Reminder: Upcoming HSNY Events

Green Roof Planting Demonstration: A Hands-on Workshop with Marni Horwitz
Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 6:00 – 7:30pm
$10 for members, $30 for nonmembers, limit 25 people
Marni Horwitz owns and operates Alive Structures, a green roof and green wall installation company here in NYC. Join Marni for an informative and hands-on demonstration class where you can help plant an extensive green roof panel. The green roof you will help to create will become a permanent display at HSNY for all our visitors to admire and learn from.

(A few spaces are still available - RSVP to fluhrmann@hsny.org or call (212) 757-0915 x100.)

Planning Your City Garden: A Lecture by Linda Yang
Thursday, March 27, 2008, 6:00 – 7:30pm
Free for members, $10 for nonmembers
Linda Yang is an avid city gardener, former New York Times garden columnist, and author of The City Gardener's Handbook. She will discuss important steps for understanding your space - rooftop, terrace or yard - and the plants and design elements to make it glorious. The current edition of her book, with a Foreword by HSNY Librarian, Katherine Powis, will be available.

(RSVP to fluhrmann@hsny.org or call (212) 757-0915 x100.)

Upcoming Event at HSNY

Image: Ricci Albenda, Garden (detail), 2007, acrylic and charcoal on paper, 55 x 98 inches, courtesy of private collection, New York and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York

The Horticultural Society of New York presents:
RICCI ALBENDA
26 DEVOE

March 21 - May 23, 2008

Opening reception at HSNY
Friday, March 21, 6 to 8:30pm

The artist will open his backyard garden to the public:
Sunday afternoons, March 30, April 13, May 4 + 11, 2008, from 12 to 4pm
@
26 Devoe
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Curated by Jodie Vicenta Jacobson

The Horticultural Society of New York
148 West 37th Street
13th Floor
New York, NY 10018

Gallery hours:
Monday - Friday, 11am - 6pm + by appointment

T: 212 757 0915 x113
F: 212 246 1207
E: jjacobson@hsny.org
www.hsny.org

Question Regarding Orchid Fertilizers

(A full year after I bought it, thanks to the right light conditions and regular fertilizing, this Laliocattleya 'Gold Rush' is in full bloom and knocking my socks off! Photo: Alex Feleppa)

Question:
While looking for orchid fertilizer retailers I cam across your blog. I hope you can help me with my problem. I wanted to know the names of stores that i could pick up the orchid fertilizers from in the Manhattan area. Could you also tell me the names of good fertilizers specifically for orchids?

Answer:
To answer your fertilizer question, my default destination for fertilizer and other supplies in Manhattan is Jamali Gardens at 149 West 28th Street. It is a small business but inside it is absolutely packed with every imaginable supply expect plants themselves. They always shift the fertilizers around so you might have to ask where they are, but the staff is usually very friendly and helpful.

As far as what fertilizer to use for your orchids, I typically use Schultz “Orchid Food”. It’s readily available and I’ve been using it for a number of years with good results. The N-P-K is 19-31-17 so you will be providing a good balance of nitrogen and potash with a little extra boost of phosphorous to help the orchid re-bloom. If you are not familiar with the N-P-K reading on a bottle of fertilizer a blog post from May 11, 2007, will help you understand that better. For this fertilizer all the nutrients are in water-soluble forms which becomes quickly available to the plant, so it is different from other kinds of fertilizers that might be more “slow-release”. As a result, and typical for orchids, I like to fertilize with a slightly diluted solution compared to what the bottle recommends and I fertilize every week. The catchy phrase I learned in horticulture school is “weakly weekly” when it comes to fertilizing orchids, and does keep the plants looking, growing, and blooming well. Come to think of it this product does give weekly and monthly dosage recommendations so they make it really easy on you.

As a final thought, some people love a product called Super Thrive. Super Thrive comes in very concentrated form and you have to follow the instructions carefully. The one thing I find that most people are not aware of is that Super Thrive is not a regular fertilizer. This product resembles a certain kind of plant hormone, or “plant growth regulator” as botanists would say, and it helps give plants a boost if they are struggling. Many people use Super Thrive as a fertilizer but I have been educated that Super Thrive can be used in addition to fertilizer, but should not be used in place of.

Reminder: Intro to Green Roof Lecture this evening

An Introduction to Green Roofs with Alex Feleppa
Tuesday, March 18, 2008, 6:00 – 7:30pm
Free for members, $10 for nonmembers

Provide an aesthetic and environmental improvement to your home and your city with green roof technology. Expand your vocabulary and understanding by joining HSNY’s Director of Horticulture for an introduction to intensive and extensive green roofs systems. This is a perfect primer for Marni Horwitz’s demonstration class on March 25th.