QBG GARDEN NEWS SUMMER 2016 A special newsletter for friends of Queens Botanical Garden VOL 22 ISSUE 2

A Letter from SusanDear Friend,

Summer is a wonderful time of year!

For me, seeing the green leaves providing shade (knowing they provide oxygen to us all) and flowers showing their colors makes me smile. Of course, summer also means more people here to enjoy all that QBG has to offer: kids frolicking in the Children’s Garden—learning how to grow and care for plants; teens and young adults from

the City’s Summer Youth Employment Program working—some holding their first job ever; and members (like you!) and first-time visitors stopping to smell the roses (or rosemary!). This is what it’s all about!

Speaking of roses, our Rose Gala was a grand success. We thank all of you who support our work by attending the party. All proceeds benefit educational programs and sustaining the Garden itself.

And, over the summer, look for our third annual Taiwan: A World of Orchids in August and our Members Picnic on Tuesday, July 26.

See you out there in the sun!

Susan LacerteExecutive Director

WHAT’S IN BLOOMCONEFLOWER

Wildflowers give off that little spark of color in fields, woods, and valleys all across America. Many favorite varieties are thriving in the Garden, including coneflower, lupine, black-eyed Susan, California poppy, daisy, and butterfly weed.

Coneflowers are part of the genus Echinacea, which is derived from the Greek word ekhinos, meaning sea urchin or hedgehog. On your next visit make sure to find a coneflower and give the center cone a gentle poke to see how the name is so fitting! Find them growing in the Floral Border and Herb Garden, and near the Visitor & Administration Building.

H. DAVID STEIN

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Arboretum or Cherry Circle? V&A Terrace or Oak Allée? Pack a picnic, spread a blanket, and relax anywhere you like.

Activities: Old-time games and karaokeFood Vendors: Bubble tea, frozen desserts, and empanadas

This is a members-only event—don’t miss the fun. Join today!

For more information, contact Stephanie Ehrlich, Director of Development, at sehrlich@queensbotanical.org or 718.886.3800 ext. 330.

TUESDAY, JULY 26

MEMBERSPICNIC6 to 8:30pm

Around the Garden

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SPONSORSYELLOW ROSEAndrea Woodner

RED ROSEConsolidated Edison Company of New YorkMax and Selma Kupferberg Family FoundationSaul and Gail KupferbergThe Kupferberg FoundationWAC Lighting

PINK ROSEAtlantic Bank, a division of the New York Community Family of Banks

Broadway StagesCord Meyer DevelopmentFarrell Fritz, P.C.Law Offices of Gary Park, P.C.Lin & Loveall FoundationRovena and Robert SchirlingVariosystems, Inc.

WHITE ROSEAstoria BankFlushing BankFlushing Rotary Charitable TrustNewYork-Presbyterian/QueensResorts World CasinoHoward L. Zimmerman Architects

CORAL ROSEBartlett Tree ExpertsSuzanne BrienzaCartwheelCathay BankDo H. Chung & PartnersGalvin BrothersPrestone Press, LLCMartha and Robert Taylor

It’s not too late to contribute! If you’d like to make a donation in honor of Rose Gala, please contact Stephanie Ehrlich, Director of Development, at 718.886.3800 ext. 330 or sehrlich@queensbotanical.org.

At Queens Botanical Garden’s annual Rose Gala on Thursday, June 9, 2016, nearly 200 guests joined the Garden to honor members of the Capital Committee for their commitment to QBG and its continued growth: Brian Carey, Partner, AC/BC Associates, Architecture & Landscape Design; Do H. Chung, Senior Partner, Do H. Chung & Partners, Architects & Planners; Emily Lin, Principal, Lin & Associates, Architects; and Frank C. Macchio, Real Estate and Construction Professional were recognized as outstanding leaders for their generous and steadfast support of the Garden and of the greater Queens community. In her comments about the honorees, Executive Director Susan Lacerte noted that together they have served the Garden for 65 years!

The gala was attended by prominent Queens elected officials, including Queens Borough President Melinda Katz; City Councilmembers Peter Koo and Barry Grodenchik; and New York State Assemblymembers Nily Rozic and David Weprin, as well as NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl.

The Rose Gala was a joyful event that raised over $138,000 to benefit the Garden! The ACM Trio supplied soothing background music that enhanced the festivities. Thanks goes to our Rose Gala Committee led by Board Chair, Rovena Schirling; and Trustees Joanne Chao, Nadine Cino, Lucy Hossain, Edie Meyer, and Michelle Stoddart for all their efforts toward making the Rose Gala a success.

