Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Posted in Photography on October 5 2013, by Ann Rafalko
This pretty lady has been posing for the paparazzi in the Perennial Garden all week. Join our free weekly Bird Walk today and you might have the chance to see her, too.
Posted in Around the Garden on October 4 2013, by Ann Rafalko
The weather forecast for this weekend looks equally as wonderful as our slate of weekend activities. Blue skies and golden sunshine pair perfectly with Japanese chrysanthemums, pumpkin carving demonstrations, bird walks, and garden tours. It just doesn’t get better than early October in New York City! So get outside and soak up this perfect weather in the Garden!
Children of all ages can join a bird walk (Saturday only), get pumpkin carving tips, thrill to the sounds of Japanese taiko drumming, and learn about the bugs and creepy creatures of Halloween. Adults hunting for horticultural knowledge will love our Bulb Basics demonstration in the Home Gardening Center, ikebana demonstrations in the Conservatory Courtyard, in-depth tours of Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Garden in the Conservatory, and an expert-led tour of the Native Plant Garden.
Posted in Photography on October 4 2013, by Ann Rafalko
Even the tropical waterlily pool begins to take on the subdued hues–umbers, ochres, and moss greens–of fall, though with the occasional punctuation of opalescent blooms.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden, Exhibitions on October 3 2013, by Ann Rafalko
You probably know (or at least think you know) all about bonsai, the Japanese art of growing, tending, and shaping miniature trees in trays. But do you know about kiku? Where bonsai is small, kiku is large. Where bonsai is about long life, kiku is about ephemerality. Where bonsai is about a minimal aesthetic, kiku is about color, pattern, and profusion.
Or at least that is how we interpret this tradition of shaping and tending chrysanthemums in Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Garden, opening Saturday in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Many of these huge chrysanthemum “sculptures” begin as one single stem, despite looking like brilliant tapestries of many flowering plants woven together. They are tended for months on end to bloom for just a few weeks. There is no way for us to extend kiku beyond their natural lifespan, so to see them in their full glory, you have got to act fast!
Posted in Photography on October 3 2013, by Ann Rafalko
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in NYBG in the News on October 2 2013, by Matt Newman
The New York City experience is everything, and few understand this better than your concierge. Fonts of knowledge for all things entertainment, food, and urban exploration, this hotel staple’s talent for digging up sightseeing spots, dinner reservations, and tickets to the best Broadway shows are without equal. Each year since 2007, the New York City Association of Hotel Concierges has held an award show to drum up applause for their favorite local picks—the spots around NYC at the top of the heap among services, experiences, and destinations.
And this year, we took gold!
The 2013 Concierge Choice Awards dinner was held in the city Monday night with fanfare and recognition for New York’s finest organizations in service to locals and visitors alike. And among such respected company, the New York Botanical Garden was nominated (our first time!) in the Tourist Attraction category as one of the best destinations in town. Concierges from the city’s top hotels joined in to select the best of the best—and we were lucky and honored to win in our category! The competition was stiff, too, making us that much more grateful for such recognition.
Being recommended as an institution by a New York City concierge is an honor in itself, but they have so much more to offer that many visitors miss out on. Rather than winging it the next time you’re in town, if you’re staying in a hotel, take the time to chat up your local concierge and see what he or she thinks would make the perfect day! They’re experts, of course.
Posted in Photography on October 2 2013, by Ann Rafalko
Something about this dahlia along Seasonal Walk puts me in mind of Lion from The Wizard of Oz.
Photo by James Vickers
Posted in Programs and Events on October 1 2013, by Ann Rafalko
It’s apple time in the Big Apple, and if my field research is to be believed, 2013 is shaping up to be an epic apple season! The apples I have sampled from the Hudson Valley have been huge, crisp, and packed with flavor. I haven’t even bothered to do anything with them other than eat them out of hand. Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to mess with perfection!
Apples will be in abundance at tomorrow’s free Greenmarket along Tulip Tree Allee from Migliorelli Farm and Red Jacket Orchard. They’ll have other fruits too, including late season plums, pears, juices, and ciders. If vegetables are what you’re after Gajeski Produce and Migliorelli will both be stocked with squash, beans, brassicas, the last of summer’s tomatoes, kale, fennel, herbs, onions, garlic, collard greens, eggplant, and so much more. If you’re craving seasonal baked goods but you’re just too busy—or your tiny apartment kitchen is still just too stuffy—to bake, Meredith’s Bread will help satiate your cravings with pies, tarts, cookies, breads, and jams.
The Greenmarket is always free to visit from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and short term parking is available for those who drive. The market accepts food stamps, EBT, WIC/FMNP, and Senior coupons, in addition to cash and credit or debit cards. Learn how to use EBT, WIC and FMNP at the Greenmarket.
Posted in Adult Education on October 1 2013, by Lansing Moore
For over thirty years Bill Einhorn has instructed our Landscape Design students, passing on the technical skills and foundational knowledge for creating hospitable and healthy green spaces. As our longtime instructor and the president of the New York chapter of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, we thought Bill would be the perfect person to ask about the newest trends emerging in the landscape design industry, and the kinds of projects our graduates can expect to see as they venture out into the field.
What recent trends are you noticing in the industry and in designing projects for clients?
In both the public and private sector clients are more in tune with sustainability and the use of native plants. Green roofs and rain gardens are not new trends anymore and the public is much more aware of sustainable practice. However, I have found that the newer regulations in many towns that I work in that insist on sustainable practice, storm water management, and wetland regulations can add prohibitive costs to projects where the client either kills the project or cuts back on aesthetics in order to put the money into following the new rules. Other trends I see in the high-end market are an increased demand for an outdoor kitchen, fireplace, fire pit or a spa. Clients want to extend their enjoyment of the shortened outdoor season in the northeast. It is exciting that I am now designing projects that I would normally see out on the west coast.
Posted in Photography on October 1 2013, by Ann Rafalko
