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GOODIES  
new york botanical garden collections book

Picture Perfect

by Betsy Hays

When it comes to natural wonders such as The New York Botanical Garden, we assume the “pictures really don't do it justice" cliche to be doubly true: photographs and words could never depict the natural beauty of the undisputed jewel of the Bronx. Or could they?

I'm here to tell you that some wondrous alchemy involving three years of work among leading photographers, horticulturists, writers and editors has resulted in the impossible. The newly released book, The New York Botanical Garden, (Abrams) edited by Gregory Long and Anne Skillion, senior editor in the publications office of the New York Public Library, creates a unique world in print that is greater than the sum of its individual parts.

As someone who has spent countless hours at NYBG -- as a visitor, garden writer, photographer and student‚ I'm in an informed position to make that assessment. After all, I've seen the original up close and personal, in winter, spring, summer and fall. It is stunningly beautiful. So is the book.

“The challenge in creating this book was portraying The New York Botanical Garden in all its complexity," comments NYBG's Chief Executive, Gregory Long. “After all, it's home to over a million living plants, a world-class science center, the nation's preeminent Victorian glasshouse, and some of the best minds in the botanical world."

So while nothing can replace the experience of being there, The New York Botanical Garden conjures the collective splendor of the Garden's 250 historic acres through hundreds of new photographs commissioned especially for this book, vintage illustrations and photos, literate essays by experts on each of the Garden's major collections, and reproductions of botanical art.

Long adds, "No other Botanical Garden in the country offers such layers of interest. The new book is the only comprehensive history of a major botanical garden available in print, and reflects the recently completed 15 years and 500 million dollars of restoration at the Garden."

This book is a bargain compared to the hours of visual and reading pleasure it is sure to bring, and would make a stellar holiday gift for anyone on your list, including yourself. My advice? Go to NYBG, see the Holiday Train Show, have a cappuccino at the cafe and buy the book at the gift shop.

*Main photo: Liasson Narcissus Collection, Courtesy Sara Cedar Miller

The New York Botanical Garden: (718) 817-8700, www.nybg.org

Betsy Hays: www.betsyhays.com

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published December 12, 2006

Photos to enlarge


Boxwood knots in The New York Botanical Garden's Herb Garden lie at the foot of gentle hills covered with magnificent specimen trees. A semiformal, brick-walled garden designed in the tradition of herb and knot gardens, the Herb Garden was originally created in the 1940s to display and grow herbs and companion plants with an emphasis on American species and native traditions. Photo: Mick Hales


The Botanical Garden's 30,000 distinguished trees, many more than 200 years old, include major collections of oaks, maples, legumes, magnolias, cherries, crabapples, and an exceptional range of notable individual specimens. The older magnolia trees int his photograph have a gnarled and romantic habit accentuated by years of careful pruning. Photo: Mick Hales


Japanese maples and chrysanthemums are featured in the annual Japanese autumn garden exhibition in the courtyards of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Seasonal exhibitions in the Conservatory, including the annual Holiday Train Show, The Orchid Show, and spring, summer, and fall flower shows educate and delight thousands of visitors each year. Photos: Mick Hales


The annual Orchid Show in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory presents a betwitching tropical world of irrestible allure. The often highlights a dramatic set piece such as this orchid hunter's hut, its walls covered with colorful vanda orchids. Photo: Mick Hales


The Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden is a blend of herbaceous perennials with ornamental grasses, bulbs, seasonal annuals, shrubs, and small trees, interplanted to create texture, color, and fragrance throughout the year. This garden was designed by Lynden B. Miller, plantswoman and garden designer renowned for her striking use of plant combinations in designs created specially for public gardens. Its dynamic maintenance and redesign continues to be spearheaded by Ms. Miller. Photo: John Peden


The Rock Garden is a two-and-a-half-acre gem tucked into the edge of the Botanical Garden's 50-acre native forest. A sparkling waterfall and streams tumbles into a gentle valley blending alpine garden rockeries with woodland and stream gardens. Planted 80 years ago, this large rock gardens is known for its sequence of views and varied plantings, including plants from all of the world's seven continents. Photo: Sara Cedar Miller


In 1916, noted landscape designer Beatrix Jones Farrand created an ingenious triangular plan for a rose garden nestled in a verdant valley at the Botanical Garden. Her formal but visually arresting design was not completed until 1988, with a generous gift from David Rockefeller in honor of his wife, Peggy. The Rose Garden includes climbing roses draped over the perimeter lattice fence and central gazebo, with a network of beds featuring old-fashioned shrub, species, and modern roses. Photo: John Peden


Soaring trunks and golden fall foliage of a double allee of tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipfera) frame the entrance to the Botanical Garden's Library Building. Twenty-four of these 25 trees were planted between 1903 and 1906; the 25th, known as the “mother tree," was already a venerable and massive tree at the time. A century later, all the trees are handsome mature specimens and one of the Garden's most remarkable plantings. Photo: Mick Hales

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