Longwood Gardens at Christmas. Photo by Nicholas Perdikos, Member since 1992
I asked a few of our photo-savvy Members to share their pictures of a special trip we took down to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa. The Conservatory was beautifully decorated in holiday flair and the water fountain show was tons of fun.
Most recently, at the kids’ holiday workshop, Members and their children created holiday houses in the fashion as those in the Holiday Train Show, using natural ingredients like dried cedar, cinnamon sticks, pine cones, and magnolia leaves.
The water fountain show at Longwood Gardens. Photo by Nicholas Perdikos, Member since 1992
Already scheduled for the New Year, Members will be able to go on guided historical walking tours of New York City, take mansion and garden tours across New York state, and attend the 2011 Philadelphia International Flower Show.
In England, the day after Christmas is called Boxing Day. In New York City, at least in 2010, it was Blizzard Day. The city was socked-in by a massive storm that brought not only several feet of light, fluffy, powder snow; but also thunder, lightning, hurricane-force winds, and five-foot high snow drifts.
The Garden was supposed to be open for a rare holiday Monday, but due to the conditions and the dangers they posed to both visitors and staff, the decision was made to close. (If you had tickets to visit the Holiday Train Show on December 26, see exchange details here.) Despite the closure, some staff did come to work for the day, including intrepid photographer Ivo M. Vermeulen. See some of the stunning images Ivo captured in the photo essay below.
A little afternoon “Eye Candy” for you. It snowed overnight in New York City, and we all woke up to a winter wonderland.
There’s nothing that gets us in the holiday spirit quite like a pretty little snowfall (especially one that doesn’t stick around too long, turning into gray mush).
So if you come for a visit today (the Garden is open until 6 p.m. after all!) wear a nice, warm pair of boots.
Making a gingerbread house rocks. Let’s face it–the icing, the creativity, the candy, the sense of accomplishment, and then maybe eating it–all of these things are great. I was a pretty crafty kid, and my mom is undoubtedly very creative (she’s a stained glass artist). But no matter how creative we were (my mom would even help me melt crystal fruits hard candies to mimic her beautiful leaded windows) our houses never looked like the ones currently on display as part of the Gingerbread Adventures in the Discovery Center here at The New York Botanical Garden!
Gingerbread Adventures is a seriously good time and a fun adventure to tack onto any trip to the Garden to see the Holiday Train Show. Kids can explore the plant ingredients that help give gingerbread its distinctive flavor, create a field notebook of their favorite discoveries, paint a pot and plant wheat seeds, and then decorate (and eat!) their own gingersnaps.
The holidays are photogenic: all those sparkling lights and (glögg-induced) rosy faces! It’s a time that screams for grampa to pull out his old film camera, for auntie to stick a Flip in your face, and for mom to beg the entire family to pose in those special reindeer sweaters she managed to find in everyone’s size. But not every holiday photo need be awkward.
Here at The New York Botanical Garden we’ve got photo ops aplenty, and they’re all beautiful! But there’s no need to take our word for it. Just ask any of the 250 members of The New York Botanical Garden group pool on Flickr. Or, better yet, take a look at some of the beautiful photographs that our visitors have posted on their own! And then, if you like what you see, you can join the group (by signing up for Flickr) and begin uploading your own shots from around the Garden.
Rustin Dwyer is Visual Media Production Specialist at The New York Botanical Garden.
Even pushing 65 years old, he’s still the lovable little engine who just wants to play in the field. In honor of our annual Holiday Train Show, Tootle the Train™ , the star of the classic Little Golden Book, has pulled into Botanical Garden station for a series of performances at the Janet and Arthur Ross Lecture Hall.
The show runs on most days, so be sure to check the website for dates and times.
Because Tuesday is the new Wednesday (at least in this three-day week), we thought we’d take a moment to celebrate the sublime beauty of the Japanese Chrysanthemums currently on display in the Nolen Greenhouses. The mums will only be around until Sunday, November 28. Be sure to bring your camera and a great macro lens, and join our Flickr group pool to show us your best shots.
Happy Friday! It’s nearly the weekend, which means we’re just one day away from the opening of the Holiday Train Show. Here’s a little heart puddle to brighten your day.
The Bright Side of a Rainy Day (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)
It seems hard to believe, but the holidays really are just around the corner. We love the holidays here at The New York Botanical Garden. The holidays mean the return of one of New York City’s most cherished family traditions,The Holiday Train Show in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. It also means the arrival of beautiful new goodies at the Shop in the Garden, and on the Shop’s website. The selection of gifts in the Shop this holiday season is all about favorites, but they’re not just ours. We’re inviting some of the Garden’s most stylish, culinarily-minded, crafty, and green-thumbed friends to share a few of their favorite things with you!
So, take a spin around the Shop, whether in person while you’re visiting the giant pumpkins this weekend, or virtually. And if you happen to spot something that you’d like to call your favorite, you can use the “Tell A Friend” feature to give Santa a gentle hint.
So watch this space to see what some of your favorite bloggers will be giving as gifts this holiday season!
In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite things.
Plates, check. Forks, check. Pizza, check. Candles, check. I’d just finished assembling all the necessary items for the weekend’s party. The brisk early winter morning was a flurry of preparation for Taylor’s 4th birthday celebration here at the Garden. Excitement was building as party guests began to arrive.
First, Taylor and his friends were taken on a private journey through the exhibition at the time, the Holiday Train Show. With whistling train conductors leading the way, the kids chased the locomotives zooming along tracks and across bridges. Next, the group zigzagged through the wild rain forest in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, where they found their favorite plant of all, the cacao tree—this was a chocolate-loving bunch. Afterward, the group was led to the Conservatory GreenSchool for the rest of the festivities.
New Members of NYBG at the Holiday Workshop. Photo by Melanie J. Patterson
Longwood Gardens at Christmas. Photo by Nicholas Perdikos, Member since 1992
The water fountain show at Longwood Gardens. Photo by Nicholas Perdikos, Member since 1992
