This year’s Caribbean Garden promises to be even more photogenic than the last! The picturesque fronds and flowers of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory‘s permanent collection once again take the spotlight to promote not only the beauty you see, but the beauty you create.

Walk the pathways of the Conservatory on a tour of our verdant living collections. Award-winning photos from the International Garden Photographer of the Year contest–taken in gardens around the world–will be on display alongside plants from around the Caribbean. Enjoy the beautiful photographs and access additional information on the photographers, their inspiration, and the techniques they used to capture these stunning images by simply scanning a code on each sign with your smartphone. And on Sundays, join one of two accomplished photographers for a brief course on the basics of garden shooting.

Whether you’re green to the art or just looking to brush up on your technique, come for some winter weather relief and don’t forget your camera.

Coming off last year’s successful Caribbean Garden stint as our resident photography expert, Rich Pomerantz returns in 2012 to give demonstrations, offer pointers, and supply helpful photo critiques on Sundays between 1 and 3 p.m. Joining him will be Alan Detrick, a regular face in our Adult Education teaching pool with several photography workshops already under his belt. Between the two of them, their combined portfolios are rather impressive: each has had photos published in numerous gardening magazines, books, and advertisements both here and abroad.

Of course, while skill with a camera is its own reward, we’re sweetening the pot again this year. From opening day on January 21 through March 10 we will once again be hosting the Caribbean Garden Photography Contest! We will be choosing Grand Prize winners in two categories, and the prizes continue the theme of inspiration and learning: gift certificates good toward Adult Education classes at the Garden!

Last year’s contestants worked their way through a challenging field of competition while chasing the prize. Take a look at a few of the winners from 2011:

Photogirl510

Weekly winners will be chosen by a panel of NYBG experts from the photographs receiving the most praise from their fellow photographers in our Flickr group pool. Be sure to check out our dedicated contest page for all the details on how to get started.

So come to Caribbean Garden and help us celebrate our newly-forged partnership with the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition, enjoy the warmth of the Conservatory, and glean inspiration from these beautiful photographs.

The New York Botanical Garden is the U.S. partner in this globally recognized contest of photographic excellence, and we are absolutely ecstatic to be partnered with IGPOTY in spreading the joy of garden photography. We are hoping that you will use the Caribbean Garden Photography Contest as a way  to brush up on your skills for the 2012 contest–for which IGPOTY will begin accepting submissions in mid-2012. Winners of each year’s IGPOTY competition earn worldwide recognition for their work and skill, and take home thousands of dollars in prize money as well. Think of our humble winter challenge as a springboard toward more worldly ambitions–a win in IGPOTY might just fund that mind-bendingly expensive telephoto lens you’ve been drooling over.

Do you think you have it in you to try your hand at our contest? We hope so! The more people snapping away, the more exciting the challenge. But even if you don’t feel like putting yourself in the spotlight, I still recommend coming for our Sunday afternoon mini-workshops. I’m a big proponent of “skill collecting”–as I like to call it–and that camera you got for your birthday could use a little attention. Who knows? Every now and then, moments like these turn into lifelong passions.

Purchase your Conservatory ticket online to make things easier. Photography workshops will be open to all Caribbean Garden visitors Sunday afternoons between 1 and 3 p.m. Come back to Plant Talk in coming weeks to see the participants–and winners–of our photography contest.

Tags: Alan Detrick, Caribbean Garden, IGPOTY, NYBG, Rich Pomerantz

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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2012/01/exhibit-news/grab-your-camera-caribbean-garden-photography-returns/

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I have always had a fascination with dragonflies in the garden.  I had never really seen them before but when we got our pool in 1996 there became an abundance of them hovering around the water and even landing right next to me with not a single fear.  An appreciation for their beauty and gracefulness became instilled in me while there was still a mystery to be unraveled. 

