Green Park Gardeners

Green Park Gardeners NYC (GPGNYC) is a group of volunteer gardeners – all residents  of the Upper East Side community – dedicated to the care of the East River Esplanade’s Andrew Haswell Green Park, which overlooks the river between 60th and 63rd Streets in Manhattan.

GPGNYC began in 2013 when several gardeners from the East 50s and 60s joined together after Superstorm Sandy to salvage the park, which had been inundated by storm surge.

We are deeply committed to the protection, restoration, and enhancement of our local Upper East Side’s open spaces and to the cultivation of native plants, which beautify our neighborhood and attract and sustain native pollinating insects and bird life.

Our pesticide-free pollinator and native plant garden is a certified Monarch Waystation.  We have also joined the Pollinator Pathway, a corridor of public and private properties dedicated to providing habitat for pollinators.

GPGNYC operates with the support of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and Friends of the East River Esplanade 60th -120th Streets.

Why native plants?

Native or indigenous plants, especially those that provide nectar and larval food for pollinators, form the basis of a complex food web that connects native species within a specific ecosystem. Pollinators include bees, birds, bats, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, wasps, and even small mammals.

Native plants promote biodiversity, require less water and maintenance, and can thrive without pesticides or fertilizer because they evolved in a specific habitat to grow naturally. 

While current garden trends favor native plants, we are at a critical point of losing many pollinators due to loss of habitat, land fragmentation, pesticide use, invasive plant and animal species, and diseases and parasites. The Empire Native Pollinator Survey released in August 2022 found that 38% to 60% of the pollinators targeted by the survey are at risk -- including 24% of the bees. 

Learn more about native plants.

GPGNYC believes that even in a small urban garden, incorporating native plants into the landscape can make a difference in the lives of pollinators and our community.

Native Plant Resources

Become an EsplanadeFriend today!