2005
An earlier perimeter planting plan
The May 2005 tree-planting article also recorded the Trustees’ plans for 41 tree gardens around the Park and six planters outside the north gate. Work was expected to begin later that month.
That proposed planting predates the Gramercy Park Block Association’s 2010 restoration described below. The two accounts concern different stages of care and should not be treated as the same project.
A project outside the fence
The Block Association’s 2010 restoration of the 41 street-tree gardens included iron fences, cobblestone edging and planter boxes, according to the June 2018 newsletter.
Keeping the gardens planted
A May 2014 Trustees update announced dragon-leaf begonias for all 41 gardens. The June 2018 Trustees report again recorded seasonal planting around the perimeter.
2019
Another spring planting
The May 23, 2019 newsletter carried Kathleen Scupp’s Trustees update on the perimeter gardens: 800 big-leaf begonias and 400 liriope plants had been planted around the 41 street trees. The same letter separately described seasonal planting inside the Park.
The planting figures add a specific year to the longer record of care outside the fence. They describe that season’s choices, not a planting specification for every subsequent year.
2021
The change from bulbs to begonias
On May 14, 2021, the Block Association reported delivery of more than 800 Big Red Brown Leaf begonias for the 41 perimeter tree gardens, with planting taking place that day. The newsletter expected them to flower into early November, when the seasonal cycle would return to daffodil bulbs.
Sean Brady photographed the summer planting.
Find the tree above the garden
A planted bed is also the growing space of a particular tree. The street-tree map connects the brass tags around the Park with the species, photographs and recorded needs of each one.
