Pictures from the Conservatory Garden, Central Park

Photos taken by myself mid-September and early October, 2008. They have been uploaded full-size for your viewing pleasure. Please do not reproduce or use any images without consult. That would be stealing. Thanks and enjoy.
Up at 105th Street and 5th Avenue is the Vanderbuilt Gate, the main entrance to the Conservatory Garden, Central Park's only formal gardens. The Vanderbuilt Gate originally stood in front of the Vanderbuilt Mansion on 5th Avenue and 58th Street, where Bergdorf Goodmans is now.
For most people, this is the first glimpse you get into the Conservatory Garden, with the Vanderbuilt Gate just behind me. It's called the Conservatory Garden because there once was s huge glass conservatory that stood on this site. It was removed in the 1930's and replaced with this trio of gardens, open to the public in 1937. You have entered the center of the six-acres, and one of three distinct gardens. This is the Italian garden, complete with its formal hedges and perfect symmetry. On either side are lines of colorful crabapples.
In the distance the tiered yews and spirea lead up to the wrought-iron pergola covered with wisteria. The shaded benches up under the pergola is a fabulous resting place for locals and tourists alike.
From the Italian garden you walk north to the French garden. The fountain in the center is the Three Dancing Maidens, created by German sculptor Walter Schott.
Inside the oval hedge of Japanese holly are mass plantings that get changed out spring and fall of every year. Right now the annual plantings and rose arbors bookend thousands of Korean chrysanthemums about to burst into a sea of colors and sweet fragrance. Once those are done they are removed from the garden, donated, and the beds are replaced with over 20,000 bulbs for the following spring. Both plantings must really be seen to be believed.
The low formal parterres in the middle are germander (Teucrium sp.), hand-sheered and kept at the appropriate height in these magnificent forms.
Between the three gardens, flanking the north and south side of the Italian garden, are two allees of crabapples. In late April the trees explode white and pink and shower the mature ivy beneath. Both allees are original to the gardens design and each has its own charm. Above is the north allee and below is the south.

When you continue south you find yourself in the third garden, the English garden. Anchored by this mature crabapple the south garden is loaded with amazing combinations of annuals and perennials, grasses, trees, and shrubs.
Under the crabapple is the Burnett Fountain, a very special piece by Bessie Potter Vonnoh that depicts Mary and Dickon from The Secret Garden. Friends of Frances Hodgson Burnett, who wrote The Secret Garden in 1909, wanted to create a storytelling area in Central Park in her honor following her death in 1924. This was the chosen spot and the sculpture has been here since 1936.

Surrounding the Burnett Fountain in the south garden are ten tremendous flower beds, the interior five being mostly bulbs in the spring and annuals in the summer and fall, and the exterior a mix of spectacular perennials and shrubs. As was the intention, this garden is truly a four-season garden, with plenty of interest in every season. Every visit to the south garden brings forth some new discovery. Believe me, I go there a lot! ;)
Diane Schaub curates the garden with the help of four full-time gardeners. Her plant combinations and design sense is absolutely sensational. Whether you are looking at the rich texture of the different sun and shade loving perennials or the vibrant color combinations of the annuals and tropicals incorporated, if you are like me, you just want to know and remember every one. This garden is always teaching me about well done garden design and color composition. Without a doubt Central Park's Conservatory Garden is one of the best gardens in Manhattan, if not the whole city.

To learn more about the Conservatory Garden and the Central Park Conservancy in general you can check out their webpages. Or better yet, take a bus ride or a 6 train up to 105th and 5th and take a stroll yourself. The garden is open daily from 8am to 6pm this time of year. And if we keep having these warms days the mums in the north garden are going to be bursting real soon. Trust me, you will be glad you did.