Below are mini-bios and stories about and by our gardeners. If you would like your bio posted, send a photo and a description to [email protected]. Tell us about yourself as a gardener, how you became involved, and what you like to do. You may also want to tell a favorite story or memory of your garden.
Christina Delfico
Written by Joyce Short

Ask eight year Roosevelt Island Garden Club (RIGC) Member Christina Delfico about her efforts toward ecology and the benefit of plants in an urban environment, then settle-in with a good cup of coffee. Best make it a grande!
Christina, who earned a BS in Communication & Biology from James Madison University, returned to her scientific roots after serving as an Emmy nominated Executive Producer and Vice President for Sesame Workshop. She also chairs the Green Committee of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and supports NYC Film Green, both aimed at promoting environmental sustainability.
In addition to juggling her many professional assignments, Christina founded iDig2Learn, a non-profit, under the fiscal sponsorship of the Open Space Institute that buys huge tracts of land in order to protect them from development. Her goal has been to meld together society’s need for clean water, clean air, and clean food with education. “We’re all living creatures,” she says. “We’re all part of nature.”
Stewardship of our planet is a common thread in all the projects Christina has masterminded. She’s been the driving force behind the creation of an urban mini-orchard with five varieties of apples trees and five milkweed and nectar plant beds that dot Roosevelt Island’s landscape. Milkweed serves as a host plant for Monarch butterflies whose populations have dwindled in recent years. Our beds, planted by a host of Island volunteers, help sustain them during their flight along the Eastern corridor.
In 2015, Christina organized five hundred attendees who turned out to beautify the grounds around the tram for Earth Day. And recently she embarked on an effort to bring the overgrown, under-utilized common space at Coler Hospital back to life for the enjoyment of patients and their visitors with the help of over 100 Google employees and the Citizens Committee for New York City.
Christina, who earned a BS in Communication & Biology from James Madison University, returned to her scientific roots after serving as an Emmy nominated Executive Producer and Vice President for Sesame Workshop. She also chairs the Green Committee of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and supports NYC Film Green, both aimed at promoting environmental sustainability.
In addition to juggling her many professional assignments, Christina founded iDig2Learn, a non-profit, under the fiscal sponsorship of the Open Space Institute that buys huge tracts of land in order to protect them from development. Her goal has been to meld together society’s need for clean water, clean air, and clean food with education. “We’re all living creatures,” she says. “We’re all part of nature.”
Stewardship of our planet is a common thread in all the projects Christina has masterminded. She’s been the driving force behind the creation of an urban mini-orchard with five varieties of apples trees and five milkweed and nectar plant beds that dot Roosevelt Island’s landscape. Milkweed serves as a host plant for Monarch butterflies whose populations have dwindled in recent years. Our beds, planted by a host of Island volunteers, help sustain them during their flight along the Eastern corridor.
In 2015, Christina organized five hundred attendees who turned out to beautify the grounds around the tram for Earth Day. And recently she embarked on an effort to bring the overgrown, under-utilized common space at Coler Hospital back to life for the enjoyment of patients and their visitors with the help of over 100 Google employees and the Citizens Committee for New York City.

The Best is Yet to Come!
Christina’s largest and most complex undertaking to date, the “Green Roof” atop PS/IS 217, garnered $1,950,000 in grants and contributions from NY City Council Member Ben Kallos, Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. Working together with Principal Mandana Beckman, Ursula Fokine, and the PTA at PS/IS 217, they navigated funding sources and rallied community votes in City Council’s Participatory Budget competition. Once complete (in 2019), PS/IS 217 students will literally get a hands-on education that uses their new outdoor classroom for all their subjects. In addition, they’ll learn about the earth, living systems, nutrition, and how the entire food chain works.
The Green Roof itself will add additional ecological benefits such as supporting pollinators, reducing energy costs, producing shade, and providing a beautiful, calming space.
Christina’s largest and most complex undertaking to date, the “Green Roof” atop PS/IS 217, garnered $1,950,000 in grants and contributions from NY City Council Member Ben Kallos, Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. Working together with Principal Mandana Beckman, Ursula Fokine, and the PTA at PS/IS 217, they navigated funding sources and rallied community votes in City Council’s Participatory Budget competition. Once complete (in 2019), PS/IS 217 students will literally get a hands-on education that uses their new outdoor classroom for all their subjects. In addition, they’ll learn about the earth, living systems, nutrition, and how the entire food chain works.
