City Views, Country Dreams

Good afternoon from New York, where it is quite hot and humid.

It is a day to seek shade and any breeze, with knowledge that thunderstorms will arrive later on.  

On a more beautiful afternoon this week I met a friend for lunch at El Cafe at the Museo del Barrio, followed by a leisurely walk around the magnificent Conservatory Garden in Central Park.

I encourage to click on the above links to learn more about both of these remarkable places.  I'll try to show you, via my afternoon's photographs, some of the atmosphere of the sprawling Garden.

On weekends, the Garden can be a crowded place, and is often the site of quite elegant weddings and other parties.  On a weekday afternoon, I think that there are more birds and bees than people.

I hope that you can imagine a little breeze, and lots of birdsong and bee buzzing.

These fully bloomed peonies had delightfully sweet scents and were the size of dinner plates.

The garden designers have a great skill at mixing colors, textures, scents and proportions to achieve an elegant, welcoming result.

My friend and I were glad that some iris were still in bloom.

Even the post-bloom seed pods on some plants were beautiful.  I do need to get back over to the Garden with my sketchbook.

It had been several years, yes years, since my last visit to this Garden, and I really wondered why.

This shady little nook with reflecting pool and statue is a tribute to the author of The Secret Garden.

Perhaps if you click on the following picture, you will be able to read the letters carved into the stone in the foreground.  We found it amusing that a gardener was refilling his classic large watering can from the reflecting pool in order to water some tender new plants that had recently been added to an adjacent space.

This gardener was very friendly and informative about how changes are constantly being made to the Garden and how the new additions get "hand watered" until their roots are established enough to benefit from the subtle irrigation system's hose tubes that snake their way through the greenery.

I do hope that you all are getting some idea of the beauty of this fabulous place.

There are lots of trees and shrubs throughout the garden.  We were too late to see the wisteria, azaleas or fruit trees in bloom.  Next year!  You can see the gardener in his protective sunhat.

More peonies.

I think that I tried to photograph some huge bumble bees in the following picture.  Perhaps you can spot them near the base of the flowers?

Contrasting colors do add some drama to the multiple shades of green.

A clever bird couple selected a desirable address for their spring 2015 nest.

And another view of the nest in its hiding place.

Some visitors come to sit on benches along these shaded avenues. The ivy growth is thick along the ground.

In another section of the Garden a more strict geometry is at the heart of the design. Late spring growth of the leaves has softened the geometry.

Of course, there is a water feature.

This stairway leads up to the impressive wisteria arbors. They are now very leafy, and still lovely after the flowering days.

Does this not seem a place of tranquility?

Just beyond those trees is Fifth Avenue.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of rose roses bloomed around a circular pathway.

Are they not splendid?

Let us have one more view of the roses, with a view through the fence of another area of Central Park.  Remember, the Park is quite large.

This shady spot also gives you a perspective on Fifth Avenue buildings.  Mount Sinai Hospital's huge complex of buildings is quite near.  I think you can also see a gardener with his wheelbarrow on the path near more roses.

We were curious to see what a group of gardeners were working on, and discovered that they had been digging up all of the daffodil bulbs since their season was over.  The gardeners said that they were giving away the bulbs and could even provide us with carrier bags.  Unfortunately, neither of us has a garden, but we thought the offer was amazingly generous.  More will be planted in the circular space for summer, and then more bulbs will be planted in autumn.

I wish we could have said yes to the offer.

The pansies edging this knot garden area were also being carefully dug out to be replaced with something else.  The pansies will no doubt go to some sort of greenhouse.

Do imagine the scent.

These beauties are well worth a close up view.

I took the following photograph of the study in greens against an overcast sky, to show how the shrubbery is now due for a clipping.  I loved the look of the little sprigs popping out above the designated top of the box.

There is something about this picture that reminds me of some of my favorite Lucian Freud paintings and etchings.

As we headed up the steps to the Fifth Avenue gate, I turned around to take one last photograph of the formal entry.  This time I thought of those dark green trees in an early scene from Blow Up.

I hope that you all have enjoyed this visit to the Conservatory Garden, and that some day you will be able to stroll its pathways yourselves.

Thank you for your visit to my previous post with the street scenes. I enjoyed reading your comments very much!