Pollinator Place Gardens

New York City's pollinators play an important role in growing our food and gardens and supporting our city's plant and wildlife biodiversity. Unfortunately, pollinators are suffering because of climate change, habitat loss, and competition for resources from non-native species. To help support bees, moths, butterflies, and other essential native pollinators, we're growing Pollinator Places in our parks!

Pollinator Place Garden Locations

Since June 2021, Parks has announced the completion of 17 Pollinator Place gardens in parks across the five boroughs:

At our Pollinator Place gardens, we're growing native plants year-round that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also beneficial to a diverse population of pollinators as well as birds and small mammals. Plants that are native to the local region have been shown to offer the most comprehensive ecosystem benefits to area wildlife when contrasted with exotic plants. 

Tour Our Pollinator Place Gardens

Take a peek inside our pollinator place garden beds at Calvert Vaux Park and South Oxford Park in Brooklyn, Queens Plaza South in Queens, and Morningside Park in Manhattan. 

Monarch butterflies, bees, and wasps frequent our pollinator garden at Calvert Vaux Park in Brooklyn where our gardeners grow willow-leaved sunflowers, brilliant purple ironweed, blue giant hyssop, and joe-pye weeds for summertime.

Monarch butterflies, bees, and wasps frequent our pollinator garden at Calvert Vaux Park in Brooklyn where our gardeners grow willow-leaved sunflowers, brilliant purple ironweed, blue giant hyssop, and joe-pye weeds for summertime.

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Monarch butterflies, bees, and wasps frequent our pollinator garden at Calvert Vaux Park in Brooklyn where our gardeners grow willow-leaved sunflowers, brilliant purple ironweed, blue giant hyssop, and joe-pye weeds for summertime.
When growing a pollinator garden, our gardeners consider enhancing the aesthetic beauty of park spaces while also incorporating a variety of plants pollinators love, including these willow-leaved sunflowers and ironweed plants at the pollinator garden in Calvert Vaux Park.
Before it officially became a Pollinator Place garden, South Oxford Park suffered from a rat infestation, and we had to remove all the plants. Thanks to our Horticulture crew, it's now a haven for bees and butterflies where tiny yellow tickseeds, coneflowers, and peach and yellow yarrow bloom.
Most of the garden bed is filled with pollinator-friendly yarrow flowers that add pops of color while providing critical habitat for our pollinators.
Our pollinator place gardens include trees, too. The Queens Plaza South Pollinator Place garden along the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge is filled with these towering sumac trees, as well as redbud and shadberry trees combined with black chokeberry, inkberry, and spicebush shrubs.
Along the border of the garden are wispy little bluestems and bright yellow goldenrods, which butterflies love.
Some of our pollinator place gardens are sprinkled with seasonal plantings that add pops of color among our native plants, like this native oak hydrangea among the purple alliums and white tulips at our pollinator place garden near the pond in Morningside Park.
The pollinator garden at Morningside Park also includes a patch of foxglove which, when in bloom, attracts butterflies and the occasional hummingbird.

Pollinator Place Garden Facts & Features:

  • At least 60% of the total number of plants used in the site are made up of non-cultivar plant species that are native to the New York City region.
  • 25% of the total number of plants used can be made up of Northeast regional native plants.
  • Plants in the garden include goldenrod, aster, and sunflower and are great for native caterpillars and bees, and attractive to generalist pollinators such as butterflies, flower flies, and solitary wasps.
  • Other top perennial plants include Joe pye weeds, monardas, and mountain mints.
  • Let the grass grow! The clumping base of native perennial bunch grasses provide shelter and overwintering sites for butterfly life stages, bumble bees, beetles, and other beneficial insects.      

Parks and gardens provide essential habitat – places that provide food and shelter for local biological diversity. The best way to maintain this habitat is by planting native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees, and leaving our gardens in a more natural state with leaves, logs, and plant stems. 

Features

Pollinators: Bees, Butterflies, and Beyond

Pollinators: Bees, Butterflies, and Beyond

Explore the lives of various pollinators in our parks and more ways we're helping them thrive in our city. Learn more

Learning Hub

How to Support Pollinators

Discover how you can help pollinators thrive in our city by growing your own garden or volunteering. Learn more