This website is dedicated to helping New Yorkers discover and appreciate the natural world around them.
Like the great redwood forests of California, the alpine slopes of Maine and the swamps of Jersey, New York City has a variety of nature-made ecosystems that have existed here since well before the Dutch sailed up the harbor. No matter how many tall buildings are raised up or fall down, New York's latitude, longitude, geological base and weather conditions remain fairly constant.
And they are remarkable. Every year, on the week of the spring equinox, forsythia bushes burst into bloom in Central Park. They're never early; they're rarely late. How do they know?
The clues and the answers are quite easy to discover if you are paying attention to what grows and blooms in every season. Even in the dead of winter the attuned eye (and camera) sees the buds that swell on the hazel and the slim blades of the snowdrops pushing their way to spring.
New York is also an explosion of human-made floral wonders, with much to see in terms of garden design, from inspired front gardens of brownstones to magnificent parks and dramatic commercial spaces.
Every day of the year there is something to see.
As we move into a new year in 2016, look to this site for more gardening news, an expanded news page, more local gardening, landscaping and horticultural events, and reviews of new gardening books, tools, and area nurseries.
Get out and enjoy your city!