Border Patrol early March 17 2009
Or The Seasonal Walk Saga
By Tovah Martin
The Seasonal Walk Stirs
Although it’s a brief ten days after the snow melted in the Big Apple, the Seasonal Walk at The New York Botanical Garden designed by Piet Oudolf and Jacqueline van der Kloet is already stirring. Not only are the crocus and iris up and running, but the tulips are sending their noses bravely above the soil. Meanwhile, most of the perennials are making a cameo appearance, breaking the surface. By using your imagination and surveying the newly emerging clusters of various bulb leaves, you can already see the vision behind all the circles, dots, peanuts, and batwings drawn on the planting plan.
The performance can only be called precocious. Talk about a precursor… The border won hero’s status when the first token crocuses opened the day after snow meltdown in the Bronx. By day ten, a swarm of crocus had joined the ranks of the initial courageous few, serving as a prognosis of good things to come. Literally, the garden evolves by the hour, with Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’ swelling its buds and unfurling along the edges and an increasing confetti of white Crocus chrysanthus ‘Snow Bunting’ dappling the scene in a surge that strengthens in numbers as the clock ticks on.