Burgeoning

 

Cloud Cup by Gwyneth Leech

Gouache on white cardboard cup, 2007

I bumped into my friend Eve Suter yesterday afternoon under the cherry trees that edge the Hell's Kitchen playground on 10th Avenue. The trees are in astonishing full bloom and we stood looking up at the pink white blossoms crisscrossed against a brilliant blue sky. Eve is an inspiring and inventive floral designer with sculptural tendencies and it is always a pleasure to look at and talk flowers in her company. I recall the pleasure of a walk across Central Park with her last year where we wandered off the paths repeatedly to savor the scent of different varieties of lilac bushes in bloom.

Eve is one of my playground artist/mom friends. We meet there by chance and she always has photos of interesting recent projects to show me on her I-Phone. Beautiful examples of her artwork are on her website, which you can see here.  Eve is headed to the playground now with her son Booker, age 7. Both are sipping icies, those fluorescent-colored frozen treats in Dixie cups that are sold from wagons  around the city from the first hint of warm weather.

I am finishing a large cafe latte which I have carried all the way across town from Dishes on Park Avenue at 54th Street. This elegant food bar, catering to Park Avenue office workers, opened just a few days ago and I fully appreciated the tall arrangements of Spring flowers in glass vases which soften the bright white interior. The coffee is Masterblend and my latte was crafted with care by an efficient but friendly barista.

Park Avenue was a festival of flowering trees and daffodils. In fact, all the way across town the city is transformed by blossoms. Mostly these are of the flowering pear, a fruitless ornamental tree dense with white blossoms in Spring. I just learned that it is a tree resistant to pollution and drought and attractive to birds, making it an excellent choice for the urban street. But today everything is out all at once - cherry and Magnolia as well as pear, with daffodils, hyacinths and tulips all bursting from beds and planters. City Spring on fast forward.

Spring Arrangement by Eve Suter, 2010

evesuter.com