New York City – Battery Park Gardens
Battery Bosque © Alice Joyce
At the southwestern tip of Manhattan, the gardens of Historic Battery Park rise up from a once neglected area of New York City. Since the completion of the Battery gardens, its rebirth so to speak in 2005, much has been written about the exuberant, flower-filled planting plan created by the brilliant Dutch plantsman, Piet Oudolf.
A sunlit area – The Gardens of Remembrance – pays tribute to those who perished on 9/11, and to the survivors who gathered here. Stony Creek – a granite bench runs 1,500 feet along the length of the promenade, configured as the “prow of Manhattan Island.”
Battery Conservancy photo
Parthenium integrifolium
Panicum ‘Dallas Blues’ & Helenium ‘Rubinzwerg’
Bosque Garden (Battery Conservancy photo)
The Battery is built on top of 3 subway lines and 2 major transportation tunnels. The Oudolf-designed gardens comprise 4 acres, while a the 6-acre Perimeter Bikeway garden should be completed in 2012.
The Battery landscape is maintained free of chemicals and fertilizers. A wealth of woodland and prairie plants are nurtured within these 4 acres, to produce an astounding annual surplus of 75,000 perennial plants that can be planted in other public gardens in New York City. In essence, the parkland is a 100 per cent sustainable farm! The history of this land goes back hundreds of years to the Dutch settlers, and earlier still, to the region’s Native Americans.
Swathes of Alliums Bosque Garden (The Battery Conservancy photo)
Swathes of Allium ‘Globemaster’ & Allium ‘Purple Sensation’commingle in the Bosque gardens with drifts of complementary perennials; key elements in an Oudolf design, which preserved a stately grove of plane trees.
Gardens of Remembrance – Battery Conservancy photo
In August, Astrantia ‘Roma emerges along with Sanguisorba ‘Red Thunder,’ and Tricyrtis ‘Togen.’ Moving on to Fall, the choice cultivars & species include a host of Asters, Korean feather reed grass, & Panicum v. ‘Shenandoah.’ November brings the golden leaves of Ginkgo, fall crocuses, the textural wands of Miscanthus and wispy muhly grass.
Gardens of Remembrance – Battery Conservancy photo
Battery Gardens ~ battery.org ~ Landscape Architects: Saratoga Associates
Garden Designer: Piet Oudolf
Inspirational! I have looked at the website so many times. I hope to go see the gardens in the near future.
Magnificent! The alliums in the Bosque garden are just delightful as are the plane trees.
Hi, Alice. I really love Battery Park…crazy that it’s in an urban setting, isn’t it? The alliums are gorgeous!
Amazing post and pictures. I’m so glad they have such a garden in such a heavily populated area. I always like visiting NY
It is a brilliant garden, as you say Alice. Thanks for naming the plants. Having these combinations for all season interest is what Oudolf does so well, in large swaths. Something that can be adopted in home gardens on a smaller scale. Food for thought! :-)
What a beautiful garden. I just love the allium scene.
What a great post and a great idea. I visited New York 26 years ago with a girl friend and when we stumbling into the Battery by mistake, we were met by a man who asked what we were doing there, and then recommended we walk in the middle of the road (ie away from the people sitting on doorsteps smoking stuff) and ‘keep walking’. How it has obviously changed! Wonderful.