Photo of the Day: Moth Orchid, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY

I took the attached photo in mid-June, when, for the first time, I visited one of the true treasures of New York-- The New York Botanical Garden.

The formal name of this specimen from the plant kingdom is phalaenopsis, but that’s a mouthful, and most people simply prefer “the moth orchid.”  It’s considered the best orchid for growing at home, for a variety of reasons:

*Average home temperatures are usually right for it;

*It grows easily in a bright window; and,

*If it needs it, artificial lighting can be provided.

This type of orchid is especially popular in my neck of the woods, the Northeast. My guess is that Nero Wolfe, the corpulent but brilliant detective created by Rex Stout, took special care with this in his West 35^th Street brownstone.

Photo of the Day: Himalayan Pine, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY

I came across (and took this photo of) this unusual 100-year-old tree—which, an accompanying sign states, might be “the largest of its species in cultivation”—while visiting, at the start of this summer, the New York Botanical Garden, the wonderful National Historic Landmark in the Bronx.

Photo of the Day: Maui Wormwood, NY Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY

The formal scientific name for this flowering plant from the aster family is Artemisia mauiensis. Whatever you want to call it, I thought it was striking enough to photograph it when I went to the New York Botanical Garden over a month ago. 

It must have struck Georgia O’Keeffe with special force when she visited Hawaii on a nine-week journey in 1939. Everything in the world was farther apart and so much more exotic back then, an impression reinforced through every image and every letter from the artist in the Botanical Garden’s fascinating exhibit about it.

Photo of the Day: Cuban Thatch Palm, NY Botanical Garden, Bronx NY

I took a picture of this (formal name: Coccothrinax fragrans) a month ago at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.

This is not the first picture I have posted from this venerable treasure—and, given the wonders within its boundaries, almost certainly not the last.

Photo of the Day: ‘Pinstripe Calathea,’ NY Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY

I photographed this unusual perennial plant while visiting the New York Botanical Garden a month ago.

Native to South America, Calathea Ornata, as it is formally known, can be seen in a number of tropical climates, even as far away as Thailand. Its large leaves exhibit an unusual pattern and effervescent colors. As the plant ages, its pinstripes will turn white.

Photo of the Day: Peonies, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx NY

When I visited the New York Botanical Garden a few weeks ago, I may have been struck the most by the simple but intensely beautiful peonies I saw and photographed here.