Annual Report 2007 - Brooklyn Botanic Garden

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Report2007pt2FINALnew.qxp 2/1/08 3:18 PM Page 1212 Engaging in Research and Disseminating KnowledgePublicationsThe Garden’s award-winningtitles receive glowing reviewsfrom such publicationsas the New York Times,Library Journal, andPublishers Weekly.Three new titles were published in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guide series this year:Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants, The Tree Care Primer, and Gardening With Children. These and otherBBG handbooks received glowing reviews in publications such as the New York Times, Library Journal,Horticulture, and Publishers Weekly, as well as numerous regional publications. In addition to beingdistributed to BBG members, BBG All-Region Guides are sold at retail locations and garden shopsacross North America through a distribution partnership with Sterling Publishing.Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants by C. Colston Burrell identifies invasive plants and makes iteasy for the reader to select environmentally appropriate alternatives. Describing dozens of spectacularnative plants for every region—specially chosen as alternatives to the invasive species that aredegrading the continent’s natural habitats—this title was instantly popular and went into a secondprinting before the end of the year. This important, double-length volume was dedicated to BBG’spresident emeritus Judith D. Zuk, whose leadership made the Garden’s pioneering books on invasiveplants possible. Funding from the Chanticleer Foundation, Federal Highway Administration, and FederalBureau of Land Management enabled BBG to produce Native Alternatives.BBG’s arborist Christopher Roddick partnered with editor Beth Hanson to produce The Tree CarePrimer, which offers comprehensive advice about tree selection, maintenance, and health for amateurand professional gardeners alike. An indispensable guide to the basic concepts and essential techniquesof common-sense tree care, the handbook helps gardeners with everything from tree planting tomaintenance of mature trees, with all the information one needs to promote the long-term well-beingof these giant plants.BBG educators teamed up to produce the very special publication Gardening With Children, thefirst All-Region Guide written specifically for children and their caregivers. The book is filled withdetailed, four-color illustrations and is printed on wider pages, allowing kids and adults to keep thebook open easily as they follow the more than 40 hands-on activities featured inside. Building onBBG’s expertise in children’s education, the projects are designed to awaken a child’s sense of wonderabout the natural world while nourishing cognitive development and self-confidence.Buyer demand drove the reprinting of several popular All-Region titles, including The Best Applesto Buy and Grow, The Butterfly Gardener’s Guide, and The Shady Border: Shade-Loving Perennials forSeason-Long Color. And BBG also produced revised editions of several older titles from the
Report2007pt2FINALnew.qxp 2/1/08 3:18 PM Page 13Engaging in Research and Disseminating Knowledge13Plants & Gardens Newswon the 2007 Gold Awardfor Best Newsletter fromthe Garden WritersAssociation.21st-Century Gardening Series with updated information and illustrations:Hummingbird Gardens: Turning Your Yard Into Hummingbird Heaven;Wildflower Gardens: 60 Spectacular Plants and How to Grow Them in YourGarden; and Butterfly Gardens: Luring Nature’s Loveliest Pollinators to Your Yard.BBG continued its leadership role in the open-access movement,producing the fourth issue of Urban Habitats, a peer-reviewed scientificelectronic journal on the biology of urban areas. The focus of the 2006 issuewas the wildlife-hosting capabilities of green roofs. All papers are availableat no charge online, and the journal is edited to make the information usefulnot only to researchers but also to government officials, landscape architects,amateur naturalists, and other interested nonscientists. The numberof readers of this journal, now entering its fifth year of publication, hasgrown enormously—over 30,000 unique visitors from 87 different countriesand territories logged on to read articles over the past year.Plants & Gardens News explored Japanese gardens (Fall 2006), initiativesagainst invasive plants (Spring 2007), and forest-friendly mulch (Summer2007), continuing to deliver lively and informative articles from leadingexperts in the field. The Garden Writers Association (GWA) honored BBG witha Gold Award of Achievement for Best Overall Newsletter for the Spring 2006issue of P&G News, and gave former director of Publications Janet Marinellia Silver Award of Achievement for Writing in a Newsletter for the article “Box Turtles in the Garden: CloseEncounters of the Reptilian Kind,” which appeared in the summer 2006 issue of P&G News.BBG’s Internet resource, bbg.org, also garnered a Gold Award from GWA for Best Overall Productin Electronic Media. The site continued to showcase the Garden and its programs, provide access toBBG’s various research databases, and offer informative features on a variety of topics of interest togardeners. Traffic to bbg.org continues to rise: Readership this year was up five percent over theprevious year. And, extending its online presence, the Garden launched a MySpace page, thus reachingout to the diverse and dynamic audience of the social networking world.One of the most popular online features was the Blooming of Amorphophallus titanum at BBGsite. When BBG’s titan arum burst into bloom in August 2006, bbg.org followed the giant flower eachstep of the way. Daily blog entries, an around-the-clock webcam, a growth chart marking the plant’sstunning rise to over 5 feet in height, a photo gallery, and a wealth of information about titan arumsgave web visitors a virtual face-to-face with this amazing plant. Ultimately, over 100,000 unique visitorslogged on to the titan arum site. After the event, BBG posted a time-lapse video of the flower’s bloom.In the spring, during Hanami, web staff redesigned the popular CherryWatch site, bbg.org/exp/cherries,a blossom-status map of every Prunus specimen in the Garden, which is updated three times a weekduring the cherry-blossom season. Also this year, each cherry variety was photographed in its fourstages of bloom (pre-, first, peak, and post-peak) for an online Stages of Bloom gallery that offersvisitors a taste of the amazing transformation the cherry trees are undergoing at the Garden.Garden staff launched a Members-only section on bbg.org, allowing Garden members to viewback issues of Members News and Plants & Gardens News, collect information about special discountsand privileges, and log on to receive their member discount in the online garden gift shop. Also,bbg.org featured sites for horticultural events, including interpretation to accompany the display of theendangered Wollemi Pine, the rare and exotic blooming of a Puya berteroniana plant, and a spotlighton BBG’s demonstration urban garden at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.
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Annual Report 2007 - Brooklyn Botanic Garden

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