Park Avenue (formerly Fourth Avenue) is a 140 foot (43 meter) wide boulevard that carries north- and southbound traffic in the New York City borough of Manhattan. For most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east.
The flowers and greenery in the median of Park Avenue are maintained by the Fund for Park Avenue. Begonias are a flower of choice for the Fund's gardeners because there is no automatic watering system and they can cope with the hot sun.
Each December, Christmas trees are placed in the median in a tradition that started in 1945 as a memorial to soldiers killed in action.
Famous quotes containing the words park and/or avenue:
“Is a park any better than a coal mine? What’s a mountain got that a slag pile hasn’t? What would you rather have in your garden—an almond tree or an oil well?”
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)
“I hate to do what everybody else is doing. Why, only last week, on Fifth Avenue and some cross streets, I noticed that every feminine citizen of these United States wore an artificial posy on her coat or gown. I came home and ripped off every one of the really lovely refrigerator blossoms that were sewn on my own bodices.”
—Carolyn Wells (1862–1942)