Central Park: A Learning Experience

The Conservatory Gardens

The Soils Lab

Pruning

During my three weeks at Central Park I was privileged enough to work in virtually every department in the Conservancy. By rotating through every department I was allowed a rare look at how this amazing 845 acre work of art operates on a daily basis. I would like to talk about a few of these departments and what I learned while I was there. First, I will explain the various jobs I did while in the Horticulture department and what I learned. I would also like to talk about the Capitol Projects Department and their role in the park. All of the jobs I did over the past three weeks have helped me to better understand Landscape Architecture and how important it is to design for the future as well as for maintenance issues.

While working with the Horticulture Department I was allowed to work with an assortment of zone gardeners with very different tasks. If you are unfamiliar with "zone gardeners" it is a title referring to a system were the park is divided systematically into many zones with assigned "zone gardeners" who are responsible for the area on a daily basis. The first zone gardener I worked with took care of the Great Lawn and the baseball fields located on it. At 7 am in the morning we went out to the lawn to prepare the fields for 11 o'clock when they open to the public. During this time I learned that the Great Lawn is engineered to withstand the large amount of activity on it every day. The soil is 97% sand for a quick rebound with a special hardy bluegrass/rye grass mix. The underground water level is even controllable, in order to promote deep root growth. This type of information is very useful to me as a landscape architecture student, because now when I am designing an are a such as this I will know the possibilities of what can be done and how. Continuing with my experience I was also allowed a chance to work at the Central Park Conservatory. The Conservatory is probably one of the least know areas, yet in my eyes it ranks at the top of the most beautiful places in the park. Even though the conservatory was torn down many years ago due to the cost of maintenance three spectacular gardens remain on the site. While working in the conservatory I learned about how to arrange perennials and annuals so that there is variation in textures and color while providing visual interest year around. Another very important part of the Horticulture Department is the soils and water lab, because without the proper soil none of the plants in the park would be able to survive. While working with in the soils lab we conducted various tests on the pond water in order to find a natural cure for the algae that has recently inhabited some of the water bodies in the park. We also conducted many soil tests in order to identify the type of soil and the levels of nutrients in them. If I had to best explain the horticulture department I would describe it as the heartbeat of Central Park, because without these dedicated people there would be no park.

Along with maintenance there are also restoration projects year round. Over time many areas of the park have degraded and have to be restored in order to preserve their original intent, and that is were the Capitol Projects Department comes in. While with capitol projects I worked on the as built drawings of a playground on the verge of completion, viewed the oak bridge restoration, and a portion of the East Meadow restoration. It was during this time that I realized that even though an installed landscape is deemed as "finished" it is never truly finished and will continue throughout its life cycle with code updates, restorations, etc. The people who work with Capitol Projects are true to the original design of Olmstead and Vaux and even go as far as reverting landscapes that have been changed over the years back to their original intent. It is through this continual process of restoration that the ideas of Olmstead and Vaux will live on for future generations.

Overall, I learned more at Central Park than I could have ever imagined. The dedication to the park by the people at the Conservancy is amazing. They continually work weekends and night shifts so that the park remains the National Treasure it is. It was through this experience that I realized how rewarding work with public parks is and its possibility as my career emphasis.