Promenade Pruning Demo Friday at Noon

By on August 17, 2010 8:48 pm in Nature

Flickr photo by Jonathan Landsman

This just in from the Promenade Gardner, Jonathan Landsman:

Congratulations, Brooklyn Heights, the garden at the Montague Street entrance to the Promenade won Parks Department’s Garden of the Month last April!

This season, to keep the garden excellent, I’ll be  putting some finishing touches on that garden’s shrubs. On Friday at noon I’ll prune the garden’s specimen hydrangeas—the best two shrubs on the Promenade—and make my best effort to demonstrate good pruning, giving tips and answering questions for anyone interested.

Friday, Aug 20 at about noon to 1: You’re invited to bring your lunch to the nearby benches and enjoy a little live-action gardening, and ask questions if you like.

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  • MRG6726

    Jonathan, I congratulate you on not only winning the award, but keeping the entire Promenade garden in such fantastic shape.

    Ladies and gentleman: Jonathan is a co-worker of mine and someone that I always stop to chat with for a minute or two whenever our paths cross. He’s a very intelligent, skilled and thorough gardener, and whereas I’m a member of the crew responsible for making the trees above safe, Jonathan certainly is the icing on the cake with the way that he keeps the Promenade looking like something more than just a highway overhang with a decent view.

    One image that will stick out in mind, one that also serves as a testament to Jonathan’s talent and perseverance is that of him, dressed in more layers than a lasagna, carting around flower bulbs during the dead of this past winter when several forestry crews performed work at Pierrepont Playground. The flower beds may have been constructed with mortar for all anyone could tell and it was so cold with a wind chill that bit, chewed and spit out all of the workers that day. This is but one reason as to why the landscape is as well-maintained and arranged as it is. Daily Promenaders can probably list a number of others.

    Again . . . . congratulations, Jonathan. I’m looking forward to stopping out on Friday during our lunch break to look, listen and learn.

  • Andrew Porter

    I’m concerned about the many dead tree branches overhanging the Promenade. They’re also esthetically displeasing. What are the chances of getting a cherry-picker and/or saw on a pole and removing them?

  • lori

    There are many trees with dead branches along the promenade and in the rest of the Heights. Evidence the tree in the dog run that almost killed a person and a dog a few weeks ago, the tree on Remsen that came down and several others . Doesn’t the BHA have a tree committee that should be monitering this situation? It’s a danger to people, animals and cars that park underneath.

  • MRG6726

    In response to recent commentary regarding dead and hazardous trees and limbs:

    Lori, in several other posts, I’ve addressed the primary causes for tree and limb failures, most notably to the species that commonly found here in the Heights. Please perform a search to find and read what I’ve written on the topic.

    Andrew, you’re not the only person to notice these dead limbs overhanging the Promenade. Much work has been done in and around Pierrepont Playground, and the Promenade itself within the past 15 months. However, as always, much more work is necessary and will always be necessary due to the location and species of the trees.

    The honey locust species, or Gleditsia triacanthos, is the predominant shade tree planting found at the Promenade. Limb dieback is natural with all shade tree plants, particularly those so closely planted together and in competition with each other for sunlight and the nutrients located within the soil that are already in short supply. Moreover, limb shedding is also natural, defined as cladoptosis, and should not necessarily be a cause for concern. Trees located within the urban environment are already subjected to dire conditions such as soil compaction, poor nutrient availability and a much higher incidence of damage sustained by vehicles and people. Those species found at the Promenade are also subjected to the added conditions of salt spray and high winds coming off of the water and heavy emissions from the expressway below. Those factors contribute to the limb decline of the Promenade trees.

    However, the exact reason as to why any dead limb may remain in the tree any longer than one might desire is because of simple understaffing. While I cannot go into details regarding the number of Parks employees who have been hired and are qualified to perform tree work within the borough and the entire city, as well as agency protocol and priorities, please consider the ratio to be somewhere in the neighborhood of one worker to every 10,000 trees, without exaggeration. As I’ve already stated on this site, my crew of three workers is responsible for the regular street and park tree maintenance of community boards 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8. We’re consistently pulled in thousands of directions at once – no lie – and taking the time to prune off every dead and low-hanging limb is an effort steeped in futility, entirely self-defeating and essentially counterproductive.

    Again, your concerns have not gone unnoticed. However, I cannot, nor will I promise that any action will be undertaken immediately. That would be a violation of agency policy and I’ve already been cautioned about my postings on this site. Please keep in mind that the Parks Department does its very best to mitigate any hazard at all times.

    Thank you for your comments.