Calendula officinalis, a flower popular in herbal skin preperations. (Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)
Did you catch that story in the New York Times last week about the “modern apothecary?” Did you think to yourself, “That’s all well and good, but what I’d really like to do is learn to make my own skincare?” And why shouldn’t you? You grow your own organic vegetables, cook them with carefully selected ingredients from locally sourced purveyors, you take your vitamins, drink herbal tisanes, and do yoga; you take special care of your inside, so why shouldn’t you take special care of the outside, too? And what could be more natural, or more local, than skincare you make yourself, from ingredients you grow yourself? Forget “farm-to-table!” You’re all about “garden-to-dressing-table!” But where to start?
On Tuesday, July 26, the Garden’s Adult Education department will be hosting a workshop at our beautiful Midtown Center, Herbal Spa Workshop: A Natural Approach to Beautiful Skin, from 6:15-8:15 p.m. The class, taught by herbalist Ursula Basch, will teach you how to use natural products to make herbal clay masks, moisturizers, lip balms, skin toners, foot scrubs, and more. You will also design your own essential oil blend and have the opportunity to sample various products, including the herbal clay mask, so dress appropriately! The class is $61 for Members, $65 for non-Members. The price includes a $20 materials fee.
So grab a girlfriend and learn about the next big trend in locavorism! The Midtown Center is located just two blocks away from Bryant Park, so after your evening of pampering, you can make an evening of it, and head over to the park and listen to live jazz under the stars (see listing for July 26).
The rain forest earned its name today! You could tell from first thing in the morning that there would be a light, steady rain all day; and it lived up to expectations. We left Hobart after breakfast and headed south to the “Southern Forests” region on the northern edge of Hartz Mountains National Park. Our first stop was the Arve River Picnic Area. Here a short trail, billed as only a 10 minute walk, winds through an incredibly lush but open rain forest. Almost every surface is mossy: the forest floor is carpeted with particularly large mosses, and the fallen trees, many more than 6 feet in diameter, are covered in a diverse mantle of bryophytes. Even the smallest twigs host even tinier epiphytes. The filtered light, more hues of green than I ever knew existed, and the velvety texture of moss-covered surfaces make the forest almost surreal. It looks like a set from Lord of the Rings. For those who have never seen a Southern Hemisphere temperate rain forest, you couldn’t ask for a better introduction. There is something new at each turn of the trail and it was only the lure of additional sites, plus the sudden darkening of the skies and heavier rain that drove us back to the car.
From here we drove toward Hartz Mountains National Park. As we headed up the dirt road we started seeing patches of snow, and in no time at all, the snow was completely covering the ground, getting deeper and deeper as we headed into higher elevations. In fact, the only reason we even dared venture into the park itself is because some four-wheel drive vehicles had already blazed a track through the snow. Once inside the park, we parked our car in the middle of the road, and slogged through the nearly six inches of wet snow. All along the roadside small waterfalls cascaded down the rock walls, resulting in a rich moss diversity (and wet feet!).
The International Botanical Congress (IBC) is held once every six years, and this time it is being held in Melbourne, Australia in mid-July. I have visited Australia twice in recent years, most recently in 2009 in Western Australia, and in 2007 in Tasmania. Both of these trips were to attend field meetings of an Australia-New Zealand bryological group. My motivation to attend the Tasmanian meeting had been to better acquaint myself with another south temperate moss flora so that I could compare it to my study area in southernmost Chile. Despite the constant threat of leeches, I loved Tasmania and thought attending the IBC would be a good opportunity to return. I shamelessly wrote to the organizer of that 2007 meeting, my friend and colleague, Paddy Dalton, at the University of Tasmania, to see if he would be willing to host my visit there, even though it was only a week before the IBC. He generously agreed and so we planned a week-long collecting trip to Tasmania, along with my two graduate students, James Lendemer, working on a lichen genus for his Ph.D. through the City University of New York, and Mike Tessler, a beginning student in the graduate program at Fordham University.
Prior to the trip I had checked the Australian meteorological website to see what the weather might be in Tasmania (and Melbourne), knowing full well it was the middle of the austral winter. Temperature predictions ranged from a low of 3°C (ca. 35°F) to a high of 13-14°C (ca. 55°F), and so I warned the students to bring warm clothes. A few days prior to the trip I heard from Paddy that there had been snow in the hills around Hobart! Not to be deterred by a little cold weather, especially after my last research trip to southern Chile, when it was the austral summer, we all eagerly anticipated the upcoming trip.
