Springtime! 4/05/23 edition is published by Anton Media Group.

Seasonal gardening

Ellis Island by boat

The Orchid Show: Natural Heritage Is On View Through April 23

BY ANTON MEDIA STAFF specialsections@antonmediagroup.com

The 20th annual Orchid Show returns to The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) with landscape artist Lily Kwong as the guest designer. Featuring immersive installations of thousands of orchids, Kwong’s design of the exhibition transports guests to ethereal, reverent landscapes inspired by ancient Chinese garden design and artistic principles. The Orchid Show: Natural Heritage is on view through April 23, in NYBG’s historic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

The Orchid Show: Natural Heritage by Kwong explores the diversity, adaptability, and worldwide cultural significance of these formidable flowers. Inspired by classic paintings of Chinese mountainscapes passed down through her family from Shanghai, Kwong utilizes an extraordinary array of orchids—including iconic and rare specimens—enveloping visitors

in towering mountainous forms that blend ecology, culture, and fantasy. Influenced by Kwong’s own heritage, medicinal traditions, and her artistic interpretation of nature as a healing force, the resulting experience beckons visitors into an immersive world in which humanity and nature coexist peacefully.

Working in collaboration with Kwong to bring her vision to life,

horticulturists and exhibitions

staff at NYBG have identified and assembled spectacular selections of orchids that are native to Asian countries and companion plantings. These flowers have been assembled to create dynamic displays that are not only visually dramatic and striking, but emotionally evocative, inspiring see ORCHID SHOW on page 5B

BY VALERIE SMITH specialsections@antonmediagroup.com

With the first day of spring approaching, warmer weather signals plants to come out of dormancy and start flourishing again. The time for spring lawn care tips is right around the corner. Even if your lawn and garden never went fully dormant, you can still expect your home landscape to begin thriving with warmer temperatures.

1Mow your lawn at the proper height again

The timing for which the first mow of the spring for your mature, established turfgrass widely varies depending on the area you live in. Grasses come out of dormancy differently depending on the environment and temperatures your area encounters. Generally speaking, however, mid-March is about the time for you to begin your regimen for spring green-up and

Spring Lawn Care Tips

mowing. It’s important to note that the first mow of the spring shouldn’t take place while warm season grass is dormant.

2Start with the appropriate fertilizer

Spring is one of the most important times of the year to use fertilizer. Warm season grasses are coming out of dormancy, so you will want to promote healthy roots and the return of green leaf blades. Be careful when making your first fertilizer application of the year. A lot of homeowners see their grass green up and immediately pull out the fertilizer and lawn mower. Wait until the last frost has hit.

3Set up a spring irrigation schedule

Dormant, warm season turfgrass

doesn’t need much water until the active growing season kicks in and your grass starts to green up. If you have a dormant, warm season lawn, it is not dead—it’s just “sleeping”.

in the spring.

Apply post-emergent herbicides throughout the spring as needed to control summer annual and perennial broadleaf weeds like crabgrass, dandelion, chickweed, white clover and knotweed.

6Prevent disease as temperatures warm up

4Control

weeds with a pre- or post-emergent herbicide

Pre-emergents should be applied during the spring when ground temperatures reach about 55 degrees. A pre-emergent herbicide functions to prevent weeds from emerging from the surface of the soil, as its name suggests. The exact dates for these applications differ depending on the area you live in, but generally speaking, pre-emergents should be applied between the beginning and middle of March

5Watch out for insects that may begin coming out

If your lawn has suffered from insect damage around this time in the past, it is a good idea to apply a broad-spectrum insecticide at this time to prevent them from coming back again.

If the insecticide is a granular product, be sure to water it in so that it soaks into your soil. On the other hand, if it’s a liquid product, you will either need to attach it to the end of your garden hose or tank mix it.

As previously mentioned, if you have a warm season lawn, circular brown or yellow spots, also known as spring dead spot, may start to show up as it comes out of dormancy.

