Wow, Monique that looks like a fabulous place to visit. Thanks for the color fix.

Michelle

Monique, I am echoing Michelle's WOW! I'd love to visit the NYBG if we ever get back to the east coast.

All of the pictures and plants are great, but the Muhlenbergia capillaris is especially intriguing. I've been thinking of adding some grasses and I like the color in this one.

Thank you for sharing the photos!
T.

Monique- thanks for such a treat on this cold, cold return to Winter day -- Im hating Mother Nature's contrariness -- but this gives me something to hope for !!
Thanks for thinking of us.
--Cindy

A welcome sight Monique. Thanks for sharing. I really like Muhlenbergia capillaris too, that would look great in my garden. Are those coleus by the table where you had lunch?
The sprawling tree caught my eye too. N

The NYBG was one of the stops I originally wanted to make for idyllunion '05 but it would have been an all day thing and we just ran out of days. Maybe next time. I really wish it was closer because you could probably go every few weeks and see something different.

Thanks for the tour, Monique!

Sue

Monique!!! How fabu-fabu!!! V and I are here drooling over your beautiful photographs. I learned about a new grass this AM that Muhlenbergia capillaris is gorgeous and we were just discussing using it in a container garden. Thanks! Oh boy you should see the pic I got of you yesterday. I'll email it to you because if I posted it you'd never speak to me again.

Hi Monique! V here. Great photos and great tour. Another place to add to my list of "must see someday" places. I like the pink muhly grass also and loved the formal garden. Thanks for sharing.

Wow! Seeing your pics is like finding an oasis in the desert...arctic tundra? lol

What a magnificent place and I haven't even checked your link yet. I really love the scene of the gnarled tree(what is that?)trunks amongst the Kirengeshoma Palmata,fern etc.

Lol I can imagine Deanne actually any of us sitting next to all those coleus and wanting to pinch them back-that would be so hard to sit next to those; ) I wondered what the second coleus from the left was.

Thanks so much Monique-very thoughtful of you to post these!

~Babs

Glad everyone is enjoying the color! I had a feeling that Muhly grass would be popular. It blooms in the fall-I'm not sure what it looks like at other times. I just looked it up and the hardiness listed varies-some say up to 5a, but most list it as zone 6 or 7. My fave local nursery has it in their catalog-so I'm going to try it this year-the description says that it has a low clump of foliage and tolerates seashore conditions and poor soil. From googling, I just learned it is native, drought-tolerant, 3'x3', FS-PSH, "blooms" LSM-F, and is on the CT endangered/threatened list (reason alone to grow some).

Norma, they did have quite a few Coleus in the restaurant area. It made a nice display en masse.

Sue, we'll have to take the Idyllettes to the NYBG the next time we host the event. It was only 1.5 hrs from my house.

Babs, I don't remember what the gnarled tree was. I'll check next time I go. They were great about labeling plants. I'm sure Deanne can identify the coleus cultivar-she remembers all their names-I'm jealous. You should have seen all of her coleus under lights yesterday-what a green outdoor and indoor thumb she has.

I was reading an article in a gardening magazine today where they listed what they thought were the top 10 botanical gardens. NYBG was one and also the Chicago Botanical Garden. Is that on the to do list for the next Idyllunion?

Hi Michelle,
V did mention Chicago Botanical Garden as an option for the next Idyllunion. Seems like there are quite a few good garden places to visit in Illinois!

Monique, I'm late to chime in here, but love, love, love all the photos! The purple muhly grass is also my favourite. I grew it from seed in 2004, as an annual really, but was surprised and thrilled it made it through my zone 5 winter unscathed. Bloomed bigger and better last summer. I just love the way that grass catches the light--looks like fibre optics when the light hits it just right! Love it! Thanks for sharing, and yes, the Chicago Botanical Garden sounds like a great plan...

Taryn

Monique:

I'm a bit late on the uptake, too, but what a wonderful thread to look at today! The Heuchera looks like it's in full sun. Is it? Wanted to try some in fs last year and chickened out. And -- the trial gardens!!!

Thanks so much!

Martie

Hi Monique

Add me to the late club too! I used to enjoy to the Bronx Botanical Gardens when we worked in Manhattan. I loved it then, and that was back in the time before we had a garden. It would be fun to go back now with a gardener's eye, especially to the trial gardens. Wonderful pictures for a cold snowy day.

Mary

The gnarled tree is Elaeagnus angustifolia or Russian olive. :)