Date: Fri 22-May-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: SS

Quick Words:

NYBotanical

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New York Botanical Garden

BRONX, N.Y. -- The New York Botanical Garden flowered with more than plants on

April 23 when the preview party opened the annual Antique Garden Furniture

Show.

Staged under a spacious tent on the garden grounds, this event hosts 22

exhibitors and draws a large crowd over a three-day run. "We really put on

quite a show this year," Penny Jones, show manager, said. "A good gate and

many sales contributed to the success of this event."

Without question, it is really the place to go for items to dress up the

garden. Fountains, urns, sculpture, containers, old tools, and even colorful

prints to liven up the sun room or fancy potting shed are all there to tempt

the beginning gardener or the seasoned planter who happens to have acres under

cultivation.

Larry Williams, who is the right hand of Cecelia Williams of New Market, Md.,

mentioned that "these wall planters we have made up are really hot, and at our

last show in Pittsburgh we sold six of them." The ones on display this time

were made with grates from old bank teller windows. "They are the last ones we

have in stock and now we have to find more old material to make more," Larry

said.

"ROSES, 25 cents," was spelled out in large wooden and gilded letters across

the back of the booth of James and Judy Milne of New York City. "The letters

came from a florist in the city," Judy said, "and each measures about 30

inches high." This booth had one of several working fountains in the show, an

American cast iron example, three levels, which dates circa 1860. A pair of

flower carts, dating from the turn of the century, were once used on an estate

in Maine.

Webb and Brennan of Pittsford, N.Y., must have had a truck with heavy duty

springs to carry the inventory displayed at the show. In the center of the

booth was a statue, signed J.W. Fiske, that was once part of a large fountain

in Schenectady. Six sets of urns, both in stone and cast iron, were shown

along with a pair of large cast iron benches from either a New Orleans foundry

or Wood & Sons of Philadelphia. The pair came from the Jersey shore estate of

Major John Bowes.

A Village Standard sundial by James Scott, patent date 1849, was in the center

of the booth of Pam and Gene Martine of Greenwich, Conn. Four old wooden

trellises in old white paint were at the end of the booth, and a miniature

tole fountain, in working order, dated from the Nineteenth Century.

Another fountain was working in the booth of Joan Evans of Lambertville, N.J.,

again a cast iron one topped off with a painted crane. An interesting pair of

benches had wooden slats and cast iron ends with dog heads formed at the ends

of the arms.

Neptune and Venus, of good size, were at the front of the booth of

Withington-Wells, York, Maine, positioned near a pair of reclining greyhounds

in cast iron with good surface. For those in search of classical urns, there

was a set of four here with rams' heads on the sides.

Rosemary Schorr and Barry Dobinsky of Reading, Pa., had enough items to well

equip a couple of large patios. Planters and urns of metal and stone numbered

eight pairs, a Victorian table and chairs was all set to use, a couple of

sundials were offered, and two life-size statues were looking to decorate a

formal garden.

A large garden swing set, recently removed from an estate on Eastern Shore,

Md., circa 1940, filled the front of the booth of Aileen Minor of Princess

Anne, Md. An old pump in green paint was marked by the Rumsey Foundry, Seneca

Falls, N.Y., and a pair of small cast stone lions sported a good surface.

A large Fiske eagle with spread wings looked down from a tall pedestal in the

booth of The Garden Antiquary of New York City and Cortlandt Manor, N.Y. Below

was a large fountain, complete with grasses and fish, a pair of cast iron

deer, and a large clock face. Not shown was a millstone that weighed in at

close to one ton. "We were unable to get it off the truck as the promised

forklift never made it," the dealers said.

In addition to the show, a large silent auction of many beautiful and some

rare plants takes place in the tent entrance during the preview, and wonderful

food is served. This year special lighting was designed to give the effect of

sunlight filtered through trees on the ceiling of the large white tent.

Rain was the order of the day for the preview and was possibly an indication

of what was to follow for the first part of May. Now, with a break in the

weather, it is time to set those purchases out in the garden or, if that is

done already, a time to enjoy them.