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Breeding organic roses may be on the best things you will ever do You are able to improve the beauty of your garden without hurting mother earth See, when you grow roses organically, you do away with destructive chemicals that may pose a threat to the world we live in and your love ones Yet the beauty of roses will inspire you and make you happy

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Knock Out Rose Double Pink

There is a new addition to my gardens this year-the Knock Out Rose.  Developed by Wisconsin rose breeder William Radler in 2000, Knock Out Rose is hardy to USDA zone 5 and has a bloom cycle that starts in spring and lasts well into frost. 

Knock Out Roses grow to 3-4 feet high by wide and should be grown in full sun in a well-drained soil.   Knock Out Rose do not require any special care but can be pruned in early spring after the threat of frost is gone to keep them full.  They do not require deadheading but if desired you can remove spent blooms to encourage more blooms. They are the most disease resistant roses on the market and are not susceptible to black-spot fungal disease.  They are virtually “care-free”.

Knock Out Rose Double Red

I have always loved roses and have wanted roses in my garden for years but did not want the maintenance of a regular rose.  These are wonderful and I am already getting so much enjoyment from them.  If you want a rose that is carefree, disease-resistant and that blooms all summer then this is the beauty for you!  There is an added plus-it is also deer-resistant. 

After 20 years in the making the first introduction of Knock Out Rose was the Red Knock Out in 2000.  After that in 2004, Blushing (light pink) and Pink (deep pink) were introduced.  In 2005 Double Red Knock Out came about and then in 2007, Rainbow Knock Out (pink/yellow center) and Sunny Knock Out (yellow) were brought into the market. 

I introduced three double pink Knock-Outs into my gardens in Mid-May and just added three Double Reds.   They are in full bloom and are the first shrub I go to when walking out into the garden.  Each day there are more and more blooms to look forward to.  I am already looking for a place to put the yellow variety.   These are truly a winner and after all these years there are finally roses in this designer’s garden.

Happy Gardening!

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A classic beauty Iris germanica

This bearded Iris is one of them.

Which might be surprising coming from a native plant enthusiast.

I met them when I was about 7 years old. A friend invited me to her house to play after school. They had a big sunny front yard filled with old fashioned flowers. The garden was being tended by her grandmother; a serious woman with the most amazing silver blue hair. She was very kind to an inquisitive little girl who peppered her with questions about the tall purple flower that smelled exactly like grape soda. She let me walk across the lawn to touch and smell the flowers I now know were German Iris.

Iris with Columbine, Shooting Star, Golden Ragwort and Foam Flower

To this day, their scent evokes the sweetest memories of kind friends, sunny gardens and silvery blue haired gardeners. Their tall form and rich lilac flowers fit nicely with my dear wildflower friends.

They are beautiful and smell luscious. Let’s try something.

Imagine a warm spring day.
The birds are singing just over your shoulder.
There is a hint of sweetness in the air.
You feel the irresistible urge to move closer,
to find it.
It’s right over there.
Tantalizingly sweet.
You are so close that you can see the beard,
touch the velvet petals and,
it smells delicious.
Just like grape soda.

Tell me, is there a plant that has captured your attention and never lost it?

xxoogail

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Surreal? The alchemy of frost and snow turns ordinary plants into something altogether mesmerizing. Today’s photo is another photo from Mike Lane in Victoria, B.C. He said, “There’s beauty to be found in the garden, even in winter. This cabbage looked so beautiful after a frost that I…

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Landscape gardening has often been likened to the painting of a picture. Your art-work teacher has doubtless told you that a good picture should have a point of chief interest, and the rest of the points simply go to make more beautiful the central idea, or to form a fine setting for it. So in landscape gardening there must be in the gardener’s mind a picture of what he desires the whole to be when he completes his work.

From this study we shall be able to work out a little theory of landscape gardening.

