I'm going to attempt to blog about my New York City adventures over the course of the next three blogs. This one will be about my day at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG), the next will be regarding the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) and the last regarding Central Park and "miscellaneous".
Well, my adventure started last Monday with a bus trip to O'Hare International Airport to catch the "red eye" to Newark, NJ. No trouble at the airport although I'm not a fan of any part of the airport "process" or "experience". The flight was uneventful and I was able to catch a nap en route. My brother picked me up and I spent the rest of the day in Scotch Plains, NJ with Mike (brother), Diane (sister-in-law), my nephews (Garrett and Colin) and my nieces (Riley and McKenna). It was nice to see th
em as I only get to see them once a year typically and had only travelled to their home in NJ just once, three years ago. On Tuesday morning, I took a bus to NYC (easy way to go) as the bus left from right near my brothers house and took about an hour to get downtown. I then experienced the early morning "herds" of people out on the streets heading to work. I had spent plenty of time in Chicago so wasn't a novice to the urban experience but this was a notch up on the intensity level. Interesting to note the disparities between the "suits" walking along to their banks and the homeless still buried underneath layers of old clothes along the same streets. Anyway, I entered the subway and after some less than helpful advice from a subway employee, I got on the right train to Brooklyn. I did find New Yorkers to be friendly and helpful although those I asked question of where already predetermined by me to be of sound mind and minimal potential hostility. Regardless, 20 minutes later I was in front of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden although it wouldn't open for another 30 minutes or so. I walked the periphery and thru a neighboring park and was confused by all the leaves (green) that were down.
The previous night had some thunderstorms but what I soon found out was that this area of Brooklyn had experienced 20 minutes of pounding, 1/2" hail as well. That explained the downed leaves but also the devastation that I soon observed in the garden once I entered. Take a look at the elephant ears (
Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic') above and to the right.
There were still remnants of hail around the gardens and when I entered at 8 am, the grounds staff was already dealing with cleaning up and were visually shaken by the damage. Plants were shredded, flattened
and obliterated around the gardens. It was actually quite sad and I sympathized with the BBG staff and what their upcoming days would entail in terms of clean up duties. Although I wished I had come a day earli
er, I was still impressed with the garden and spent a good six hours walking thru the gardens and even spent some time walking around adjoining neighborhoods and parks in that area. I was later told that it was a tough neigborhood but never felt that "vibe". Regardless, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden was very impressive and included a combination of formal garden spaces, a beautiful Japanese garden and large formal open spaces and woodland settings. There were some enormous tree specimens and many of the woodies that I saw confirmed my thoughts that NYC is probably a very warm zone 6 garden as evidenced by plants we could overwinter here. The children's Discovery Garden was very nice and I enjoyed their conservatories as well. So anyway, I'm sitting in their cafe' area having a lemonade and I see a lady walk by that looks familiar. I notice she has a BBG staff lanyard and is talking with a man that is with her for lunch. Anyway, as I look at her, I'm convinced that she is someone I know from way back in my University of Illinois days. I approach and say, "Excuse me, sorry to interrupt. Did you by chance go to the University of Illinois?" She responds, "Yes I did". I reply, "I'm Mark Dwyer" to which she replies, "I know!". Anyway, Amy was indeed a former classmate and is currently the funds development person at BBG. I was introduced to her male companion, Kinder, who happens to be her husband. We didn't get to talk for long but it was the weirdest coincindence! Below is a portion of the Discovery Garden which I'm sure is very popular. Lots of great ideas were gleaned including a feature for water/aquatic education (further below).
There were many other cool fe
atures around the gardens. The hardscaping (paths, retaining walls, railings, benches, etc.) was superior and looks like it will last for centuries. The vegetable garden was very impressive but had also suffered with the pounding hail. As a side note, when I left the gardens at 2 pm that day, it was 75 degrees and there were still piles of hail melting alon
g the paths! It was neat to see a "green roof" display that had variable slopes and plantings (to the left). I also thought the interpretive signs were top notch and very professional. Plant signage was also quite nice as I rarely saw something without a label. Further supporting my theory regarding the much warmer climate (than Janesville, WI) in NYC was the giant sequoia (
Sequoiadendron giganteum) seen to the right. This was only a baby at 60' tall but had the beautiful bark and bluish green foliage. Overall, the BBG was a wonderful destination and the recent hail damage didn't affect the value (or enjoyment) of my visit. Below are some other shots of the garden including the leaf debris on parked cars outside the garden and a mass of female ginkgo (
Ginkgo biloba) fruits (blogged about recently). Interestingly, I noted two older Asian women working along row of female ginkgo trees and were hand picking the fruits from the lawn and had bags full of them! It would make sense to get the freshest fruits that were knocked down by the hail. The nut-like ginkgo seeds have a long history in Asian cuisine. I'm sure they had staff permission and why not? We've let some visitors collect edible weeds for the same reason. Why waste the food? After returing to Manhattan that afternoon, I wandered the streets for a couple of hours and could spend a year describing the places and people that I saw. I joined my Aunt Patti and Uncle Bob at a delicious vegan restaurant (Zen Palate) later in the evening. They travelled 2 hours from PA to meet me in the city and we had a great time. Then it was back to NJ for sleep and an early trip to the New York Botanic Garden.