Queens Botanical Garden Honors Capital Committee at Annual Rose Gala

IN-KIND SUPPORTAmericana Manhasset

barkTHINSSuzanne BrienzaFrank Buddingh’

Joanne ChaoCon Edison

ePromos Promotional Products, Inc.Stephanie Ehrlich

Julia ErmishFarrell Fritz - Frank SantoroGarden World & Keil Bros.

Lucy HossainEdie Meyer

Judy NgNY Jets

NY MetsOrient Retreat Spa

Larry Oskowskyred flower

Resorts World CasinoRovena Schirling

Michelle StoddartTyrrell Woods

THANK YOUThe Board of Trustees and Staff of Queens Botanical Garden express deep gratitude and appreciation to Rose Gala 2016 sponsors and in-kind supporters:

TOP: Susan Lacerte, QBG Executive Director; David Weprin, NYS Assemblymember; Peter Koo, NYC Councilmember; Nily Rozic, NYS Assemblymember; Emily Lin, QBG Rose Gala Honoree; Rovena Schirling, QBG Board Chair; QBG Rose Gala Honorees Do H. Chung, Frank Macchio, and Brian Carey; Tom Finkelpearl, NYC Department of Cultural AffairsLEFT: L - Peter Koo, NYC Councilmember; Veronica Tsang, Cathay BankM - Mabel Law, Con Edison; Robert Sanchez, Con Edison; Rovena Schirling, QBG Board ChairR- Eileen Lin; Emily Lin, QBG Rose Gala Honoree; Melissa Ng FAR LEFT:T- Rovena Schirling, QBG Board Chair; Joanne Chao, QBG Board Member; Walter Sanchez, QBG Advisory Council Member; Pauline Huang, QBG Board Nominating Chair; Judy Ng, Flushing Bank and QBG Board; Susan Lacerte, QBG Executive DirectorM - Peter Koo, NYC Councilmember; Susan Lacerte, QBG Executive Director; Melinda Katz, Queens Borough President; Frank Macchio, QBG Rose Gala Honoree; Tom Finkelpearl, NYC Department of Cultural Affair; Rose Gala Honorees Emily Lin, Do H. Chung, and Brian CareyB - Jerry Lo; Bernadette Koo; Veronica Tsang, Cathay Bank; Tai Wang, WAC Lighting; Teresa Chan, Orient Retreat Spa; Amy Mak Chan, Fook Funeral Group; Susan Lacerte, QBG Executive Director; Joanne Chao, QBG Board Member; Tom Reape

ANGELA GASPAR

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Dates below, 3:30 to 4:30pm • FREE with Garden admissionCelebrate all summer long with MUSIC at Queens Botanical Garden! Sponsored by Astoria Bank and the Kupferberg Center for the Arts

June 26 – Rebolú, Afro-Colombian music *part of Festival de las FloresJuly 24 – High and Mighty Brass Band, New Orleans JazzAugust 28 – ¡Retumba!, Afro-Caribbean music and dance

“What the Health Should I Eat?”Botanical Cocktail Making

Summer Series: July 23, 30, and August 6, 4 to 6pmAll three workshops: $65 / $60 Members (includes admission)Individual workshop: $25 / $20 Members (includes admission)For adults 21+ onlyRegistration: botanicalcocktailmaking.eventbrite.com

Join registered dietitian and mixologist, Maegan Ratliff, and partner, Kate Mammolito, for this hands-on workshop to learn simple cocktail recipes that are not only tasty, but are packed with healthy, local ingredients to improve your overall well-being. Includes a tour of QBG Farm, followed by mingling in the Garden.

Art in the Garden: SANCTUARIESMay 3 through August 7 • Visitor & Administration Building Gallery Free with Garden admission

Visual artist Tatiana Arocha’s SANCTUARIES is a series of large-scale, intricately-layered reinventions of natural Colombian landscape, hand-constructed on digital canvases, printed, and arrayed into immersive murals.

Drawing Workshop – Saturday, July 16, 1 to 3pm – Arocha teaches you to identify shapes that guide you as you create your own drawings of birds. Includes a bird watch and scavenger hunt.

Closing Reception – Sunday, August 7, 2 to 4pm – Meet Arocha and take one last look at SANCTUARIES. Refreshments will be served.

LOOKING FORWARD ∙ Summer 2016

WHAT THE HEALTH SHOULD I EAT?

TATIANA AROCHA

DIANA BEJARANO

Sunday, June 26, 12 to 5pm FREE with Garden admission ($4 Adults; $3 Seniors; $2 Students with ID and children over 3; FREE for Members); food and beverage not included.

