COURTESY OF WAVE HILL AQUATIC GARDEN
Lotus and tropical water lilies grow large by autumn in the aquatic garden, one of the highlights at Wave Hill. To make the pond as reflective as possible, it's fitted with a dark liner and black dye is put in the water.

My bet is that any gardener worth his or her Muck Boots will get a flower fix the first time they walk up Fifth Avenue. A few blocks up from Rockefeller Center, just inside the understated front doors of the Japanese department store Takashimaya, is the loveliest flower shop in New York. Pods, cones, twists of bark and sleek vases are as elegantly displayed as clusters of amber roses and purple anemones. Floral artists form perfect nosegays with bundled stems wrapped and tied in raffia ribbons. A little farther up and east is Treillage, owned by garden writer and interior designer Bunny Williams, where the products are of a mix, size and quality not often seen here. Antique chests and fountains, elaborately spidery chandeliers to hang from a tree branch, and mossy stone urns the size of a studio apartment crowd the huge shop. Someone must have outside living space in or near Manhattan.
 

			Where to find them Takashimaya is in Midtown at 693 Fifth Ave., 800-753-2038. Treillage is on the Upper East Side at 418 E. 75th St., 212-535-2288. Wave Hill is in the Bronx at 675 W. 252nd St., 718-549-3200, www.wavehill.org.

A few miles north lies the real gardener-magnet, a 28-acre estate overlooking the Hudson River. Wave Hill is a New York City public garden and cultural institution unlike anything we have here — residential in scale and cutting-edge in horticultural circles. Its recently retired director, Marco Polo Stufano, was an early champion of silver foliage and Victorian bedding plants, like cannas and coleus, which he used in surprising ways. Nestled into the Riverdale neighborhood, Wave Hill is not a botanic garden with every plant labeled but a comfortable, casual series of gardens beautifully designed and expertly planted.

I toured Wave Hill with the new director, Scott Canning, on a chilly October morning (they were expecting first frost in a week or so) — just missing what Canning calls "the miracle of mid-September" when the garden is at its peak. Still, the views out to the river and Palisades were rich in fall color, the garden holding its own with the magnificent, autumn-draped cliffs.
 

	COURTESY OF WAVE HILL FLOWER GARDEN
	The flower garden outside the conservatory changes through the seasons and is especially richly colored in autumn, when the hydrangeas, sages, salvias and chrysanthemums are in bloom.

One of Wave Hill's many charms is its history, honored in the conservatory and remains of the old greenhouses planted in alpines and herbs. Much of the dynamism of the place comes from the juxtaposition of the classic setting and the lively, avant-garde plantings that change through the seasons and years as in a home garden. The big, old deciduous trees lend stately scale, as does the Italianate colonnade which runs along the banks of the Hudson, anchored in pots of tropicals, hostas and ferns.

"People come here for the choice plants — they know they can find the best viburnums and hydrangeas," says Canning, adding that since the gardens are just a short ride away, "New York City is looking north again for the first time in 100 years."

The wild garden is a William Robinson-esque tribute to minor bulbs and annuals left to self-seed and interweave. "Coleus and the other tropicals do so well in this climate," says Canning, gesturing to vibrantly hued tropical water lilies and darkly exotic taro in the aquatic garden. A monocot border features huge splays of grasses, banana trees and towering lilies grouped in a flamboyant mélange of texture. Then there's the flower garden with both vintage and modern perennials and annuals, a dry garden, shade border, and the Marco Polo Stufano Conservatory. "Marco broke the politeness code of color," Canning says of Stufano's exuberant yet skillful way with plants. "Wave Hill has been an inspiration for gardeners for decades, and will continue to be into the future."

Valerie Easton is a Seattle free-lance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.

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