Brooklyn Heights

A Garden Grows in Brooklyn: Beauty in Brooklyn Heights

Promenade Garden tours for Garden Club of America members

September 15, 2016 By John Alexander Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Photos courtesy of Koren Volk.
Share this:

There’s a beautiful garden blooming in Brooklyn Heights. On Sunday, Sept. 18, from 2:45 to 4 p.m., the Promenade Garden Conservancy (PGC) volunteers will be giving tours of the Promenade for members of the Garden Club of America (GCA).

The GCA’s annual Shirley Meneice Horticulture Conference will be hosted by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 19 and 20.

To kick off the event on Sunday, Sept. 18, Donna Ganson (a member of the local GCA chapter) asked Neil Calet, Project Director of the PGC and Koren Volk (a member of the local GCA chapter) if the PGC could provide a guided tour of the Promenade and the beautiful garden for GCA members from across the country. The guided tour of the Promenade garden is reserved for GCA members, but the tours may be open to the public at a later date.

When Ganson first approached the PGC about the possibility of doing the tours, Calet said, “What a great opportunity to introduce the PGC’s achievements to gardeners and garden enthusiasts from beyond the borough’s borders.”

Volk added, “The Promenade and the Promenade Garden are treasures open to the whole city. It seems appropriate that we share it with the whole country.”

The Promenade tour will start at the Montague Street entrance at 3 p.m. There will be approximately 12 PGC volunteers who have offered to act as guides for the tours. The larger group will be divided into smaller groups of about 10 people with a PGC volunteer guide leading each one. 

The volunteer guide will provide a brief background on the design and building of the BQE and Promenade in 1950, the history of the gardens, the Brooklyn Heights community’s interest in the gardens, the formation of the PGC (Public-Private Partnership) in 2009 and volunteerism.

The presentation part of the tour will last approximately15 or 20 minutes, followed by a question and answer session.

After the tour of the Promenade, GCA Conference delegates will be moving on to a tour of Brooklyn Bridge Park starting at 4 p.m. at Pier 1, followed by dinner at the Casino at 6 p.m.

The GCA is expecting over 200 delegates at the conference, with approximately 150 attending the dinner on Sunday evening. Lyndon Miller will be the guest speaker and may be attending the tour of the Promenade as well. 130 delegates are expected to join the tour. There is a tremendous amount of excitement surrounding this event among members of the Garden Club of America.

 

Subscribe to our newsletters


Leave a Comment


Leave a Comment