Showing posts with label Garden Bytes from the Big Apple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garden Bytes from the Big Apple. Show all posts

Monday, April 16, 2012

Last week to see the Orchids at The New York Botanical Garden

Talk about eye candy!

Celebrating its 10-year milestone this year, the ever-popular horticultural show at The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a sight for winter-weary eyes.
It’s akin to stepping from the world of black and white to color ¾ think Dorothy whirling and whipped to a froth from her two-tone farm in Kansas to the dazzling colored world beyond the rainbow and you kind get the thrilling sensual sensation of entering a portal into another world. 

Words are hard to come by to describe the star-studded beauty of the horticultural display.  It does leave you breathless.

While the world of orchids is stunning and the display gardens reminds us how much we adore the exotic and curious other-world of plants, the French artist and botanist, Patrick Blanc, along with the NYBG curators also deserve more than a few awards for determining how to set up and showcase this superb celebration of the plant world’s answer to Tiffany’s that so capture our imaginations. And our hearts.

Blanc is French. So there is more to love there and his winking insight to the botanic garden show is charming  

I saw the show being set up – and even that was an amazing site: it was a behind the scenes peek into the vertical magic being created.



And while orchids are found on every continent, you won’t see anything anywhere like Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Gardens NYBG Orchid Show at the Garden’s Enid A. Haupt Conservatory  

The show is a wonder and a must-see – even though it’s the last week of the show, the experts at NYBG know how to keep the plants as pristine as opening day, rotating any recalcitrant orchid divas out with fresh, new ingĂ©nues. 
Any not at all like the Philadelphia Flower Show this year.  I have it on the best authority that the tropical theme this year seemed to create plant fatigue.  So the displays were less than spectacular which is a whispered disappointment to those who expect the very best from this fairy godmother of all plant shows…

And as Donna Summer once sang, this is your last chance for love, your last chance for romance...

The romance of Orchid Evenings, that is. 

Friday April 20, 6:30 to 9pm is the last of the Orchid evenings.

This is where the fantasy really takes flight…
You can enjoy a signature cocktail, elegant beauty, and music.
That is some swanky razzamatazz.

The Vanilla Ginger Moon cocktail is a dreamy confection created for Orchid Evenings by the new Bar in Dylan’s Candy Bar
The cocktail is a sweet brew of plants that know how to party, including corn whisky, Liquor 43  -- that is a vanilla extracted from orchids – plus 42 other botanic flavors such as citrus, fruits, herbs and spices. (you do the math!)

One of the best write-ups for the NYBG Orchid show was blogged by my garden friends at Garden Bytes from the Big Apple  
The two Ellen’s are hort experts and writers – and if that is not Linked-In enough worthy, they are oh, so much more. 

If you love plants, the art of the garden and solid hort advice, you will find their blog a stimulating and informative destination.

Visit the Garden or visit the website if you are not lucky enough to be able to visit this gem of a cultural institution.

Visit NYBG this week.  Instagram the show (see NYBG notations) and Pin me at Gardens I love: http://pinterest.com/gardenglamour/gardens-i-love/

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Gotham Gardens in the Clouds


Herbal Heights

The New York City Chapter of the Garden Writers (GWA) held a meeting last night in Manhattan in one of those glorious rooftop gardens that inspire movies and poetry among artists and envy in gardeners – especially the urban gardener.  

Ellen Spector Platt hosted the meeting cum dinner party at her building’s rooftop on the Upper East Side. 
What's better than sitting in a garden in the sky, eating and drinking and talking about gardens?

Ellen explained she nurtures this garden solo.  
I remarked how lucky her neighbors are that she takes care of the entire garden.
Without hesitation she asserted, “How lucky am I that I get to work in this garden every day?!”

The world of gardening took on a decidedly selfless and inclusive perspective from this height…


The rooftop garden with the view









Just like any proud gardener, Ellen couldn’t wait to take us on a garden tour – showing off her herbal and vegetable garden. 




Ellen Spector with her herbs 




Ellen and me (and the basil)


She told us about a quaint tradition she started a few years ago, encouraging neighbors to come to the garden and “Pinch an Inch” of the herbs to use in their cooking. 
It’s like having your own private garden estate a mile up!

For those of you not in the neighborhood, enjoy the garden from the blog, “Garden Bytes From The Big Apple” http://www.gardenbytes.com
that is written and maintained by “The Two Ellens” as I heard them referred to.
That would be Ellen Spector and Ellen Zachos. 

Zachos is an energized talent that is in constant motion. She is a singer, writer, gardener and also is the Garden Coordinator for The New York Botanical Garden’s Continuing Education program in Gardening. 
Not to mention a wonderful supportive garden goddess. Whew!



                                          Pictured is Ellen Zachos, Left talking it up with author Cindy Krezel


It was a Pot Luck Dinner. The buffet table laid out with fabulous food fare. 


I brought the spicy wild arugula and mache from Satur Farms. 
Eberhard Muller and his spectacular wife, Paulette Satur, own and manage Satur Farms.
Chef  Eberhard is a legendary master chef and he will be featured in my book:
The Long Island Homegrown Cookbook” about Master Chefs and the gardens that inspire them.

Satur Farms is an amazing operation.  Beautiful, flavorful, clean vegetables and herbs picked and delivered fresh every day.


You can find Satur produce in all the best restaurants and in Whole Foods and Fairway.



Eberhard showing how the produce is cleaned and admiring a fresh-picked leek below





To top off the greens, I brought the edible flowers from Windfall Farms, from their stand at the Union Square Greenmarket. Pretty and colorful confetti of nasturtiums, violets, chamomile and johnny jump ups.

Just saw the talented and dreamy farmer, Kevin Caplicki there at Windfall Farms today. 
We first met farmer Kevin and owner Morris Pitts last fall when we visited Windfall Farms for Savoy Restaurant’s Chef Peter Hoffman’s location of choice photo shoot for the book.  It was the garden/farm that helps inspire his culinary art. 
One look at their luscious vegetables and herbs and there is not doubt how the colors and textures seduce chefs and cooks…







HSNY Penthouse Perch

Great Rosarians of the World Lecture Series

Tomorrow, be sure to attend The Horticultural Society of New York event featuring Sarah Owens, Curator of the Cranford Rose Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 
A horticulturist and ceramic artist, Sarah will speak about the beloved Rose and its ability to inspire artists. 
I worked with Sarah at BBG and she contributed to the Fine Gardening team for Duchess Designs, LLC, my landscape design firm.  She possesses an artist’s soul – and a Hollywood style that she makes her own!  (People often say she looks like Julia Roberts) 

But whether discussing roses with Martha Stewart on air or explaining best hort practices with a client, she is utterly charming. 
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see and hear Sarah.

Thursday, June 17th
Celebrating Forgotten Treasures: The Use of Uncommon Roses in Today’s Landscape with Sarah Owens
http://tinyurl.com/22ktvma

Register Online or call 212-757-0915 x 100