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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Enid A. Haupt Conservatory

This Weekend: Time For A Trip to the Tropics!

Posted in Around the Garden on January 17 2014, by Ann Rafalko

weekender5Are you one of those workaholics that just can’t seem to ever use your vacation time, because going on vacation takes too much, well, time? Or maybe you have little kids and the thought of lugging them—and all their stuff—to the airport, dealing with the withering glances of your fellow travelers and kiddo jet lag is just too much. Or maybe you’re saving up for something important like college, or a big move, or a new car.

Either way, if you need a break from winter but can’t swing it for some reason, we’ve got you covered! That’s right: Tropical Paradise is back!

Opening on Saturday just in time for a three-day weekend, Tropical Paradise is our very popular winter interpretation of the permanent collection in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. It’s the chance for all of our brilliant, warmth-loving, exotic specimens to take center stage! And did I mention warmth? The temperatures inside many of the Conservatory’s galleries are positively balmy, a nice change from what’s going on outside.

And to encourage you to look at our beautiful plants just a little bit differently, we’re holding our fan-favorite Tropical Paradise Photography Contest again this year. Everyone who enters has a chance to win a seat in one of our Adult Education photography classes. All that’s needed is a camera (your smartphone is fine!) and a Flickr account. Upload your photographs to our Group Pool, tag them with #tropicalparadise, and we’ll do the rest!

And don’t forget! As an added bonus for your little ones, All Aboard with Thomas & Friends is still here!

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Love is All Around

Posted in Programs and Events on January 15 2014, by Ann Rafalko

ConservatoryIt’s cliche, but it’s true: If you can’t celebrate your love with crystallized carbon, you can always celebrate it with the fermented pit of a South American fruit. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Why chocolate of course! Too trite? Not how we do it!

For the love of your life, we’re celebrating with two fabulous evenings—Friday the 14th and Saturday the 15th—in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, and for your little loves, we’re celebrating on Saturday the 15th in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden thanks to our Priceless friends at MasterCard.

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Morning Eye Candy: Vintage

Posted in Photography on January 15 2014, by Ann Rafalko

There’s something about this photograph that reminds me of the kind of old botanical print you can find hidden at the back of a good thrift store. It looks as if it was printed originally in black and white, and then the colors were filled in by hand with watercolor. This is a very long winded way of saying, I really like this one!

snake-plant

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Sansevieria kirkii var. pulchra, a type of ‘snake plant’

In the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory

A Festive Holiday Palm

Posted in Gardening Tips on December 24 2013, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

sealingwaxpalm1During the holiday season, to put me in a festive mood, I rely on amaryllis, or wreaths decorated with berried juniper, variegated ivy, and incense cedar. But the other day, while I was walking through the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory for a glimpse at the Holiday Train Show, I found a plant in the aquatic plants gallery that already looks like it is decked out for Christmas.

The sealing wax palm, Cyrtostachys renda, is frightfully festive, decked out in jewel tones of red and green! Indigenous to Malaysia and Sumatra, this palm grows in swampy habitats. It is a slow growing palm that reaches about 30 feet tall in nature, but only to about 10 to 15 feet under glass.

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