Review by Robin D. SchatzJuly 27 (Bloomberg) -- My first vegetable garden sprawled across our front lawn in suburban New Jersey.
My husband and I brazenly tended tomatoes, string beans and eggplants curbside, while our neighbors cut their weed-free grass. It was 1978 and we felt counterculture; they found us amusing.
These days, growing your own food is de rigueur, even patriotic (witness Michelle Obama’s organic garden on the White House lawn). So the timing couldn’t be better for the New York Botanical Garden’s new summerlong festival, “The Edible Garden.”
Vegetable and herb plants don’t have the inherent pizzazz of the botanical garden’s extravagant annual displays of, say, orchids or Dutch tulips. Still, the exhibits prove edible plants are pretty enough to put in plain sight, and the 250-acre spread, with many shady spots, is a fine place to stroll on a sunny day.
The botanical garden also has arranged guest appearances to spice things up. Martha Stewart has already visited, and still to come are cooking demos with Emeril Lagasse (Sept. 12) or Lidia Bastianich (Sept. 13). Bette Midler, champion of public gardens in New York, narrates the audio tour, along with chef Mario Batali.
Vegetable and herb plants don’t have the inherent pizzazz of the botanical garden’s extravagant annual displays of, say, orchids or Dutch tulips. Still, the exhibits prove edible plants are pretty enough to put in plain sight, and the 250-acre spread, with many shady spots, is a fine place to stroll on a sunny day.
The botanical garden also has arranged guest appearances to spice things up. Martha Stewart has already visited, and still to come are cooking demos with Emeril Lagasse (Sept. 12) or Lidia Bastianich (Sept. 13). Bette Midler, champion of public gardens in New York, narrates the audio tour, along with chef Mario Batali.
