A view of the Hudson River and the Palisades at sunset were the main attractions at a benefit for that lovely public garden and estate in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, Wave Hill. But for the green-thumbed patrons (or aspiring ones) who attended, the Wave Hill Gardeners’ Party also had much else on offer: hundreds of plants for sale; exotic items for auction, including a sterling silver necklace donated by its maker, Janet Mavec, and a copy of Harvard University Press’s limited facsimile edition of “Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium,” donated by Susan Morgenthau — as well as great people watching.

Amid the visual revelations at the benefit, the husband of the chairwoman of the Wave Hill board of trustees, Stephen Weinroth, confided that he, not his wife, Cathy Marks Weinroth, was the first gardener in the family. The two young and well-tanned women in the corner of the tent that served as the dining room were garden designers from Nantucket, Amy Pallenberg and Julie Jordin.

Also spotted were Mary and Howard Phipps, honored at the event for their support of gardens, especially the Old Westbury Gardens; the first woman president of the Association of the Bar of New York City, Barbara Paul Robinson, who’d been honored by the Battery Conservancy the day before; botanical artist Jessica Tcherepnine; the president of the New York School of Interior Design, Inge Heckel; the editor of the Hudson Review, Paula Deitz, and the outgoing president of Wave Hill, Kate French.

Martha Stewart arrived just as the roasted chicken entrées were being served. Her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, has been a sponsor of this party since 1999.

Before Ms. Stewart sat down to dinner in the good and green company of the editor of MarthaStewart Living, Michael Boodro, and an owner of the Loomis Creek Nursery in Hudson, N.Y., Bob Hyland, The New York Sun asked her to pose for a photograph.

“I’m glad I got my hair done,” she said, once the picture had snapped.

agordon@nysun.com