The Burnett Memorial Fountain depicts two bronze figures: a reclining boy playing the flute and a young girl holding a birdbath. These characters represent Mary and Dickon from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic novel “The Secret Garden,” honoring Burnett after her death in 1924. The figures are set by a water-lily pool, surrounded by the lush English-style section of the Conservatory Garden.
 
This garden is arranged in concentric planting beds typical of English perennial gardens, blending bulbs, annuals, perennials, and various flowering trees. It is less formal than the central Italian and northern French sections and feels like a little bit of home in NYC.
 
Interesting facts....
The name Conservatory Garden originates from the conservatory which once sat here. This is where most of the trees in Central Park were cultivated, the origins of the park itself.
The entrance to the Conservatory Garden is through the Vanderbilt Gate, wrought iron gates made in Paris in 1894. These gates originally belonged to the Vanderbilt Mansion at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street before it was demolished.