Basic rules: 3 smart gardening chores to do in winter

Basic rules: 3 smart gardening chores to do in winter

This is part of a series perfect earth projectis a non-profit organization specializing in non-toxic, nature-based gardening on how to make your home landscape more sustainable.

Close to the Brooklyn waterfront, Naval cemetery scenery (NCL) is both a monument to the dead and a haven for the living, teeming with lush native plants and countless birds and pollinators. “This landscape respects the cycle of life by intentionally bringing life through abundant plants to a space that commemorates the dead,” said Ava Rossi, director of horticulture and greenway management for the landscape. says.

Many people have lived on this land for centuries. It was once fertile farmland with orchards and vegetable gardens. It then served the military for the next 150 years, and was home to a naval arsenal, a hospital, and a cemetery where thousands of bodies were interred until most were relocated in the early 20th century. The site was later developed into a recreational space with a baseball field and hiking trails. When the land was decommissioned by the Navy in the 1990s, the city discovered that hundreds of bodies were still buried in the ground. In 2016, the nonprofit Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, which operates and manages the NCL, hired landscape architecture firm Nelson Byrd Waltz to transform the land into a public space that honors the dead and the land’s rich history. Today, it serves as a haven of respite and relaxation for those who use the community and the adjacent Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway.

Rossi said the mooring blocks that visitors can jump from the boardwalk pay homage to the Navy Yard's shipbuilding history. When you stand on the blocks, you feel like you are immersed in a grassy field. Photo by Ngoc Minh Ngo.
On top of that: Rossi said the mooring blocks that visitors can jump from the boardwalk pay homage to the Navy Yard’s shipbuilding history. When you stand on the blocks, you feel like you are immersed in a grassy field. Photo by Ngoc Minh Ngo.

The 1.8-acre meadow at the center of the landscape is rich in over 50 different native plant species, including milkweed, asters, switchgrass, and bee balm, all of which attract bees, butterflies, moths, birds, and other species. Selected to support wildlife. Tree branches stand around it, creating a habitat. A wooden boardwalk snakes through the meadow, recreating the path of Wallabout Creek, which once flowed freely through the area. The Brooklyn Greenway Initiative maintains gardens sustainably, aiming to restore the land while caring for it. “We aim to overlay the ecological needs of the landscape as much as possible by imitating nature as much as possible,” says Rossi.

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