Tuesday, November 12, 2013

NYBG Conservatory - Rainforest and Aquatic Plants

We finally had the chance to start sorting out the photos we took of our visit to New York Botanical Gardens last September and one of the highlights of which was our wander through the different sections of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.


This conservatory, a major landmark and considered to be the crown jewel of New York City houses the tender plant collection of the botanical gardens. The building itself was inspired from the Palm House at Kew Gardens as well as the Crystal Palace (which was destroyed in 1936 and was never rebuilt). The conservatory fell into disrepair in the 70's and needed some much needed major restoration which was then made possible by the generous donation of Enid A. Haupt, hence the conservatory being named after her once all restoration work was completed.




The building is composed of the main dome and a warren of interconnected glasshouses, of different sections with different climactic zones, with each zone housing plant collections that grows in such habitat. With plants coming in from different parts of the globe, then entire collection and experience of walking though them has been appropriately named 'World of Plants' and a walk through the glasshouses certainly does give one taster of different parts of the world and the unique plants that grow in them.

A World of Plants!
On this post we will feature the sections Palms of the World, Lowland Tropical Rainforest, Aquatic Plants and Vines, and the Upland Tropical Rainforest. Alas however, as I went through the photos we've taken in these areas a lot of them were of poor quality and were flawed for one reason or another. The lighting conditions in these areas were not brilliant (it was very cloudy and overcast whilst we were there which didn't help) and our camera struggled hence relatively few photos came out well. But at least there are still plenty enough to give one a taster of what's to see in this charming conservatory.

Without further ado we'll now start the tour as we enter the conservatory through the section Palms of the World

Where you will see a selection of tropical palms surrounding a circular pool





Together with the palms there are also a selection of Cycads to be found

And from here it connects into the section Lowland Tropical Rain Forest


The stunning fern Marattia attenuata
Love the walk through the lush plants, it was like being back in Singapore again

Costus sp. spiralling away

A tropical hut adding atmosphere
Climb the stairs to experience what it's like to be up on the canopy...




Then into the section Aquatic Plants and Vines

The stunning palm Cyrtostachys renda - who needs red painted bamboo poles if you have such a plant in your garden?
A very Victorian scenery! Fountain and pool framed by Thunbergia mysorensis


And finally, we go into the Upland Tropical Rain Forest

Gorgeous leaves! - Bocconia frutescens
Cyathea parade
An atmospheric jungle walk



A gorgeous walk through a canopy of Cibotium splendens




And then from here you go through a tunnel into the next section. 


Fortunately by the time we got there the clouds have parted and it has become sunny and bright again. Quite appropriate really as the next section we'll be featuring soon are the Deserts of America and Deserts of Africa!

Mark :-)

18 comments :

  1. What a lovely place to visit, conservatories are wonderful for exposing visitors to so many plant possibilities under "one" roof. Your photo of the Bocconia frutescens has me feeling very sorry for my plant shivering outside here in Portland. Poor thing.

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    1. It is a lovely place to visit Loree, and conservatories come in handy too especially in the winter and you want some green fix. I was slightly surprised to see the Bocconia growing in a tropical house, knowing that its a more temperate plant (and thought of you too!) but I suppose it's a matter of space and the conservatory is not big enough to have separate temperate area.

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  2. Oh there are some real stunners in there for me. My favourites are the Marattia attenuata along with the red stemmed palm. When I think of Thunbergia I think of Black Eyed Susan's - never something that looks slightly like a very colourful phormium. It must have been a wonderful place to visit.

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  3. Wow! Glorious photos despite your introductory disclaimer. Are you sure someone didn't paint that red stemmed palm?!

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    1. The trunk of that palm is so vibrant isn't it Kris, almost unreal!

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  4. So many extraordinary plants - the black stick-like fern and the red pole fern spring to mind, what is it about ferns, one doens't normally think of them as show-offs! I wasn't so impressed by the palm area, I think because of all the pots, but the rest more than made up for it.

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    1. So true Janet and yet ferns can be such show off plants! The palm area could do with more sprucing up though but still has loads of gorgeous specimens in it.

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  5. Great photos of this section. They have done a wonderful job of bringing in so much for an area that normally could not have most of those plants.
    Cher Sunray Gardens

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    1. They have done indeed Cher. Shame we missed the special exhibition as we've seen recent pics of it and it looked good.

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  6. I agree with Janet regarding the palm section but the other areas are gorgeous. The tunnel is odd but perhaps this is an easier way of separating the climate zones? Lovely post of some amazing plants!

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    1. The tunnel was a bit surreal to go through Peter, not you'd normally expect in a Botanical Garden . It looked like it's something that was used during the war.

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  7. Super place. I just love huge glasshouses. They always feel magical. If you two haven't made it to Berlin yet, I'd highly recommend the glasshouses at the Botanical Garden there. I blogged about my visit back in April. As ever, your photos do far more justice to your subject, though.

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    1. Would love to visit Berlin soon Helen, and it's not that difficult for us to get too as well. Thanks for the lovely words!

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  8. So much to love in this post. What grabbed me was the spiraling Costus, showing off the colorful undersides of its leaves...and the Bocconea leaves. They stole your idea for a tropical hut!

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    1. It's a lovely conservatory and botanical garden Ricki, wouldn't mind visiting it again the next time we're bank in NY. And yes they did steal our tropical hut idea!! :)

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  9. What a beautiful place! So green and luscious!

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