Blog Archives

RIGC reconnects with Carter Burden Senior Center in 2018

7/31/2018

Tucked behind 546 Main Street is an oasis for seniors that's filled with potted plants, flowers, fruit trees, flowering vines, herbs, and friendly people! In May, after Louella Pais Streitz reached out to Julia Ferguson, a long time neighbor and friend, the Roosevelt Island Garden Club was able to serve again as a resource for our local Senior Center! RIGC had helped out at the Center and with RISA during the summer season of 2016. Two years ago, seniors enjoyed a field trip to the garden and then started some Potluck Patio Gardening of their own.

This year, we began the reconnection with a planning meeting. Lisa Fernandez, Louella, and others from the Senior Center as well as with Jane Swanson, Cornell Community Liaison in June and RIGC Board members attended. Then, Outreach and Publicity Chair, Robert Ostergaard and Secretary, Jack Burkhalter carried this project through the summer into the fall. The Senior Center leadership wanted to learn more about plants and about how to help seniors manage and enjoy their beautiful patio garden. With Robert and Jack's help and teaching, they were able to do just that. The final celebration and collaboration for this season happened at the End of Summer Potluck Party at the Roosevelt Island Senior Center on Friday, September 21, 2018!

RIGC Continues at Coler Hospital Campus

7/26/2018

Building on the success of our June collaboration with idig2learn, Green Roosevelt Island Neighbors, and Citizens Committee for New York City, members of the Roosevelt Island Garden Club have continued to volunteer and work this summer in the newly refurbished gardens at the NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler campus.

Many mornings you’ll find Julia Ferguson weeding between the new plantings and Anthony Longo mulching the beds. In fact, Julia Ferguson snapped a few recent photos (above) that show just how well the gardens, trees, and containers are flourishing thanks to the care (and frequent watering) by Coler residents.

One Beautiful Hungry Caterpillar at RIGC!

7/23/2018

We have been waiting and watching. Welcome to our community!

A Monarch butterfly caterpillar has been seen in the gardens. This is important after several years of planting native milkweed varieties (Asclepias tuberosa, Asclepias incarnata, and Asclepias syriaca) which are host plants for the caterpillars of these butterflies threatened by by habitat loss and pesticide use. One young gardener at RIGC who is learning about pollinators suggests that we should change the common name of these plants to "Milk Flowers" because they are not weeds!

Bring Back the Monarchs is one of many campaigns in the U.S. that has been working for these butterflies since 2005. iDig2Learn began important habitat restoration in 2015. The Monarch Corridor beds now located on the east side of the Island at Light House park and other native plantings all across Roosevelt Island are doing well. This is making a difference! Last fall we sighted many Monarch butterflies in October stopping for nectar on native and heirloom plantings during their migration south to Mexico.

RIGC rules that prohibit pesticide use are making a difference! Maybe our garden can be counted along with many other habitat restoration spots in NYC since we are participating in these important planting practices for biodiversity. Small changes can make a difference for our fellow creatures.

Front Gate Area Project and Remember to Lock Up

7/6/2018

Inch by inch, row by row...a group of landscape committee members, board members, and general volunteers have been sprucing up the front gate area and will continue.

They started with some much needed pruning and some weeding because there was an infestation of bindweed and even some poison ivy on the west. Next, Citigroup employees got us started on stone borders with pavers that liberated street tree pits. Then, with a member donation, RIGC able to source some native plants at wholesale prices from LI Natives. These specific plants like hot dry environments and will also add in some season color and feed many pollinators once established out front near the gates, in some of the tree pits on Main Street, and in our landscape beds.

Remember also to lock the gates during the week. The gardens are open to the public on weekends only from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

RIGC reconnects with Carter Burden Senior Center in 2018

RIGC Continues at Coler Hospital Campus

One Beautiful Hungry Caterpillar at RIGC!

Front Gate Area Project and Remember to Lock Up

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