Fort Tryon Park

The Daily Plant : Wednesday, March 3, 2004

CITY GARDENS GROW IN LIMELIGHT

Last weekend, in the century-old 69th Regiment Armory located on 26th Street and Lexington Avenue, 85 exhibitors paid tribute to antique gardens as part of the annual Gramercy Garden & Antiques Show. Begun in 1999, the show features flowers, plants, and antique garden adornments, and offers an opportunity for dozens of exhibitors and hundreds of visitors to share gardening information. Amongst antique dealers and gardeners from across the States and the Atlantic, Parks & Recreation personned a booth celebrating the regenerative power of horticulture, particularly as manifested in the Heather Garden in Fort Tryon Park. Administrator of North Manhattan Parks Jane Schachat also gave a seminar describing the Heather Garden in Fort Tryon Park, past and present.

The Gramercy Garden & Antiques Show temporarily transformed the architectural space of the Armory. The 69th Regiment Armory was made in 1904 in the style of early twentieth century train stations, complete with a 70-foot steel-arched, barrel-vaulted ceiling, a building designed to accommodate the 69th Regiment’s military drills. Last weekend, visitors to the awesome space were met by the sudden sound of falling water from stone and copper garden fountains, by the sweet smell of junipers and orchids, and by the sight of six rows of booths, each a different world of antiquities from the seventeenth to mid-twentieth centuries. Parks & Recreation’s booth, located prominently in the center back row, was the result of a collaborative effort organized by Assistant Commissioner for Citywide Services Jack T. Linn. His office expertly called upon supporters outside of the agency and talented Parkies from within. Stella Show Management Company, which put on the show, donated the exhibition space to Parks & Recreation, and Shop Studios designed the space using plants from our own Bronx greenhouse, including inkberry and small-flower daffodils, and a planter box with authentic Parks & Recreation green paint. A continuous loop of digital photographs, taken by Jane Schachat, was displayed on a screen within the booth, and Parkies were on hand to discuss our community gardening program, Greenstreets, nurseries, historic houses, and sculptures.

The show came to a close on Sunday afternoon with a seminar on Parks & Recreation’s efforts to restore one of the horticultural masterpieces of New York City: the Heather Garden in Fort Tryon Park. Jane Schachat presented the talk, entitled “Fort Tryon Park and the Heather Garden, Recreating a Master Landscape.” Pulling up historic photographs from the Olmsted archives and images depicting the dramatic difference between the garden in the 1980s and now, Jane outlined the history of the land and underscored the success of Parks & Recreation’s efforts to bring it back to life.

The Parks & Recreation booth and seminar were successes, drawing hundreds of horticulture enthusiasts interested in parks and the Heather Garden, including Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe and First Deputy Commissioner Liam Kavanagh.

Written by Dana Rubinstein

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“Gardening is civil and social, but it wants the vigor and freedom of the forest and the outlaw.”

Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, 1849