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Courtney White is Director of Education & Public Programs at Wave Hill.
What a treat to talk with Dave Egbert of Living Green Radio about how Wave Hill is the perfect staycation destination for New Yorkers and other locals from the tri-state area! Listen to the mid-August broadcast to learn more.
When you visit, be sure to walk down to Laura Anderson Barbata’s experiential installation of red hammocks in Wave Hill’s south woods, Our History is Not Found in a Book, which is part of the exhibition The Muhheakantuck in Focus. I sank into a hammock with a busy mind reflecting on this rich, conceptual work and of that in the gallery and other places throughout the grounds. But my mind soon wandered to my “what’s next”, “to do” or “honey do” lists, and then they, too, soon faded into a faint memory. The transformation had begun. My perspective was completely shifted to the understory of the cluster of white pines, hemlock and other native trees. I saw a spider web glistening in the distance. The sounds transitioned from the far-off laughter of children to the more immediate echoing of the annual cicada and the nearby buzz of honeybees. The wind gently rocked me as if I were a child in a cradle. My body completely relaxed, and indeed I didn’t want this staycation to end.
Hope you’ll visit and stay awhile too!
Lone flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest.
from To a Snowdrop by William Wordsworth, 1819
Long before flamboyant tulips and daffodils boldly announce the arrival of spring, the precocious snowdrops challenge the waning winter by pushing up graceful flowers through the melting snow. The botanical name Galanthus comes from the Greek words gala for milk and anthis for flower. Look for the first “milk flowers” to emerge just south of Glyndor House in late February, where the warm slope encourages the sturdy little flowers to push up through the lingering snow. By early March, the Wild Garden is blanketed not with snow but with the white blossoms of the giant snowdrops, Galanthus elwesii, which have happily seeded around the garden.
The pendulous flowers lure hungry bees who receive a shower of pollen as they probe into a blossom in search of its sweet nectar. On a warm March day, you may find our Wave Hill honeybees visiting Wordsworth’s admired flower, busily collecting the first nectar of the season in anticipation of the summer honey harvest.
Laurel Rimmer is Assistant Director of Public Programs. Among her many contributions are botanical drawings of plants found at Wave Hill, such as the snowdrop protrayed here.
