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When I first joined Green Oasis Community Garden in 2024, I had essentially zero knowledge of gardening. More than that, I didn’t really understand what the purpose of a public garden was. Was it supposed to be an artistic expression of the gardeners? Provide beauty for the community? Or perhaps offer a refuge from the concrete jungle? How do we choose what sort of plants to plant?

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Designing a Native Plant Garden

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When I first joined Green Oasis Community Garden in 2024, I had essentially zero knowledge of gardening. More than that, I didn’t really understand what the purpose of a public garden was. Was it supposed to be an artistic expression of the gardeners? Provide beauty for the community? Or perhaps offer a refuge from the concrete jungle? How do we choose what sort of plants to plant?

Over the last two years, through a great deal of reading, conversation, and visits to other gardens, the concepts of “community” and “garden” started to merge. A “community” began to include not just the human garden members, but also the plants, insects, birds, other wildlife, and even the microbes in the soil. At the same time, the “garden” began to include the human gardeners themselves, not as external imposers of will, but as just another part of the ecosystem. The focus was no longer only on which plants and animals and humans are in the garden, but on how they relate to each other spatially, temporally, ecologically, and communally.

In order to provide food and shelter for wildlife, as well as beauty and education for humans, we decided to create a new native plant garden at Green Oasis. Native plants are those plants that are indigenous to the area, which have co-evolved with the local fauna for millions of years.

Garden

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Our most important task for the next year is regular and thorough weeding, at least every few weeks. Other than that, we can think about higher level concerns. Are the groundcovers filling in nicely, or do they need to be supplemented? Are the flowers providing continuous bloom throughout the year or does the composition need to be amended? In a few years, we can consider whether we need to do a cutback in spring to preserve visual legibility (however, we’ll try to leave it alone if possible in order to preserve wildlife habitat). We will be sure to observe our visiting bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators and wildlife, as well as create more educational material to share our work and learnings with the community.

Any questions or comments can be emailed to surya at modalduality dot org. If you’re ever in the New York area, come visit us at Green Oasis Community Garden in the East Village! We’re open weekends and have many exciting events including theatre, concerts, and volunteer workdays.

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