Each season we will highlight a different group of native plants that are best-suited for that time of year. These collections will give you a sense of how you can create your own beautiful landscape, rooftop, or window box while providing a service to our ever-important pollinators. These native plants will help restore the diverse ecosystem that was once here, and provide food sources and habitat for local wildlife.

Our Spring display features beach plum, pussy willow, black huckleberry, and mountain laurel as the woody shrubs that create the framework for the perennials planted below. Groundcovers such as Iris cristata, Viola sororia, and Anemone canadensis spread to cover bare soil in the garden. More shade-tolerant species like Aquilegia canadensis, Dyropteris marginalis, and Maianthemum racemosum add color and texture to the dappled shade of any woodland garden. Antennaria neglecta supports the American painted lady butterfly caterpillars, which munch on the foliage. Fragaria virginiana may look familiar to those who love strawberries! Our native wild strawberry has small delicious fruits.

We hope you’ll stop by our spring native plant garden the next time you’re in the park—it is located by the Reflecting Pool. Please also join us in our effort to add more native plants to our city. For more information, download our Guide to Restoring Native Plants in NYC.

(Photos by Mark Gallucci)