« March 2006 | Main | May 2006 »
April 26, 2006
Alpines
 |
Rock gardeners are a little out of the mainstream. They slave over finicky alpines that, to the generalist, look from insignificant to downright homely most of the year. It's hard for regular gardeners to see the point--except now when many of the delicate specimens are at peak bloom. At this moment the Alpine House at Wave Hill is full of delicious surprises in wonderful colors. Most of the plants are displayed on raised benches, which makes for easy viewing, in contrast to their natural habitats. The lewisias, named for Captain Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame, are in full glory right now. These tiny gems, with colorful umbels springing from basal rosettes, hail from the mountains of the American West. The National Audubon Society Field Guide to Wild Flowers describes their habitat this way, "this plant forms beautiful bouquets on precipitous cliffs, to which it clings by a massive root tightly wedged in a tiny cleft"--so much easier to go to Wave Hill and admire them in safety and comfort!
.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 06:10 PM | Comments (0)
PARK(ing) Space
 |
In a city where parking garages can charge as much as twenty dollars an hour and the minute you leave your hard-won parking space on the street, a car has already pulled up to replace you, it is clear that parking is at a premium. Still, the notion of this portable park, however unrealistic it might be, captured our fancy. Imagine all those barren midtown streets peppered with patches of green. Imagine a whole street lined with turf on either side...flower boxes...trees...benches...beach umbrellas. The possibilities are endless.
Link: Rebar
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2006
Heady Fragrance
 |
There is one fragrance that says early spring to us, and no, it is not lilacs, which actually will follow in a week or so, depending on the weather: it is the incredibly strong, heady fragrance of the Viburnum x carlcephalum, which right now is blooming in many of our public spaces. Though not a particularly outstanding shrub in terms of its shape, the blossoms can be smelled from ten feet away, There is a lovely stand of them on the west side of the reservoir, underplanted with tiarella cordifolia, another next to the entrance to Riverside Park at 83rd Street, and yet another near the Fifth Avenue & 60th St. entrance to Central Park. The unusual choice of the viburnums for the Park are a reminder that the Conservancy continues to create stunning horticultural displays, not just routine municipal plantings. We promise that, once you have smelled the viburnum, you will be hooked!
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2006
Flower Shows
 |
Spring has arrived so early this year that the Macy's Flower Show is a bit of an anti-climax. The forsythia is blooming strongly inside but it has already faded in Central Park. Likewise, the tropical opulence of the Orchid Show at Rockefeller Center is less enticing when it's 75 degrees outside and the fresh white petals of the Bradford pears are snowing throughout the city.
This hasn't stopped crowds from thronging the aisles at Macy's, where the Flower Show is wrapping up this weekend. The technical ability of the show organizers continues to amaze us; all the plants look fresh and perky ten days into the show. The topiary this year is a giant beehive made of kalichoas, with mechanical bees buzzing around it. This has been accompanied by lectures on honey varieties and honey making. We had noticed an increased interest in beekeeping among our friends and acquaintances but this honey theme at Macy's tells us that apiarists are going mainstream.
Macy's Flower Show until Sunday at Herald Square and Union Square.
Greater New York Orchid Show at Rockefeller Center. Admission to display area, $5.00; sales area, free
Thursday 12-5, Friday and Saturday 9-9, and Sunday 9-6
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2006
Crabapples
 | 
|
Whether zooming up the West Side Highway or taking a leisurely stroll through the Conservatory Garden, you can't help noticing the crabapples blooming all over the city this week. Their abundant, slightly fragrant pink and white flowers are synonymous with the graceful beauty of old-fashioned gardens. New York City happens to have an unusually large collection of mature heritage crabapples, and the Parks Department has taken on the job of cataloging them and keeping them healthy. Simultaneously, Parks has embarked on a campaign to find sources for the old varieties so that they can continue to be planted and enjoyed. A particularly spectacular double allee of sixty trees can be seen framing either side of the central lawn at the Conservatory Garden (yes, as seen on the front cover of the New York Times on Monday, April 17), and another spectacular showing is in Riverside Park in the 90s. But there are more: up and down Broadway, and in front of scores of brownstones. Check out the Parks Department webpage for a document entitled Painting with Crabapples, which will give you the history and varieties of trees all over the city.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 05:13 PM | Comments (0)
April 13, 2006
Spring Windows
 |
The most seasonal store window in New York this week is not the kitschy giant mechanical bugs and birds flying though forests of neon azaleas at Macy's Herald Square (although that is definitely the most popular one), it's the 57th Street windows at Bergdorf Goodman, where the window-display elves have created a slight, gentle, yet poetic installation that captures all the promise of the growing season. Working from what look like good photocopies, the installers have taken decoupeed birds, fragments of botanical manuscripts, and old flower catalogs and pinned them informally on the backdrop of the display, as if it were a giant "idea" board. The windows are fresh and whimsical and make you long for nature, and oh yes--there are some pretty dresses there too.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2006
City Magnolias
 |
From the spectacularly grand specimens in front of the Frick Museum (Fifth Avenue and 70th Street) and in the Conservatory Garden in Central Park to the surprising display down the Broadway Malls, the city is truly fortunate in its many wonderful magnolias. In some years, a late spring frost will damage the flowers, but this year the trees are putting on quite a show. The Saucer Magnolia (Magnolia soulangeana), pictured to the left, is probably the most familiar, but the white-blooming Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata) is equally lovely. And we were pleased to spot a grouping of three yellow-flowering Magnolia Elizabeth in Riverside Park, which was introduced by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in 1978 and is named after Elizabeth Scholz, the legendary former director of the Garden.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)