Showing posts with label Yonkers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yonkers. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Two gardens worth visiting--Untermyer Gardens and the New York Botanical Garden

On my recent trip to New York in September, I visited Untermyer Gardens (Untermyer Gardens Conservancy - Home) with Jean and the New York Botanical Garden (Home » New York Botanical Garden (nybg.org) with Jola. Both Jean and Jola enjoy gardening and visiting gardens of interest, so it's always enjoyable to visit different gardens with them. 

I've written about Untermyer Gardens in this blog before (A New Yorker in Oslo: Untermyer park and gardens (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com); if you'd like to read more about the history of this garden I suggest Wikipedia and the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy websites. I visited Untermyer together with Stef and John in 2019 (pre-pandemic). A lot has changed in the space of three years; all of the changes are for the better, as they usually are in a garden. During the pandemic, the garden conservancy board planned and hosted different webinars that updated us on some of the changes occurring in the garden--new plantings, new areas dedicated to specific plantings, and renovation/repair of existing structures. The gardens are the venue for different music and dance concerts (carefully chosen) throughout the summer months. The dance concerts especially interest me since I used to dance modern dance many years ago; perhaps one summer I will be able to attend one. 

The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) has been in existence for a long time, similar to Untermyer Gardens that started development in 1916. The NYBG was established in 1891 and is the largest botanical garden (250 acres) in the USA. It is a national historic landmark that in addition to exhibiting a large diversity of beautiful plants (annuals and perennials), offers programs in horticulture, education, and science. Basic and applied botanical research are also conducted at the NYBG. I've written about this garden before as well in this blog (A New Yorker in Oslo: Beautiful New York State (paulamdeangelis.blogspot.com) when I visited NY in 2011. In the early 1980s, I lived in the Bronx and was able to walk to the garden from my apartment on 205th street near the Grand Concourse. Visiting the garden was always a pleasure during the spring, summer and fall months. I remember that I took a daylong course in the use of herbs for medicinal purposes at the NYBG during one of the winters I lived there. Nowadays the garden offers online and in-person courses for people of all ages. I have already registered for one of them: Put Your Garden to Bed, a two-hour course that will provide advice on how to prep your garden for winter. There are also courses in soil science (soil chemistry) that I hope to investigate next semester. 

Here are some photos taken at Untermyer Gardens!

The Walled Garden

one of the pools (canals) in the Walled Garden


The Vista, which descends to the Overlook

closer view of the Overlook, facing west toward the Palisades





a view of the lovely Hudson River from the Temple of Love area


And here are some photos taken at the New York Botanical Garden, of flowers in the tropical water lily pond, of a mosaic plant in the same pond, of the perennial garden, and of a beautiful ceramic urn standing in the vicinity of the perennial garden. 







Thursday, September 12, 2019

Untermyer park and gardens

When I was in NY in August, Stef, John and I visited Untermyer park and gardens, which are located off of Broadway in Yonkers. The gardens have a lovely Hudson River view. This is the link to their website if one wants more information about the gardens: https://www.untermyergardens.org/

The website states that "The Untermyer Gardens Conservancy is a non-profit organization that in partnership with the City of Yonkers is facilitating the restoration of Samuel Untermyer’s gardens in Yonkers, New York". 

The gardens are a work in progress, and are already quite lovely. What surprised us was that admission to the gardens was free; we would absolutely have been willing to pay a small fee to enter the gardens. In this way, there would be even more money available for restorations.

The day we visited was a very warm summer day, so we weren't there for more than a couple of hours since it was almost too hot to walk around. Perhaps the best time to visit would be the spring or autumn, when the weather is a bit cooler. But we took a fair amount of photos while we were there, and I'm posting some here so that you can get an idea of what the gardens look like.

one of the pools in the Walled Garden











The Vista

view from the Overlook

The Temple of Love

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