experiences at the Botanical Garden to our blog.

A Yearly Tradition
For several years Barbara Moran has taken family and friends to see the Holiday Train Show and other facets of the Garden. But on her recent visit she was surprised that one of the staff “engineers,” Christopher, remembered her from last year and greeted her warmly. “I wondered what I had done to stand out in his mind,” Barbara wrote. “He is one of the reasons why I continue to return: a friend happy to have me back. I was born in the Bronx, and though I’ve lived most of my life in a small town in Connecticut, the Bronx always welcomes me back and greets my family and friends like treasured guests.” That’s one of the highlights of the Garden and nearby Belmont neighborhood, she continued. “Thank you all for the hours of joy and fellowship I have enjoyed while visiting our beautiful gem of the Bronx, the Botanical Garden. I look forward to many more visits.”

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Book Reviews and Signings: Trains and Gardens

Posted in Shop/Book Reviews on December 9 2009, by Plant Talk

Authors of Old Penn Station History and Children’s Tale Visit

John Suskewich is Book Manager for Shop in the Garden.

591x500A replica of the late, great Pennsylvania Station is new this year in The New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show. I remember that building at the end of its life. My family used to go by train to Philadelphia to visit my aunt who was actually born in Russia and scared us kids by removing her false teeth. Penn Station seemed like a ruin even when it was intact. It was grim and grimy and as you got pulled downstairs and yanked down corridors, it loomed overhead like a cliff or a cave. During demolition the building sat on its city block with broken columns and cornices and clocks hanging in midair like Valhalla after the gods had left.

The rendition of Pennsylvania Station that designer Paul Busse has created for the train show imagines it as it was in its heyday and is impressively colossal even at reduced scale, with bark colonnades, acorn capitals, pine cone clocks, and sugar-water windows.

In Old Penn Station, author William Low traces the history of the great depot from its inception as a monumental gateway to Gotham to its glory days as a transportation hub and its decline and destruction in the name of progress and profitability. His muscular, colorful illustrations, lit like an elegy and pictured from every conceivable angle, bring this fallen monument to life and will turn even a tot into an ardent preservationist.

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What’s Beautiful Now: Journey to the Desert

Posted in What's Beautiful Now on January 11 2019, by Matt Newman

While the genius of Applied Imagination is on display in the Holiday Train Show, there is an equally captivating exhibition of plant architecture just steps away in the Deserts of the Americas Gallery in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. This is just a sampling of the hundreds of cacti and other arid-land plants on display. Don’t touch!

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Morning Eye Candy: A Few More Days

Posted in Photography on January 14 2016, by Matt Newman

Days remaining in the Holiday Train Show are into the single digits now, but no worries—we’re making the most out of them. We’ll be open for the long weekend with activities planned for Monday, January 18, the final day of the exhibition. And if you haven’t had an opportunity to join us for a Bar Car Night this year, you’re just about out of time! A few tickets still remain for our final evenings on Friday and Saturday, January 15 and 16.

Holiday Train Show

The Holiday Train Show in the Haupt Conservatory – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

This Weekend: Film & Music to Suit the Season

Posted in Programs and Events on December 24 2015, by Matt Newman

Anthurium 'Matiz'While the Garden will be closed for Christmas on Friday, December 25, NYBG reopens this Saturday for a three-day weekend chock full of Holiday Train Show activities ranging from a cappella singers to holiday film screenings and more. Once the feasting is done with, and the presents are put away, you deserve a little fresh air—and NYBG is just the place.

Because of the warm weather we’ve been having, you’ll find the Garden an interesting mix of fall and winter, with the trees already dressed for the season and the lawns still boasting the emerald green of late summer. Take advantage of the comfortable temperatures with several of our outdoor tours, including Winter Wonderland Trees and the weekly Saturday bird walk.

It’s going to be a fun and relaxing weekend here at the Garden—I hope you’ll join us!

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This Weekend: Twinkling Nights and Sunny Days

Posted in Programs and Events on December 4 2015, by Vilina Phan

Eurybia_herveyi_1_Nothing says holiday cheer quite like the Garden during this magical time of year. New York’s favorite tradition, the Holiday Train Show, is in full swing—and while you’re here to see the exhibition, enjoy the many festive activities throughout Garden grounds such as holiday a cappella singing your favorite carols and holiday film screenings in Ross Hall.

Take the kids to the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden for Evergreen Express, where lively stations are set up offering something new to create and explore at every stop!

And for the adults, come to Bar Car Nights (special ticket required) and enjoy the Holiday Train Show after dark, where the exhibition twinkles against the night sky. Sip a complimentary drink and enjoy a beautiful evening filled with jazz, an ice sculpture demonstration, and a playful light show. Our next evenings are tonight, December 4, and this Saturday, December 5, and there’s still time to get the few remaining tickets!

Don’t wait—purchase tickets now and start your holiday season off right.

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