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Botanical Gardens & Conservatories
The New York Botanical Garden - Landscape History Research
Bronx, New York
In researching the rich landscape history of The New York Botanical Garden, Heritage Landscapes assembled voluminous historical documentation. This incredible public garden and its scientific collections are located on an interesting site where schist and gneiss geology intersect at the scenic Bronx River gorge, among an old-growth hemlock and hardwood forest. Photographs, plans, maps, surveys, books, articles, and letters record the detailed evolution of this fascinating landscape. The vast breadth and depth of information required organization by era and themes for development of the NYBG Landscape History. We offer these illustrated captions about the Rock Garden evolution as an example.
Understanding the History of Evolving Plant Collections: The Rock Garden
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Circa 1920 depiction of the first Rock Garden on the hill in the background of the photograph, within the Convention Garden . Heritage Landscapes research determined that it was built in 1920, and was located near the pedestrian Convention Garden entrance on an existing rock outcropping.
2 Watercolor of the original Rock Garden. Although the Rock Garden and adjacent Convention Garden were important features of NYBG in the 1910s and 1920s, neither garden remains today, however, their forms are still visible in the landscape. 3
The second rock garden, then named the Thompson Rock Garden, under construction. It was built by hand beginning in 1932, using rocks moved from other parts of The New York Botanical Garden. It was built where the Economic Garden was previously located.
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The Rock Garden in bloom in 1963, thirty years after its establishment.
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A circa 1970 map of the Rock Garden shows the layout of the garden with trails and collection information. This map, available to visitors, offered a self-guided tour of the collection.
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The Rock Garden in bloom today displays plant communities in ecological settings. For example, the moraine habitat, containing an intricate drainage system to regulate plant root temperature, built in the 1930s, was reconstructed in 1988. The varied history of the Rock Garden is but one vignette explored in researching the rich history of The New York Botanical Garden.
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