It was mid-April and the rites of early spring were in full riot. And I was in the throes of them.
First, I went to hear Timothy Young give the final talk of this season’s Wave Hill lecture series. Wave Hill is, of course the Arcadia on the Hudson in Riverdale, but the lecture was downtown at the NY School of Interior Design.
Young is a curator at Yale’s Beinecke library, and he spoke about archival acquisitions documenting the thought and design processes of master gardeners: “Paper and Trails–Writers and Gardens in the Archives” referenced legendary gardens like Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst in England. Hers was of particular interest because I’ve been to see it.
Plans, notes, to-do lists are first-hand sources preserved in these acquisitions.
Then after listening to Young, my feet just followed a straight line West to Fifth Avenue, where the Frick’s great old star-and-saucer magnolias were just about to reach peak. They were late this year because of our freaky weather–I’ve seen them at this stage at least three weeks earlier some years. But the delay was all the more welcome because I so rarely catch them at their peak.
I left the Upper East Side edified and beguiled.
I look forward to next season’s Wave Hill lecture series and will give a heads up.