It’s hearts and flowers time, and The New York Botanical Garden is celebrating most decidedly Feb. 14 with complimentary Champagne and chocolate to accompany its steamy exhibit, “Wild Medicine in the Tropics,” spotlighting the medicinal plants of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, its Victorian glasshouse. But why stop there? In the Beaux Arts-style LuEsther T. Mertz Library through Feb. 22, you’ll find “Flora Illustrata,” a sampling of The Garden’s rare botanical prints and manuscripts. They’re accompanied by a catalog that conveys the sensuous – and sensual – side of nature, as many plants echo the male and female forms. Birds and bees indeed.
These are heady times for The Garden, which has collaborated with Chesapeake Bay Candle on a collection of refreshingly beguiling botanical scents and designs inspired by its grounds, architecture and illustrated works that will launch in time for Mother’s Day.
Meanwhile, The Garden’s gearing up for its annual “Orchid Show” (Feb. 28-April 19) and “Antique Garden Furniture Fair” (April 24-26) as well as a new exhibit sure to be a blockbuster, “Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life” (May 16-Nov. 1).
We may just have to move in.
For more, visit nybg.org and look for more on The Garden’s new candles in the Chic Choices section of March WAG, “A Passion for Design.” – Georgette Gouveia