The Green Roof itself will add additional ecological benefits such as supporting pollinators, reducing energy costs, producing shade, and providing a beautiful, calming space.
Coming Up!
And as if that weren’t enough, Christina is the driving force behind two upcoming island events:
On November 3rd, at the lower lawn of Manhattan Park, tiny tots and grandfathers alike will shout, “Look out below!” as they reach the top of the ladder to hurl their rotting Halloween pumpkins to the ground and splatter them into mush. To produce Roosevelt Island’s third annual “Pumpkin Smash,” Christina partnered with RIOC, RIGC, and the NYC Compost Project hosted by Big Reuse. It’s the first step in turning decomposed material into compost, and it educates young and old about harnessing natural systems to protect the environment.
On Sunday, November 18th from 12-3pm, iDig2Learn is partnering with RIOC and GrowNYC to host a SWAP Event at the Manhattan Park Theater Club. Acceptable items to swap are clothing in good condition, toys, books, kitchen items, electronics, packaged food that has not expired, un-opened cosmetics, shoes, sports equipment, jewelry and more. Christina delights in the fact that all items “won’t go to waste. And they won’t go to landfills!”
Christina credits many RIGC garden members including Julia Ferguson, Anthony Longo, Vaughn Anglesey and Dr. Ali Schwayri for the success of all iDig2Learn endeavors.
If you’d like to help with the Smash or SWAP events, you can contact Christina at [email protected]. Be sure to put the words "Volunteer/SWAP" or "Volunteer/Pumpkin Smash" in your subject line.
And as if that weren’t enough, Christina is the driving force behind two upcoming island events:
On November 3rd, at the lower lawn of Manhattan Park, tiny tots and grandfathers alike will shout, “Look out below!” as they reach the top of the ladder to hurl their rotting Halloween pumpkins to the ground and splatter them into mush. To produce Roosevelt Island’s third annual “Pumpkin Smash,” Christina partnered with RIOC, RIGC, and the NYC Compost Project hosted by Big Reuse. It’s the first step in turning decomposed material into compost, and it educates young and old about harnessing natural systems to protect the environment.
On Sunday, November 18th from 12-3pm, iDig2Learn is partnering with RIOC and GrowNYC to host a SWAP Event at the Manhattan Park Theater Club. Acceptable items to swap are clothing in good condition, toys, books, kitchen items, electronics, packaged food that has not expired, un-opened cosmetics, shoes, sports equipment, jewelry and more. Christina delights in the fact that all items “won’t go to waste. And they won’t go to landfills!”
Christina credits many RIGC garden members including Julia Ferguson, Anthony Longo, Vaughn Anglesey and Dr. Ali Schwayri for the success of all iDig2Learn endeavors.
If you’d like to help with the Smash or SWAP events, you can contact Christina at [email protected]. Be sure to put the words "Volunteer/SWAP" or "Volunteer/Pumpkin Smash" in your subject line.
Elizabeth Bolden
Winner Best Garden 2016

I grew up in what is now Cherry Hill Township in Camden County, New Jersey on a 300-acre farm. My Dad was a farmer and his extensive vegetable garden, along with milk from the cows and meat from hogs and chickens, provided just about everything we needed. My stay-at-home Mom loved flowers and our house was surrounded with her many flower beds including a large rose garden and rows of peonies. I helped with weeding and at some point I was allotted my own little plot to seed and nurture. So digging in the soil is second nature for me.
When I moved to Roosevelt Island in 1992 and discovered the community garden, I visited often to admire and to take photos. It was only after I retired that I applied for membership. I was quite excited at the prospect of again having a little piece of soil in which to grow flowering plants here in the middle of the city. I felt our farmers market did a wonderful job of providing fruits and vegetables. So no edibles for me, I wanted flowers. It took a few frustrating years of trying, rather badly, to maintain my predecessor’s well-developed garden before deciding to completely redo plot B30. I accomplished this by changing its configuration, adding a bench, some paving stones, and truly making it mine.
