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October 28, 2005
Enid A. Haupt
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The death earlier this week of philanthropist Enid A. Haupt at age 99 leads to reflection on the impact of certain philanthropists on our personal as well as civic well being. Mrs. Haupt was described in an obituary published in the New York Times by the New York Botanical Garden today as "the greatest patron American horticulture has ever known" and for once the description is not empty hyperbole but a well deserved encomium. She funded the restoration of the Conservatory at NYBG, now the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, she paid for the children's garden at the Rusk Institute, a haven for young patients undergoing long-term rehabilitation. She was the lead donor to the four-acre Enid A. Haupt Garden at the Smithsonian on the Washington Mall. A longtime patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she endowed the gardens at The Cloisters. This list does not begin to account for Mrs. Haupt's extensive generosity to Memorial Sloan Kettering, to the American Horticultural Society and to countless smaller or less visible organizations.
Consider some of her more public gestures. In the 1970s she rescued the 19th century Conservatory at NYBG from ruin, she also funded its recent transformation into a state of the art glass house. It is now a twenty-first century greenhouse within a 19th century work of art. The gardens at the Cloisters remain for Citygardenguide, and we suspect for many New Yorkers, one of the essential sanctuaries of our city. A place we return to again and again, for respite, for celebration, for renewal. We owe these gifts to Mrs. Haupt. The world of horticulture is relatively small, especially in proportion to the amount of pleasure it gives. The list of donors to public gardens is also small, in our travels around the city researching Garden Guide: New York City, we encountered the same names again and again. Mrs. Haupt's stood out in that select group both for her reach and the size of her contributions.
It would be comforting to think that waiting in the wings is another great benefactor- a go to person for those huge, expensive projects that can make such a positive difference to our quality of life, but which seem beyond the reach of normal governmental or philanthropic support because they are deemed non essential or frivolous.
It galls us that horticulture, especially public horticulture, should be considered so peripheral to the public good - but that is the case. Sadly, there probably isn't another individual with Enid Haupt's interests, generosity and means. In her case another often cited, rarely deserved phrase, most definitely applies - we shall not see her like again.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 08:41 PM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2005
Battery Bosque Update
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The second phase of The Battery's new master plan was installed last June. Citygardenguide was very excited by this Piet Oudolf design called the Battery Bosque (Citygardenguide 6/14), and we were looking forward to seeing how it matured over the summer. Well, we can only hope that it's in that awkward adolescent phase, because it doesn't look great. The basic design of the Bosque, curving island beds in light gravel, still works well. There's much more light and air since the London Plane trees were limbed up, and the long curving benches are fantastic.
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Sadly, the planting, which was very exciting in plan, hasn't really come together. Oudolf suggested a mouthwatering list of 130 perennials that were supposed to form a complex matrix of plants of different heights and textures. Possibly because of the difficult dry conditions this summer, many of the beds have not filled in. For this idea to work, the planting has got to look lush and rich. It looks sparse and poor. Citygardenguide does not really subscribe to the perfectly groomed philosophy of gardening, we love a little romantic abandon, but the Battery Bosque made us want to wade into the beds and clean-em up. Let's hope that next spring we'll see a grown-up garden that fulfills its promise.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2005
55 Water Street Plaza
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There is a wonderful surprise in store for visitors to the newly reopened Plaza at 55 Water Street. It's terrific! The steep two story approach from Water street, which has been made to look slightly less forbidding by being broken up with four separate escalators and slightly departing from a traditional grid, gives nothing away. You can't see the top from the bottom, and all the contemporary geometry in the world can't eliminate a certain sterility that clings to 55 Water Street, the city's largest office building. It's not until you emerge from a short passage at the top of the staircase that - Pow! Spread before you is one of those pictures that make you love - love - love New York. A stylized landscape (it's called "Dune") gently rises to a view of the Brooklyn skyline, compact and sturdy and framed by gently waving trees. Walk to the top of the landscape and reach the long boardwalk and the whole panorama of a busy harbor spreads out below. Bustling ferries chug back and forth to the terminal just off to the north and helicopters buzz in and out of the downtown heliport immediately to the south, and across the harbor the brooding industrial landscape of the Brooklyn waterfront provides backdrop. It's not the cliched vista of postcards, but something more intimate and vibrant....a living working city.
