City in bloom: Local groups provide flowers for park, bridges

By ARLENE JOHNS
The Tribune-Democrat

Several Johnstown organizations have donated their time and talents to ensure that visitors receive a proper welcome downtown.

In addition to the flower beds at various locations, baskets filled with live flowers have been added to lampposts in Central Park and on several bridges.

Although the city did not create nor pay for the baskets, workers installed them and are responsible for their care.

Johnstown employee Michael Grandinetti said the city appreciates and encourages any effort to make the downtown area more attractive.

“A lot of times the city does not have the wherewithal to do these types of projects,” he said.

Johnstown Business Development Corp., created under the Main Street Manager Program in support of the central business district, provided the baskets adorning Central Park.

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New York Botany | Highline Planting

By Shonni Enelow
Photo by Iwan Baan

The Highline, New York City’s newest park.

In contrast to the typical city park, the Highline was built more to complement the city’s dynamism than to capture it. Not that there aren’t plenty of places to sit and admire the view, but the overall effect is absorbing, active and kinetic: a long-range view of the Highline’s flower beds may have the delicate detail of an impressionist painting, while the repetition of motif propels the visitor forward. And the horticulture was designed to bloom cyclically, so you can walk the promenade every week and see something different.

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Video - Central Park, designed by F.L. Olmsted

Central Park is a large public, urban park in the heart of New York City and is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year. Central Park has been a National Historic Landmark since 1963.

The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and architect Calvert Vaux. While much of the park looks natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped. It contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks, the Central Park Zoo, the Central Park Conservatory Garden, a wildlife sanctuary, a large area of natural woods, a reservoir with an encircling running track, and the outdoor Delacorte Theater which hosts the "Shakespeare in the Park" summer festivals.Size 843 acres (341 ha)1.32 sq mi (3.4 km2) Opened 1859 (wikipedia)