The English garden is a picturesque landscape, a style that emerged in England during the Romantic period of the 18th and 19th centuries. It revolutionized the way gardens were designed. The traditional garden was formal, symmetrical and manicured; the English garden looked almost as if it was untouched nature. Lakes, sweeps of rolling lawns, groves of trees, Gothic ruins, bridges, all designed to create an idyllic pastoral landscape. That style of gardening spread all over the world and soon dominated landscape design of 19th century America. Perhaps the most ambitious example of an English garden is Central Park, created in the middle of the 19th century, as a green oasis for New Yorkers to escape their harried and stressful lives. Sound familiar? Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the objective was to reshape the craggy rocks and swamps into the pastoral, naturalistic English-style Park we see today. The wildest area in the park is called the Ramble. Walking in the Ramble, it's easy to forget that you are in the middle of Manhattan. It is one of Central Park's most natural environments. Or is it? Naturalistic is a more accurate description. In fact, although it looks wild and untouched, the Ramble was one of the most carefully designed areas of the Park. Like a true English Garden, the Ramble has many wonders. Belvedere Castle is one of them. It seems to blend into its environment as if it were springing from the rock where it stands. Walking away from the Castle, we hear the faint rush of water and come upon a small, clear stream called the Gill. Was Central Park envisioned as a refuge for birds as well as for people? We will never know. Yet that is exactly what the Ramble is today: a unique habitat that provides shelter to over 250 species of birds that make Central Park their home. Clearly, the lushness of the flora, various sources of water, and the quiet, isolated Ramble is what attracts them. The source of the Gill is the same as New York City drinking water, the tap I turn on and off every day in my own home. Notice the architecture in the Ramble: rustic bridges and benches, all made from black locust trees. While these are copies of originals, the intent was to have artificial structures that nonetheless blend into the naturalistic environment. Walking away from the Gill, we come to the shoreline of Central Park's majestic 20-acre Lake, which was created from a former swamp. It is here at the shoreline that we get to stand in what feels like "wilderness," looking out at the formal section of the Park. To our right we see the longest bridge in Central Park, the Bow Bridge, one of the park's five remaining cast-iron bridges. The wild Ramble in Central Park is a man-made environment, celebrating the concept of the English Garden. Brimming with vistas and landscaped flora, it provides all New Yorkers with an experience of nature, made by design.