Other potential disease outbreaks include brown patch and gray leaf spot. If you notice any disease outbreaks, you may need to make applications of a systemic fungicide. Even if you don’t have disease in your lawn, it’s still good practice to apply it preventively to keep disease from taking over— especially if you’ve had disease in the past around this time.

—Valerie Smith is a content strategist for Sod Solutions (www. sodsolutions.com)

It is time to wake the garden.

ORCHID SHOW from page 3B

visitors to reflect on their own plant heritage and ancestry. The exhibition’s varied installations evoking ancient mountainous topographies invite visitors to experience the boundlessness of nature’s creativity and imagine a future where environmental harmony is restored.

“I am deeply honored by the invitation to be the guest designer of NYBG’s historic, 20th annual Orchid Show. The garden’s conservatory, greenhouses, and educational programs inspired my early career. This exhibition’s design is my most autobiographical work to date, and the piece took shape through meditation and exploration of my ancestral roots stretching back generations to Shanghai,” said Kwong. “As the first woman of color to step into the role as guest designer, it felt urgent to celebrate an Asian-centered perspective in the midst of this charged and precarious moment,” she said. “The piece is meant to offer a bridge of cultural understanding across the valley between us, and act as an invitation to celebrate the diverse lineages that make up our country.”

“At a time when we are all starved for connection, the prayer of this installation is to offer a sense of community, reciprocity, and grounding into ancient wisdom and traditions that have guided us for millennia,” Kwong continued. “In traditional Chinese culture, flowers are the carriers of rich cultural information and have been revered by scholars for representing integrity, peace, and refinement. These beautiful and often elusive flowers invoke poetry and admiration, inspire entire scientific careers, and are a critical part of our ecosystems. Orchids are the perfect plant to draw people into the complexities of our relationships with the natural world and our vital roles nourishing those connections.”

Kwong tapped acclaimed composer, Gary Gunn, to create a 30-minute soundscape which plays on a continual loop throughout the Haupt Conservatory’s Seasonal Exhibition Galleries. Consisting of field

recordings interspersed with subtle musical moments created by traditional acoustic instruments native to areas in which orchids are most closely associated, these elements are interwoven to induce the feeling of traveling these natural terrains: footsteps wandering the forest of the Himalayas, the shakuhachi flute imitating the sound of wind blowing through bamboo, the guqin instrument evoking the sound of flowing water, children playing in a field adjacent to a nearby temple. While these aspects capture the external environments, abstract elements are also introduced to help convey an imagined inner-world of the orchid itself. Visitors will hear sporadic, and at times unfamiliar sound beds and spatial accents that play on the “otherworldly” qualities of the provocative plant.

Guests will also hear melodic/rhythmic structures composed of whispers and breathing, and vocal pads inspired by the “divine feminine energy” notions associated with orchids across many mythological/mystical traditions.

“We are thrilled to have Lily Kwong join us as the guest designer for The Orchid Show, sharing her artistic insight and perspective with our audiences,” said Jennifer Bernstein, chief executive officer and The William C. Steere Sr. president of The New York Botanical Garden. “Orchids are one of the largest families of flowering plants and the second most diverse plant family in the world. Lily’s meditative and captivating designs will reveal the importance of plants in reconnecting people to nature and as a powerful source of healing and self-discovery.”

On select evenings during the show, adults 21 and over can experience the exhibition through Orchid Nights, with music, cash bars, and food available for purchase. At NYBG Shop, visitors to The Orchid Show may browse thousands of top-quality orchids, from exotic, hard-to-find specimens for connoisseurs to elegant yet easy-togrow varieties for beginners, along with orchid products and books.

The New York Botanical Garden is located at 2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx. Visit nybg.org for details.

Show artist Lily Kwong Gesi Schilling

New York Explorers:

BY LAUREN FELDMAN lfeldman@antonmediagroup.com

Spring is a chance for intrepid explorers to once again venture from their homes into the wide world. Long Island residents are particularly lucky, being so close to a plethora of exciting events, opportunities, and travel destinations. Whether you’re a family on spring break, a newcomer to the area, or are looking to get more in touch with the history of New York, the Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty Island tour offers something for you.

