A few months ago, I had a call from my friend, Pat Shanley. Pat is the Vice-President of the American Rose Society and the President of the Manhattan Rose Society. Plus, she’s also one of the founders of the Great Rosarians of the World. Her call was to let me know that the Rose Garden at Elizabeth Park had been selected by the Great Rosarians to be inducted into the Rose Garden Hall of Fame, along with the San Jose Rose Garden in California. She invited me to come to New York and accept this prestigious award on behalf of the park. And of course! Bob and I accepted her invitation. This is a big celebration that goes on over four days every year, and it is always held in New York City. Bob and I opted for Friday and Saturday, and proceeded to make our plans.

New York Plans

We are country folks at heart, and driving from our house seemed awfully daunting. So, we decided to jump Amtrak right here in our little town of Windsor. Then later switch to MetroNorth in New Haven and ride the rails all the way to Grand Central Station! The hotel Pat chose was just twelve blocks away from the train station. We walked to our hotel instead of hailing a cab.

As soon as we de-trained, New York came into full focus and all the visions we had imagined were replaced by exciting reality! Here were all the sounds, sights, and smells of a huge metropolis. We walked with purpose, and drank in the city on our way. Our hotel was on the corner of Lexington and E57th Street. It put us right smack-dab in the middle of Mid-Town Manhattan. Our room was on the 10th floor, and the view from the window was sky scrapers, banks of flags on the sides of buildings, tons of traffic, little people on distant sidewalks, and

ROOFTOP GARDENS IN NEW YORK!!

The hotel has a lounge up on its roof, so we went up there to check out the view on the opposite side, and there were more sky scrapers, including the beautiful Chrysler Building and MORE rooftop gardens!!! I had always wondered what folks in the city could do about gardening. There is just no room to spread out and plant in the earth there. But how great to live high in the air and plant on a roof or a terrace! The ones I saw looked really magical, expecially if they were ‘way up on the top of a charming old building. If I had to, I could grow my roses out there!!

Anyway, on Friday afternoon, there was some time to go and be tourists, and that is exactly what we did. We walked to 5th Avenue and marveled at all the interesting architecture…a lot of the tall buildings had charming Art Deco entrances and lots of gilding, too. I imagined Audrey Hepburn as we walked by Tiffany’s and looked at their beautiful window displays. I could picture Superman flying around those old Metropolis buildings instead of the helicopters we saw. We were amazed at the beautiful old gothic-style churches we saw just beyond the garment district. And we both felt blessed after marveling at the beauty of ST Patrick’s Cathedral for an hour or so…

Queens Botanical Garden

The next morning, a bus collected all of us rosarians at the hotel and then carried us to the Queens Botanical Garden. This garden is built on the sight of the 1930 World’s Fair. Susan, the curator there, is a super lady. We were given a nice tour and she told us all about this historic park. Even the parking lot is a garden. It’s called the “Parking Garden.” It’s made of interlocking pavers atop pipes and agregate below. Susan explained that in the city every drop of water needs to be conserved, so the water that is collected under the pavers is used to water gardens. Their new building which opened a couple of years ago is a green structure. It is heated and cooled geothermically, and the roof (rooftop garden!) is a green roof.

Our morning in Queens was lovely. Friends drove down from the CT Rose Society, and the presentation ceremony was very nice. When Pat presented me with the beautiful plaque, I gave it to Heather Dionne, who had driven down to represent the City of Hartford. Then it was time to jump in a taxi, go back to the hotel, collect our bags, and get back to Grand Central Station to jump the train for home.

What a great opportunity this was! I got to meet some wonderful new rosarian friends, connect with some long-time friends, re-connect with a city I hadn’t visited in decades, and ride the rails with my hubby. We love New York! It was so super…and how about those rooftop gardens?