Changing Our Cities and Ourselves

Lynden Miller thinks gardens make a difference. Well, she would. Originally a painter, she sees the world through an artist’s eye, and thus sees the importance of color, structure, balance. In short, she believes that “beautiful outdoor spaces contribute greatly to the quality of life.�

Miller, a New Yorker and part-time resident of Sharon, made a decisive career shift in the early ’80s, when her friend and fellow mom-on-the-playground Betsy Rogers, then head of the Central Park Conservancy, asked her to redesign the six-acre Conservatory Garden in northern Central Park. Oh, and raise money for the project while she was at it. Miller swallowed hard and agreed.

The period of roughly 1960-1980, as Miller writes in her fascinating new book, “Parks, Plants, and People: Beautifying the Urban Landscape,â€� was not kind to “extrasâ€� like parks and gardens, as the city struggled to pay the bills.  Parks, even the “jewelâ€� of Central Park, became run-down, a home to the homeless and a haven for drug dealers and criminals.

The Conservatory Garden, in Central Park at 105th Street, opened in 1937 with 14 gardeners. By 1982 it was down to five — who were also responsible for 150 other parks in the city. When Miller went to visit, she found it unpeopled. Junk was strewn in the beds and plants were tangled and overgrown. The surrounding untrimmed shrubs gave the garden an intimidating  sense of isolation.

She had never done a project of that scope before, but Miller knew her gardening basics and she followed them: Look at the basic layout. Cut back anything that hides the garden and makes a visitor feel insecure. Take out plants; put back in good soil. Design for three seasons of flowering (color) and one (winter) of interesting bushes, berries and bark.  Here, she writes, she wanted beautiful plants, not low maintenance.

Despite the naysayers — flowers would be stolen, they said, walls covered in graffiti, visitors mugged — the “new� garden was fully restored by 1987. Immediately, people came, and came back with friends and family. None of the naysayers’ predicted horrors happened. More than once Miller was stopped in her work and thanked by a New Yorker who had watched happily as the garden was being restored. With a few key players in place, funding had been secured for the project. The garden was an unqualified success.

Other offers quickly came her way and Miller was soon working on three major projects: Bryant Park, behind the main branch of the city’s library; the garden surrounding the seal pond at the center of the Central Park Zoo and the Irwin Perennial Garden at the New York Botanical Garden.

Of the three, Bryant Park is probably the best publicly known “turnaround,� from a derelict spot for drug pushers to a French-like park with movable metal chairs and tables, food kiosks, a carousel, free movies in the summer and skating in the winter. Miller’s piece was two, 300-ft.-long flower beds flanking a two-acre lawn. On a pleasant day the park is packed with happy New Yorkers, reading, eating, playing, people-watching: doing what people do in parks.

It’s a reflection of Miller’s philosophy about public urban spaces: that when they’re inviting and designed for people, people will come, and they will behave well. They won’t steal the tables and chairs and they won’t snip the flowers and they will throw their trash in the trash can. They will even be nicer to each other. And, as matters in cities, their happy aura will bring visitors and improve business in the area (Miller rightly points to the improvements in the office buildings surrounding Bryant Park that coincided with its renovation.)   

“In a beautiful, well-maintained place where they feel safe, people behave in a civil and pleasant  way,â€� she writes, “and by extension they feel pride in themselves and in their city.â€�

“Parks, Plants and People,� is about these projects and many more, stories for anyone interested in the connection between people and plants or in gardening; she includes lists of what she planted and why and devotes a chapter to garden layout. For those looking to generate more beautification of public spaces in their own towns and cities, the book includes helpful information on volunteers, advocacy and funding. She includes a list of resources with Web sites and a plant list. It’s hard to imagine who might not find this book useful, other than someone who never leaves the house.

Since those early days,  Miller and her company, Public Garden Design, have taken on numerous projects — including  the campuses of Columbia in New York and Princeton in New Jersey — around the country. Most cities, she says, don’t really get the connection between beautiful public spaces and good business. “Paris gets it,â€� she says, noting that 21 percent of its municipal budget goes toward park maintenance. “Chicago gets it. New York City spends less than one quarter of one percent.â€�

But all that, Miller believes, is beginning to change and will continue to change as people see and feel the results of new and renovated spaces. Even in the face of downsizing budgets. People have seen the results, she says. “And I can’t believe that once people have become accustomed to it that they’re going to let it go.�

Lynden Miller will sign copies of “Parks, Plants, and People: Beautifying the Urban Landscape,� Saturday, Sept. 19, from 4-7 p.m. at Johnnycake Books, 12 Academy St., in Salisbury, CT.