<![CDATA[Untermyer Gardens Conservancy

<![CDATA[Untermyer Gardens Conservancy - Garden Updates]]>Tue, 12 May 2026 05:46:55 -0400Weebly<![CDATA[Garden Update: 10/29/2020]]>Thu, 29 Oct 2020 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.untermyergardens.org/garden-updates/garden-update-10292020

Last chance: Conservancy President Stephen F. Byrns will lead his final President's Tour of the year on Saturday, October 31 at 10:00 am. The tour begins before the gardens open to the public for the day. You'll explore areas of the gardens not currently accessible to the public including the new Ornamental Vegetable Garden, the Rhododendron Walk and the Ruin Garden, learn about Samuel Untermyer, the gardens he created, his devotion to Women's Suffrage and other social good, and why he was J.P. Morgan's nemesis at dog shows. We recommend sturdy shoes for this active walking tour. Tickets are available on our website.
When you think of fall you tend to think of the crisp sunny days but the rainy days have their own appeal. Fall colors pop against the background of a grey sky. Leaves, slick in the rain, have a lovely shine.

Two views of Rhus copallinum or shining sumac in the Rock and Stream Garden.

The Rock and Stream Garden joins the Cascade beds below the Temple of Love in a celebration of texture and color.

The hydrangea bed enters its second act as foliage and blooms redden and brown.

Gardeners Liz Dreeben and John Jacono compete for "Most Regal Pose" in the new throne chair carved from a stump of a recently felled tree below the Temple of Love Pump Room. Who do you think should win?

Chenar, our garden cat, is convinced that there is no contest for most regal garden resident.

]]><![CDATA[Garden Update: 9/30/2020]]>Wed, 30 Sep 2020 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.untermyergardens.org/garden-updates/garden-update-9302020

Autumn is arriving in the gardens with brilliant fanfare. As the days become shorter, we are changing our opening hours so visitors can enjoy more sunshine. Our new, earlier, hours will begin on October 9 and are 11 AM until 5 PM. Tickets are available beginning each Tuesday at 8 AM for the following weekend.

These crisp early fall days are perfect for a stroll in the gardens or perhaps the final evening concert of the year...

On October 4, join us in the amphitheater for Autumn Gifts, a concert of Handel, Schubert, Previn, Bach, Schumann and Coward featuring soprano Ilana Davidson, tenor Marc Molomot, cellist Jing Li and pianist Alex Ruvinstein.

Last weekend, Lori Belilove and the Isadora Duncan Dance Company returned for a second performance in the amphitheater. This intimate performance, viewed by an audience of 50 as the sun began to set in the Walled Garden, was a celebration of beauty and movement.

If you've enjoyed the photos in these updates, join Jessica for a Photowalk in the Gardens at 10 AM on October 17th. You'll walk the gardens before they open to the public with someone who has been photographing them for years. See the gardens with new eyes.

]]><![CDATA[Garden Update: 9/03/2020]]>Thu, 03 Sep 2020 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.untermyergardens.org/garden-updates/garden-update-9032020

September 3, 2020

Dear Friends of Untermyer Gardens,

Our September Soirée virtual fundraiser for the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy is approaching. It will celebrate the garden’s accomplishments, raise crucial funds for its support, and honor Mayor Mike Spano, who has played an instrumental role in the renaissance of the garden and the City of Yonkers. Stay tuned for an invitation to join our celebration.

Sunset Tours and Sunset Yoga classes have allowed us to experience the gardens in this golden light.

Contrasts of the silvery sea kale (Crambe maritima), sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina), and Autumn Moor Grass (Seslaria autumnalis) in the Temple of Love Cascade Beds.

Reflections of glowing aquatic plants after we turned off the fountains one morning.

In addition to our popular Sunset Yoga classes, we have a new kind of class in the gardens on September 13: Drawing with Donna Giambrone Ingram. Donna will encourage students to immerse themselves in the environment and challenge them to see with a new eye. All levels are welcome.

A bumblebee waits for the rain to stop.

]]><![CDATA[Garden Update: 08/13/2020]]>Thu, 13 Aug 2020 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.untermyergardens.org/garden-updates/garden-update-08132020

August 13, 2020

Dear Friends of Untermyer Gardens,

Last week's tropical storm caused significant damage in the gardens, and we spent the entire week surrounded by the growl of chainsaws. Losing a specimen tree in the gardens is painful, and we are sad to let you know that the great oak that towered above the Temple of Love shade garden fell in the storm, narrowly missing the Temple itself, but impacting the garden below it.

