This retiring hebdomad I assay to impose lodge on the instinctive populace by build new garden beds , pulling weeds , graze the remainder of the winter garden debris , and planting out sweet-smelling pea . I feel gratified , even though I know that the syncope buzzing in my ears is the strait of the unplucked weeds laughing at me . A healthy garden is an fugacious thing , but I find that fact is less sorry than the sight of a mourning band - choked bed . It ’s enough to make me look for answer in classical philosophy — or in a nebuliser bottle of Round - Up .
The short-lived nature of the garden came home to me last week when I locomote to chatter Untermyer Park in Yonkers , New York . Untermyer Park sits on the site of an estate formerly known as “ Greystone ” , that was once home to defeated Presidential prospect Samuel Tilden . Tilden , Al Gore ’s political kinsman , retired to Greystone in 1876 after find a majority of the popular vote , wait while the Electoral College ’s returns were disputed , and eventually fall back the election when an “ electoral commission ” cleave along political party lines and elect Rutherford B. Hayes by one vote . William Tatem Tilden Jr. was neither the first nor the last to settle that he would come across less manure in the hobby of agriculture and horticulture than he would in party politics .
Tilden made telling garden at Greystone , but the estate did not come into its gloriole until after it was purchased in 1899 by New York lawyer and self - made millionaire Samuel J. Untermyer . drive partially by the interest in horticulture and partly by a free-enterprise run that led him to try and outshine loaded neighbour like John D. Rockefeller , Untermyer filled his attribute with fabulous garden . The most impressive of them was christened the “ Greek Garden ” . About an Akko in size , the layout was fence on three side of meat , with a spectacular view of the Hudson on the 4th . Though Hellenic - elan columns , need and statuary were used throughout the garden , the intent , with its intersecting canal - comparable watercourse owe much to Persian and Middle Eastern model .
From Untermyer ’s 24-hour interval to the present , the Greek Garden has contained a range of flowering industrial plant and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , but it owes its uniqueness to its architecture , mosaics and use of water . An amphitheater overlook one end , adorned by an imposing pair of tall marble columns , each top by a Minoan sphinx . On the side west side of the garden , a Greek temple loom over a blue patio that is house to a now - empty mosaic - tiled puddle flanked by two grassy rectangle . In Samuel Untermyer ’s solar day , Isadora Duncan ’s dance company performed there .
The slope of the Untermyer estate were extensively terrace . A flying of “ 1000 steps ” lead down from one side of the Greek Garden towards the river . The trajectory was interrupt by a series of landings , each lead to a terraced bottom planted with a color - themed garden . The steps culminate in a “ Vista Overlook ” that face the Hudson , looming over the demesne ’s gatehouse . Untermyer also had a realistic rock garden with a folly that was known as “ The Temple of Love ” . Apparently this particular feature was pop among the loaded holding owners along the Hudson , with several millionaires commissioning their own “ Temples of Love . ”
But all that dear and all that money did not transfer the short-lived nature of horticulture . After Untermyer ’s death in1940 , the estate was donated to the City of Yonkers for use as a public park . Municipal money was tight , and for year the gardens languish , deteriorating as the weeds took over and the event of weather and vandalism multiplied . Now restitution effort are underway , and Ellen Meaghar , Grants Administrator for Untermyer Park , is hard at oeuvre strain to find funds to shore up the infrastructure and repair the mosaics , columns and follies . As replanting film place , downcast maintenance cultivars must be chosen . Samuel Untermyer had a staff of 80 gardeners . Mitchell Tutoni , Yonkers ’ Commissioner of Parks , Recreation and Conservation can spare only two . Clearly Untermyer Park need friends with deep pocket and volunteers with willing hand .
My visit to Untermyer Park made me appear at my own weeding job in a Modern room . After all , if weeding and passementerie had continue at Greystone after Untermyer ’s death , the holding might be a splendiferous series of gardens today , rather than a excellent ruin .
private garden may disappear , but the discipline of gardening , with its stress on maintenance , goes on forever .
