Out & About
At the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's gala Monday night, the company was all right, and dinner in the Palm House was pretty fine. But what the more than 400 guests came for, really, was a stroll in the Cranford Rose Garden, which blooms best in June.
Some wore hats to shield them from the early evening sun; others wore gowns and gleefully let their high heels sink into the grass, even as they tried to avoid getting snagged by a thorn.
In a nod to the star attraction, one romantic young fellow, Christopher Varmus, gave his lady friend (and a former New York Sun intern), Emily Farris, a corsage of pink roses. A less literal accessory was the hat in the shape of the Semper Augustus tulip that artist Grace Markman made her husband, Steven Clemants, who is the vice president of science at the garden.
The organization's shy rosarian, Anne O'Neill, wasn't modest about her garden, which has 5,000 plants and 1,500 cultivars. "This is one of the best rose gardens in America," she said. She had eyes for the Ballerina, a 1937 hybrid, and the Coral Creeper, which has "a lovely shape," she said.
Throughout the evening, it was clear that Brooklynites love their botanic garden. Many grew up here, visiting for family picnics and later, for lovers' strolls. The scale has helped breed the affection. Fifty-two acres is a lot of space, but the various attractions, such as the Japanese Garden, Bluebell Wood, and the Crape-Myrtle Walk, help create a sense of intimacy.
It's not only what's in the garden that has generated the strong bonds. "Our outreach into the community sets us apart," the president of the garden, Scot Medbury, who came to the job eight months ago from the San Francisco Botanical Garden, said. "Brooklyn Botanic Garden leads the country on education programs in area schools," he said.
Toward the end of the event, which raised $370,000, one comment summed up the love that all those roses symbolized. "We all have a strong sense of ownership," a garden board member who practices law, Donald Goldsmith, said.
