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NYC Ferry will temporarily bypass Governors Island on Friday, April 19, 2024, from 10am-1:30pm. During this time, ferries operated by the Trust for Governors Island will run as scheduled. Click here for tickets and more information.

NYC Ferry will temporarily bypass Governors Island on Friday, April 19, 2024, from 10am-1:30pm. During this time, ferries operated by the Trust for Governors Island will run as scheduled. Click here for tickets and more information.

Blog

Meet the Gov­er­nors Island Gardeners

Dec 6, 2019 4:02 pm

Gar­den­ing team at work plant­i­ng bulbs in Liggett Terrace.
This year, thanks to gen­er­ous dona­tions from sup­port­ers, Gov­er­nors Island was able to hire our first-ever team of full-time, year-round gar­den­ers. This small but mighty team of five cares for the 120 acres of open space on Gov­er­nors Island – that’s the equiv­a­lent of 158 foot­ball fields! Each gar­den­er focus­es on a cer­tain sec­tion, or ​“zone” of the Island’s open spaces with­in the His­toric Dis­trict, and new park on the South­ern por­tion of the Island. Assist­ed by the many help­ing hands of our cor­po­rate and indi­vid­ual vol­un­teers, the team made a lot of great progress this year, includ­ing sow­ing 12 acres of seeds in the Hills, Ham­mock Grove and Liggett Ter­race, prun­ing near­ly 1,000 of the young trees in the new park and plant­i­ng near­ly 8,000 bulbs, which will bloom in 2020. Read on to learn more about the team and their impor­tant work. 

Gar­den­ers Dana (left) and Ben (right) work­ing in their respec­tive zones.

Mal­colm
Gar­den­ing Zone: Ham­mock Grove
Tell us more about Ham­mock Grove: In addi­tion to ham­mocks, Ham­mock Grove is home to the largest con­cen­tra­tion of trees on the Island – 1,400 indi­vid­ual trees of 40 dif­fer­ent species. I prune and care for them to fos­ter a healthy and dynam­ic urban for­est.
Favorite plant on the Island: Mug­wort (Artemisia vul­garis) – part of my job is to remove this inva­sive plant from the land­scapes. I have a healthy respect for my adver­sary!
Favorite place on the Island: Pic­nic Point, with it’s great view of the Stat­ue of Liberty 

Ben
Gar­den­ing Zone: Ham­mock Grove
What’s your day-to-day work like?: My role is to remove inva­sive phrag­mites and mug­wort from Ham­mock Grove, so it remains a beau­ti­ful place for vis­i­tors to enjoy.
Favorite plant on the Island: Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhi­na)
Favorite place on the Island: Ham­mock Grove is divid­ed into sec­tions we call petals (because they look like the petals of a flower) – my favorite part of the Island is petal 12, near the Urban Farm.

Dana
Gar­den­ing Zone: Liggett Ter­race
What’s your favorite thing about Liggett Ter­race?: Liggett Ter­race is a unique space to build upon my fine gar­den­ing and design expe­ri­ence, as it is a for­mal gar­den con­nect­ing the old­er, his­toric North Island, and the new­er, exper­i­men­tal South Island. I love that Liggett allows me the chance to play with flow­ers and col­ors.
Favorite plant on the Island: Amer­i­can Elm (Ulmus amer­i­cana)
Favorite place on the Island: Nolan Park in the his­toric district 

Chris
Gar­den­ing Zone: the Hills
Tell us more about the Hills: The four Hills were designed to help the Island be more resilient to cli­mate change and ris­ing sea lev­els. In addi­tion to pro­vid­ing a great view for vis­i­tors, they’re also home to 42,000 shrubs and 800 trees that increase the Island’s bio­di­ver­si­ty and attract pol­li­na­tors and birds.
Favorite plant on the Island: Pitch Pine (Pinus rigi­da)
Favorite place on the Island: Dis­cov­ery Hill 

Kevin
Gar­den­ing Zone: Out­look Hill and Dis­cov­ery Hill
Which is your favorite of the four Hills?: Slide Hill is prob­a­bly the most fun hill. I make sure it remains a fun place for kids of all ages to climb and play.
Favorite plant on the Island: Sum­mer Sweet Shrub (Clethra alni­fo­lia)
Favorite place on the Island: Rachel Whiteread­’s Cab­in on Dis­cov­ery Hill 

While Gov­er­nors Island is closed for the sea­son, the Hor­ti­cul­ture team is still active­ly keep­ing the Island’s plants and land­scapes healthy dur­ing the win­ter, while also strate­gi­cal­ly plan­ning for the upcom­ing sea­son. Keep­ing Gov­er­nors Island vibrant is a year-round job! 

Want to sup­port the gar­den­ing team? Con­sid­er mak­ing a dona­tion. Dona­tions sup­port their work to care for and beau­ti­fy Gov­er­nors Island’s land­scapes, ensur­ing this Island remains a lush oasis for all New York­ers to enjoy. 

Chris at work with young vol­un­teer gardeners.

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