US (NY): Inside the greenhouse that grows NYC’s flowers

Three greenhouses are responsible for the infinite colorful blooms in parks across New York: Greenbelt Native Plant Center on Staten Island, Forest Park Greenhouse in Queens and Citywide Nursery in the Bronx, which The New York Times explored on a recent rainy morning.

The Bronx nursery grows some 200,000 plants each year to be distributed to public parks citywide, according to its director, Richie Cabo.

Flower ambassadors from each borough place orders for their respective realms, and the greenhouses serve them up.

“Each borough has their own vision,” said Mr. Cabo. “Manhattan is really focused on perennials; Staten Island looks for a lot of native stuff; Brooklyn has Prospect Park, so they like bigger shrubs; and Bronx is kind of a mix — they grow a lot of their own annuals, so they rely on us for shrubs.”

The Queens greenhouse, he added, specializes in tropical plants, giving it “a whole different look” and making it the most high-end and visual of the three.

But the Bronx site is unusual in its own way. Until the 1960s, it existed as a tree nursery on Rikers Island, where inmates were tasked with caring for thousands of plants for the Parks Department.