Let us go to the lawn. A good extent of open lawn space is always beautiful. It is restful. It adds a feeling of space to even small grounds. So we might generalize and say that it is well to keep open lawn spaces. If one covers his lawn space with many trees, with little flower beds here and there, the general effect is choppy and fussy. It is a bit like an over-dressed person. One’s grounds lose all individuality thus treated. A single tree or a small group is not a bad arrangement on the lawn. Do not centre the tree or trees. Let them drop a bit into the background. Make a pleasing side feature of them. In choosing trees one must keep in mind a number of things. You should not choose an overpowering tree; the tree should be one of good shape, with something interesting about its bark, leaves, flowers or fruit. While the poplar is a rapid grower, it sheds its leaves early and so is left standing, bare and ugly, before the fall is old. Mind you, there are places where a row or double row of Lombardy poplars is very effective. But I think you’ll agree with me that one lone poplar is not. The catalpa is quite lovely by itself. Its leaves are broad, its flowers attractive, the seed pods which cling to the tree until away into the winter, add a bit of picture squeness. The bright berries of the ash, the brilliant foliage of the sugar maple, the blossoms of the tulip tree, the bark of the white birch, and the leaves of the copper beech all these are beauty points to consider.

Place makes a difference in the selection of a tree. Suppose the lower portion of the grounds is a bit low and moist, then the spot is ideal for a willow. Don’t group trees together which look awkward. A long-looking poplar does not go with a nice rather rounded little tulip tree. A juniper, so neat and prim, would look silly beside a spreading chestnut. One must keep proportion and suitability in mind.

I’d never advise the planting of a group of evergreens close to a house, and in the front yard. The effect is very gloomy indeed. Houses thus surrounded are overcapped by such trees and are not only gloomy to live in, but truly unhealthful. The chief requisite inside a house is sunlight and plenty of it.

As trees are chosen because of certain good points, so shrubs should be. In a clump I should wish some which bloomed early, some which bloomed late, some for the beauty of their fall foliage, some for the colour of their bark and others for the fruit. Some spireas and the forsythia bloom early. The red bark of the dogwood makes a bit of colour all winter, and the red berries of the barberry cling to the shrub well into the winter.

Certain shrubs are good to use for hedge purposes. A hedge is rather prettier usually than a fence. The Californian privet is excellent for this purpose. Osage orange, Japan barberry, buckthorn, Japan quince, and Van Houtte’s spirea are other shrubs which make good hedges.

I forgot to say that in tree and shrub selection it is usually better to choose those of the locality one lives in. Unusual and foreign plants do less well, and often harmonize but poorly with their new setting.

Landscape gardening may follow along very formal lines or along informal lines. The first would have straight paths, straight rows in stiff beds, everything, as the name tells, perfectly formal. The other method is, of course, the exact opposite. There are danger points in each.

The formal arrangement is likely to look too stiff; the informal, too fussy, too wiggly. As far as paths go, keep this in mind, that a path should always lead somewhere. That is its business to direct one to a definite place. Now, straight, even paths are not unpleasing if the effect is to be that of a formal garden. The danger in the curved path is an abrupt curve, a whirligig effect. It is far better for you to stick to straight paths unless you can make a really beautiful curve. No one can tell you how to do this.

Garden paths may be of gravel, of dirt, or of grass. One sees grass paths in some very lovely gardens. I doubt, however, if they would serve as well in your small gardens. Your garden areas are so limited that they should be re-spaded each season, and the grass paths are a great bother in this work. Of course, a gravel path makes a fine appearance, but again you may not have gravel at your command. It is possible for any of you to dig out the path for two feet. Then put in six inches of stone or clinker. Over this, pack in the dirt, rounding it slightly toward the centre of the path. There should never be depressions through the central part of paths, since these form convenient places for water to stand. The under layer of stone makes a natural drainage system.

A building often needs the help of vines or flowers or both to tie it to the grounds in such a way as to form a harmonious whole. Vines lend themselves well to this work. It is better to plant a perennial vine, and so let it form a permanent part of your landscape scheme. The Virginia creeper, wistaria, honeysuckle, a climbing rose, the clematis and trumpet vine are all most satisfactory.

close your eyes and picture a house of natural colour, that mellow gray of the weathered shingles. Now add to this old house a purple wistaria. Can you see the beauty of it? I shall not forget soon a rather ugly corner of my childhood home, where the dining room and kitchen met. Just there climbing over, and falling over a trellis was a trumpet vine. It made beautiful an awkward angle, an ugly bit of carpenter work.