The colorful Colombian tradition of creating silletas, large medallions constructed from flowers, comes to QBG! See and take pictures with completed floral creations; enjoy bilingual storytime and crafts, scavenger hunt, guided tour, and Colombian music; and sample delicious Colombian foods. Ride the family-friendly Flower Express Train (additional fee).

Visit queensbotanical.org for more information. Sponsored by Festival de las Flores and Astoria Bank.

Series: Music in the Garden

SHARI ROMAR

Festival de las Flores

ORCHID SALE!Tuesday, August 9 through Sunday, August 14 • Pricing varies • Gift ShopAs part of the upcoming exhibition, Taiwan: A World of Orchids, orchids will be available for sale, while supplies last.

Taiwan: A World of OrchidsFriday, August 12 through Sunday, August, 14 • 8am to 6pmFree with Garden admission • Free hours are suspended on Sunday.

Enjoy a stunning display of orchids and a weekend filled with art and culture. In partnership with the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in New York (TECO-NY). With special thanks to Ambassador Lily L.W. Hsu, Director General, TECO-NY.

DIANA BEJARANO

SHARI ROMAR

ANNE TAN-DETCHKOV

ORCHIDS are BACK!

Queens Botanical Garden is a stunning location for your ceremony and reception. An intimate setting framed by flowering plants and charming bridges and gazebo, enclosed by a white picket fence, the Wedding Garden

gracefully blends elements of Eastern and Western garden design, and bursts with the brilliant palette of the changing seasons. Reception spaces are available in our magnificent Cherry Circle, Oak Allée, or Auditorium, just steps away.

Come see for yourself! Appointments are required. Contact Ebony Wiggins, Special Events & Rental Manager, at ewiggins@queensbotanical.org or 718.886.3800 ext 201.

YOUR WEDDING & RECEPTION

at QBG

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EBONY WIGGINS

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The NYC Compost Project Hosted by Queens Botanical Garden Celebrates Anniversaries, New Drop-Off Sites, Tens of Thousands of Pounds of Compost, and More

JESSICA BREY

ABOVE: Marguerite Manela, NYC Compost Program Manager; Elsa Higby, Compost Manager; Donna Ciampa, Library Manager of Queens Library at Flushing; Peter Koo, NYC Councilman; Susan lacerte, QBG Executive Director; Sakura Suzuki, Organic Recovery Coordinator

“The success of the drop-off program is made possible by the dedication of local residents and strong partnership between NYC Compost Project, the Garden, our local officials like Councilman Koo, and our host sites. It is really wonderful to see the activity at these drop-off locations, where people come together to make New York City cleaner, greener, and better!” – Elsa Higby, Project Manager for the NYC Compost Project Hosted by QBG

ABOVE: Briarwood residents Talal Choudhury and Reshma Shah drop off their weekly food scraps at the Briarwood drop-off at the site’s one-year anniversary.

ANNE TAN-DETCHKOV

On March 23, 2016, the NYC Compost Project hosted by Queens Botanical Garden and Councilman Peter Koo urged Flushing residents to reduce organic waste by saving their food scraps and dropping them off at Queens Library at Flushing every Wednesday from 11am to 1pm. During these hours, QBG staff will be present in front of the library, located at 41-17 Main Street, Flushing, to accept food scraps and offer more information about composting and recycling initiatives. Scraps will be turned into compost and incorporated into the soil at the QBG Farm & Compost site. Funded by the NYC Department of Sanitation Bureau of Recycling and Sustainability, this program is part of a larger citywide effort to help reduce organic waste sent to landfills.

The Flushing site is one of four Queens drop-off locations operated by the NYC Compost Project hosted by Queens Botanical Garden, joining sites in Kew Gardens, Ridgewood, and Briarwood, which celebrated their one-year anniversary of food scrap drop-off in May. Residents have contributed 42,000 pounds of food scraps since April 2015.

The NYC Compost Project hosted by Queens Botanical Garden oversees six convenient drop-off sites in Queens:

NEIGHBORHOOD TIME LOCATION Briarwood Tuesdays, 7:30 to 9:30am 8512 Main Street Kew Gardens Tuesdays, 7:30 to 9:30am Kew Gardens Road and 81st Avenue Ridgewood Wednesdays, 7:30 to 10am Fresh Pond Road between Putnam Avenue and Madison Street Flushing Wednesdays, 11am to 1pm Queens Library at Flushing, 41-17 Main Street Glen Oaks Thursdays, 10am to 12pm North Side of Union Turnpike and 257th Street Jamaica Thursdays, 7am to 9am SE Corner of Hillside Avenue and 179th Street