During the hot days of summer, the increasing temperature of the water in the reflecting pools and canals encourages the aquatics to bloom in even greater numbers.

Upcoming events this weekend in the gardens include a Sunset Yoga Class with Sarah Knox on Sunday, August 16, at 7pm.

The following weekend, we will be welcoming the Victor LaGamma Quartet for "Jazz in Paradise" on August 23 at 5:30pm. All of our events require visitors to wear masks and socially distance. Our capacity is limited: get your tickets before they sell out!

In the clear light of early afternoon, the shadows are an added bonus to the pageantry of the summer annuals lining the waterways of the Walled Garden.

Double Tigers: Hydrangea 'Pinky Winky' plays hostess to a lovely Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, while the dwarf Joe Pye Weed cultivar, 'Little Joe', has a visit from a severely elegant Dogbane Tiger Moth.

]]><![CDATA[Garden Update: 07/23/2020]]>Thu, 23 Jul 2020 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.untermyergardens.org/garden-updates/garden-update-07232020

Dear Friends of Untermyer Gardens,

In mid-July the gardens are lush and the colors are bright. If you haven't yet made your way to Yonkers, now is the time. Our free timed entry system is by reservation only; we hope you'll sign up to visit soon.

For an even better visit, this weekend our Conservancy president, Stephen F. Byrns, will lead a tour on Sunday morning at 11:00 am: sign up to walk with him and learn about Samuel Untermyer's complicated friendship with Albert Einstein, his not-so-friendly competition with J. P. Morgan, and his love of gardens.

Just looking at foliage makes you feel a little cooler on a hot summer day.

Butterflies and bees love the allium we planted in a sea of Japanese forest grass. This painted lady butterfly didn't budge when approached for a photograph.

If you ever thought that forty kinds of hydrangeas might be a few too many, the contrast between the tiny blue curled flowers of Hydrangea 'Ayesha' and the ombre layers of Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snowflake' should help you change your mind.

Daucus carota 'Dara' is blooming its head off near the Temple of Love right now. This beautifully colored wild carrot cultivar elevates Queen Anne's Lace to Empress.

]]><![CDATA[Garden Update: 07/15/2020]]>Wed, 15 Jul 2020 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.untermyergardens.org/garden-updates/garden-update-07152020

Dear Friends of Untermyer Gardens,

This past weekend we welcomed visitors back to the gardens using free timed admission; it was such a joy to be able to share the July gardens with people. We hope you will sign up to visit soon. We are also bringing back our weekend tours: sign up for a Sunday morning tour focused on the history of the gardens and Samuel Untermyer.
For those missing international travel, perhaps a virtual trip to Persia of the past will provide a welcome escape. On Tuesday, July 21, at 5:30 pm,.Stephen Byrns, the president of the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, will deliver a webinar for the New York Adventure Club, “The Persian Gardens of Iran,” a study of gardens in Iran from the time of Cyrus the Great until the late 19th century. Persian carpets and miniatures will provide an interdisciplinary look at the gardens, including their impact on urban design, such as the city of Isfahan. The all-embracing and universal symbolism of a Persian garden will be explained and the connection made to Untermyer Gardens. Tickets may be purchased online for this event.

When we first plant the canal bed annuals, they dot the beds like a pointillist painting. Now they are exuberantly impressionist.

Pollinators are buzzing everywhere.

Bottlebrush buckeye flower spikes are about to bloom by a gate in the lower terrace. They look as if they're dancing when the wind moves them.

A few orange moments in different parts of the gardens.

]]><![CDATA[Garden Update: 06/25/2020]]>Thu, 25 Jun 2020 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.untermyergardens.org/garden-updates/garden-update-06252020

Dear Friends of Untermyer Gardens,

This week the humans felt wilted while the plants were in their glory.

Garden Tours
The garden will be open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a limited number of small tours. Tickets must be purchased in advance here and go on sale at 7:00 am today. If you enjoy photography, you are invited to register for a small two-hour golden hour photography walk on Sunday at 6:30 pm. Tickets must be purchased in advance.

Yoga in the Garden
We are very excited to announce our first non-virtual yoga class of the season. This weekend, we are offering a ten-person, masked and socially distanced yoga class with Sarah Knox.

In the Walled Garden the Brugmansia are blooming - their heady scent is especially fragrant in the evenings.

A closer view shows the purple, beige and green of this Calamagrostis inflorescence.

