Using red wagons as shopping
carts, amateur gardeners, collectors and horticulturists alike
perused 20,000 plants at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s annual
sale, May 2-4. The event was a fundraiser for the garden’s education
programs for children.
Among the shoppers and flora spotted on the Cherry Esplanade
on May 2 were (left to right) Elizabeth Schell, and her son Arthur,
3, choosing perennials for their backyard garden in Gowanus;
proud members of the BBG for more than 50 years, Dorothy and
Philip Blatt, selecting a basil plant; miniature roses; and overflowing
red wagons.
Highlights of the sale included a large assortment of shade plants,
which can thrive in sun-deprived urban gardens and window boxes;
and a "children’s garden," where plants sold for just
50 cents. (Hopefully, the bargain blooms will spark an early
love of the pleasures of tilling soil.)
Sponsored by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Auxiliary, the sale
featured 37 varieties of clematis vines, which are prized for
their fragrance and frequent blooming. Because of their vertical
design capabilities, experts recommend vines for small urban
gardens, too.
Thousands attended the event which offered indoor and outdoor
plants, herbs and tomatoes, exotic tropicals, shrubs and trees,
native plants, pre-bonsai, hanging plants and rare plants.
The next BBG benefit, "Return to Treasure Island: Brooklyn
Botanic Garden’s Eighth Annual Family Party," will be held
on June 6, from 6 pm to 8:30 pm. Tickets are $50 each, or $200
for a family of four.
For more information about Brooklyn Botanic Garden (900 Washington
Ave. at Eastern Parkway in Prospect Heights) call (718) 623-7200
or visit the Web site at www.bbg.org.
All photos: The Brooklyn
Papers / Jori Klein
