Visit to Wave Hill

Thursday I went to Wave Hill before work. It takes awhile to get up there -last stop on the 1 train. Fortunately, W.H. offers a shuttle bus to get you from the station to the garden. I am frustrated to have to admit that I waited for a good 25 minutes past the time the shuttle was supposed to meet anyone waiting for the ride. Then I called 411, got the number for Wave Hill and called. They said I missed it, but I hadn't -I'd been there a good 20 minutes before it was supposed to meet any passengers. Turns out, the ride just didn't come. This is unfortunate. The shuttle service is listed on their website and any visitor who expects the ride should not be left standing.

Its easy to be angry at institutions, but not individuals. After another ten minutes, the van arrived. The driver was a nice guy who had worked at Wave Hill for 28 years, and he got me there in a hurry. When we parked he offered, for my trouble, that I not pay to get in. But the guard at the gate inquired about what I was doing there, was I meeting somebody or just visiting? Confused, I stumbled through my reasons for being there and then realized he wanted me to pay. So rather plainly I said that the shuttle driver told me to go right in. I suppose the guard had no idea that I was the one waiting for 45 minutes for the shuttle. When the driver told him, he told me to go ahead, but by this time I was perturbed and wanted to pay. So they asked me then to pay the student fee. And that's what I did. If the shuttle simply came when it was advertised to do so, all this would've been avoided.

Moral of the story: Be prepared to walk, know the route. Its uphill and should take the ordinary walker 30-plus minutes. Coming back its about 20 minutes because its all downhill. Have the Wave Hill number handy so you can call them if the shuttle doesn't arrive, yet walking is out of the question.

What a start to a lovely spring day! I was in a hurry, I had to make it to work by 3 pm, had to go over most of the grounds, check out the show in the gallery, as well as make sense of the sun room space, which was the primary reason for my visit -applying for a show.

I had been to Wave Hill once before about three years ago. It was late March. I remember the squills were in bloom and it snowed heavy chunks of shaved ice. Well, on this early April day it was bright and sunny with temps near 60 degrees F and the squills were again blooming.

A woodland filled with squills (scilla) in springtime seems to reason against native planting.

The squills were covered in dew. There was a fog that morning; I was desperately trying to get there to see it. As our train crossed the Harlem River I saw the fog pulling away toward the parkway bridge.

Some white squills comingled with the 99.9% blue.

Down slope, in the woods, this plant. Anybody know what this is? I've seen it before, yet forget!

I was in a rush, so I didn't get to spend much time with the plant collections. This Dogwood caught my eye, its stems a potent chartreuse. Sign says Cornus stolonifera "Silver and Gold". Like it for its winter color, not its summer variegation.

If you want to see the squills, and other bulbs, now is the best time. Wave Hill has a cafe or bring a lunch. You can eat on the grounds, look over the Hudson and the Palisades. Bring a cell phone, have the number ready, wait in front of the Burger King for the shuttle at 10 past the hour.