Last weekend I was in New York visiting my two children and we decided to spend the day at Wave Hill Botanical Garden in the Bronx. A place I’ve been wanting to visit for a long time. It’s not far from the New York Botanical Garden, which is probably more well-known, but Wave Hill proved to be interesting and beautiful.
Many public gardens were initially privately owned estates, which is also the case for Wave Hill. While Wave Hill was a residence, it saw many famous visitors and tenants. One of the first owners, publisher William Henry Appleton, often had interesting guests such as scientists Charles Darwin and T.H. Huxley. Later George Waldbridge Perkins, who was vice president at the New York Life Insurance Company, a partner at J.P. Morgan, and helped in the reorganization of U.S. Steel, purchased several pieces of property and united them to form a larger estate. This included the land that is the current Wave Hill. During George Perkins’ ownership, the summer house on the property was leased by President Theodore Roosevelt and Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). Once George Perkins had passed, his wife, Evelina, rented portions of the property to other famous lessees such as the conductor Arturo Toscanini and the British delegation to the United Nations which included housing for the visiting Queen Mother.
Geographically, the site of Wave Hill is stunning. The hard bedrock left behind by the receding glaciers that covered New England shaped the beautiful and dramatic views of the property. Situated on a ridge next to the Hudson River, the garden gives an impressive view of the Palisades rock formations across the river.
The first garden we encountered on entering Wave Hill was the Flower Garden, consisting of several rows of beds leading to a large conservatory. The flower beds were very varied with vintage and modern plant combinations that seemed random and effortless. However, a quote from the Wave Hill website expresses it best:
“Visitors to Wave Hill first see a beautiful garden them layer by layer, begin to understand the complexity.”
- Ken Druse, garden writer and photographer.
The Marco Polo Stefano Conservatory houses an extensive array of succulents, cacti, tropical, and heat-loving plants. While it includes many familiar varieties, there are also many unique, odd, and interesting species. Behind the conservatory is an impressive Herb and Dry Garden, that contains culinary and medicinal herbs and flowers. It’s back wall is framed by a small glass house filled with blooming alpine flowers and greenery.
After wandering through the Wild Garden filled with blooms that attract singing birds and buzzing bees, and the Aquatic and Monocot Garden which contained a pool of striking primitives, we rested and picnicked in a rustic gazebo, taking in the incredible view of the Wild garden with the river beyond it.
Wave Hill has a woodland trail that runs along the back side of the property, similar to the trail in the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden in Boothbay, Maine. We walked the trail for a bit, visited the Glyndor Art Gallery housed on the premises, the Visitor’s Shop, and took in the phenomenal river view one more time. Then we made our way to the car, happy for the opportunity to finally visit a long-anticipated garden.
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