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The New York Botanical Garden
www.nybg.org
Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers:
Her Life, Her Poetry, Her Garden
(Emily Dickinson’s Garden Website)
(Shop in the Garden Website)
Co-Presented with the Poetry Society of America
(Poetry Society Website)
Through June 13, 2010
Assoc. VP, Creative Services & Marketing: Terry Skoda
Assoc. Dir., Public Relations & Electronic Media: Nicholas Leshi
Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower
May 1, 2010
(Click Here for the Mertz Library, Dickinson Memorabilia Gallery Exhibit)
(Click Here for The Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Dickinson-Inspired Creatures)
(Click Here for The Shop in the Garden, Dickinson-Inspired Gifts)
The New York Botanical Garden is now presenting Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers, through June 13, 2010. Ms. Dickinson lived a secluded, private, and literary life in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she wrote almost 1800 poems, most of which were found by her sister, Lavinia, after her death. Emily often gave poems as gifts to friends and family, and they included pressed flowers, pinned onto the poems as natural decorations. Her hundreds of hidden poems, later published, were clear and short, unusually punctuated, and replete with mesmerizing metaphors. Many of these eloquent poems are copied onto large posters and positioned throughout the Botanical Garden. I chose the first day of May, right after the exhibit’s opening ceremonies, to visit this expansive show, and, although the weather was unusually hot, the Garden was packed with visitors. Some spent endless minutes, gazing at a single flower or poem, in the elegantly designed plantings, inspired by Emily Dickinson’s gardens and poetry, which alluded to flowers, butterflies, and deep emotions. One of her poems is below.
MAY-FLOWER
Pink, small, and punctual,
Aromatic, low,
Covert in April,
Candid in May,
Dear to the moss,
Known by the knoll,
Next to the robin
In every human soul.
Bold little beauty,
Bedecked with thee,
Nature forswears
Antiquity. (everypoet.com)
I reviewed a play about Ms. Dickinson recently and was eager to explore this Garden Exhibit, with all its imaginative events and transporting designs. Today’s events included Barbara Dana’s performance of “The Belle of Amherst”, by William Luce, The Emily Dickinson Big Read in the Perennial Garden (a 3-day Marathon Reading of all the Dickinson poems), the children’s Poetry Garden, with whimsical poems displayed on floral creatures and climbing spaces, as well as movement and art, a children’s “Dig, Plant, Grow” activity, a Home Gardening Demonstration, Curator-led tours, a Docent’s Choice Tour, a lecture on “Restoring Emily Dickinson’s Landscape”, and even a Bird Walk. And, this is all just for today! Every day, the Garden schedules Adult Education and Children’s lessons, gardening, readings, adventures, and explorations. In fact, you could visit The New York Botanical Garden as your spring-summer getaway destination, and you would discover and enjoy a new space, a new poem, a new floral display or species every time.
Today I explored the Perennial Garden spaces, with unusual flower beds, all inspired by detailed Dickinson research, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, where a façade of Emily Dickinson’s Amherst “Homestead” is mounted with floral walkways, plus the Conservatory’s orchids, fountain, waterfall, ponds, and cactus plants. I also paused to take in the peony plants ready to burst forth, budding trees and blooming tulips, poem posters mounted serendipitously, and The Big Read. After lunch in the Garden Café, I wandered through the Mertz Library, where The Garden has replicated Emily Dickinson’s long white dress and rare portraits, as well as Ms. Dickinson’s own flower bulb catalogue, poems, garden map and books, pressed flowers, and other fascinating memorabilia. From the Library, I shopped at The Shop in the Garden, where visitors can browse Emily Dickinson-inspired gardening books, poetry plates, floral placemats, napkins, jewelry, crafts, wallets, children’s literature, and bath products. The ambiance at The Shop in the Garden was all Dickinson, everywhere, even in wildflower seed packets and rare bulb packets.
My final stop was the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, with dainty, pastel pansies, a whimsical floral caterpillar, worm, and frog, decorated with a Dickinson poem here and there, child-sized climbing and sitting spaces, and seasonal red azaleas. Do not miss The New York Botanical Garden’s “Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers”, running through June 13, 2010. Wear comfortable shoes, light, layered clothing, and be sure to bring your camera. Click here to purchase your tickets!
The New York Botanical Garden
with Emily Dickinson-Inspired Flowers
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden
and a Visitor in Reflection
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden
with Emily Dickinson-Inspired Flowers
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden
with Emily Dickinson-Inspired Flowers
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden
with Emily Dickinson-Inspired Flowers
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden
with Emily Dickinson-Inspired Flowers
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Surrounded by Spring Greenery
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
A Wild Rose Blooms in the Garden
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden
Bursts into Spring Greenery
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden
with Emily Dickinson-Inspired Flowers
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
One of Numerous Emily Dickinson Poems
Displayed in the Garden
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
A Young Visitor in a Tutu
Lost in Poetic Reflection
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden
with Emily Dickinson-Inspired Flowers
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden
with Emily Dickinson-Inspired Flowers
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The Big Read
A Guest Reads Emily Dickinson's Poems
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden
with Emily Dickinson-Inspired Flowers
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Dozens of Peony Plants
Ready to Burst into Bloom
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Peonies Line the Garden Walkway
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Surrounded by Spring Greenery
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Barbara Dana Performs for Visitors
"The Belle of Amherst"
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden's
The Big Read Kickoff Events
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Goldfish Swim in the Waterlily Pond
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
A Gardenia in Bloom in
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Orchids Grow in
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Orchids Grow in
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Cactus Plants in
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Cactus Plants in
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
A Stately Fountain in The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
A Waterlily Grows in
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
A Red Tropical Plant in
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Orchids Grow in
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Mountain Laurel Bushes
Bloom in the Garden
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden
with Emily Dickinson-Inspired Flowers
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
The New York Botanical Garden
with Emily Dickinson-Inspired Flowers
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Spring Landscape Art in the Garden
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Coming Attractions Posted in the Garden
Photo Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
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