Posted in Around the Garden on March 24 2015, by Deanna Curtis Deanna F. Curtis is Curator of Woody Plants at The New York Botanical Garden where she develops and helps manage the historic hardy tree and shrub collections Friday may have been the first day of spring, but as I watched the snow cover the plants, it certainly felt like winter. I know that everyone is anxiously waiting for spring to arrive, but there is something quite perfect about witch-hazel blooms dusted with snow that demands appreciation. The Azalea Garden is full of these bright spidery flowers right now They are not some anomaly attributed to our changing weather patterns When it is still gray and the threat of snow still looms large you can count on their light and warmth in the garden Selections for flower color, timing, size, and fragrance have resulted in a wonderful variety of truly spectacular cultivars of available to the home gardener today. The New York Botanical Garden’s diverse collection is concentrated within the Azalea Garden and along the shrubby border outside the Home Gardening Center A few specimens have been in flower since late January and early February Witch-hazel flowers can handle the weather fluctuations of late winter They slowly unfurl and end up lasting quite a long time from start to finish So before spring truly hits us with it riot of pastels. Take a stroll through the Azalea Garden and enjoy these tough blooms in their unique shades of citron yellows This is their time and their show is in full swing 2900 Southern Boulevard Bronx, NY 10458-5126 Directions Call: 718.817.8700 Contact us Privacy Policy Press Room Jobs Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application 1929 in Barmstedt Germany and passed away after a prolonged illness on January 4th Erna grew up during World War 2 and lost both her parents by the early age of 12 her older sister was able to take care of her instead of going into foster care Erna was blessed with an uplifting attitude and had a happy childhood She took classes in English and worked at Marshall Fields Fred also a German immigrant at a German dance in Chicago and they married in 1955 Pursuing the American Dream drew them into the motel business from Wisconsin Erna worked for Mervyn's for many years Erna took up volunteering and was an avid volunteer at Popejoy Hall achieving Emeritus status She also volunteered at Presbyterian Hospital and Bear Canyon Senior Center Erna is survived by her daughters Monika Rothe and Elke Shepherd (husband Todd Shepherd) Grandson Eric Morgan and his wife KD Morgan kindly consider making a donation to Road Runner Hospice a private family gathering will be held at a later date This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Posted in Around the Garden on April 9 2013, by Sonia Uyterhoeven Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education It’s come in fits and starts this year only to vanish in an instant through heat or a heavy rain With all the yo-yoing we have experienced this winter the fluctuating temperatures have sent me and many of my colleagues home with lingering ailments as our bodies try to figure out what’s going on While walking through the Garden in these early days of spring I notice that Mother Nature is equally confused The persistent cold has slowed down the cycle of spring leaving us somewhere between one and two weeks behind schedule in terms of spring bloom Once the warm temperatures arrive in earnest What this means for now is that some of the early signs of spring–the ones that we usually like to see from our living room windows–are out and worth perusing This year I have seen many beautiful variations of Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Barmstedt Gold’ alternatively dressed in snow or warming in the cool spring sun I love ‘Barmstedt Gold’ for her bossy yellow petals and the deep red calyces that add dimension and intensity to the bloom is Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Westerstede’ upright vase shape of ‘Barmstedt Gold’ and falls in a similar size range–growing 8 to 12 feet tall–but has much paler yellow flowers which are absolutely divine Both varieties have long and showy ribbon-like petals; ‘Barmstedt Gold’ has the slight witch-hazel crinkle to its petals while those on ‘Westerstede’ have been neatly ironed out and extend like spines on a sea urchin Witch-hazels tolerate deer and are low-maintenance shrubs that grow in full sun to part shade they are worth investigating to brighten up your yard in late winter and early spring do you ever have one of those days where your intention is to do one thing but you find yourself completely distracted by something else but that’s exactly what is happening to me at this moment–it’s not like me to get sidelined by talk of shrubs when I set out to discuss bulbs So I am going to cram a few tidbits of information into a paragraph or two because I think it is important for you to see bulbs in action in the spring This should leave you better informed in the fall when it comes time to make planting selections As of right now, one of my favorite minor bulbs is out in force in the Garden, known as glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa ‘Pink Giant’). As the name suggests, glory-of-the-snow is large in stature–about the size of a ‘Tete-a-Tete’ daffodil–with a nice, pinkish cast to it. We have it planted with the miniature trumpet daffodil (Narcissus ‘Little Gem’) in our Seasonal Border forming a naturalistic drift in our entrance bed across from the train station these early spring bulbs intermingle with perennials While the bulbs punctuate the entire Border the ‘Little Gem’ is woven through Chinese astilbe (Astilbe ‘Vision in Pink’) with the bright yellow flowers of former complementing the rich as the garden phlox (Phlox paniculata ‘Blue Paradise’) begins to emerge in the spring its find young burgundy foliage is highlighted with ‘Pink Giant’ Not only is a color palette created with color harmonies and contrast but the small bulbs–each of them ranging from 6 to 8 inches in height–will not interfere with the growth of the perennials It is a very effective and healthy partnership Posted in What's Beautiful Now on March 24 2014, by Lansing Moore With such wild changes in temperature, this year’s crop of early spring blooms is a hearty bunch indeed. The Garden party is already getting started in the Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden whose enthusiastic residents are always some of the first to rise from their slumber The vibrant ‘Arnold Promise’ witch-hazel (Hamamelis × intermedia) is blooming alongside the snowdrops (Galanthus) and winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis). The Ladies’ Border is also lovely at the moment with Amur adonis (Adonis amurensis) in bloom and both the paper bush flowers (Edgeworthia chrysantha) and viburnum (Viburnum × bodnantense ‘Dawn’) in bud