Friday, February 28, 2014

Start Your Spring Gardening with a $25 Prize: The New York Botanical Garden features exclusive, fun, Garden Glamour Quiz Challenge


Gardens are romantic, blissful, glorious, and empowering.

Consider gardens a prism through which we can view our world – be that our window box, stoop containers, yards, rooftops oasis or farms, community gardens, parks -- or in the bigger scheme of arcadia -- the Rainforest or Pine Barrens.

Here is where we can touch Nature, grow our food to get healthier and stay fit, nurture glamorous florals that will accessorize our homes and offices, walk through our landscape designs of beauty, sustainability and mystery, and be inspired to write about and photograph our transcendent, Edens.

But wait, you might be thinking...
Is your head reeling thinking about all the dizzying, green possibilities?

How do you know how to get started?
Or take the next step on the garden path to botanical bliss?

Don’t fret.

Guess what?
You're in clover!

The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is your Garden Concierge.

Yes, think of the Garden’s Adult Education program as your gateway; guide.
They’ve curated all that’s important in the world of gardens so that you can choose with confidence and esprit to engage and learn from a community of fellow garden enthusiasts. And with more than 500 classes to choose from, you know there will always be a new garden adventure just waiting to be discovered. 

Ahhh. Sweet…

How Sweet, you may ask…

Very.

Garden Glamour & NYBG Garden Quiz Challenge 

The cool Garden Concierges at NYBG reached out to Garden Glamour readers to offer you a special fun way to earn a $25 credit toward your next class with an exclusive Garden Glamour/Garden Quiz!

This is a fantastic botanical contest and a quick way to earn some “green” for your next greening class at the Garden.

So let’s “dig in” and get started.

It’s easy.

Take a look at the Plant Photo here. (Or gaze at it.  With botanical abandon.) 

  
And correctly answer the five questions posed by the NYBG staff botanists. 

Garden Glamour Botanical Quiz

1. What is the scientific name of this plant? You can include the common name if you wish but we are looking for the scientific name.

2. Name one state to which the plant is native. (Hint: North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia)

3. Does it thrive in sunny sites or shady sites?

5. Would it grow best in a dry, arid environment, or a moist one?

6. When does this plant bloom?

           A. Early spring
           B. Early summer
           C. Mid-summer
           D. Late summer
           E. Autumn


Email me your answers and I’ll select the winner. (Leeann@Duchess-Designs.com)
Be sure to include your email for prize notification.

Now that your Hortie curiosity is geared up, you can skip over to the online NYBG Adult Education catalog to sign up for any of the intriguing class and lectures that seduce you – just in time for your Spring Fling – in the Garden!

In fact, the garden gurus at NYBG have a class for gardeners at every level – from beginners trying to grow their first plants to advanced gardeners looking for the best plants and techniques to keep their garden flourishing.  

You can take a one-time class, or dig deeper and start a prestigious NYBG Certificate class.  
I earned a Certificate in Landscape Design from NYBG and am honored to share with you that it is a rigorous, stimulating program that will change your life.
It did mine – in all the best ways.

Clients and horticulturists alike recognize the Certificate program as a benchmark achievement for any of the seven disciplines offered by the Garden, including:
·      Floral Design
·      Landscape Design
·      Horticulture
·      Horticulture Therapy
·      Botanical Art & Illustration
·      Botany
·      Gardening

The NYBG Gardening Certificate Program includes topics such as current gardening techniques, soil science, plant propagation, and garden maintenance and design. Regional experts teach the program and trains students in ecologically sound gardening practices.

Check out these suggested class offerings. And just follow the link to enroll.


·  Integrated Pest Management

·       Container Gardening 

 You can browse all classes at http://www.nybg.org/adulted/



The New York Botanical Garden has just released a new season of classes for Spring-Summer 2014.  
And the butterfly collage on the website and catalog cover sets the tone.

NYBG is on a mission to help people garden more efficiently and sustainably and to train you to be the best gardener possible.  
This term, NYBG is renewing their focus on eco-friendly gardening practices, with classes on sustainable pest control, watering smartly, planting pollinator-friendly and native plants in the garden, and more.
Sounds so “you,” doesn’t it.

Garden Friends

See, the other thing about taking classes at NYBG is you will find a community of garden friends – others just like you who are passionate about plant beauty and gardens and a healthier, more sustainable life.
You can bring a friend and make new Garden friends.
Speaking of Friends – You can start right away and "Like" Facebook page (NYBG Adult Education) 
Tell your new Garden Friends there you just entered the Garden Glamour contest!

Need more reasons to enroll?  I don’t think so, but here goes:
·      NYBG just released a new season of gardening classes, which start in March

·      There are classes for urbanites and city slickers, too.  Check out the container gardening and kitchen gardening classes to learn how to manage a garden in a small space, or even indoors.

·      You also have a choice of where you want to take your classes.  I most enjoy going to the Garden’s 250-acre landscape in the Bronx.  Its unsurpassed beauty is so inspiring.  Yet, I also frequent the NYBG Midtown Education Center on 20 West 44th Street in Manhattan.  If you North, you can attend satellite locations in Dutchess and Fairfield counties


·      You can take a one-time workshop-style class, or get your Wellied feet wet with an introductory certificate class, like "Fundamentals of Gardening I" and "Soil Science for Beginners."

·      Designing a Bird- & Pollinator-Friendly Garden http://conted.nybg.org:8080/WebModule/jsp/ed2df.jsp?df1=slayout:144GAR122 

·      Making Small Meadows 

·      Native Plant Garden Saturday 

·      Grow More with Less 






2 comments:

  1. Although there's no place like NYBG after finishing my certificate I wanted more and am having trouble finding it Examples - plant chemistry / rock gardening / propagating chrysanthemums./ rare & unusual conifers etc

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  2. Thank you, Stephen for adding to the story & communication on this topic. Please do ID the Plant!! & email me or respond here xox Also clarify -- are you suggesting that #NYBG needs to add classes to nurture your interest as in the Plant Chemistry, Rock Gardening, Propagation and Rare & Unusual Conifers?
    All compelling topics - and I think NYBG does offer some of these classes -- let's keep this going. LMK.

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