Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Posted in Gardening Tips on November 5 2013, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by …
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; …”
While John Masefield’s lyrical poem conjures the image of being at one with the open sea, one year after Hurricane Sandy many seaside inhabitants have developed a very different relationship with their neighbor.
Last year we looked at salt water remediation in the Storm Clean-Up 101 series, which included everything from tips on soil testing, to a comprehensive clean-up task list for gardeners. With a year behind us and the gardening season gone, coastal inhabitants may now have time to assess their gardens and evaluate their garden’s needs for restoration and remediation in the spring.
While aesthetics and maintenance are standard considerations in garden design, coastal gardens are also tasked with erosion control. Seascapes are continuously battered by winds and waves. Shifting sand on beaches and primary dunes are part of a natural process, but that doesn’t mean humans shouldn’t intervene in helping to stabilize these natural formations.
Read More
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on November 5 2013, by Matt Newman
It’s colder now. For the time being, the plants in the Perennial Garden don’t seem to notice much, spilling over the borders of their beds in cozy rebellion.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden on November 4 2013, by Matt Newman
Big, small, fierce, or cute, the birds of prey that live out their lives in the northeast are an uncommon cadre of sharp-eyed hunters, though seldom seen by your average park wanderer. Here in the New York Botanical Garden, our most popular visitors are definitely the Red-tailed Hawks that patrol the skies around our grounds, as well as the occasional Great-horned Owl, but the many local species that you might not always see are equally fascinating! And I admit they’re also pretty adorable if you’re not a squirrel or a chipmunk.
As part of our Fall Forest Weekends events and activities, which kicked off this past weekend and run through the next, our friends from the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary & Audubon Center stopped off at the Garden with a few clever companions in tow, among them an American Kestrel, an Eastern Screech Owl, and a Barred Owl—some of which you can see hunting around our grounds if you’re lucky. Many of the birds in the Audubon Center’s care are rescues, brought in to be rehabilitated after sustaining injuries that won’t allow them to survive back in the wild. But they do plenty of good in their downtime, educating people about the importance of raptors for a healthy, diverse ecosystem.
Read More
Posted in Around the Garden on November 4 2013, by Matt Newman
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on November 3 2013, by Matt Newman
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on November 2 2013, by Patricia Gonzalez
I shot this on Tuesday, October 30th. As my shift ended early, I decided to take advantage of the daylight and photograph the continuing explosion of fall colors. The Forest is especially wonderful this time of year. Reds, yellows, oranges, and great shades of violet cover its 50 acres. According to the Garden’s fall foliage tracker, we are now about halfway to peak color. And it can only get better. I didn’t edit this photo in the least—mother nature provided excellent colors!
Photo by Patricia Gonzalez
Posted in Programs and Events on November 1 2013, by Matt Newman
The spotlight falls on our 50-acre woodland this weekend as we leapfrog past ghouls and ghosts and straight into Fall Forest Weekends! The timing couldn’t be better, either, with the leaves on the trees sitting at just over 50% of peak color. Over the next two weekends, we’ll be making the most of this painted season with canoe trips, Forest tours, tree-climbing courses, woodcarving demonstrations, beer tastings—you get the idea.
My suggestion? Come early, wander a bit to orient yourself, then launch into Saturday’s 11 a.m. Bird Walk with Debbie Becker. That should set you up for the rest of the day’s activities in the Forest while giving you a chance to experience the variety of wildlife that calls the Garden home. There’s a good mix of active and casual events taking place throughout each day, too, so take it all at your own pace!
The weather’s been mild, the colors are bright, and we’re super excited to get outside and enjoy it all. Everyone is welcome to join us!
Read More
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on November 1 2013, by Matt Newman
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden on October 31 2013, by Matt Newman
For everyone who’s been cooped up in an office cubicle for far too long to frolic in the changing fall palette, I thought I’d throw together some of the best and brightest shots from around the Garden this week. The autumnal leaves are really picking up the pace! We’re actually heading into the coming weekend at about the halfway mark on our Fall Foliage Tracker, with reds, oranges, and yellows popping all over our 250 acres. Some of the gradients—trees starting green at their lower branches and graduating to red at the tip-top—are downright majestic.
Whether or not you decide to come and join us for Fall Forest Weekends over the next two Saturdays and Sundays (you really should!), here’s to enjoying every last minute of this colorful middle ground before winter’s snows set in.
Photos by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on October 31 2013, by Matt Newman
Here’s to a frightful Halloween, a gentle autumn, and the last day of our Haunted Pumpkin Garden! After today, the pumpkins and spooks take their leave to make room for the peak of fall color, the coming winter, and the Holiday Train Show. We’ll see you in the Forest.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
