Lynden B. Miller says that thriving gardens part of healthy community.

It takes more than good plants and good soil to create a beautiful public garden. The woman who helped revitalize many of New York City's public spaces says there's another important ingredient for success.

"You need a stubborn conviction that people matter," said Lynden B. Miller, director of The Conservatory Garden in Central Park and an advocate of "the magical powers of public spaces."

Miller told about 140 people at The Commonwealth Club yesterday that one of the worst mistakes a city can make during economic hard times is to cut funding to maintain its parks.

When people stop going to parks, "bad things happen," she said.

Miller saw that happen firsthand in New York in the 1970s and'80s when unmaintained parks were abandoned by the public and became havens for drug dealers.

A public garden designer, she restored The Conservatory Garden in New York's Central Park in 1982 and has created gardens for other parts of the city, including Bryant Park and Madison Square Park.

She is also chairwoman of New Yorkers for Parks, an independent watchdog group. With the help of 20,000 volunteers, the group was responsible for more than 3 million daffodils blooming this spring.

Miller's lecture, sponsored by Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, drew corporate leaders as well as representatives of community revitalization groups.

She told them that how a city looks plays a large role in whether it succeeds. She said property values rise as flowers bloom, and crime decreases as people turn out to enjoy the parks.

"There is a subtle message, I think, in fixing up a public space and making it beautiful," she said. "The message is, we did this for you and you're worth it."

The public responds, she said, "by picking up the trash, by being courteous to each other and by returning again and again," which makes these spaces safer.
Contact Karin Kapsidelis at (804) 649-6119 or kkapsidelis@timesdispatch.com.