This editor, a lifelong Long Island resident, recently embarked with Statue City Cruises, the only authorized ferry service to visit these islands, for the very first time. Tours recently reopened to the public for Spring and Summer. Departing straight from The Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan—or Liberty State Park in Jersey City—a quick ferry ride delivers visitors to the shores of Lady Liberty. Perhaps the most popular and

sought after experience is the ability to climb up the Statue of Liberty. In recent years, much of the statue has been closed due to maintenance and safety concerns. Visitors will be pleased to note that this season currently allows visitors to ascend Lady Liberty’s pedestal, as well as her crown. Pedestal and crown climbs offer visitors a unique and exciting view of both the New York City and New Jersey shorelines. These

tickets must be purchased online in advance, and often sell quickly. Interested visitors should be sure to book their pedestal climbing tickets as soon as possible to ensure they can partake in this experience. For those who are unable to climb the statue, however, do not suppose that your trip will be lacking. There is much to do on the island besides.

This island, while small, offers an in depth, dynamic, and interactive exploration of the history of New York’s famous statue. From its conception by French designer Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi to the complicated scaling process and several construction challenges, visitors to the Statue of Liberty Museum can follow along all stages of Lady Liberty’s own immigration to the United states. Highlights from the museum include interactive models of the statue, many to scale with the real-life version—such as her foot, face, and ear—as well as a brief film on her history, and fun facts about aspects of her development.

Inside Lady Liberty’s crown

(Photo credit Alex Nuñez)

The Statue of Liberty as viewed from the island main level.

(Photo credit:Alex Nuñez)

Visit Ellis Island And Lady Liberty

This includes details on funding the statue, the trickiness of sending her overseas, and even how various citizens—themselves immigrants, working class, even poor—helped fund the completion of the statue.

Another brief ferry ride then carries visitors to the second element of the tour: Ellis Island. The nicknamed “Island of Hope, Island of Tears” passed 12 million immigrants through its halls between 1892 and 1954. It is common for visitors with immigrant histories to walk the halls of the Ellis Island Museum and seek out family names and dates of arrival. This is one of the most exciting elements for many. For those who do not have immigration history logged in Ellis Island, there is still much to explore. This beautiful island museum was given a fresh face in the 1980s to better preserve and capture the experiences of hopeful U.S. citizens. The museum’s three floors unveil a complicated and emotional history of individuals and families hoping for a better life.

The museum’s first floor features a walkthrough of the reality of

immigration to the United States and reasons why various groups found themselves here. This exhibit does not shy away from discussing complicated topics such as slavery or indentured servitude, but also acknowledges many of the hopes and dreams of immigrants to the United States prior to the opening of Ellis Island. A smaller exhibit to the side also explores immigration from 1945 to today, and what the process looks like for modern citizen applicants.

Mounting the stairs to floor two, visitors enter the registration room: a grand hall which truly captures the momentous occasion upon which many immigrants entered. This room allows visitors to experience what immigrants coming to the United States would have felt while they awaited clearance to enter the country. Two sets of museum exhibits on this floor break down the immigration process: health screening, education and wellness tests, as well as reasons why an individual or group might be turned away and sent back to their countries of origin. These

are touching displays which help demonstrate the challenges faced by immigrants in the early-to-mid 20th century, as well as the reality of how Ellis Island was able to operate such a large and successful facility for so many years.

For those who have taken this tour before, recent restorations to both islands have vastly improved and eased the experience and might

make another trip worth your while. For those who have never been, this editor can only encourage an expedition to two momentous staples of United States history which, while perhaps not as flashy as other destinations, offer a soulful and enlightening tale of the American dream and what it meant to so many. This tour is certainly a must do, and Spring is the perfect time to embark.

The Statue of Liberty Museum explores American ideals of free speech, independence, and suffrage. (Contributed photo)

The Wall of Passports, documents from a number of immigrants passing through Ellis Island. (Contributed photo)

The Ellis Island Museum allows visitors to explore the history of people immigrating to the United States, and even look for their own family records. (Photo credit: Marcia Levine)