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NYU Garden Shop

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The NYU Garden Shop serves the University community and the historic neighborhood of Greenwich Village by designing, installing, and maintaining gardens and containers that welcome people to the Washington Square campus. It is our aim to foster a sense of unity on our disparate urban campus by creating garden areas and container plantings that will signal to the visitor that NYU is both a part of the city and distinct from the city. We also aim for combining "Restoration Ecology with garden design". We seek a deserving place for NYU within the time-honored gardening tradition of Greenwich Village. NYU Garden Shop is committed to Sustainable Gardening practices.

Sustainable Gardening Practices

In accordance with the Green Action Plan of NYU’s Sustainability Task Force http://www.nyu.edu/about/green.html, the NYU Garden Shop is committed to adding an ecological dimension to Washington Square campus garden areas. To achieve this, the NYU Garden Shop is implementing the following sustainable gardening practices:

Introduction of Native Plant Species

(click here to find out more about native species)

Eliminating Chemical Fertilizers

Integrated Pest Management(IPM)

  • Biological, mechanical, and cultural controls taking into account a pest’s life cycle minimize the need for chemical pesticides. We can virtually eliminate chemical pesticide use by combining IPM with other sustainable gardening practices. To learn more about IPM, click here.

Water Conservation

  • Low volume, micro irrigation reduces water usage by delivering moisture directly to an individual plant’s root system. Flow rates are measured in gallons per hour and not gallons per minute as in conventional sprinkler systems. This results in significant savings in water consumption.

Reduction of Lawn Areas

  • Conventional lawns consume vast amounts of water, chemical fertilizer, and chemical pesticides. Fossil fuel burning lawnmowers emit greenhouse gases proportionally more than automobiles.
  • “Low Mow” or “No Mow” native grass species like Carex pennsylvanica can replace conventional lawns, reducing environmental and maintenance costs.

Sustainable Soil Management with Double Digging, Composting and Mulching

  • Microbial action in the soil is essential for healthy plant nutrient, oxygen, and water intake as well as disease suppression.
  • Soil management that maintains correct organic matter content feeds soil microbes and keeps plants healthy, thereby eliminating the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Eliminating Gasoline Powered Maintenance Tools

  • Using hand tools such as rakes, hedge shears, and cultivators eliminates the air and noise pollution of gasoline-powered leaf blowers and other garden maintenance equipment.
Benefits of Sustainable Gardening at NYU

Ecology

  • Biodiversity in plant habitats fosters a more balanced, disease-resistant ecosystem
  • Local fauna populations can rebound when supported by plant communities they share an evolutionary history with.
  • Gardens reduce noise, air pollution, and storm water runoff
  • Organic fertilizers are made from renewable sources and are non-toxic

Personal Health

  • Studies show that seeing a garden every day reduces stress
  • Chemical-free gardens reduce people’s exposure to toxins

Education

  • Research opportunities for NYU’s new programs in Environmental Studies and Food Systems.
  • Sustainable gardening at NYU can become an example to home gardeners seeking methods to reduce their water use and eliminate the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
  • Native plants evoke the natural history of our area.

22 Washington Square North

22 Washington Square North is a historical landmark building and houses the Straus Institute for Advanced Study of Law & Justice.

Before this project was undertaken in April of 2006, this 110 sq ft. front garden of the building was composed of old, leggy boxwood and a tangled mass of ivy. NYU Garden Shop removed all existing plant material except for the London Planetree.  We chose Azalea 'Northern Lights" Mandarin Orange, Azalea 'Weston's Innocence,' Gallium odoratum, Deutzia Gracilis, Viburnum carlesii, Osteopermum, New Guinea Impatiens, Lavender 'Provence,' Skimmia japonica, and Pieris japonica 'Red Mill." We chose shrubs and perennials as a sustainable alternative and to minimize the number of annual plantings.

It is an ongoing project which includes maintaining the front garden.

5 Washington Square North

This building houses Faculty of Arts and Science Administration, which gave us great input for the design of the front garden.

The stately stone urns at 4 and 5 WSN were planted with Cornus alba ‘Bailhalo’ (Ivory Halo Dogwood) which is a variegated, compact form of red twig Dogwood. The cascading plants in the urns are Bacopa (also sometimes named Sutera) and Scaevola, which has the common name Fanflower. The annual bed featured daisies, marigolds, and a very sturdy patch of Lantana. The front bed is lined with rows of Red Carpet Roses and Lavender ‘Provence.’

The Rhododendron roseum ‘Elegans’ was painstakingly transplanted into this tight spot from a container it had overgrown on Washington Place. It appears to have benefited our application of a biostimulant which encourages mychorrizal growth on the plant’s root system. Biostimulants are an excellent alternative to high nitrogen synthetic fertilizers because they encourage soil microbial action (especially important for damaged urban soils) and they don’t result in rapid plant growth, which can attract pests.

We started work in April 2006 and it has been an ongoing project which includes maintaining the front garden.

Coles Sports Center

In summer of 2006, we built a raised flowerbed with a cobblestone wall on the south side of the entrance to Coles Sports Center.

Some of the plants featured were Sedum ‘Autumn Joy,’ Liatris spicata, Zinnia, Cornus alba ‘Bailhalo,’ Heuchera ‘Amber Waves.’ Begonia ‘Sinbad,’ Asclepias curassivica, Coleus ‘Alabama Sunset’ Pennisetum (Purple Fountain Grass), Cuphea ‘David’ and Torenia. The plants were selected according to the flower beds different micro climates. The Eastern end of the flower bed close to Mercer street, features plants that tolerate high moisture. Plants on the western end, closer to Coles Sports Center were selected for their tolerance of drier soil and more sunlight.

The garden was very colorful until first week of December 2006.

The weedy lawn on the north side of the entrance to Coles Sports Center was removed in the summer of 2006 to make way for a flower border.

Some of the plantings included Brillantaisia subulugarica (Giant Sage), Ruellia elegans, Euphorbia, Ipomea batatas (Sweet Potato Vine), Rudbeckia ‘Cherokee Sunset,’ Zinnia ‘Profusion,’ Helichrysum petiolaris, Coleus ‘Alabama Sunset,’ Caladium, Gazania, Centaurea, and Scaevola.

This garden remained colorful until the week after Thanksgiving, when we removed the annuals to make way for bulbs.

In the future, we’ll be adding more perennials and shrubs to this area for year round interest.

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