After over 24 hours of travel time, it all became real when we boarded a flight from Sydney to Hobart and the Qantas pilot came on and announced that the weather in Hobart to be slightly above freezing with snow showers. But as we flew down the east coast of Tasmania (where we intended to do our field work), I didn’t see any snow on the ground and was hopeful that we might avoid it. I would soon learn otherwise! Paddy Dalton greeted us at the Hobart airport, a familiar face in a faraway land. We rented a car and I followed Paddy to our hotel, driving for my first time on the left side of the road. We then all went to dinner at a local seafood restaurant (local shrimp and scallops have just come into season), where we discussed the upcoming itinerary.
Butterflies take a lot of patience and you have to get through a lot of shots before the right one appears in the viewfinder. The winning shot is a great example of the way photography is really about light and about ‘chasing the light’. To achieve the vision of light filtered through a butterfly’s wing is a testament not only to patience but also to Heather Lang’s skill.
Butterfly by Heather Lang
The second placed shot by Patricia Gonzalez is actually my favourite–but then I am always attracted by humour and fun in images. This is a beautifully seen composition with the two photographers working visually in opposite directions. The foreshortening of the long lens makes them look as if they are close together, blissfully unaware of each other. This is a picture about passion and enjoyment–exactly what the category ‘Breathing Spaces’ in International Garden Photographer of the Year is all about. Patricia must have waited carefully for the exact moment when both photographers were looking through the viewfinder to create that sense of symmetry–very clever.
In the Rose Garden by Patricia Gonzalez
Can you get more photogenic than a lotus flower? The soft light falling on this bloom is exquisite. I think I might have wanted to shift position a bit to simplify the composition to exclude the foliage and maybe tell us a bit more about its context in NYBG, but there is a lot of atmosphere in this shot.
Lotus by Elizabeth Mueller
Thank you Philip! July isn’t even half over yet, plenty of time left to enter this month’s contest. The theme is “American Beauty.” Simply join the NYBG Group Pool on Flickr, and then tag your photo with nybgigpoty2. That’s it! At the end of the month we’ll convene a panel of photography experts and report back with the winners. Good luck, and keep snapping!
If you come to the Garden to glean inspiration for your own home garden, then why not plan your trip around our highly informative weekend gardening demonstrations, aimed solely at the home gardener? Sonia Uyterhoeven, Gardener for Public Education, and author of Plant Talk’s weekly gardening tips blog posts, leads these informative discussions.
Here’s a look at the demos we have planned for the rest of the summer.
July 9 and 10 at 1:30 p.m. What’s at Stake?
In the Home Gardening Center
Learn about important summer chores such as staking perennials, an effort that pays dividends in the fall.
July 16 and 17 at 1:30 p.m. The Tao of Wet and Dry
In the Home Gardening Center
The right plant in the right place is part of the natural order of any garden. Discuss the yin and yang of the gardening world—ideal plants for wet and dry sites.
July 23 and 24, 1:30 p.m. Water Gardens: Waterlilies and the Alhambra
Meet at the entrance of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Walk through the exhibition Spanish Paradise: Gardens of the Alhambra to explore the design and plant choices at this monumental treasure where water features are highly regarded. Learn about the incomparable waterlilies and lotus in the Botanical Garden’s Conservatory Courtyards.
July 30 and 31 at 1:30 p.m. Fabulous Floral Forms
In the Home Gardening Center
Explore effective color combinations and the intricacies of floral forms. Learn tips and techniques for cutting and arranging flowers.
August 6 and 7 at 1:30 p.m. Butterfly Bonanza
In the Home Gardening Center
Learn how to create colorful habitats that will attract butterflies. Find out which plants will entice these magnificent creatures into your garden.
August 13 and 14 at 1:30 p.m. Vegging Out in Style
In the Home Gardening Center
August is the time when much of your hard work in the vegetable garden comes to fruition. Enjoy the rewards of the season now while continuing to tend the garden.
August 20 and 21, 1:30 p.m. The Alhambra in Retrospect
Meet at the entrance of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Discuss Islamic gardens on a walk through the exhibition Spanish Paradise: Gardens of the Alhambra during its final weekend, while exploring the design and plant choices at this influential treasure.
August 27 and 28 at 2 p.m. Grow Your Greens
In the Home Gardening Center
While you are busy harvesting tomatoes, remember that it is not too late to plant fast fall crops such as lettuces and Asian greens. Spend an afternoon in the vegetable garden planning the last push for the season.
Welcome to our new video series: Plant Talk with Kristin. Who’s Kristin? Kristin Schleiter is the Garden’s Curator of Outdoor Gardens and Herbaceous Collections. What does that mean? It means that Kristin knows plants: The best plants for shade, the best plants for color, the best plants for four-season interest. In this new series, Kristin will be sharing all that knowledge with you, so that you can make your garden a more beautiful, sustainable, and easy-to-care for place!
Kristin’s first show is all about shade plants. So take a look, and let us know what you think! We’d love to know which topics you would like to see Kristin tackle in the future. Leave a comment with your thoughts below.
