Channel Gardens: Summer 2012

The Channel Gardens at the Rockefeller Center is always showing off its gardens regardless of the season.  Last Easter, as shown in my previous blog, it has easter lilies and hydrangeas blooming all over. After that were foxgloves and other flowers which I briefly featured in another blog.

This summer, the gardens were abloom with plumeria, ixora, bromeliads and crotons, as well as palm trees. I went there one Saturday afternoon and the gardens look pretty in the afternoon sun.

The first flowers I saw were my Mom's favorite, anthurium!

Walking further along, I spotted plumeria, they smell so sweet!

Ixora, which is called "santan" flower in my homeland ..

And some ground orchids which reminded me of my childhood home, as we have this growing in our front yard.

Near the middle of the gardens, in the space in between the pools are trees flanking the side doors leading to the La Maison Française (610 Fifth Avenue) and the British Empire Building on the other side.  In the above pic, you can see the artwork Seeds of Good Citizenship above the doorway.

Here's another pic of the trees ..

That space in the middle is also a good area to take a picture of the GE Building or 30 Rock as it is commonly referred to.  See how pretty it looks among the palm trees.

Aside from the flowers above, there are a lot of bromeliads in the gardens, in various styles, shapes and colors.  They're really a feast for the eyes.

 

The Channel Gardens is lined with six pools.  At the eastern end of each pool are fountainhead sculptures designed by Rene Paul Chambellan.  These fountainheads are either nereids or tritons.  

The nereids are considered goddesses of the sea and were the patrons of sailors and fishermen.  They came to the aid of men in distress, and had in their care the sea's rich bounty.  They dwelt with their elderly father Nereus in a silvery cavern at the bottom of the Aegean Sea. The tritons, a plurification of the god Triton, were usually represented as mermen, having the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish. Together they formed the retinue of Poseidon, the Olympian god of the sea, rivers, flood and drought, earthquakes, and horses.

Since the Channel Gardens is profused with plants and trees at this time, you can't see the fountainheads clearly.  Here are some pics I took a couple of winters ago where you can see the fountainheads Leadership, Will and Thought.

A close-up of the nereid Imagination.

and the triton Alertness.

The sea theme extends to the pool drains, these are covered with sea creatures like a turtle, a crab, and this starfish.

If you stand at the center of the small walkway between the pools and gaze westward, you can see the centerpiece of the Rockefeller Plaza, the Prometheus fountain, and a little further, the impressive art deco frieze Wisdom, above the doorway of the GE Building.

Rockefeller Center's facebook page is sponsoring a contest, Ground Up.  The contest rules are very easy:

And it just so happened that the day I was taking pics of the gardens, the current landmark of the contest was the Channel Gardens.  So I submitted one of my pics.

And tweeted a collage of my photos to @rockcenternyc

and I won! Yey!

How cool is that? I get to enjoy the beautiful flowers and views of the Channel Gardens and at the same time receive free tickets to Top of the Rock! So exciting!

Last week, I used that free ticket and enjoyed my time at the Top of the Rock.  I will share my pics and write about my experience there in a future blog. I'll probably be back, hopefully in autumn when the leaves start to change color. I'm sure the view from up there is awesome.   

So guys, if ever you have the chance to visit Rockefeller Center, take lots of pics and join in their Ground Up contest and you may be lucky -- like me! :-)

For the rest of my Channel Gardens pics, here's the album on Flickr.
 

Macy's Flower Show at Herald Square

Happy Easter!

Nothing like flowers to celebrate the season, and they abound at the Macy's flower show.  Unlike previous years, this year's flower show was moved outdoors due to the ongoing renovation at the Herald Square flagship store.

The show is staged in a climate-controlled, custom-made tent spanning 150 ft., from 34th to 35th Streets.  The 5,000 square foot location is a stunning garden depicting the plants and flowers of Brazil. This year's flower show has the theme Gardens in Paradise.

Coming inside the tent, the people move in a single file but you could stop and take pics, just don't take too long in one spot so the line could move and you won't be blocking the way. 

Near the entrance is this scene depicting a courtyard garden.

The flower show mascot is a toucan and it perches proudly on a spot adjacent to the courtyard.

A plaque by the mascot states:

The giant toucan topiary overseeing the 38th Macy's Flower Show was sculpted by the artists at Macy's Parade Studio.  Its beak and chest are covered with over 25,000 hand-dipped Brazilian button flowers applied by the horticulturists at the Ireland-Gannon nursery, who also meticulously arranged the thousands of magnolia leaves that simulate the bird's plumage.

At the far corner before the path turns is this fountain area.

 Here are some photos of the plants near the fountain area ..

The path winds near the mascot which is across the fountain area.  More plants and flowers abound there.

The winding path brings you to a raised section where you could cross a wooden bridge and see a waterfall! Before this section is another fountain area.

And could you see what's hiding behind the palm trees?

More flowers abound near the waterfall area ..

There's a small wooden bridge to cross when you want to look at the waterfall.

Coming from the waterfalls, this sculpture greets you while Brazilian inspired music play in the background.  I was humming Girl from Ipanema while taking this shot.

Here's a close-up of the pineapple plant growing near the statue.





Across from this is a depiction of a Rio Rooftop Garden complete with a portion of a roof with plants growing out of the shingles.

Adjacent to it is another courtyard with a fountain, rocking chair and lots of flowers and bromeliads.

 

At the end of the path is Jardim Botanico the highlight of the flower show.  It is a sunroom designed exclusively for the Macy's Flower Show by the Hampton Conservatories.  Too bad the area was roped-off and the people are allowed just a peek inside.  I would have loved to take off my shoes and curl up with a good book underneath the beautiful floral chandelier.

Coming out of the exit, you can see all the "hardware" that's needed to keep the flower show going and they are neatly covered in a material showing the show's logo.

Here are the side and back views of the flower show venue.

The exit will lead you right to Macy's amazing show windows, which I wrote about in the succeeding blog.

For the rest of my pics of the flower show, here's my album on Flickr ..  Macy's Flower Show