Tag Archives: Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Hanami at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

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Prunus ‘Okame’ in bloom yesterday afternoon, along the Cherry Walk and adjacent to the Cherry Esplanade at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Prunus 'Okame'

Tomorrow, Saturday, April 5, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden kicks off its annual Hanami, the cherry blossom season:

Hanami is the Japanese cultural tradition of viewing and cherishing each moment of the cherry blossom season. At Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Hanami is a New York City “rite of spring.”

Visitors can stroll under a canopy of cherry trees, view artwork inspired by cherry blossoms in the Steinhardt Conservatory Gallery, savor special Japanese entrees at the Terrace Café, and browse a special Hanami Shop.

Hanami runs through May 11, culminating in a celebratory crescendo with Sakura Matsui on May 3 and 4.

Here’s a detail of Okame’s flower:

Prunus 'Okame'

Here’s how the tree looks, peaking through the other cherries, still in bud. One of the entrances to the Japanese Garden is along the path sloping down on the left.

Cherry Walk

This is Prunus sargentii ‘Fudansakura’, blooming just northeast of the Cherry Esplanade, near the northern entrance to the Cherry Walk.

Prunus sargentii 'Fudansakura'

Prunus sargentii 'Fudansakura'

There’s another beautiful specimen in full bloom within the Japanese Garden, here viewed from the other side of the fence.

Japanese Garden

BBG updates its CherryWatch Blossom Status Map weekly. Only a handful are in peak bloom right now. Most are still in bud and haven’t yet started blooming. But a few warm days, especially sunny ones, will change that quickly.

BBG CherryWatch Map as of 4/4/2008

Here’s the flower of Accolade, shown on the map above. I could have lightened this image up a bit, but it was a cold, overcast day, threatening rain. The dark tones reflect the feeling of the afternoon when I visited.

Prunus 'Accolade'

The rain will stop by Saturday afternoon. Sunday will be a good day for Hanami! It’s also BBG Members’ Forsythia Day on Sunday. I’ll be there to pick up my Forsythia and my signature plants.

Related Posts

Introducing the BBG Hanami Flickr Group, April 3, 2008

Links

Flowering Cherries at BBG
BBG’s new Hanami Flickr group

Botany for Horticulturists

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Liverworts and Mosses, one of the specimens we examined earlier this evening.
Liverworts and Mosses

A brief note before I crash for the night. It’s been a long day. Tonight was the first time I’ve been in a classroom, outside of work, in about 25 years. It was my first class of Botany for Horticulturists, one of eight courses I need to complete to receive a Certificate in Horticulture from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Tonight was orientation and overview. And we had time to get into the beginnings of classification.

Specimens for Botany for Horticulturists

Although the apparent stars in these pots are the carnivorous Sundews and Pitcher Plants, they were on hand to give us some close looks at Bryophytes: liverworts and mosses. Here, in a pot of Sundews, the liverworts are giving rise to fruiting bodies.

Liverwort Fruiting Bodies

Here’s some closeups of the mosses. If you look closely, we can see some baby Sundews in there, too.

Sphagnum and other Mosses

The best part, though I have no photos of it, was walking through the greenhouses at night and having them all to ourselves. It was warm and kinda spooky at the same time. We moved there to get some looks at Pteridophytes – Ferns, the earliest vascular plants – and Cycads.

This course runs seven weeks, through the middle of May. I’m looking forward to it.

Introducing the BBG Hanami Flickr Group

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Cherry Blossoms from the 2006 Hanami at BBG, one of my photos I’ve already added to BBG’s new Hanami Flickr Group
Cherry Blossoms

This Saturday is the official opening of Hanami, the Cherry Blossom Viewing Season, at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Last week, inspired by the success of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitors group on Flickr, BBG launched a new Flickr group, Hanami: Cherry Blossom Viewing at Brooklyn Botanic Garden:

The blossoming of the cherry trees at Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a New York City rite of spring. Hanami is the Japanese cultural tradition of viewing and cherishing each moment of the cherry blossom season.

