The Original GardenThe original garden consisted of four garden rooms, a reflecting pool, and the conservatory. These rooms are now used to display a portion of the gardens collections.East
Positioned as the Northeast quadrant of the original garden, this room is nearest the Pavilion of the Two Sisters. This room contains the newest Enrique Alferez Sculture, Renaissance (1998), set among a mixed border of grasses, perennials, annuals and other plants. The exposure of this border spans from full sun to shade. The lawn contains a portion of the garden's Camellia japonica collection and the 90+ year old Peggy Read Oak, named for the first President of the Friends of City Park who was instrumental in saving the garden from destruction. Another bed in this room contains old garden and hybrid tea roses.
North
Positioned as the Northwest quadrant, this room contains the Herbaceous Perennial and Tropical Gardens. The most imposing feature of this room is the impressive 130+ year old Alferez Oak, named for the artist responsible for most of the sculptural elements in the garden. The tropical garden is the showcase of the garden's extensive collection of Gingers including Alpinia, Hedychium, Costus, Curcuma, Kaempferia, and other genera of tropical plants. This room also contains numerous Camellia japonica specimens.
WestPositioned as the Southwest quadrant, this room contains the garden's Woody Ornamental collection- featuring variety of shrubs and woody perennials.SouthPositioned as the Southeast quadrant, this is the smallest room, containing a few ornamental grasses and Camellias.RunwaysThe grass runways serve as the primary axes through the original garden. The primary East-West axis connects the Pavilion of the Two Sisters on the east with the Conservatory on the west. The runways are lined with white flowering Camellia sasanqua'Setsugekka' hedges. These hedges replaced the original Japanese Yew (Podocarpus macrophyllus) hedges, many of which suffered from disease and neglect. A sundial (1983) created by Enrique Alferez sits at the intesection of this main axis and the easternmost north-south axis. At the corners are four art-deco benches with animals sitting beneath them also created by Alferez (1932). This north-south axis connnects the original main entrance, located at the Grass Gates (1982) to the formal rose garden, the Parterre. The secondary east-west axis transverses the Azalea and Camellia garden through two arbors, the parterre and finally to the future PLANO Garden.The Garden Study Center
Originally the Potting Shed, used for potting plants, mixing soils, and storage, the Garden Study Center was renovated in 1992 through a grant from the Garden Study Club of New Orleans. Built with a slate roof, copper gutters, cypress shutters and windows, and locally produced St. Joe brick, its style is reminiscent of an English cottage. The Garden Study Center is now used for horticultural lectures, exhibits, meetings, and rentals.
The Lath HouseThe original Lath House was built to shade the old City Park Rose Garden camellia collection. The building was rebuilt in 1998 with a concrete floor, translucent roof, restrooms, and an office space now containing the Garden's horticultural library. The main room is now used for hands-on training and as a rental facility.Butterfly Walk & Hummingbird Garden
Maintained primarily by volunteers, the butterfly walk contains numerous nectar and larval food plants which attract a variety of butterflies, moths, and skippers. Some of this garden's most notable visitors include the Monarch, Gulf Frittilary, and Cloudless Sulphur butterflies. Each of these butterflies lays its eggs on only specific plants. The caterpillar will eat the leaves and grow until ready to become a chrysalis. Inside the chrysalis, the butterfly develops, then finally emerges. Butterflies feed on various nectar plants, mate and lay eggs, begining the cycle again.
Adjacent to the Butterfly walk is the Hummingbird Garden. Several varieties of nectar producing plants are grown here to attract and feed hummingbirds.
Rose Strachan Rose Parterre and Lily Pond
At the entrance to the Conservatory of the Two Sisters is the garden's collection of aquatics, donated and maintained by Richard Sacher and the staff of American Aquatic Gardens. This pond holds a variety of tropical and hardy water lillies and other aquatics from late March to Fall. .
The pool is unfiltered. Submerged plants help to keep the water clean while fish eat any mosquito larvae. Each of the plants in the pond is planted in plastic pots raised off the pond's floor to six to eight inches below the water surface.
In the keyhole of the pond is Undine (1935), a sculpture by Rose Marie Huth.
The pond is flanked by four formal rose beds holding several varieties of modern roses. These beds were originally used to display annuals, but were replanted with roses in the early 1980s.
Parterre Rose Garden
The Lord and Taylor Rose Garden, also called the Parterre, is the most formal area in the garden. The Parterre's clipped Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria 'nana') hedges impart a rigid formality on the roses contained within the beds. The center beds contain several cultivars of modern roses. The modern roses are not very well suited to the heat and humidity of New Orleans. They perform best in early spring (April to June) and fall (October to December). Modern roses require weekly spraying and replacement every three years in order to remain attractive.
Old roses, such as those planted around the edge of the Parterre, perform much better in our climate. The parterre is separated from the rest of the garden by Camellia sasanqua hedges around the sides with Japanese Yew around the Shriever fountain (1932).
This area has the highest concentration of Enrique Alferez sculptures in the garden. At the main entrance to the Parterre are the Satyrs on sculptural columns (1932). Flanking the Shriever fountain are two bas relief Reclining Nudes (1932). On the garden's rear East-West axis which passes through the parterre are two small fountains (1932) with a central art deco magnolia bud.
Arbors
Serving as the entrances from the east and west of the Parterre are two arbors. The western arbor is original, built in the 1930s. The arbor to the east was destroyed by fallen trees during a storm, likely Hurricane Betsy (1968), and reconstructed in the early 1980s from original drawings and measurements taken from the west arbor. Reportedly once covered with Wisteria, the arbor on the western side is now in considerably more shade from the Live Oaks surrounding it. An oak to the north of the arbor was blown down, likely during the same storm that destroyed the other arbor, but has lived and continued to grow.Back / Next / End the Tour |