Of course, the morning-glory is an annual vine, as is the moon-vine and wild cucumber. Now, these have their special function. For often, it is necessary to cover an ugly thing for just a time, until the better  things and better times come. The annual is ‘the chap’ for this work.

Along an old fence a hop vine is a thing of beauty. One might try to rival the woods’ landscape work. For often one sees festooned from one rotted tree to another the ampelopsis vine.

Flowers may well go along the side of the building, or bordering a walk. In general, though, keep the front lawn space open and unbroken by beds. What lovelier in early spring than a bed of daffodils close to the house? Hyacinths and tulips, too, form a blaze of glory. These are little or no bother, and start the spring aright. One may make of some bulbs an exception to the rule of unbroken front lawn. Snowdrops and crocuses planted through the lawn are beautiful. They do not disturb the general effect, but just blend with the whole. One expert bulb gardener says to take a basketful of bulbs in the fall, walk about your grounds, and just drop bulbs out here and there. Wherever the bulbs drop, plant them. Such small bulbs as those we plant in lawns should be in groups of four to six. Daffodils may be thus planted, too. You all remember the grape hyacinths that grow all through Katharine’s side yard.

The place for a flower garden is generally at the side or rear of the house. The backyard garden is a lovely idea, is it not? Who wishes to leave a beautiful looking front yard, turn the corner of a house, and find a dump heap? Not I. The flower garden may be laid out formally in neat little beds, or it may be more of a careless, hit-or-miss sort. Both have their good points. Great masses of bloom are attractive.

You should have in mind some notion of the blending of colour. Nature appears not to consider this at all, and still gets wondrous effects. This is because of the tremendous amount of her perfect background of green, and the limitlessness of her space, while we are confined at the best to relatively small areas. So we should endeavour not to blind people’s eyes with clashes of colours which do not at close range blend well. In order to break up extremes of colours you can always use masses of white flowers, or something like mignonette, which is in effect green.

Finally, let us sum up our landscape lesson. The grounds are a setting for the house or buildings. Open, free lawn spaces, a tree or a proper group well placed, flowers which do not clutter up the front yard, groups of shrubbery these are points to be remembered. The paths should lead somewhere, and be either straight or well curved. If one starts with a formal garden, one should not mix the informal with it before the work is done.

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By Morgan Hamilton

Have you ever seen a Japanese Garden before? The first thing that would probably come into your mind when you hear about these gardens are bonsai trees. This Japanese art of making miniature trees has recently become popular. You might also associate these gardens with the art of Zen. This type of garden is usually based on a Zen related theme and the tranquil atmosphere that it projects is supposed to help bring people into a meditative state.

My fascination with this type of garden started when I came across the first Japanese Garden I ever saw. My father works in a language school and one of his colleagues is a Japanese professor.

This professor had lived for several years in Japan and in that time he has mastered the language and has adopted much of the Japanese culture. One of the elements of Japanese culture he likes and continues to practice was the art of maintaining a Japanese Garden.

He invited us and all his other colleagues and their families to a party to celebrate the birth of his third son. It was my first time to visit his home. I was fascinated when I saw his miniature Japanese Garden.

I have never seen anything like it before. His garden was beautiful, neat, clean, and seemed so delicate. I was hesitant to walk along the stones because I felt that my footsteps would disturb the garden’s tranquil atmosphere.

The professor must have noticed my fascination because he stood beside me and explained what his garden was all about. The host told me that it was a Japanese Garden. He showed me all of his wonderful bonsai specimens and patiently explained their unique features to me.

He also showed me the lovely Koi fish that were swimming in the pond in his garden. He explained to me that although these fish are endemic to China, the Japanese use them to add the element of prosperity to their gardens.

That experience transformed me into an instant Japanese Garden admirer. I was in total awe of this oriental garden’s beauty, simplicity, and tranquility. After that party, I began to research about this type of garden and today I have manged to create my own Japanese Garden.

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