Nutshells, Gardens, and New York City

A delivery van pulls up in front of a shop in New York's flower district.

A week has passed since my first visit to New York City. I drank in as many sights and sounds as I could in the span of three days there. Thinking back, most of those sights and sounds won't fit in any nutshell description I can conjure up. The city has always struck me from afar as a battleground of eccentricities- a place where people ravenous for art amusements, culinary enchantments, architectural diversions, or fashion fads can each be indulged. So naturally, I went expecting to get a little fuel for my own obsession: plants.

A refreshing green alley.

I hit the Flower District early in the morning to see the source that so many New Yorkers rely on for greenery. It wasn't hard to locate from a block or two away. The first sign that I had arrived was a flat of 10ft tall  palm trees chained together on the sidewalk, then an amazing variety of topiary, and then colorful protea, peonies, and roses on either side. At street level there were busy wholesale vendors laboring over deliveries, and overlooking the street I could see many windows scrolled over with names of florists. I walked a block and the greenery disappeared. Because of escalating real estate prices, this district is just a fragment of what it once was.

Wholesale selections of greenery.

As soon as I could, I made a pilgrimage to the well-known Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Beyond the admissions desk I found a pristine Japanese garden complete with a pagoda and plump koi fish. A hilltop woodland was parted by a path with mock-up Hollywood stars on it, featuring famous personalities of Brooklyn. This gave way to rolling lawns below, dotted by specimen shrub collections like olives and plums. The periphery of the lawns featured numerous pockets of theme gardens, and of course, the chain of glass conservatories I had seen in pictures.

Attempting to capture the conservatories.

Orchid roots suspended over an indoor walkway.

Heavy humidity began to snake through the gardens at mid-morning, followed by crowds of schoolchildren. I could tell that this was a much-anticipated field trip for them, and I chuckled when I realized I had this much in common with them. As a big fan of children's gardens myself, I had been just as happy to look through the discovery garden, eye out the school vegetable plots and peer up into the giant twig sculptures.

In the Discovery Garden, I found kid-sized sitting areas where they can sort samples from the miniature meadow, forest and farm demonstrations.

This twig sculpture was created specifically for the site by Patrick Dougherty.

This area contains handfuls of vegetable plots tended by local schoolchildren.

Walking back over the Brooklyn Bridge and through Manhattan, I saw gardens peeking out in all sorts of spaces. . .

A Greenwich Village flower box.

An front door display in Uptown.

Decadent pink hydrangeas

 It wasn't long before I realized that this was an extremely walkable city. Before I knew it, I had been walking for three days straight, from landmark to landmark! Many of the lawns and gardens I saw (including the Brooklyn Botanical Garden) were behind fences, even those in public areas. Could it be that NYC gardens are spaces of order and civility, while on the other side of the fence, the city itself is a vast wilderness? It certainly seemed that way at times.

Central Park is clearly the heart of the city. It's in the way people carry themselves there, under the century old trees and across the verdant lawns.

Tree elevations

Sophisticated rooftop gardens and sun rooms in the museum mile

Roses rival the skyline at Jefferson Market Garden.

 Central Park was thoroughly rejuvenating, but my second favorite greenspace was a mid-size garden in Greenwich Village called Jefferson Market Garden. It has history, rich variety of plants, and community involvement. On the day I visited, there were lots of familiar flower faces about, and people taking pause to look at them.

In my meanderings I hadn't done much shopping. Just before I left, I visited one of the eclectic vintage clothing shops near my hotel. Here was a very floral part of New York City, right under my nose! Floral prints, embroidered greenery and satin blooms bombarded me from every corner. Though the fabric flowers were charming, it was an understated pink vase from the 1950's that spoke the loudest to me. I carried it back home. I doubted that New York City could ever be described in a nutshell. . . though it could be described as a vessel itself. .  .

Vintage ornament-turned-flower-vessel

Three days was not enough! My plans for next visit include the New York Botanical Garden and greenspace along The High Line, among passels of other things.

The Newport Flower Show: Anticipating Extravangance

There's nothing more extravagant than when one flower show advertises via an exhibit at another flower show. Or so this is what I thought when I took in the Newport Mansions exhibit at the Boston Flower and Garden show in March.  The display featured a life-size representation of Amy Vanderbilt, hostess of the mansions, surrounded by colorful shrubs, hundreds of blooming bulbs, stone sculptures and a delightfully detailed table setting. The figure's long, trailing coat and dress were made entirely out of plant parts, using a technique called "florage". As I craned around her, attempting to capture the display with my camera, I noticed handfuls of other show-goers doing the same. It wasn't long before I had to make way for others, and since then I've seen many photographic renditions of the scene online.

