Notes from Around Town: the Garden at PS 57

The following images are from a celebration we had at PS 57 on June 24, 2008.

PS 57 is also known as The James Weldon Johnson School. Mr. Israel Soto is the acting Principal. The school is located at 176 East 115th Street, between Lexington and 3rd Avenues, New York, NY, 10029.

The Horticultural Society is connected to PS 57 thanks to our Apple Seed program. Apple Seed offers innovative, hands-on environmental education and activities to expand science, math, and literacy skills in elementary students throughout New York City. The curriculum is based on the National Science Education Standards and serves public schools during and after school in some of New York City’s most underserved neighborhoods.

This is Apple Seed’s fifth year with PS 57. Our relationship started in 1996 when we taught several third grade classes for two years. More recently, Mr. Paul Forbes, Youth Development Manager at the Department of Education, reunited HSNY with PS57. Principal Soto was looking for an educationally based group to help him build a “Garden of Dreams” in a quiet schoolyard. And so, The Horticultural Society of New York installed this beautiful courtyard garden in the Spring of 2005. Students in our Green Team Internship Program built planters and created the waterfall. Apple Seed students then assisted with planting and maintaining a garden on the second floor deck of the school. This year “field trips” to the garden occurred with three classes to encourage garden art, planting annuals, fertilizing the soil, and increasing butterfly populations in the garden.

This garden is a living laboratory that demonstrates the marvels of plant life, its interconnection with the water cycle and the animals who depend on them. It is a vision of Principal Israel Soto, who wants all students to dream and dream BIG. It was designed by HSNY’s John Cannizzo and built by HSNY’s Green Team. This dream became a reality through the generous support of Bob Silver Family Foundation, The City Gardens Club of New York City, and Rodale.

John Cannizzo in the distance working with the students at PS 57 planting a new container.

The garden and outdoor learning facility is loved and utilized by students and teachers alike.

On the day of the celebration the kids were helping to pass out amazing tomato plants.

The new shade structure being unveiled is not only a new outdoor classroom space, but it also incorporates a rain water harvesting system to be used by the local gardeners.

HSNY's first rainwater harvesting system in a New York City public school helps to conserve our public drinking water by capturing rainwater from the roof of the outdoor learning center and storing it for use in the garden. This simple knowledge and technology we hope to introduce to other public school students throughout the city.

A little information about the students at PS57:
Student Population:
69% of students are Latino
23% of students are African-American
23% English Language Learners
90% of the students are receiving free lunch – from low-income families

Kate Chura, President and CEO of The Horticultural Society of New York, (above) and Principal Israel Soto (below) were among the many speakers who helped to welcome the students, parents, and guests to this amazing oasis of learning and discovery.

Also present for the ribbon cutting were Edie Loening from The City Gardens Club of New York City, Scott Meyer from Organic Gardening Magazine (a Rodale publication), and of course, the students.

Following the formal ceremony the students wasted no time getting to work watering the garden.

Healthy and nutritional snacks were provided to make sure we all kept our energy up during the hot summer day.

On-going maintenance of the garden is done by the third graders with the direction of HSNY’s weekly gardening classes. If you have questions about HSNY’s Apple Seed program, contact Pam Ito, Director of Children’s Education, at pito@hsny.org.

Reminder: Intro to Green Walls Thursday Evening 6/19

(image courtesy of G-Sky.com)

Introduction to Green Walls: A Presentation by G-Sky
Thursday, June 19, 2008, 6:00 – 7:30pm
Free for members, $10 for nonmembers
You have heard about the green roof movement, but have you heard about green walls? G-Sky's Living Wall product is a Japanese-developed modular system that has been installed worldwide for nearly 10 years. On June 19th, join representatives from G-Sky's New York office and Corporate office in Vancouver, including the company’s president, Chad Sichello, for an informative presentation on green walls. Learn about the components involved, the benefits, and how easy it is to incorporate their system into your own work. A living wall will be on display, and there will be an interactive presentation with plenty of time for questions.