The bronzy emerging foliage of ferns is offset by the cool blue tones of a hosta and the dark purple of scattered heuchera.

The Kousa, or Korean, dogwood is covered with a snow of flowers. Later, when the fruit is ripe, the tree will be alive with birds enjoying the bounty.

It seems like everywhere in the Temple of Love Cascade Beds there are intriguing combinations of texture, color and mood.

This week, Timothy is back in the Rock and Stream Garden to share more about this recently planted area.

]]><![CDATA[Garden Update: 06/11/2020]]>Thu, 11 Jun 2020 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.untermyergardens.org/garden-updates/garden-update-june-11

Dear Friends of Untermyer Gardens,

The first day of summer may not be until June 20, but it is starting to look and feel like summer in the gardens.

Garden Tours
The garden will be open on Saturday and Sunday for a limited number of 90-minute guided tours, with a maximum of ten people per tour. Tickets must be purchased in advance here and go on sale at 7:00 am today. This week we will be offering regular docent-led tours focusing on the history of the gardens as well as a docent-led horticulture tour, a tour with Conservancy president Stephen F. Byrns, and a new advanced horticulture tour with former gardener and current coordinator of education and outreach Jessica Norman.

Photography in the Garden
Photographers are invited to register for a two-hour guided golden hour photography session on Sunday at 6:00 pm. We will also offer an early photography walk on Sunday at 7:00 am. Participation is limited to ten people in each walk; tickets must be purchased in advance.

In the Rock and Stream Garden, flowers planted just weeks ago are beginning to bloom.

A light breeze ruffles the usually still pool at the top of the Rock and Stream Garden.

A horned poppy and some delicate seedheads of quaking grass.

The curves, textures, and colors of the plants in the Walled Garden are a contrast to the lines of the walls. Here are a Japanese hydrangea vine and some bladder senna.

The airy white flowers of Bowman's root dance on reddish stems in the Cascade Beds below the Temple of Love.

This week, Timothy is sharing some of the exuberant, sun-loving perennials that grow in the Cascade Beds below the Temple of Love.

]]><![CDATA[Garden Update: 05/28/2020]]>Thu, 28 May 2020 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.untermyergardens.org/garden-updates/garden-update-05282020

Dear Friends of Untermyer Gardens,

As we move ever closer to June, the light fresh greens of spring are maturing and becoming darker and lusher. We hope you will enjoy our ever-changing garden through the photos and video below and some special opportunities.

Virtual Yoga
You can explore the garden through virtual yoga with Sarah Knox. Each class is filmed at a different garden location and can be accessed any time for up to one week. This week’s class takes place at the Temple of Love.

In-Garden Tours
The garden will be open this weekend on Saturday and Sunday for a limited number of 90-minute guided tours, with a maximum of ten people per tour. Tickets must be purchased in advance here and go on sale at 7:00 am today.

Photography in the Garden
Early birds are invited to register for a two-hour guided photography session in the garden on Sunday at 7:00 am. Participation is limited to ten people and tickets must be purchased in advance.

Walking along the carriage trail is peaceful in the early mornings. Even Daisy Fleabane is made beautiful by the previous evening's mist.

The more than 25 different lilac cultivars in the Lilac Area have given us a month-long bloom season.

Even in its first spring, the Rhododendron Walk is bright with color. Anyone who says that traffic cone orange isn't a natural color should take a look at these flowers!

Dryopteris erythrosora 'Autumn Brilliance' boasts amazing copper tones while Athyrium 'Ghost' is distinctly otherworldly.

This week, take a walk with Timothy in the Walled Garden and learn about some of his favorite trees and shrubs.

]]><![CDATA[Garden Update: 05/14/2020]]>Thu, 14 May 2020 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.untermyergardens.org/garden-updates/garden-update-05142020

Dear Friends of Untermyer Gardens,

Spring is moving forward very quickly; every day brings something new. We hope you enjoy some photos from the past week as well as a short video in which Timothy Tilghman, our head gardener, highlights some of his favorite plants and vignettes near the Temple of Love.

Fothergilla is also known as witch alder. Sometimes the common names are much more appealing than the Latin.

The pink flowers of a redbud silhouetted against the impossibly light green of emerging elm leaves.

The winsome heart-shaped epimedium foliage.

Once the weeping beeches leaf out, you enter the Walled Garden through a curtain of tenderest green.

Eastern red columbine's beautiful flowers shake like fairy bells in the breeze.

This week Timothy is talking about some of his favorite groupings of plants on the shady southern side of the Temple of Love.

]]>