Join Brooklyn Botanic Garden in celebrating Hanami this year by adding your cherry blossom pictures to our group!

Any Flickr member can join and add their photos. No invitation is needed. At the moment of this writing, there are already 14 members and 20 photos in the pool. We can expect to see hundreds of photos by the end of Hanami.

Earlier this week, BBG contacted me to ask for some suggestions on how to get the group started. Based on those email conversations, and discussions in the group itself, they’ve come up with the following guidelines:

Any photos you have taken of flowering cherries at BBG are welcome for submission–from any time in the blooming cycle. Hanami is the official cherry blossom viewing season here at the Garden (this year it’s from April 5 to May 11), but if you’ve got shots of early- or late-bloomers, we’d love to see them, too!

Please tag your photos with “Hanami” and “BBG” or “Brooklyn Botanic Garden.”

Related Posts

Events and Resources: Hanami and more at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, April 3, 2007

Links

Flowering Cherries at BBG is the home page for all your Hanami needs

This Saturday: Green it! Grow it! Eat it! at BBG

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Fountain and Palm House, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Fountain and Palm House, BBG

On Saturday, March 8, from 10am to 4pm, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden hosts its annual Making Brooklyn Bloom, a FREE day-long series of speakers, workshops, films and resources. Presented by GreenBridge, BBG’s community horticulture program, this year’s theme is “Edible NYC: Eat it! Grow it! Eat it!”

The conference is free; admission to BBG is free with a conference flyer [PDF], which you can download and print from the Making Brooklyn Bloom page.

Register early at the Palm House for workshops. Workshops are held at 11am and 3pm and will include:

  • Extending the Season with Cold Frames, Barry Rogers, BBG; Garden Apprentice Program participants
  • Urban Soil Health, Testing, and Amendment, Uli Lorimer, BBG Native Flora Garden; Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust representatives
  • Edible Landscaping, Patrick Cullina, BBG vice president of Horticulture
  • Savoring Home-Grown Herbs all Year Round, Sandra McLean, Slow Food NYC
  • Grow it Anywhere in Windowboxes and Containers, Jennifer Williams, BBG gardener of Interior Displays
  • Community Composting Systems, Charlie Bayrer, Hollenback Garden; Amanda Hickman, Greene Acres Community Garden; Roy Arezzo, Carleton Avenue Brooklyn Bears Community Garden; Claudia Joseph, Garden of Union
  • Raising Chickens and Bees in the City, Owen Taylor, Just Food; Sarita Daftary, East New York Farms!
  • Best Vegetables and Fruits for Brooklyn, Gerard Lordahl, Council on the Environment of New York City
  • Brewing Compost Tea, Karla Osorio-Perez and Luke Halligan, BBG Brooklyn Compost Project
  • Canning to Preserve the Harvest, Classie Parker, Five Star Community Garden
  • The Sky’s the Limit: Growing Food on Trellises, Caleb Leech, BBG curator of the Herb Garden
  • Integrated Pest Management, Jackie Fazio, former BBG director of Horticulture
  • Seed Starting and Propagation, Solita Stephens, Olympus Garden Club
  • Fruit and Nut Trees in the City, Paul Glover and Phil Forsyth, Philly Orchard Project
  • Sustainable Watering Practices, Lenny Librizzi, Council on the Environment of New York City

Other activities include:

  • View exhibits from New York-area greening organizations
  • Enjoy Willard Traub’s Remnants of the Garden photos in the Steinhardt Conservatory
  • Check out the Gardener’s Resource Center
  • Visit the Exploring Food Systems photo exhibit in the Rotunda
  • Enjoy interactive Discovery Carts in the Garden
  • Visit the Gift and Garden Shops
  • Seasonal Guided Walking Tour of the Garden (1–2 p.m.)

