Showing posts with label Plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plants. Show all posts

Thursday, August 09, 2012

Conservatory Garden in Central Park

Photo from the Central Park Conservatory website

[Larger photo here]


This is a hidden gem (as are many things in New York) in Central Park. It is located between 104th and 105th street, on Fifth Avenue.

Here is what the Central Park website says about the garden:
The Conservatory Garden is divided into three smaller gardens, each with a distinct style: Italian, French and English. The Garden's main entrance is through the Vanderbilt Gate, on Fifth Avenue between 104th and 105th Streets. This magnificent iron gate, made in Paris in 1894, originally stood before the Vanderbilt mansion at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street.
Wikipedia has a little more information:
The Conservatory Garden is the only formal garden in Central Park, New York City. Comprising 6 acres (24,000 m2), it takes its name from a conservatory that stood on the site from 1898 to 1934. The park's head gardener used the glasshouses to harden hardwood cuttings for the park's plantings. After the conservatory was torn down, the garden was designed by Gilmore D. Clarke, landscape architect for Robert Moses, with planting plans by M. Betty Sprout; constructed and planted by WPA workers, it was opened to the public in 1937.
I couldn't find any information on M. Betty Sprout, except that here in Google books (from the the book Garden Guide: New York City) she is mentioned as "[Gilmore D. Clarke's] future wife at the time project was in the planning stages. The Google book reference also mentions Thomas Drees Price as part of the design team.

This site has more information on Price, calling him a landscape architect. He also worked as part of the team which excavated "Horace's Villa" in Rome in 1930.

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Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year's Fruit

Bowl of tangerines
[photo by KPA]

I've posted this image before for New Year's. So, a cheery, bright and happy New Year. I think hard times are ahead for planet earth, but that doesn't mean we cannot (and should not) recognize her beauties.

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Allan Gardens Conservatory Decorations





The Allan Gardens Conservatory (I've posted about it here and here) has put up Christmas decorations. They are interspersed, almost like a treasure hunt, throughout the conservatory. Above are photos I took of giant baubles at the entrance, of one of many Christmas trees decorated with flowers, and of Christmas wreaths.

I also took many of poinsettias, which give a lovely festive air to the conservatory. They are everywhere. I asked the gardener about the dramatic names placed before some of the poinsettias (Shimmer Pink, Snow Cap, Da Vinci), and he told me that they were the names of the hybrids. They are created in Mexico, which apparently has a large poinsettia hybrid export industry, and come as far north as Toronto. I wanted to ask him why they cannot be bred right here in Toronto. Instead I wished him a Merry Christmas, and thanked him for keeping the conservatory so beautiful, especially during the holidays.







[Photos by KPA]

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