Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Daffodils
Posted in Photography on November 5 2015, by Matt Newman
We’re just beginning our Million Daffodil initiative this week! With the use of a specialized machine that allows to plant up to thousands of bulbs per hour, we’re well on our way to reaching our goal of planting 150,000 in November. And that’s just for this fall—over the next few years, we’ll continue to plant daffodils on and around Daffodil Hill until we’ve reached a total of one million!
Learn more about the initiative and how you can help here.
Planting daffodil bulbs on Daffodil Hill – Photos by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography on May 5 2014, by Matt Newman
The daffodils are still chugging right along, and you don’t have to look far to find them. “Just about everywhere” is a good place to start, though.
Daffodils near the Library Building – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Horticulture on April 25 2014, by Kristin Schleiter
Kristin Schleiter is the NYBG’s Associate Vice President of Outdoor Gardens and Senior Curator. She oversees the wonderful gardening team that keeps our flowering gardens looking topnotch, curates the herbaceous gardens and collections, and manages the curator of woody plants. She lives and gardens in Fairfield, CT.
It’s daffodil time! That dreamy, delicious time of year when even the greyest day is made brilliant by masses of cheerful blooms.
I’m often asked which is my favorite daffodil. It’s like asking me which of my children I love the most! I adore the slightly green, buttery yellow trumpet ‘Pistachio’ who is so handsome next to lavender pansies. But then ‘Surfside’ just blooms so enthusiastically with her swept back white petals and her frilled cup that fades to cream. How could I not pick her? And of course ‘St. Keverne’ is marvelous too. His rich golden yellow blossoms stand tall and strong and he perennializes so fabulously!
If you have a garden, really any kind of a garden except for a very wet site, and you don’t have any daffodils in it, plant some this fall! Simply plant them 3 times as deep as the bulb is tall with the root end down. If you aren’t sure which is the root end, plant them on their side and they will find their way! When choosing a variety, look for those that are described as being good perennializers. Daffodils will perform their best in full sun in well-drained soil, but they are very forgiving. We have swathes of daffodils planted in lawns here which make such marvelous spring scenes, but you have to be sure to leave their foliage up for at least 6 weeks before you mow.
Of course, the very best way to choose what to plant in the fall is to come see them in person this spring. Our grounds are now a living catalog, so come find your favorites!
Posted in Photography on April 16 2014, by Matt Newman
Cue Julie Andrews. It may be a bit frosty out there today, but Daffodil Hill is having none of it.
On Daffodil Hill – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography on March 11 2014, by Matt Newman
Have no fear, the daffs are here! They’re still a bit sleepy as far as spring beauty goes, but it shouldn’t be long now.
Daffodils – Photo by Amy Weiss
Posted in Photography on April 21 2013, by Ann Rafalko
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography on March 30 2013, by Ann Rafalko
Should you partake in an Easter-themed perambulation down Fifth Avenue tomorrow, may your bonnet be as graceful and light as this delicate daffodil!
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Programs and Events on October 10 2012, by Matt Newman
Fair warning, northerners: you’ll have to forgive me for bringing up the touchy subject of warm weather. I know it seems like I’m teasing your patience with the far-off return of shorts and sandals, food trucks, and musty coats gone to closet, especially with the chilly stuff still ahead of us; the leaves have hardly given an autumn shrug, much less an autumn change. But when it comes to New York’s official flower–the daffodil–even standing at snow’s door step is a good time to talk about next spring’s blossoms!
Actually, it’s the best of times.
On Thursday, October 11, the NYBG not only celebrates a Garden tradition that dates back nearly a century, but recognizes how that tradition finds new meaning in recent years. Daffodil Hill has remained the spring pride of this organization since the early 20th century, when thousands of white and buttermilk yellow blooms would wake to send off winter with carpets of sunny color. And they still do! Daffodils, being perennials, are a hardy lot that bounces back year after year, often with more flowers to boast than the spring before. In the years following 9/11, the species came to represent the resilience and beauty of the people of New York–so much so that Mayor Michael Bloomberg officially recognized the daffodil as the flower of New York City in 2007. As a symbol of remembrance, the daffodil has been planted in the millions throughout the five boroughs, brightening parks in Manhattan just as they bunch around street trees in Brooklyn.
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Posted in Photography on April 5 2012, by Ann Rafalko
The flowers get all the glory, but the stems that hold them up can be picturesque, too.
Daffodil Stems (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)
Posted in Around the Garden, Gardens and Collections on March 13 2012, by Ann Rafalko
It seemed too good to be true. All winter, I kept holding my breath; I kept thinking in the back of my mind that winter had to arrive eventually; that all these nascent flowers and blooms and buds would be pummeled, at last, by a snowstorm as equally freakish as the October 29 blizzard that blew in like some harbinger of an Arctic winter. But, it never came. It never happened. And now, in mid-March it is glorious. On several occasions it has been warmer in the Bronx than in Los Angeles. The birds are singing, the breeze is blowing, sweaters have been (mostly) relegated to the bottom drawer, and flowers are popping up all over the Garden.
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