HSNY Tours: A Word of Thanks

Thanks to all the HSNY members that came out and joined me for the recent tours I have led around the city. They were all great fun and I really enjoyed sharing with you some of the special green destinations I love in Manhattan. I had a great group with me yesterday in the Flower District for a two-hour tour and container gardening talk and demonstration. People asked excellent questions and brought interesting ideas to the table and that was really enjoyable. Congratulations too to Joani for winning the packed container I put together and raffled off at the end of the class (pictured above - an $80 value). She'll get to enjoy this shade tolerant container of elephant ear, impatiens, begonias, ivy, and ferns outside on a table or in a garden for the rest of the summer and then can move a few things inside as houseplants for the winter if she chooses. Thanks especially to George Vallo and Robb Moss of the New York Studio of Floral Arts for being so generous with their space and allowing me to set up shop right there on 28th Street. For those interested in taking phenomenal floral design classes right in the middle of the Flower District action on 28th Street I urge you to visit their website and treat yourself to a class soon. I took a quick class with Robb once and learned so much I can't tell you. Given the success yesterday was I will certainly try and organize more Flower District tours for the future.

And thanks too to all those that have sent me such kind compliments regarding the tours atop the High Line on June 7th. It was so hot up there under that full sun with no protection but the 80 or so members of HSNY and Friends of the High Line were real troopers and I applaud you all for braving the heat and joining Meredith Taylor from Friends of the High Line and I for that amazing day of naturalist walks. For those that were not aware I led a number of tours of the third section of the High Line, over the west-side rail yards, educating people about the environment and the plants up there, from flowering trees to inconspicuous grasses, natives and invasives, their characteristics and how they've adapted over the years, the different microclimates, etc, etc. We discovered some great plants, and again, people brought strong questions to each of the tours and made it really enjoyable for me. So, thank you!

Finally, I am thinking through some more enjoyable and educational green tours we might be able to do around the city later this summer so stay tuned. To receive information about all of our events and outreach programs, become an HSNY member.

Why No Flowers?

Question:

I live in south-east Ontario, near Peterborough and found several bulbs in my garden this spring that were planted by the previous owner of the property. They are 2 to 2-and-a-half inches in size and had quite thick roots. The foliage was about 8-10 inches tall, the colour of daffodils and the leaves very similar too…but less pointed. They didn’t flower. Have you any idea what they might be? I am enclosing shots of the plant and hope that you will be able to use them.

Answer:

It does look to me like those are daffodils you have in your garden. Of course there are many bulbs that have that same foliage and habit, and without a flower IDing them can be tough. As far as why no blooms, my best guess is that it has to do with the nutrients in the soil. Certainly there is enough nitrogen in the soil. Nitrogen is one the macronutrients that a plant relies on, and it helps a plant to produce healthy green foliage and photosynthesize. Another macronutrient that plants rely on is phosphorous, and adding phosphorous to the soil typically helps a plant to produce a larger and more profuse flower. Having a number of bulbs produce foliage but no flower I’m guessing there is either not enough sun or not enough phosphorous. From the photos it seems like the bulbs are getting plenty of light and they ought to be flowering. So, therefore, this is what I would do. This fall when your local garden center or nursery puts out all of their bulb displays, look at the fertilizers they are selling. Each fertilizer has three numbers printed on the label, and those are the percentages of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash (potassium) respectively in each dose. What you want to find and apply to your yard is a fertilizer with a high middle number. I am guessing you will most likely find it in a granular form. You can apply it this fall and it should break down and leach into the soil over the winter months so that as the roots of the daffodils begin to grow early spring they can get the much needed boost and then go back to their flowering selves. Of course, if you feel your soil has been properly amended and has all of the necessary nutrients then it might be worth getting a soil test done. In fact, if it is a new property a soil test is probably worth doing regardless. It can help you avoid a lot of guessing in the long run.