“New York may be often seen as a concrete jungle, but there are small pockets where greenery not only thrives, but provides a welcome respite from the hectic pace of urban life.”
Everyone knows about Central Park, but these hidden gardens are able to provide rare moments of solitude in a city dwell with mysteries. There are myriad secret gardens dotting the five boroughs. They come as in form of mystic wonders, a historic house museums and local parks, community gardens and church yards- Places where weary city dwellers can slip in for a quick snap of nature's beauty.
The hustle and bustle of a city doesn't correspond with the serenity of a garden. After winter's limited palette of grey and whites, the summer season is in full swing and there is perhaps no better time to discover the hidden gardens of New York. I love secrets, although I can't keep them, especially a secret places. I can't resist peeking into gardens behind houses.
The Church of St luke in the Fields, West Village
Image Source
Nestled next to a west village church in Manhattan, this garden offers more than two-thirds of an acre of walks, lawns, rare hybrids and Native American Flora. Hidden behind a stone wall on Hudson Street, the garden offers a peaceful hideaway. The four quadrants, delineated by slate paths, are filled with perennials and annuals in shades of pink, white, blue and lavender.
Fort Tryon Park's Heather Garden
Image Source
The Fort Tryon Park contains the three-acre Heather Garden, the largest public garden with unrestricted access in the city. The garden has one of the most significant collections of healths and healthers- small, colorful shrubs more typical of Scotland- on the East Coast.
Rockefeller acquired the land, which sits on a rocky bluff 200 ft above the Hudson River in Upper Manhattan, and then commissioned the Olmsted Brothers( Sons of master landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted) to design the park and it's gardens. Every season puts on a different show, and the heather Garden, dense and lush, is now teeming with oak-leaf hydrangea, white wood aster, autumn crocus and blue mist flower, among dozens of other floras.
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” -Proust
“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls” – Anais Nin.
“As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and wings sing....I'll get as near to the heart of the world as I can” -John Muir.
My life has certainly not followed the route that I expected it to. I remember looking at pictures of beautiful places, the nature's precious gifts and the wonders all around, when I was younger thinking, that won’t ever be me.
Are you a city person or a country person? I'm never know what to choose as I really prefer little cute small cities that aren't so full of tourists and I go mad if I'm in the country for too long. There's something so lovely about getting lost within a place that takes you back in time immediately.
You know that moment when you're walking down the street and you stumble upon something amazing? Something that makes your eye caught for a moment.
Although my plans A to Z haven't worked out as planned and I don't know where we are living this fall. Admittedly expat life isn't always the easiest or most stable, but adventure, uncertainty, mountains...and travel in this beautiful country await us this fall!
We may have made ourselves at home and fell asleep in the garden. Not as comfy as the beds we saw inside, but good enough for us peasants.
Remember to explore and to aspire, cause it mediates our soul and the body. And finding a moment to appreciate the beauty of the surroundings, makes me feel sane, grounded when I'm feeling restless, and inspired to keep exploring more of this world.
This is a trip that has been on my bucket list for a long time!
Sometimes, you just need to take a little extra time to stay in one place to truly fall in love with it.
Article Credit 
Featured Image from Pixabay
If you like my work, please don't forget to upvote, re- esteem and comment. Thank you!