May 2026 – Spring Gardens
I am neither a gardener nor a farmer, but I appreciate the work of those who are. Living in Manhattan, I am surrounded by brick, mortar, stone and soot, on a city street paved with granite blocks with few trees for shade, and certainly nothing so elegant as curb-lawns. Two years ago our new insurance company banned the roof garden that my neighbor Denise had cultivated for decades. One of the semi-public gardens near me has had to fight City Hall, and worse, real estate developers, for the mere right to survive as a green space.
watercolor, 22 x 22 inches
$2,000
As a counterweight to this relatively barren environment, and to the memories of a particularly unpleasant winter, I think it’s a good moment to reflect on the many ways this season has inspired my visual work over the years and to this very week.
Late spring, for those engaged in agriculture and horticulture, is traditionally a season for preparation and attention to the many infrastructures that foster plant growth. Fields and gardens first…
These six harnessed mules from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, were clearly not out for a spring stroll but were hard at work in front of a cultivator breaking ground for their Amish farmer’s anticipated planting.
At The Cloisters branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, plants in terracotta pots deployed around the St-Michel-de-Cuxa Cloister by the museum’s gardeners anticipated the warmer months when the cloisters’ arcades could be opened to the outside world.
$950
We got flowering trees in this zone this year in early and mid-April. My first-ever painting of Gramercy Park, a large but private one, is one that focuses more on anticipation than a full-blown view of a flowering tree – rather appropriate, as we the public must content ourselves with views only from between the iron fence-posts. Still, the many benches and clear paths evoke the tranquility of this oasis for those with park-privileges and keys to enter the lovely space.
watercolor, 12.5 x 9.25 inches
$600
watercolor, 9.5 x 6.25 inches
$300
Over a number of years I have been able to follow the progression of spring in two gardens closer to home. One is the Liz Christy Community Garden at the corner of the Bowery and Houston Street. This was founded in 1974, around the time I came to my NoHo neighborhood and is historically the first of the archipelago of community gardens that now dot the Lower East Side. I have a key and am an unofficial artist-in-residence, grateful to the gardeners, and for access that helped me keep my sanity during COVID.
watercolor, 10.25 x 14 inches
$800
$750
watercolor, 29 x 21 inches
$2,500
More recently I’ve taken full advantage of the Elizabeth Street Garden, saved — so far at least — from the wreckers balls of developers through intense community support. A particular favorite subject has been one of a pair of stone lions placed on either side of the main path down the middle of the garden;
I check on him every time I visit and am pleased to see that his ivy-robes grow in around him a little differently each year
Looking forward to my next visit to some of the city’s gardens, and to the next phase of this beautiful spring, when I anticipate the fragrant possibilities of lilacs and peonies in the studio.
All artworks above are available for sale. To purchase, please inquire with Annie.