Japanese Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, February 16, 2008

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On Saturday, I visited the Rock Garden on my way to the second meeting of the newly forming Brooklyn Community Gardens Coalition. I visited the Japanese Garden after the meeting.

Japanese Garden, BBG

The Japanese Garden seemed even emptier than a month ago. There was more color on Saturday. Despite the frozen water, hints of Spring, or at least the end of Winter, were there for the eyes hungry to see them. It was lovely.

Soon, soon.
Pieris japonica "Dorothy Wyckoff", Japanese Garden, BBG
False Cypress? Japanese Garden, BBG

This is one of a handful of entrances to the Japanese Garden. This is the view on the approach from Magnolia Plaza.
Entrance, Japanese Garden, BBG
Bamboos at entrance to Japanese Garden

The pond was really, really frozen. Here are several views from different vantage points as I walked around.
Frozen Pond, Japanese Garden, BBG
Frozen Pond, Japanese Garden, BBG
Japanese Garden, BBG
Japanese Garden, BBG
Japanese Garden, BBG

The red arch in the pond is called a Torii. It signifies that a shrine is nearby. It’s surrounded by evergreens; even at this time of year, it can’t be seen unless you ascend the hill path and turn onto a short path leading to it.
Shrine, Japanese Garden, BBG

Several lengths of the hill paths are lined with these beautiful stone gutters.
Gutter, Japanese Garden, BBG

Beneath the ice, the Koi and carp moved slowly, like dreamy ghosts. This one was big enough, colorful enough, and close enough to the surface to get a shot of it. He’s at least a foot long.
Ice Koi, Japanese Garden, BBG
Ice Koi, Japanese Garden, BBG

Related posts

First Crocus
Flickr photo set
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, January 2008.

First Crocus, Rock Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

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Not in my garden, yet, but today I saw my first Crocus of the season in the Rock Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

First Crocus, Rock Garden, BBG

I almost overlooked it. It’s tucked in at the base of the south face of a large boulder in the Rock Garden. A perfect location for solar heating to get a head start on his little crocusey friends.

First Crocus, Rock Garden, BBG

Ah, but look. There are some crocusey friends to his left, two of them.

First Crocus, Rock Garden, BBG

I’m thinking Crocus tommasinanus.

Here’s the Yucca again which I photographed a few weeks ago. I like how the leaves capture the light.

Yucca, Rock Garden, BBG
Yucca, Rock Garden, BBG

The Witchhazels I also photographed a month ago are now fading, but still colorful.

Hamamelis x intermedia "Jelena", Rock Garden, BBG
Hamamelis x intermedia "Jelena", Rock Garden, BBG

Just starting to come into their own are the heaths in the Rock Garden. I look forward to watching them progress over the new few months.

Heaths, Rock Garden, BBG
White-flowering Heath, Rock Garden, BBG

Related posts

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, January 2008

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, January 2008

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Goldfish Under Glass, Lily Pool Terrace, BBG
Goldfish Under Glass, Lily Pool Terrace, BBG

Last Saturday, I attended a meeting of Brooklyn community gardeners at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I arrived at BBG early so I could enjoy the solitude and wintry setting.

Rock Garden

I was hoping to find some early blooms in the Rock Garden. I didn’t, but there was still some activity there. It’s beautiful in all seasons, anyway.

Rock Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Rock Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the id tag for this guy. I think it’s a Yucca. I have some growing in my backyard, but they’re in shade and don’t have the glaucous foliage of this one.
Yucca? Rock Garden, BBG

I prefer natural light in my photography. On this day, I experimented with using an attached flash. Most of the flash shots were unsatisfactory, and didn’t reflect what I was seeing when I took the shot. I kept a couple pairs of flash and non-flash shots side-by-side for comparison.

