NYBG Rock Garden Study Day

Attended the Rock Garden Study Day April 21, at the New York Botanical Garden. The day was split into a presentation by Anton Reznicek (Curator of Vascular Plants at the University of Michigan) regarding the reclassification of plants based on DNA not just physical attributes, followed by a tour of the Rock Garden by curator Jody Payne and finally a demonstration of hypertuffa trough construction by NYBG gardeners Stefan Farage and Yukie Kurashina.
Their hypertuffa forms were 2" thick Styrofoam insulation held together with long nails and duct tape. Easy to cut and work with. They had molds for 4 different sizes and they had a collection of newly planted troughs at the entrance to the rock garden. The mixture they used was 1:1:1 perlite, peatmoss(screened), Portland cement, a hand full of poly fibers(for additional strength) and a 50/50 water/acrylic fortifying additive mix as the liquid.

The day was sunny and warm with a light breeze, a great day to be out. The azaleas were in full bloom and the new Azalea Garden was very interesting. (Next 3 photos)

Looking up to the overlook.

Photos from the Rock Garden.

I liked this contrast between the coral bell leaves and the English blue bell flowers.

After the hypertuffa demonstration we had a look in their Alpine house. The alpines are plunged into Turface (a soil conditioner), some use sand in their plunge beds to regulate moisture loss, which weighs more, but I didn't ask why they use Turface. I always wanted an Alpine House since we first visited Kew in 1993, at that time they had an older Alpine house which has since been replaced by a more modern looking structure. The largest greenhouse I could have without a permit is 120 sq feet and 7 foot tall max, which might get crowded real quick (what size wouldn't?), but then there is also the additional responsibility required both in winter and summer to keep the plants happy and the additional maintenance.

Some Saxifrages in real tuffa sitting on the surface of the Turface.