6BC Botanical Garden

Overview

6BC Botanical was one of the first gardens to promote a unified look and feel and emphasized native plants where possible. By the 1990s, it moved from the more typical amalgam of individual plot beds into a planned effort that looked at the whole garden. It divided it into a series of follies, each more beautiful than the next, and placed much emphasis on using native plants where possible. Arguably the most lovely horticultural space in the Lower East Side, it is both shady and sunny but does not try to grow vegetables. It has large trees and shrubs, a Japanese style house where members can eat on tiny porches, a series of ponds and wells, and a back area made of stone where people can sit and eat as well. Its grape trellises provide needed shade in the summer. The brick pathways wind throughout the gardens and also draw attention to the occasional architectural detail such as a salvaged cornice that now serves as a bench. The garden is so verdant that it takes a leap of faith to imagine it as it was originally, a dangerous Lower East Side burnt-down lot that needed to be cleared out and fenced in.

NYC East Village-Loisaida Community Gardens
updated 03/2012 by NYC Lower East Side East Village Community Gardens