I've been waiting for quite some time to see this new native garden at the NY Botanical Garden come to life. Several years ago, during interviews for a profile of James van Sweden, co-founder of Oehme van Sweden Landscape Architecture (OVSLA) the firm's Sheila Brady showed me the plan for it and explained how it was going to work.
The 3.5 acre garden features a 230-foot-long water feature surrounded by lush wetlands, meadows, and shaded woods filled with nearly 100 thousand native plants.
The garden is the most contemporary at the NYBG, designed by Brady to take advantage of the natural terrain and introduce a number of sustainable elements. The water feature is fed by recycled stormwater captured on site that cascades over stone weirs and is filtered by native aquatic plants. A boardwalk that runs alongside is fashioned from native black locust and other structures and benches were constructed from salvaged, recycled, or sustainably harvested materials.
The garden's curator, Jody Payne, said what makes the garden special is that "it was not only designed to be a beautiful and inspiring garden, but it was also designed to teach our visitors the essential role that plants play in the living ecosystem all around us." The garden features ephemerals in spring such as trillium, bloodroot and lady slipper orchids; meadow grasses in summer; red-stemmed dogwoods and golden birches in fall; and winterberry fruits and the stately architecture of ancient trees in winter.
The Native Plant Garden Symposium (May 3 at 10AM) includes presentations by Dr. Robert Naczi of the NYBG; author and professor Dr. Douglas Tallamy; author and photographer Rick Darke, and the designer of the garden, landscape architect Sheila Brady. For a full list of programs surrounding the opening of the garden, check details here.
And for a video preview of the garden, click here.
Don't miss it!
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