Jade Vine at the New York Botanical Garden

One of my favorite blooms at the New York Botanical Garden's Conservatory is the jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys). The jade vine is indigenous to the Philippines, where its tendrils scramble up tropical rain forest trees in an effort to seek out sunlight.

New York Botanical Garden's Orchid Show: Key West Contemporary

The New York Botanical Garden’s Orchid Show opened this weekend in the Bronx. The orchid show is the largest of its kind in the country. This year, the exhibit is inspired by a modernist estate garden in Key West, Florida.

The Mertz Library at the New York Botanical Garden

This is the New York Botanical Garden's Mertz Library, one of the world's largest and most important botanical and horticultural research libraries. It boasts accessioned items (books, journals, original art and illustration, seed and nursery catalogs, architectural plans of glass houses, scientific reprints, and photographs). The Library serves as both a research and a public library and as both a scholarly resource and a general plant information service. It offers a wide array of reference resources, print and electronic, and the help of an informed staff to anyone visiting the Library through the Internet or in person. (from the New York Botanical Garden website)

New York Botanical Garden's Holiday Train Show - Model Trains and Botanical Architecture

One of New York's popular family holiday traditions is the New York Botanical Garden's Holiday Train Show. It features model trains running along a half-mile of track in and around New York landmark buildings and bridges constructed entirely of plant materials including nuts, tree bark, fruits, pine cones, and leaves. The display is being held at the historic, Victorian-era Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. The botanical architecture includes replicas of St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the original Yankee Stadium, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge, among others. The Holiday Train Show runs through January 12, 2014.

The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx

T he Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum exhibition is back at the New York Botanical Garden. This year's display at the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory features hundreds of large chrysanthemums coaxed from a single stem and precisely arrayed in serried ranks; countless tiny chrysanthemums, shaped into bright cascades suspended from wire armatures; anemone-form chrysanthemums twisted around a piece of wood in a reinterpretation of bonsai. The kiku, (chrysanthemum’s Japanese name), is the central image in the imperial seal and the symbol of Japan’s monarchy, traditionally referred to as the chrysanthemum throne. It is the most revered flower in Japan. The exhibit continues through Oct. 27.

Four Sculptures Representing the Four Seasons by Philip Haas at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx

Four Seasons is an installation of four sculptures, each standing more than 15 feet high - Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter by contemporary American artist and filmmaker Philip Haas at the Concservatory Courtyard of the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. Haas was inspired by the 16th-century Italian Renaissance artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who painted eccentric, yet scientifically accurate, composite heads composed of fake flowers, ivy, moss, fungi, vegetables, fruit, bark, and branches. Each human portrait represent an individual season. The exhibit continues through October 27.

11th Annual Orchid Show Opens at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx

Yesterday, the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx opened its doors to the 11th annual Orchid Show. Thousands of brilliantly colored orchids in various forms are on display throughout the galleries of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. This show is considered the largest exhibition of its kind in the United States. In this year's show, trees from the NYBG's grounds that were damaged by Hurricane Sandy are incorporated in the display. In addition to the orchid show, there are talks, classes, demonstrations, music and even Orchid Evenings at the New York Botanical Garden. The Orchid Show runs through April 22.