I was glad to have been there. Seeing the display filled my hunger for rich displays of fine horticulture. Or so I thought. When I received a press release this week about the upcoming Annual Newport Flower Show, that thought was swiftly extinguished. I wanted more! The report announced that Bartlett Tree Experts would be recreating "one of the most celebrated creations of the Golden Age of American gardens"  on the front lawn of the mansion. This refers to the Blue Garden of Beacon Hill House. Although a quick search in my garden references revealed no information about the Blue Garden, it seems to be a crystallized gem in Newport history. That's what throttled my curiosity about the mansions at Newport, and a summer flower show I had never considered before.

Located in Rhode Island, the mansions themselves are a popular destination for history-loving Bostonians who want to get a glimpse of America's first enclave of luxury resorts. The flower show is hosted in the mansions every year, and this year's theme is "Entertaining Newport Style".  Having never been to any historical resorts, I can only imagine what this means. Perusing the show's offerings online helped me fill in some of the blanks. Entry themes in the horticulture, design, and photography divisions include interpretations of the period's fetes, feasts, dresses, jewels, sports, and luxury imports- all using plants. Historic details such as gas lights, even the occasional daybreak-post-party swim at the beach have not been over looked.

My definition of extravagance and luxury has been known to end at outdoor furniture with cushions on it, and maybe some gin and tonic at hand. (And if I'm being totally honest, I'll tell you that I only bought my first real outdoor furniture last year, and I don't yet have any outdoor cushions!) From this perspective, sipping a G&T on my new plastic wicker and looking over my patio garden, it's easy for me to be satisfied with the luxury of the moment. But when I close my eyes, I can now see the outline of a woman whose garments are made entirely of plants, rising out of a garden of jewel-like blooms. . . and I think, possibly, my idea of extravagance may soon be shifting. . .

Coming soon, on July 24th, 25th and 26th

A Fresh Season at Mass Hort

Elm Bank's garden curator shows the grounds to this year's crop of volunteers.

It's been a couple of years since I last volunteered for the Mass Hort. At the time, the 182-year-old horticulture society was going through major upheavals. They were paring down to bare essentials in order to sustain their Elm Bank gardens and gift shop in Wellesley, ongoing plant trials for seed companies, Boston's annual flower show, and a parcel of land on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston- not to mention valuable staff, volunteers and members. I volunteered in the greenhouses, tending to the large volume of seedlings that would add color to every thing Mass Hort touched. Operations continued successfully on the surface, but there was a great deal of uncertainty at every turn.
When I returned to Elm Bank on Saturday, I was greeted by a number of other volunteers, new and old, waiting for an orientation tour of this year's projects. As we followed the curator around the grounds, it didn't take long for me to realize that the uncertainty I remembered had been replaced by a new energy. Teams of people dedicated to tending each garden had been recently formed. Goals were determined for areas like the vegetable plots, the historic Olmstead garden and the picnic area, which had previously sat neglected on the periphery. I was given a host of new contacts who could help me find the most suitable tasks and projects. This new energy seemed familiar to me. It was part hope, part dream, and part resolution to get some work done. . . not at all unlike the feeling I get when I step out into my own small plot. This is a feeling I can dig to!

The Blooms of Lyman Estate

Paphiopedium Lady Slipper Orchid

Phaleonopsis orchid

Lyman Estate Greenhouses in Waltham hosted the annual spring orchid sale this weekend. Varieties included hard to find cattleyas, laelias, paphiopedilums, as well as favorites like phaleonopsis, all grown by the orchid society. I liked the paphiopedilums most, with their fuzzy lady slipper pouches.

Bougainvillea butteana

The orchids were not the only flowers bursting forth. In the next room, a lime tree shed its withering blossoms as it began to fruit. Jasmine and crown of thorns were wide open, as well as French lavender and bleeding heart vine. Perhaps the most signature plant of the estate is the old bougainvillea vine that spans the glass ceiling, which was flushed with deep pink bracts. Even on the way back to the car, I spotted magnolias and violets unfurling in the field. I'll look forward to retuning to Lyman for their annual herb sale in May.

Crown of Thorns