More Trees On the Way to Flatbush Avenue

Brooklyn Botanic Garden will be planting dozens of trees, donated by the City, along Flatbush Avenue in the coming weeks.

The Parks Department is sending the trees after many went unplanted during last year’s shutdown. A variety of native and nonnative species will be included, and the Garden will develop the planting plan and care for them as they are established.

Native species will go on the northern end, alongside the Native Flora Garden, and a mix of nonnative species will stretch along the southern end. Lindens will fill in some of the space between established Norway maples, and other species will be arranged in informal, mixed groups. “We’ll also be considering the ultimate size of the trees so that they offer the optimal amount of sun and shade to our collection,” says Rowan Blaik, the Garden’s vice president of Horticulture.

The trees will provide much needed shade in summer. Urban trees also offer habitat to birds and other wildlife, trap pollutants, and mitigate the urban heat island effect through transpiration. Their root systems absorb excess rain during storms, which helps prevent sewer overflow.