Sunday, April 15, 2018

WARM SATURDAY SOJOURN

Mural seen
from the third Avenue bus near 100th Street
 Noticed while waiting for the 106th Street crosstown
 (what used to be)
 Now is...
 My early Spring visit is just the first of many because these Gardens change their visage every week with the progression of Seasons
The Conservatory Gardens
Fifth Avenue between 104th and 105th Street is Central Park's six-acre formal garden. It is divided into three smaller gardens, each with a distinct style: Italian, French, and English. The Italianate center garden is composed of a large lawn surrounded by yew hedges and bordered by two exquisite allées of spring-blooming pink and white crabapple trees. A 12-foot high jet fountain plays on the western end of the lawn, backed by tiered hedges and stairs that lead up to a wisteria pergola. On the walkway under the pergola are medallions inscribed with the names of the original 13 states.
 The northern, French-style garden showcases parterres of germander and spectacular seasonal displays of spring tulips, and Korean chrysanthemums in autumn, all within an ellipse of Japanese holly. 
In the center is the charming Three Dancing Maidens fountain by German sculptor, Walter Schott
Pansies at the ready...
 ...some planted.
To the south is the very intimate English-style garden.
There are five mixed borders of trees, shrubs and perennial plants, and five seasonal beds featuring spring bulbs that are followed by annual flower displays. A slope of woodland plants lines the western edge of this garden. At the center is sculptor Bessie Potter Vonnoh's lovely Frances Hodgson Burnett Memorial Fountain, a tribute to the author of the children's book, The Secret Garden. The children — a girl and a boy, said to depict Mary and Dickon, the main characters from the classic — stand at one end of a small water lily pool.
 A beautiful curve of hedge
Other plantings include one Daffodil
among the many Narcissus blooms
Lenten rose
Lovely old Willow that had to be topped in the last storm
(Imagine it twice as high)
There are ducks and Geese on the lake
Random scenes
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The Garden's main entrance is through the Vanderbilt Gate, on Fifth Avenue between 104th and 105th Streets. This magnificent iron gate, made in Paris in 1894, originally stood before the Vanderbilt mansion at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street.
I left at sundown
Home at 8PM
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Conservatory Garden Home


1 comment:

Peggy McG said...

How wonderful you live near such beauty! The seasonal changes in any garden whether natural or planted touch something deep in all of us.