Spring will soon be here, and with it even more flowers blooming in the Promenade gardens. But beyond the showy blossoms, there’s lots of interesting stuff growing there, as well as nearby in the neighborhood. (Can you spot where the flowers in the photo, taken last spring, were growing?) Next Thursday, March 17, starting at 1:00 p.m., Promenade Gardener Jonathan Landsman will give a free one hour tour of and class on local plant life, funded by the Promenade Partnership of the Brooklyn Heights Association. Jonathan’s synopsis follows the jump.
I would love for you to join me and my volunteer Promenade Gardeners this Thursday the 17th, at 1 pm, for a one-hour tour of your neighborhood’s “interesting plants”: things I recognize that have an interesting story, or which we should be watching because they will bloom beautifully soon, but only for a brief week or two. Please join us at 1 pm Thursday at the flagpole at the Montague Street entrance of the Promenade.
One of the fun things abut a very urban area like Downtown Brooklyn and the Heights is that nearly every plant in the area was added by a human . . . but because property owners and renters change faster than trees and shrubs do, most of our city plants lead a quiet existence, passively appreciated but often totally anonymous.
Did you know that your neighborhood contains at least one feisty little fighter called “devil’s walking stick”?
Just off the Promenade there is an astounding, huge hawthorne that covers itself in red and white in spring—but just one in the whole neighborhood as far as I know?
Thanks new plantings on the Promenade there will be one yellow-flowering magnolia this spring, the first in the ‘hood that I’m aware of, but do you know where to look for it?
Nearby is a crack in the curb where a wild geranium bloomed last year. It was one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen in my career.
I will be teaching my volunteers—and I can teach you—where some of your “special plants” are, the ones you can see from the sidewalk, and how you can recognize them in winter. Please join us at 1 pm Thursday.
If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Jonathan at Jonathan.Landsman@parks.nyc,gov