My first plant purchase was four peony bushes in honor of my Mom who loved them so. Over the years I have added and subtracted so many different plants—anything that catches my eye. What makes gardening so interesting is the element of trial and error and constant learning of what works and what doesn’t work. I maintain a card file on each plant with information on pruning, watering, and other comments: love this one, not crazy about that one, that one not crazy about me, refusing to grow.
After the tulips and daffodils and tulips announce the arrival of spring, the perennials such as geranium, sedum, and hydrangea usually show up for another year. One or more trips to the garden centers provide a variety of annuals. Two of my many favorites are the begonias tucked under the garden bench that bloom all summer and a potato vine or two that have the very bad habit of finding their way into two adjoining plots. Fortunately my neighbors don’t seem to mind the intrusion. The garden is chock- full of plants and is a bit on the wild and very colorful side. I think, perhaps, that is its main appeal to others (especially those on the Garden Club’s Standards Committee, who honored B-30 as Garden of the Year in 2016); it certainly is to me. This year, a toad appears to have taken up residence in one my beds. It can’t get any better than that!
The Roosevelt Island community garden is a wonderful place. I love being surrounded by bird songs, and lovely gardeners with very different and very lovely gardens. The friendly sharing of gardening tips and the trading of plants adds to the pleasure of gardening and makes all the bug bites and sore muscles from weeding and digging well worth every minute spent there.
When I moved to Roosevelt Island in 1992 and discovered the community garden, I visited often to admire and to take photos. It was only after I retired that I applied for membership. I was quite excited at the prospect of again having a little piece of soil in which to grow flowering plants here in the middle of the city. I felt our farmers market did a wonderful job of providing fruits and vegetables. So no edibles for me, I wanted flowers. It took a few frustrating years of trying, rather badly, to maintain my predecessor’s well-developed garden before deciding to completely redo plot B30. I accomplished this by changing its configuration, adding a bench, some paving stones, and truly making it mine.
My first plant purchase was four peony bushes in honor of my Mom who loved them so. Over the years I have added and subtracted so many different plants—anything that catches my eye. What makes gardening so interesting is the element of trial and error and constant learning of what works and what doesn’t work. I maintain a card file on each plant with information on pruning, watering, and other comments: love this one, not crazy about that one, that one not crazy about me, refusing to grow.
After the tulips and daffodils and tulips announce the arrival of spring, the perennials such as geranium, sedum, and hydrangea usually show up for another year. One or more trips to the garden centers provide a variety of annuals. Two of my many favorites are the begonias tucked under the garden bench that bloom all summer and a potato vine or two that have the very bad habit of finding their way into two adjoining plots. Fortunately my neighbors don’t seem to mind the intrusion. The garden is chock- full of plants and is a bit on the wild and very colorful side. I think, perhaps, that is its main appeal to others (especially those on the Garden Club’s Standards Committee, who honored B-30 as Garden of the Year in 2016); it certainly is to me. This year, a toad appears to have taken up residence in one my beds. It can’t get any better than that!
The Roosevelt Island community garden is a wonderful place. I love being surrounded by bird songs, and lovely gardeners with very different and very lovely gardens. The friendly sharing of gardening tips and the trading of plants adds to the pleasure of gardening and makes all the bug bites and sore muscles from weeding and digging well worth every minute spent there.
Curtis Lowrey
My interest in gardening was kindled by my grandfather, who loved to grow flowers and also had a small crop garden. When I moved to the Island I became active in RIGC by sharing a plot. A few years later I had my own plot. I took a break from gardening and am back now as an associate. I love the challenge of creating an environment that really works in the space and always has something blooming or reflects the seasons. As we know, it's tough to eliminate all the lovely plants out there that are gorgeous but don't fit into an overall plan. Then of course, there are also the financial costs of putting everything in place.
As for helping to transform the west border, it's been a challenge because it's not my own space. The border offers a very different environment than I have ever dealt with before. A shady space affects the type of plants that will be successful. We needed many plants to begin to fill this newly cleaned side area and asked for donations-- thus lots and lots of hostas. This has been a learning curve as well, that there is such a huge variety of hostas! Today, the space has bones. The challenge now is adding plants that are unusual and will offer variety. While waiting for a future permanent plot, I'm enjoying learning from this experience which will further benefit me and my gardening neighbors.