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The Bowery Boys: New York City History

#360 The Botanical Gardens of New York City

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.73.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2021

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Nature and history intertwine in all five boroughs -- from The Bronx River to the shores of Staten Island -- in this special episode about New York City's many botanical gardens. A botanical garden is more than just a pretty place; it's a collection of plant life for the purposes of preservation, education and study. But in an urban environment like New York City, botanical gardens also must engage with modern life, becoming both a park and natural history museum. The New York Botanical Garden, established in 1891, became a sort of Gilded Age trophy room for exotic trees, plants and flowers, astride the natural features of The Bronx (and an old tobacco mill). When the Brooklyn Botanic Garden opened next to the Brooklyn Museum in 1911, its delights included an extraordinary Japanese garden by Takeo Shiota, one of the first of its kind in the United States. The World's Fair of 1939-40 also brought an international flavor to New York City, and one of its more peculiar exhibitions -- called Gardens on Parade -- stuck around in the form of the Queens Botanical Garden. PLUS: Gardens help save New York City landmarks -- from an historic estate overlooking the Hudson River to a stately collection of architecture from the early 19th century in Staten Island. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0

The Bowry Boys Episode 360, the botanical gardens of New York City.

0:05.8

Hey, it's the Bowry Boys!

0:07.4

Hey!

0:08.4

Support for the Bowry Boys is provided by our listeners.

0:12.0

Join us for as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com slash Bowry Boys.

0:20.8

Hi there, welcome to the Bowry Boys. This is Greg Young.

0:23.6

And this is Tom Myers.

0:25.3

And today we are celebrating spring and being in public spaces, being outdoors.

0:32.2

Today we're headed to the botanical garden.

0:34.7

Or actually should I say, we're headed to a few botanical gardens.

0:39.2

Yes, and in fact, while we were researching this show, Greg and I headed to a few of those ourselves.

0:44.8

And in fact, obviously everyone we're talking about today.

0:48.0

And this is notable because it was the first time Greg that you and I actually met up together

0:54.0

to do research and walk through one of our subjects in the past what, 13 months.

1:00.0

Yeah, I mean nature is healing, Tom.

1:02.9

I'm glad we recognized each other.

1:05.5

That was great.

1:08.2

Well, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island all have their own botanical gardens.

1:14.6

And they're all just a little bit different.

1:17.5

No, no, we're not botanists all of a sudden here on the show.

1:20.8

Although Tom, I must say I know my way around a good herbarium.

1:24.7

You should see my herbarium.

...

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