A Day Trip to the Caribbean?

Patches of greenish grass are appearing everywhere and the air is taking on the heady fragrance of spring.  And though Old Man Winter tries to cling with his icy grip, the winds that blow only signal the lion that is March. Home-keepers begin their sweeping, bundling up the clutter in their wintry nests to make way for warmer, freer days ahead.

In the meantime, it might be fun to take a break from dreary days and hop into your car for an excursion into more lush surroundings. Travelling over the river and into the Bronx may sound intimidating, but the less than 30 minute drive on the Henry Hudson North is quite pleasant.  Passing along the Hudson, through a centuries old forest, you will notice The Cloisters, a ‘castle’ located on the highest point of Manhattan, known as Fort Tyron Park.

Keep going north, bearing right onto the Mosholu Parkway (exit 24), travelling through more woods that believe it or not is the Bronx!  Continue to the end, making a right onto Kazimiroff Blvd. which becomes Bronx River Parkway.  Turn left at the third light (at Fordham Rd.) into the Garden.  Park and go through the main gates.  Turn left at the first pathway after the Café and continue along for a few minutes.  You will pass the Perennial Garden, when all of a sudden, through a stand of large trees, an enormous conservatory will loom into view.

You are about to enter Paradise.  Once inside, you may feel a bit warm—this is natural—you are entering a tropical jungle. 

The 90 foot high greenhouse was originally built in 1899 by the firm Lord and Burnam and was modeled after The Palm House Royal Botanical Garden and Joseph Paxton Italian Renaissance styled Chrystal Palace.  The ground was an open field at the time, and dedicated as a park to save trees.  The Conservatory is a series of glass pavilions each with its own specific temperature and climate.  They form a square around a courtyard that is full of lilies in a lovely pond.

The Caribbean Exhibit is beautiful to all of the senses—it is enormous is scope and exotically colorful as well as heavenly scented.  Meandering along the winding path, you will come across familiar names, discovering with delight, the plants, shrubs and trees from which everyday edibles are grown.  The Vanilla Bean, for example, V. planifolia, comes from the Spanish word vainilla, which means “little pod”. This commonly used spice is the most expensive of all of the spices after saffron.

You will also find a Mango Tree, Mangifera indica, coming from the Tamil words, “mangay” and “indica” meaning India.  Related to cashews and pistachios, this plant has many, many uses in both ancient and modern cuisines. 

Another common product is chocolate which comes from the cacao tree.  Theobroma cacao is a beautiful tree with dark, green leaves.  The tree’s fruit is a huge egg or melon-shaped berry called a cacao pod which can grow 5-12 inches long and 3-5 inches wide. Each pod contains 30 to 40 seeds; it takes 20-25 pods to make about 2lbs of cocoa!

The coffee plant may not be a familiar sight, but Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts would not exist without it.  Coffea arabica is a plant that has small, white, star-shaped flowers, resembling the Gardenias that it is related to.

Check out the Medicine hut, along the way, where an exhibit of plant derivatives used by local ‘medicine men’ is on display.  Round the curve by a small pond to climb up into a giant elephant-skin colored tree and discover what it is like to be on the Canopy layer of a rainforest.  Continue on through the conservatory into the desert and wonderful examples of carnivorous plants.

Families are invited to the Discovery Center for some tropical treats in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.  Taste and smell chocolate, vanilla and other spices and explore seeds and fruit of the cacao tree, as well as cloves and the bark of a cinnamon tree.  Other activities include counting the rings of a tree, making “tree cookies” in a notebook, creating pine-cone prints, and “potting up some winter wheat to take home”.

Families can come to explore and investigate things related to the Caribbean Garden and also the mysteries going on all around us in the winter garden-“the vital sparks of life that lie just below the surface” in the winter time.

All of this discovering may make a person or a family mighty hungry.  There are two wonderful cafes at either end of the walkway in front of the conservatory—the Leon Levy Visitor Center Café and my favorite, The Garden Café.  Both serve delicious soups, sandwiches, pastries, salads, healthy snacks and beverages including wine and beer.  The Garden Café has a grill and makes a gourmet hot entre each day along with many tasty grilled foods-all at a reasonable price.

Visit the Caribbean Show before it closes on Feb. 27 and enjoy 250 acres of nature!  The New York Times has declared NYBG a “Masterpiece” with its 50 gardens and plant collections, landmark conservatory and 50 acre native forest.  Next up is the Orchid Show!

Entrance fees on Tues-Friday from 10AM-5/6PM are as follows:

Grounds only: Adults-$6, Students/Seniors-$3, Children 2-12-$1 and under 2-free.

Caribbean Exhibit/Grounds: SPECIAL PRICING FOR LAST WEEKEND! Adults-$10, Students/Seniors-$9,  Children 2-12-$4 and under 2-free.  $12-Parking.

Grounds are free on Wednesdays and from 10AM-2PM on Saturdays.

Closed most Mondays.  Tram rides and Garden Shopping available.  Memberships and donations welcome.  For more info call 1-718-817-8700.