Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Posted in Photography on July 13 2014, by Lansing Moore
Nothing beats a walk along the water on a hot day, but there’s no swimming in this pool, no matter how tempting. Beneath the sleek design of the Native Plant Garden is a thriving wetland habitat.
In the Native Plant Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography on July 5 2014, by Matt Newman
The Meadow in the Native Plant Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Horticulture on June 26 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 top notch, curates the herbaceous gardens and collections, and manages the curator of woody plants. She lives and gardens in Fairfield, CT.
As spring has turned to summer, so my attention has turned to the Native Plant Garden meadow. It changes daily now, with new plants offering their voices to the swelling chorus. One of my very favorites is Bush’s poppymallow, Callirhoe bushii. Set among fine grasses, golden tickseed, and brilliant white wild quinine, its white-eyed magenta cups demand attention.
Happy in average or dry soil, Bush’s poppymallow loves a sunny site and will flower throughout the summer and sporadically into the early fall. In our meadow, its loosely sprawling stems pop up through its neighbors, creating lovely and spontaneous living bouquets. It has seeded itself around gently, but editing is easy if you wish. All Callirhoe have taproots which makes them very drought tolerant, but also very difficult to move once established.
Posted in Photography on June 25 2014, by Matt Newman
I like to think we combine equal measures of wild and cultivated at NYBG. Maybe it’s better to say that there are equal parts of each within the other.
In the Native Plant Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography on June 21 2014, by Matt Newman
Cutting back the Native Plant Garden’s meadow a few months ago left many wondering how quickly it would spring up again. The answer wasted no time getting here, and just in time for today’s summer solstice.
Split Rock in the Native Plant Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Horticulture on June 20 2014, by Todd Forrest
Todd Forrest is the NYBG’s Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections. He leads all horticulture programs and activities across the Garden’s 250-acre National Historic Landmark landscape, including 50 gardens and plant collections outside and under glass, the old-growth Thain Family Forest, and living exhibitions in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
I am batty for beard-tongues. No, I don’t mean the furry-mouthed feeling that people with actual social lives get after long nights of too many cocktails, I mean the more than 250 species of Penstemon, a genus of perennials and biennials native to North America from the Maine woods to the alpine meadows of Idaho and the deserts of California. With tall clusters of flowers as beautiful as their common name is ugly (the moniker beard-tongue refers to tufts of hair that emerge from the sterile fifth stamen of certain species), beard-tongues carry late spring in the Native Plant Garden.
The most common beard-tongue in cultivation is Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’, selected in 1983 by Dr. Dale Lindgren of the University of Nebraska for its maroon leaves, long-lasting inflorescences of white flowers, and extreme hardiness (it thrives in Nebraska!). We planted ‘Husker Red’ in the Native Border, where its flowers bridge the gap between the peaks of mid-spring and mid-summer bloom, and its foliage adds a dash of welcome color throughout the growing season.
Posted in Photography on June 15 2014, by Matt Newman
Happy Father’s Day! Here’s to all the dads out there that—even if they’re a bit prickly—will always have a heart of gold. We’ll be chilling on Daffodil Hill for the Big Backyard BBQ all afternoon, so feel free to join us if you’re in the mood for good food, beer, and music.
Prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa) in the Native Plant Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Around the Garden on June 12 2014, by Matt Newman
In a not quite accurate recitation of William Blake, “A robin red-breast on a post makes a perfect Garden host.”
A robin in the Native Plant Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography on May 25 2014, by Matt Newman
Sundays are an especially good time for green. Especially a green dappled by sunlight.
In the Native Plant Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography on May 23 2014, by Matt Newman
Spot the lone fowl taking time out for some sunbathing. That or he’s claimed his new throne.
In the Native Plant Garden – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen