The Hidden World

Supposedly, the Conservatory Garden is the "best kept secret" of Central Park. Gem it is, but secret I am not so sure. It is a continuous hotspot for wedding backdrops and gets a fair amount of traffic during warmer seasons. It is also too well-kempt for that off-the-beaten-track sort of find (as compared to those quirky community gardens of the LES).

Instead, the secrecy of the garden is imbedded in its design. Bushes and shrubs mask more intimate areas that stray from the main walkways inviting repose, while trickling fountains and blossom-scented canopies create a full sensory experience. It is an induced and intentional secrecy, but that does not make it any less enchanting.

The fountains of the Conservatory in particular are displacing--whether they replicate natural phenomena amidst the artifice of design or hide behind trimmed bushes and draping crabapples, they give the stroller the sensation of stumbling upon a "secret" garden.

Sitting un-coincidentally in the English-inspired South Garden of the Conservatory, the Burnett Memorial Fountain and its intimate surroundings is an homage to Frances Hodgson Burnett, the author of The Secret Garden.

The young boy playing the flute and the girl raising a birdbath are meant to depict Mary and Dickon, the two main characters from the novel. The bronze statue is the work of sculptor Bessie Potter Vonnoh and was placed in the park in 1936 (it was fully restored in 1980). The sculpture overlooks a pool strewn with water-lilies, and is hidden by shrubs and flowers, such as these:

Walking north, or if you enter the garden through the Vanderbuilt gate and not via Central Park, you come upon an awe-filled stretch of perfectly trimmed lawn zooming straight back to a not-so-secluded geyser fountain.

This is the Italian-style Central Garden, which to the west harbors a wisteria pergola (translation: elevated gazebo overlooking the fountain, strewn with wisteria vines and other shrubbery), a personal favorite which was unfortunately closed on this last visit. However, when I visited last March I ran into three placid, straw-hatted painters, their easels propping up canvases donning thick brush strokes and bleak color conglomerations. I was convinced it was the ghosts of the early impressionists.

The hidden pergola.

Geyser fountain looking out onto 5th Ave.

Another detail of the garden which airs the affected mystique of hidden worlds? The canopied walkways, reminiscent of a Lewis Carroll setting, as though you have tumbled down the rabbit hole and opened your eyes to what could be the corridor to a prettied-up Hades. Yes...slightly embellished for dramatic effect, but the curved and tangled (crabapples?) are still quite fantastical.

Gold-plated dedications and memorials adorn the benches of these corridors. I would suggest reading them, some are fairly interesting. Last time I was there, I noticed a marriage proposal. (Not mine.)

The French-inspired North Garden holds one of the most gaze-worthy fountains, the Three Dancing Maidens (also known as Untermeyer Fountain) constructed by Walter Schott in 1910.

There is something a little too realistic about the muscles in their maidenly bronze backs, emphasized by the mist and speckles of fountain water, that channels just about every haunted Victorian- house story that I have heard. In the summer, when the sun is pounding on their wet bodies, the dancing and the splashing is pleasant amidst a crowd of people posing for pictures. In the winter, when the fountain is empty and the park desolate, well, I personally do not want to be alone with these women.

The ladies of the fountain.

Info:

For a comprehensive review of the Conservatory Gardens, click here.

The Conservatory Garden is located between East 104th and 106th streets. You can enter at 105th Street on 5th Avenue or at the 106th Street gate inside the park.

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