Romantic Gardens: Nature Art and Landscape Design

How does a fledgling not-for-profit civic organization assume responsibility for the permanent horticultural care of a 830-acre public park in which lawns and meadows need regular mowing and periodic re-sodding; shrub beds call for regular weeding, composting, and replanting; and trees demand to be pruned and inspected for insect-borne diseases? Geri Weinstein, The Central Park Conservancy’s first head of horticulture, hired and oversaw the work of other employees in these areas of sound landscape maintenance. Her story in her own voice is that of a savior.

Back in the 1980s when the recently incorporated not-for-profit Central Park Conservancy was building a substantial donor base and was able to offer field-operations jobs, ancillary staff duties, and contracts for special projects, the manual and intellectual skills, aesthetic sensibilities, and visions for the Park’s betterment as a naturalistic landscape offering opportunities for both active and passive recreation were evident in the work performed by some of its highly gifted employees. One of the primary saviors of Central Park in this era of its 167-year history was David Robinson, whose expertise as a self-taught woodworking artist brought about the rebuilding of the rustic structures that originally graced the Park, thereby providing a legacy for today’s rustic structures restoration crew.