There are truly special days when I wander into a garden and it is perfect and it was just such a day at Untermyer Park. It is a walled garden, the size of a football field. Persian gardens inspired the creation of this walled space with its four quadrants defined by low water ways. Classical Greek columns and a Temple to the sky are part of the white stone framework of the space. In 1922 it was described as “America’s Most Spectacular Garden.” Now as a public park of NYC it underwent a revitalization beginning in 2011. This year’s planting worked with a limited palate of plants with black foliage, deep purple, lavenders, chartreuse and spots of yellow. The plants were elephant ears, sweet potato vine, verbenas, anemones, and hostas. Mid September, put the plants at a peak of growth. Enjoy the photos and if you are ever in Yonkers, NY, do stop and be dazzled!
Innisfree Gardens, Millbrook, NY
“I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree.”
W.B. Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” (1888)
A garden with a Scottish poet’s reference for its name, a woodland plant palate, a lake and a Asian influence creating a garden of individual style. This isn’t a flower garden, yet there are blooms. This isn’t a Chinese garden, there are no statues of Buddha. This is a woodland of trees, moss and ferns. Set among all of these ideas are stones creating pockets of space for a visitor to linger and inhale the scent of trees, and contemplate the intimate space within the 200 acres of grounds. A landscape designed by one inspired landscape architect , “Lester Collins, FASLA (1914 – 1993), with important contributions by his clients, artist and teacher Walter Beck
Vall Kill Cottage, Eleanor Roosevelt’s favorite place
I am not alone in my admiration for Eleanor Roosevelt and the contributions she made during her life. She is, I believe, one of the most remarkable, compassionate, empathetic individuals to influence our country’s history. Her cottage, Val-Kill (Kill is Dutch for Stream) is part of our National Park System in Hyde Park, NY. Touring her home you see a comfortable, welcoming space which was visited by famous and infamous leaders from around the world. She was not only First Lady of our only four term president, author of 13 books, 7000 “My Day” newspaper columns, first U.S. representative to the U.N and author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to name just a few of her accomplishments she was also considered the First Lady of the World. Looking through “A Personal Album by A. David Gurewitsch’s book about Eleanor, I was stunned to see this photo of her gathering flowers from her garden to bring into her home. She loved having fresh flowers especially marigolds in her home, and enjoyed arranging them for her guest’s room.
Trees, Gardens and Students
It is fall and students have returned to college campuses across the nation. I have a listing of the best college arboretums and botanical gardens and I plan my travel to visit as many as I can. I’ve long appreciated the beauty of a college campus. Just this week while traveling in the Northeast I’ve explored Wellesley, Smith and Amherst colleges. Botany has long been an important field of study, though the education of a Naturalist has fallen out of favor. Micro-biology and genetics are programs with great appeal today and both continue to advance the science of horticulture and other areas of study.
Blooms Upon the Water
Monet wrote of his pond at Giverny,
“It took me a long time to understand my water lilies. I had planted them for the pure pleasure of it and I grew them without thinking of painting them…And then, all of a sudden, I had the revelation of the enchantment of my pond. I took up my palette. Since then I’ve had no other model.”Monet’s Water Lilies, Vivian Russell
Composition of Cactus
“To many people, a cactus is the tall, spiny plant that they have seen in films of the Wild West.” (Miles Anderson, Cactus & Succulent Guide)
A Castle, Flowers & Vegetables
Hatley Castle, on the grounds of Hatley Park Royal Roads University in Colwood, Vancouver Island, BC
Once upon a time on a beautiful summers’ day my fantasy of walking in a perfect garden came true. I entered an Italian style garden through a wisteria covered stone loggia (covered corridor). Pink roses climbed the loggia columns adding a bright color accent. A lawn formed a promenade to walk through the garden, with flower beds symmetrical in both color and shape surrounding the lawn. In each corner of the lawn stood a large floral urn. Boxwood hedges shaped the lines of the garden. A stone wall provided pattern and texture behind the flowers.
American History–Garden View
Andrea Wulf is the award-winning and New York Times Bestselling author of three garden history books, including “The Brother Gardeners, Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession” (2009)
An American Garden
Bartram’s — An American Garden
Philadelphia is known as the City of Brotherly Love, and for the men who gathered there to lay out the foundations of our democracy. This is where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution written. What many people don’t realize is that Philadelphia also claims to be America’s garden capital, boasting 30 public gardens within 30 miles of Philly.
Tree Houses in an Arboretum!
Visiting arboretums in my travels I naturally find myself walking in the woods. I enjoy the shade, the champion trees, meadows and blooming spring ephemorals such as jack in the pulpits, trillions, wood poppies, and may apple. Trees are the stars with their gnarly trunks, amazing branching structures and leafy canopies overhead. In spring the green color of new leaves is bright and clean.