I'm going to attempt to blog about my New York City adventures over the course of the next three blogs. This one will be about my day at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG), the next will be regarding the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) and the last regarding Central Park and "miscellaneous". 
Well, my adventure started last Monday with a bus trip to O'Hare International Airport to catch the "red eye" to Newark, NJ. No trouble at the airport although I'm not a fan of any part of the airport "process" or "experience". The flight was uneventful and I was able to catch a nap en route. My brother picked me up and I spent the rest of the day in Scotch Plains, NJ with Mike (brother), Diane (sister-in-law), my nephews (Garrett and Colin) and my nieces (Riley and McKenna). It was nice to see th
em as I only get to see them once a year typically and had only travelled to their home in NJ just once, three years ago. On Tuesday morning, I took a bus to NYC (easy way to go) as the bus left from right near my brothers house and took about an hour to get downtown. I then experienced the early morning "herds" of people out on the streets heading to work. I had spent plenty of time in Chicago so wasn't a novice to the urban experience but this was a notch up on the intensity level. Interesting to note the disparities between the "suits" walking along to their banks and the homeless still buried underneath layers of old clothes along the same streets. Anyway, I entered the subway and after some less than helpful advice from a subway employee, I got on the right train to Brooklyn. I did find New Yorkers to be friendly and helpful although those I asked question of where already predetermined by me to be of sound mind and minimal potential hostility. Regardless, 20 minutes later I was in front of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden although it wouldn't open for another 30 minutes or so. I walked the periphery and thru a neighboring park and was confused by all the leaves (green) that were down. 
and obliterated around the gardens. It was actually quite sad and I sympathized with the BBG staff and what their upcoming days would entail in terms of clean up duties. Although I wished I had come a day earli
er, I was still impressed with the garden and spent a good six hours walking thru the gardens and even spent some time walking around adjoining neighborhoods and parks in that area. I was later told that it was a tough neigborhood but never felt that "vibe". Regardless, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden was very impressive and included a combination of formal garden spaces, a beautiful Japanese garden and large formal open spaces and woodland settings. There were some enormous tree specimens and many of the woodies that I saw confirmed my thoughts that NYC is probably a very warm zone 6 garden as evidenced by plants we could overwinter here. The children's Discovery Garden was very nice and I enjoyed their conservatories as well. So anyway, I'm sitting in their cafe' area having a lemonade and I see a lady walk by that looks familiar. I notice she has a BBG staff lanyard and is talking with a man that is with her for lunch. Anyway, as I look at her, I'm convinced that she is someone I know from way back in my University of Illinois days. I approach and say, "Excuse me, sorry to interrupt. Did you by chance go to the University of Illinois?" She responds, "Yes I did". I reply, "I'm Mark Dwyer" to which she replies, "I know!". Anyway, Amy was indeed a former classmate and is currently the funds development person at BBG. I was introduced to her male companion, Kinder, who happens to be her husband. We didn't get to talk for long but it was the weirdest coincindence! Below is a portion of the Discovery Garden which I'm sure is very popular. Lots of great ideas were gleaned including a feature for water/aquatic education (further below). 
atures around the gardens. The hardscaping (paths, retaining walls, railings, benches, etc.) was superior and looks like it will last for centuries. The vegetable garden was very impressive but had also suffered with the pounding hail. As a side note, when I left the gardens at 2 pm that day, it was 75 degrees and there were still piles of hail melting alon
g the paths! It was neat to see a "green roof" display that had variable slopes and plantings (to the left). I also thought the interpretive signs were top notch and very professional. Plant signage was also quite nice as I rarely saw something without a label. Further supporting my theory regarding the much warmer climate (than Janesville, WI) in NYC was the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) seen to the right. This was only a baby at 60' tall but had the beautiful bark and bluish green foliage. Overall, the BBG was a wonderful destination and the recent hail damage didn't affect the value (or enjoyment) of my visit. Below are some other shots of the garden including the leaf debris on parked cars outside the garden and a mass of female ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) fruits (blogged about recently). Interestingly, I noted two older Asian women working along row of female ginkgo trees and were hand picking the fruits from the lawn and had bags full of them! It would make sense to get the freshest fruits that were knocked down by the hail. The nut-like ginkgo seeds have a long history in Asian cuisine. I'm sure they had staff permission and why not? We've let some visitors collect edible weeds for the same reason. Why waste the food? After returing to Manhattan that afternoon, I wandered the streets for a couple of hours and could spend a year describing the places and people that I saw. I joined my Aunt Patti and Uncle Bob at a delicious vegan restaurant (Zen Palate) later in the evening. They travelled 2 hours from PA to meet me in the city and we had a great time. Then it was back to NJ for sleep and an early trip to the New York Botanic Garden. 
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