Winter in New York City can be brutal, with whipping cold winds and the post-holiday blues. Hidden beauties in the gardens give us a sense of hope that spring is just around the corner—despite the winter cold. Pay close attention as these plants are easily missed as we all briskly walk back into the warm safety of the indoors. Some highlights in Madison Square Park include our nationally accredited witch hazel collection, which is just now beginning to bloom. This fascinating adaptation allows them to take advantage of hungry pollinators and provide a valuable food source, with flowers that can bloom for up to eight weeks, averting frost damage by closing up when temperatures plummet. 

Hamamelis virginiana ‘Christmas Gold’ is in full bloom at the Madison and 25th street entrance. Its yellow, delicate flowers are small; with crinkly petals and a deep red center, they light up the winter landscape like nothing else! This plant has an extensive history of being used medicinally, and is still used today for making astringent used in skincare. 

Look out for berries this winter because they play a huge role in supporting wildlife when food is scarce. Bright red holly berries can be found around the Farragut Monument, and provide essential nutrients for many birds. The most common specimen in Madison Square Park is Ilex x ‘Nellie R. Stevens,’ the ‘x’ indicating that it is a hybrid cultivar of Ilex aquifolium and Ilex cornuta. Hollies are broadleaf evergreen trees, and are dioecious, meaning male and female flowers occur on separate plants. Female plants are the only ones that bear fruit, and a male holly has to be planted nearby in order to be pollinated, with the help of pollinators in the early spring when hollies begin to bloom. Although the flowers may be inconspicuous, they are busy with pollinator activity in the spring. 

Another fruit of note are crabapples, specifically Malus x ‘Donald Wyman,’ located on the south side of the Police Officer Moira Ann Smith Playground. This variety is a spontaneous seedling discovered by Donald Wyman in 1950, the prolific horticulturalist out of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University. While the fragrant white flowers that appear in April are certainly beautiful, the fruit that persists well into winter provide a much needed source of food for birds and other wildlife. This cultivar is especially important because crabapples are separated into two classes: species that have persistent fruit, fruit that clings to the branches and does not drop, versus species that drop their fruit once ripe. This adds not only to the ecological value of these trees, but adds beautiful winter interest.

Take time to notice all that the winter landscape has to offer, as it may be fleeting, but beautiful! Next time you’re in the park, keep an eye out for the red-tailed hawk, who is taking shelter during the winter snow storms. Its presence is another reminder of just how important our urban oasis is for supporting native wildlife.