Arum italicum, with and without flash
Arum italicum foliage, Rock Garden, BBG
Arum italicum foliage, Rock Garden, BBG

Partially frozen pond
Partially frozen pond, Rock Garden, BBG

Iced pond
Iced pond, Rock Garden, BBG

Helleborus foetidus, with and without flash
Helleborus foetidus, Rock Garden, BBG (with flash)
Helleborus foetidus, Rock Garden, BBG (without flash)

Rock pool
Rock pool, Rock Garden, BBG

Witchhazels

At the northern end of the Rock Garden is BBG’ Witchhazel collection. Lots of action there on my visit.

Witchhazels, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’
Hamamelis x intermedia 'Jelena' (without flash)

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’
Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane'

Hamamelis mollis ‘Pallida’
Hamamelis mollis 'Pallida'

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘James Wells’
Hamamelis x intermedia 'James Wells'

The Rest

From the Witchhazels, I walked along the path past the Caucasian Wingnut, cut across past the Monocot Border to the Lily Pool Terrace, then on to my meeting at BBG’s landmarked Lab/Admin Building.

Path to Oak Circle
Path to Oak Circle, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Wingnut Support
Wingnut Support

Monocot Border
Monocot Border, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

BBG Lab & Admin Building
BBG Lab & Admin Building

Lily Pool Terrace
Lily Pool Terrace, BBG

Fountain and Palm House, BBG

Monday, January 21: MLK @ BBG

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This Monday, January 21, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is hosting their Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration:

Celebrate the spirit of Dr. King at BBG! Join us for this touching and beautiful performance of spirituals featuring the Great Day Chorale, led by founder and director Louvinia Pointer. Performances are at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Plant lovers can enjoy a special tour at 1 p.m. highlighting the plants of Africa and the Caribbean in the Steinhardt Conservatory.

Admission to the gardens is free for non-members on weekdays through February.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, December 2007

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Center Hall, BBG Lab and Admin Building
Center Hall, BBG Lab Admin Building

Last Friday I visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It started out as a beautifully sunny day, clouding over as the afternoon progressed.

Admission to the gardens is free for non-members on weekdays through February.

The occasion or excuse for my visit was to register for the first course in their Certificate in Horticulture program. Their Winter sessions were already booked, but I was able to sign up for the Spring session, which starts in April. Outside of work, this will be my first classroom education since I studied American Sign Language over 25 years ago.

All that aside, it was a beautiful day. Here are some highlights from my visit.

Baby

Baby, BBG’s specimen of the Titan Arum, Amorphophallus titanum, is in leaf this year. Each year, the Titam Arum will either flower or, more usually, put out a single leaf.

Baby, with humans for scale
Baby, with humans for scale

This whole structure is a single, giant compound leaf.
Amorphophallus titanum "Baby"

The petiole, shown here, has the same distinctive mottling I saw on the base of last year’s inflorescence.
Petiole detail, Amorphophallus titanum

“Baby” in bloom in August of last year
Titan Arum "Baby", Full View

Bonsai Museum

Camellia japonica “Julia Drayton” trained as a bonsai in the literati style
Camellia japonica Julia Drayton, Bonsai, Literati style

Detail of the roots and moss at the base of a cascade style bonsai of Pinus mugo
Detail, Cascade Bonsai

Three bonsai
Three Bonsai

Magnolia Plaza

The photo at the top of this post is from inside BBG’s Laboratory and Administration Building. That’s where I went to register for my course. Here’s a view of the center hall from the outside of the building, taken in March of 2007.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Laboratory Administration Building

And here’s a view of that main entrance from the inside.
Main Entrance, BBG Lab Admin Building

BBG’s Lab Admin building was landmarked earlier this year.

The Magnolias themselves seemed to be in bud, a couple months too early.
Magnolia Bud

Hopefully, they’re smart enough to not get too optimistic. We’ll have lows in the teens this week.
Magnolia in Bud

Not everything was as monochromatic as the photo above suggests.
Magnolia Plaza

Athyrium nipponicum and Helleborus foetidus
Athyrium nipponicum and Helleborus foetidus

Japanese Hill & Pond Garden

The highlight of my visit, as I expected, was the Japanese Garden.