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Designed by Rogers Marvel Architects and Ken Smith Landscape Architect, this redo of the dispiriting Plaza at 55 Water Street is the result of a competition sponsored by the Municipal Art Society and the building's owner The Retirement Systems of Alabama (we hope they do something this nice for Alabama!). Commissioned in 2002 when Goldman Sachs decided not to build an office tower on the site, the Plaza reopened last week. The one acre site consists of this "Dune landscape", the boardwalk which leads up to a huge glass paneled cube, and a large artificial turf field. The cube, called the Beacon of Progress, will glow at night and recalls the Titanic Memorial Light that stood for many years on this block atop the Seaman's Church Institute. Below the cube the artificial turf field will be used for events as well as just hanging out.
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The landscape, which is the first thing you see when you get to the top of the stairs or escalators, does evoke that combination of openness and random vegetation that characterizes dunes. The openness is provided by textured concrete panels that are laid on the horizontal and subtly expand the view. The planting islands, which are slightly bermed, are geometric shapes and are reminiscent of the island beds in Philip Johnson' garden at the Museum of Modern Art, as is the rectangular grid. There's lots of seating, and the boardwalk is made of fashionable Brazilian ipe, which imparts a little luxurious texture to the project.
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About the planting: Citygardenguide does not like to quibble, because this is a great addition to the city - but no-one else ever critique's the planting in the city's public spaces- better not to plant grasses, perennials and shrubs in neat rows. Perhaps this rigid layout is intentional, following through on the "stylized" theme, but what it looks like is a lot of frantic workmen stuffing plants into the berms without much supervision. Why is it that planting is always the last and seemingly least important step in installing these projects? It's too bad because nothing ruins a landscape faster than poorly set in or maintained plants. There, we got that off our chests.
The owners are planning to sponsor 12 events a year on the turf field to encourage traffic to the site. But Citygardenguide is sure that this new plaza with or without programming will soon become a downtown favorite.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 01:01 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2005
Planter
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A decent planter is hard to find. Especially if you're searching for one that doesn't look as if it was created in the 18th Century, weigh a ton, or come straight from the discount pile at Wal-Mart. So we were pretty thrilled to find these at the shop at Wave Hill. The metal (feels lighter than steel more substantial than aluminum) cubes come in three sizes 12" 18" and 24". And you can lift them with one hand...unfilled of course.
Yes, it is the middle of October, and not exactly the season for planting pots, but Citygardenguide firmly beleives that you gotta grab'em when you see'em.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 04:13 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2005
Tulips
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Here's how we at Citygardenguide take our minds off horrible weather, or horrible thoughts. We check out on-line bulb catalogs, and choose some bright beautiful tulips for spring.
Studying tulip catalogs, it is easy to understand the Dutch 17th-century passion for tulips. We have to discipline ourselves, because it is all too easy to get carried away. So we are careful after a couple of out-of-control bulb orders, to review the order and to scale it back to something reasonable. Always remember, you have to plant what you order, if you want the tulips to bloom anywhere else but in your imagination.
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There are lots of tulip catalogs, but we usually start with Brent and Becky's Bulbs andJohn Scheepers. They both have good selection and excellent pictures. Also, if a favorite item is sold out of one catalog you can often find it in the other.
Tulips are ideal for city gardens. They don't perennialize that well in our climate- so you can yank them out without a pang when they are done. They give a lot of bang for the buck. And although they are attractive to squirrels, deer, which will devastate a tulip planting in a nanosecond, are few and far between in town.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 06:32 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2005
Bittersweet Fall Garden
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It's miraculous how a good rainfall will revitalize a wilting and dying landscape (okay, maybe 6 inches in 24 hours is a little excessive). Grass and leaves have gone from brown to green over the weekend, and we are experiencing the last bittersweet gasp of our parks and gardens before the inevitable seasonal end.
Nowhere is this more true than at the Conservatory Garden in Central Park, where the last gasp is more like a great gulp. In the South garden, many of the annuals are still blooming, the grasses are at their best, and the foliage plants have almost eclipsed the flowers with their vivid colors and strong shapes. This is one of the best moments of the year at the Conservatory, and it's made more poignant by the fact that next Tuesday (October 18) it's going to be all over for another year. The annuals, still in their full glory, will be pulled out to make room for the spring bulb planting.