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Spotlight ∙ KOREAN COMMUNITY SERVICES OF METROPOLITAN NEW YORK

As part of its adopted strategic plan for 2015 through 2018, one of Queens Botanical Garden’s major goals is to create gardens that are a feast for the eyes. This entails adding color to enhance our perimeters, entrances, and focal points, as well as improving horticultural quality by cultivating stewards through not only staff, board members, and interns, but volunteers as well. For over 25 years, volunteers from Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York (KCS) have aided our horticulture team in caring for our gardens by completing various duties, including planting and watering plants, weeding, and picking up trash in and around the Garden. This year, they were especially instrumental in making the Garden the most colorful it has been in years.

Visitors this April and May were greeted by the hundreds of pink and yellow tulips at our entrance, and even more that appeared along the Oak Allée and in the Floral Border. The installation of this trail of beautiful bursts of color was made possible by the hard work of KCS volunteers who have put in 1,950 hours of work this fiscal year alone—Just imagine how many hours have been invested through the past quarter of a century!

Flowers are more than just flowers at QBG; they are the fruits of our volunteers’ labor, a symbol of our strong, longstanding partnership with KCS, and the backdrop for so many photos taken by visitors, sweet keepsakes of their time here. Thank you for all that you do in the community, KCS!

ABOVE: KCS volunteers Fu Chang, Chung W. Huh, and Yung Han Ho, and QBG Gardener Karl McKoy (second from left).

“Without the help of KCS volunteers, I don’t know how we would be able to do the work necessary to keep the Garden beautiful all year long. Their daily, tireless devotion to us and the community is unparalleled...And to think we have had the pleasure of their service for over 25 years. Just look at the landscape, flowers, the color. You can see the difference. We are so grateful!” – Karl McKoy, QBG Gardener

ANNE TAN-DETCHKOV

JESSICA BREY

JESSICA BREY

QUEENS BOTANICAL GARDEN is located on property owned in full by the City of New York, and its operation is made possible in part by public funds provided through the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the NYC Council, NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The Queens Borough President and Queens elected representatives in the City Council and State Legislature provide leadership funding. Corporations, foundations and individuals provide additional support.

BOARD OF DIRECTORSRovena Schirling ChairSuzanne Brienza Vice ChairNeil Fleischman TreasurerMichael Bronstein SecretaryJoanne ChaoNadine Cino Julia Ermish Nazneen ‘Lucy’ HossainPauline HuangEdith MeyerJudy NgLarry OskowskyGary ParkFrank SantoroMichelle Stoddart

QBG GARDEN NEWSJessica Brey ContributorAnnette Fanara ContributorSusan Lacerte Executive DirectorAnne Tan-Detchkov Editor

ADVISORY COUNCILDr. Joon J. Bang Theresa BonavolontaBrian Carey Do H. Chung Jack EichenbaumHoward FreilichStefanie F. Handsman Stephen D. Hans Neil HernandezSoraya HernandezBill HuismanSaul Kupferberg Emily Lin Frank MacchioGeorge S. Meyer Frank Mirovsky Joyce & Ed MorrillJacqueline Newman Georgiana Reese-BenattiWalter SanchezRobert Schirling Janet Schneider Patricia ShanleySpencer J. Shin Al SuarezMartha & Robert Taylor Henry WanTai WangYoung S. Woo

We extend our gratitude to the following elected officials and government bodies:New York City CouncilNew York City Department of Cultural AffairsNew York City Department of SanitationNew York State AssemblyNew York State SenateNew York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic PreservationNew York State Department of Environmental ConservationQueens Borough President Melinda KatzQueens Delegation of the New York City CouncilQueens Delegation of the New York State Assembly

We are pleased to thank the following corporations and foundations for their support of QBG’s botanical displays, programs, and operations:HSBC Bank USA, N.A.Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.Resorts World CasinoThe Frank Antun FoundationAstoria BankThe Kupferberg FoundationNational Grid FoundationNew York Community BankNew York Community Bank FoundationPfizer, Inc.The Port Authority of NY & NJRose M. Badgeley Residuary Charitable TrustDr. Robert C. & Tina Sohn FoundationTD Charitable FoundationWAC Lighting

Queens Botanical Garden43-50 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11355

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QBG GARDEN NEWS SUMMER 2016 A special newsletter for friends of Queens Botanical Garden VOL 22 ISSUE 2

THANK YOU to our MEMBERS, SPONSORS, AND FRIENDS!

Queens Botanical Garden | 43-50 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11355 | queensbotanical.org | 718.886.3800

H. DAVID STEIN