Pond

Pond

It being a weekday, and the middle of winter, and the middle of the holiday week, I almost had the garden to myself. I even had a precious couple of minutes when there was noone else there, which has never happened on any of my previous visits. It was lovely.

Entrance to Viewing Pavilion

Stone Basin

Mallards

Focal Planes

Viewing Pavilion

Upcoming BBG GreenBridge Classes

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I know Fall lingers on, and we haven’t even reached the Winter Solstice, but it’s time to start thinking about Spring! Registration for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden‘s Winter and Spring classes begins this Saturday, December 1. In addition to professional education, such as programs for Certificates in Horticulture or Floral Design, Brooklyn GreenBridge, BBG’s Community Horticulture program, offers free and low-cost education to Brooklyn residents and communities:

Brooklyn GreenBridge is BBG’s community horticulture program, including our Brooklyn Compost Project. For a free copy of our newsletter and more information about GreenBridge programs and events, call 718-623-7250. To reach our compost help line, call 718-623-7290. All classes are free, but you must preregister at 718-623-7220 unless otherwise indicated.

All classes are held at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. All classes are free but require registration. I’ve highlighted some upcoming classes below. See their Web site for registration information and the complete class schedule.

Composting in the City

Thursday, January 17, 6–8 p.m.

Leaves, kitchen scraps, garden trimmings, and weeds can all become garden gold through composting. Making dark, rich, crumbly compost doesn’t take much time, work, or space. This class covers the essentials: the composting process, how to compost even in small city yards, using finished compost, avoiding and solving problems, and helpful equipment and tools. Participants receive a copy of the BBG handbook Easy Compost: The Secret to Great Soil and Spectacular Plants.

Teacher Workshop: Worm Composting in the Classroom

Thursday, January 31, 6–9 p.m.

Working with worms in the classroom is a great hands-on way to teach ecology, recycling, and gardening. Learn how to set up a worm bin, feed worms with food scraps, and maintain the system successfully. Activities, curriculum ideas, and ways to incorporate worm composting into science, math, and language arts for students of all ages will be introduced. Teachers will receive a copy of the activity guidebook Worms Eat Our Garbage, by Mary Appelhof, and may purchase a $10 voucher for a pound of red wiggler worms and a plastic worm bin.

This class may also be held at your Brooklyn school for a group of ten or more teachers. For information contact 718-623-7290 or compost@bbg.org.

Composting with Lovely Redworms

Thursday, February 14, 6–8 p.m.

Did you know that redworms have 5 pairs of hearts? Come to this workshop and learn other things about this unique species. Learn all about vermicomposting, or composting with worms, including how to make and maintain a home for redworms. Participants will receive a copy of the book Worms Eat My Garbage, by Mary Appelhof, and may purchase a $10 voucher for a pound of redworms and a plastic worm bin.

Register with Karla Osorio-Pérez at 718-623-7368.

Make Compost With a Touch of Spanish / Haz Abono Orgánico con un Toque de Inglés

Thursday, February 28 / Jueves, 28 de febrero, 6–8 p.m.

Karla Osorio-Pérez

This class addresses two audiences—English and Spanish speakers—and is translated in both languages simultaneously throughout the session. We cover the basics of composting in a complete, practical, and interactive way. Participants receive handouts and literature to review at home.

Esta clase esta diseñada para el público de habla hispana e inglés y será brindada en ambos idiomas al mismo tiempo. El taller ofrece una gran oportunidad para aprender cómo hacer abono orgánico en una forma práctica, sencilla y de una manera interactiva. Participantes recibirán material informativo para estudiar en casa.

Register with Karla Osorio-Pérez / Llama a Karla Osorio-Pérez, 718-623-7368