Gardens & Collections Blog
A Fern Grows in Brooklyn
It’s not every day that a federally listed threatened plant establishes itself in a storm drain, but if you peer through the grate on the path leading through BBG’s Lilac Collection toward the Rose Garden, you will see a small colony of hart’s tongue ferns (Asplenium scolopendrium var. americanum ). The lush, shiny
Are the Cherries Blooming?
Around this time of year, inevitably I’ll be out in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden and someone will ask, “When will the cherry trees blossom?” and I’ll have to point out, “Well, you’re standing under a really beautiful flowering cherry tree right now.” That’s because most people, when they come to see
A Q&A with Darrel Morrison, Designer of BBG’s Native Flora Garden Expansion
The celebrated landscape architect Darrel Morrison is best known for designing wide-open prairie-inspired gardens like his landscapes at Storm King Art Center and the Native Plant Garden at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. Recently, though, the New York City resident has turned his attention to a more local, urban
Native Flora Garden Expansion: A Link to Our Natural History
Difficult as it is to imagine today, the New York metropolitan area was once home to a broad array of incredibly diverse plant communities. Much of Brooklyn was old-growth oak forest; the New Jersey Meadowlands were cedar swamps and sphagnum bogs; the eastern part of Long Island was a rolling, tallgrass prairie; and the
South African Spring
Most spring bulbs may be weeks from blooming outdoors in the Northern Hemisphere, but their South African counterparts are in all their glory in the Warm Temperate Pavilion. Like tulips, daffodils, and other familiar spring-blooming bulbs, South African bulbs and other geophytes are dormant in summer, an adaptation that
The Quiet Earth: A Forest in Winter
When you step into the Native Flora Garden, no matter what season, you feel a sense of wonderment and mystery. It looks and feels like a forest. During summer months, the garden pulses with activity—flying insects buzz, lush growth sways in the warm breeze, the smells are intoxicating. It’s as if you’re standing on
