January 26, 2006
Flower Vigilante
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A friend passed along a story from The Downtown Express about Bella Meyer. She and her coworkers have taken it upon themselves to spread a little floral joy in Lower Manhattan, by distributing tiny posies to pedestrians, and to sometimes flummoxed subway riders. They also occasionally leave little floral offerings in unexpected places. Bella owns Fleurs Bella, a high end floral design studio; we love the idea that when she's not creating fabulous arrangements for fabulous people she's running a guerilla operation to improve the outlook of regular New Yorkers.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)
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)
April 26, 2005
Jefferson Market Garden
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Happy 30th birthday to the Jefferson Market Garden, a Greenwich Village treasure at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 10th Street. The garden celebrated its birthday this week with a party honoring Lynden B. Miller, NYC's public garden designer par excellence. Ms. Miller is the first recipient of the Jefferson Market Garden's Brooke Astor Award for Outstanding Contributions to Urban Gardens.
Jefferson Market, which adjoins the landmark Jefferson Market Library (originally a courthouse), was created on an empty lot that was the former site of the Women's House of Detention. (Have you seen David Duchovny's new film, House of D? Well, this was the place.) The garden has magnificent magnolias, which literally stop traffic on Sixth Avenue when they come into bloom in April, and lovely woodland plantings. Although the garden has always been a special place, there was a long period when it was open to the public only sporadically and the plantings looked more and more tired. All this has changed over the past few years, however, under the sure hand of horticulturist Susan Sipos and a group of dedicated volunteers. The garden now looks just spectacular: there is a large rose garden along the Sixth Avenue side, a small fish pond and a gracious center lawn that invites lazing. Even more importantly, the garden is now always open, with a big gate opening up onto Greenwich Avenue.
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The garden committee could not have chosen a better person to honor with its first award. Lynden B. Miller has dedicated her career to creating public gardens all over New York City, and in her work at New Yorkers for Parks, she also focuses on advocating for the 28,000 acres of parks in the city. You may well have seen her work in the 300-foot-long shrub and perennial borders in Bryant Park, or at the Conservatory Garden (where she began her design work), or in the gardens at Wagner Park, or perhaps in the many new plantings that have spruced up the Columbia University campus. She is an extraordinary force for good in the city, and we have all benefited from her efforts. To honor Ms. Miller, a special guest, Hans Van Waardenburg of B&K Flowerbulbs, announced that the Dutch had named a tulip for her. In years to come, the lovely, peony-flowered Lynden B. Miller tulip will be seen in city gardens everywhere, reminding us all of Ms. Miller's achievements and her particular message: that if you give people beautiful places, they will care for them and their lives will be better.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)