Last week some of our gardeners were asking for recommendations regarding good sources for plants. In
response, we provided some of the usual run of the mill places year in Brooklyn (The Brooklyn Terminal Market, Home Depot, etc.). They are run of the mill because they are not places you turn to if you are looking for a good (“exotic”) variety of plants. But they serve a more mundane purpose, in that that at the two sources cited before ( and many like them) you can find colorful and popular plants that meet the budget. And at this moment, that's that not a bad thing.
As fate would have it, though, I met up with neighbor and fellow gardener, Shelly Hagan (member of the Dean Street Community Garden in Prospect Heights), who turn me unto a wonderful resource for exotic garden plants. It is the Gowanus Nursery in Red Hood. Located at 45 Summit (Van Brunt and Columbia streets), this nursery offers up a wide variety of unusual annual, perennials, and shrubs that will allow any garden the opportunity to design a sophisticated garden. And similar to the Terminal Market and Home Depot, their pricing fits within the budget.
Visit them at they website www.gowanusnursery.com. Then go check them out. From what I observed, this nursery's aim is to fill the void that The Terminal Market and Home Depot create with their limited offerings. So if you are looking to load up on Petunias, you may still need to trek over to those places. But if you are looking to create that stunning rock garden, for example, this is definitely the place to go.
Here is a New York Times article that addresses an issue we all should become more aware of. Like so many other foods, seafood has been, and continues to be, severely damaged by industrialization (chemical run-off, etc.), over-fishing, and detrimental fish-farming practices.
