By Phyllis Odessey
Some people might think an old comfort station from the 1940’s is not a place to make garden. At Randall’s Island, we think every place is a good place to make a garden.
In a previous blog, “A Brillant Plan” I talked about Eunyoung Sebazco’s design for the old comfort station. We’ve made a great deal of progress. Kaity Cheng and Aaron Moritz have put their design and carpentry skills to the test. The garden will be enclosed by a wood border and will include ground cover, perennials, and vegetables.
Aaron Moritz drills two corner boards together
Kaity Cheng uses the skill saw skillfully.
This garden is across from The Learning Garden, our Edible Education Program for public school children. Most of the garden is devoted to growing vegetables, but a small portion is the sensory and botanical zoo garden.
The two gardens are linked in their intention. The Animal Zoo is a part of the garden that teaches children about botanical Latin using the common names of plants as way to develop an understanding of plant names and identification. The comfort station Animal Zoo will feature the following plants:
Bergenia cordifolia = PIGSsqueak
Digitalis purpurea “Foxy’ = FOXglove
Nepeta x fassenii = CATmint
Tricythris x Sinonome = TOAD lilly
Stachys = LAMBS ear
Acanthus = BEARS breeches
Come by and take a look at our Botanical Zoo. The animals won’t “bite.”
Gardens Randalls 