We at Citygardenguide feel that all of New York looks fabulous in the spring; much of it looks good in the summer; but only The Conservatory Garden is at its most spectacular in the fall.
Go visit before it's too late.
It's quite remarkable how vibrant the colors are right now at the Conservatory Garden, and how much of that impact comes from foliage plants. Pictured here are: Colocasia escuelenta 'Illustris',
Ipomoea b. 'Sweet Caroline Bronze' and 'Ace of Spades' and Coleus 'Sedona'. The three Salvias in the background are sinaloensis, mexicana 'Tula' and x 'Indigo Spires'.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 01:38 PM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2005
Plant Bulbs
Now is the time to think about bulbs, especially tulips and daffodils which deliver such a vital dose of color in the spring, and require no skill (or very little) to plant. Planting bulbs is one of the most satisfying of gardening tasks, and it's true gardening, in that you put something into the soil, and then wait. Real gardening is mostly about waiting. Buying an annual in bloom and putting it in a pot or in the ground is more like decorating...which is fun too, but not the same.
Tulips and daffodils planted in the next two months will bloom reliably in the spring. You can buy them at garden centers but it's far more inspiring to shop the catalogs, whether old fashioned paper ones or on line. The choices are vast, and the reputable catalogs are very reliable. If you order a red tulip and plant it, chances are that you'll have a red tulip just like the one in the picture blooming in your garden in the spring.
We thought we would share some of our favorite bulb varieties, this week we will talk about daffodils, next week we will discuss tulips.
Daffodils are great perennializers in our climate, which means that they will come back year after year, but only if - and it's an important if - the foliage is allowed to mature and die down. The foliage feeds the bulb so it's strong enough to bloom again the next year. Maturing and dying daffodil foliage is not a lovely site. It can be masked by daylily foliage or ferns growing up around it, but on it's own in is an eye sore for 6 weeks or so. When you plant daffodils keep this in mind, and either treat them as annuals which is what happens in big display gardens, or be prepared to live with the consequences.
Daffodils or narcissi, are divided in to 14 divisions, and each division has its own characteristics. There are long trumpets, split cups, cyclamen-flowered, etc. The classifications get complicated, and are most important to enthusiasts (and they are a legion). The crucial issue for the amature is period of bloom, so you can gauge what to plant with what. Narcissi bloom from the beginning of March in our climate to the middle of May for the very latest variety. They range in height from tiny 4"-6" to full and substantial 15"-20 ". For those of you who garden outside the city, one of the daffodill's great virtues is that they are deer and rodent resistant.
The following are some of Citygardenguide's all time favorite daffodils:
Early Blooming: Early April
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February Gold: one of the earliest daffodils to bloom, the second half of March in NYC
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Jet Fire: cyclamen shaped, yellow petals orange trumpet - perky perky perky!
Mid Season: Mid to end of April
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Salome: white with soft pink large cup
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Delibes: vivid yellow petals and orange rim on trumpet - very bright
Late blooming: Later April, early May
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Thalia: our all time favorite- delicate pure white, multi stem and fragrant..bliss
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Actaea: white petals, and flat yellow cup edged with red
RELIABLE CATALOGS
John Scheepers, Inc. (Van Engelen is the wholesale arm for ordering bigger quantities)
23 Tulip Drive PO Box 638
Bantam, Connecticut 06750 0638
Brent and Becky's Bulbs
7900 Daffodil Lane
Gloucester, VA 23061
804 693 3966
White Flower Farm
PO Box 50 Rt 63
Litchfield Connecticut 06759
800 503 9624
Breck's
US Reservation Center
PO Box 65
Guilford IN 47022-0065
513-354-1511
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 01:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 04, 2005
The Last Rose of Summer?
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Most people think that roses bloom only in June in time for graduations and weddings. In fact, many roses put on a second show at the end of summer, and these blooms can last well into a warm fall season. Some gardeners--like the rosarians at the New York Botanical Garden--cut their roses back hard in early summer to get an even more lush display in the fall. The cool nights seem to make the roses open more slowly, and then of course they last longer as well. This year, with all the 80 degree days in September and no frost yet in sight, the roses all over the city are particularly lovely, like this one, in front of P.S. 234 in Tribeca.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)