Ask the Expert: Photographer and ‘New York Green’ Author Ngoc Minh Ngo on her Favorite NYC Green Spaces
Parks and gardens might not be the first things you think of when you envision New York City, but these green spaces are vital to its vibrancy and health.
New York Green: Discovering the City’s Most Treasured Parks and Gardens by Ngoc Minh Ngo hits bookstores on May 23. Photographer and writer traveled throughout the city’s five boroughs to document some of these sustaining places for her new book .
Prettiest Views
In spring the promontory lawn at Hunter’s Point South Park in Queens is abloom with daffodils. It has an amazing view unlike anywhere else.
Photographs by Ngoc Minh Ngo.
Best for Birdwatching
Photographs by Ngoc Minh Ngo.
“The most spectacular ecological feature of the park—a harmonious marriage of ecology and urban park design—is the Flower Field on the rambling Pier 6,” writes Ngo of Brooklyn Bridge Park.
The Met Cloisters is spectacular when all the tulips and bulbs are in bloom.
Best for Spring Flowers
Shady Summer Go-to
Photographs by Ngoc Minh Ngo.
“The Battery prides itself as a ‘paradise of plants,’ with the largest perennial gardens in North America free and open to the public every day,” notes Ngo. It is more a garden than a park, with Oudolf’s planting as the star.
Also, I love to visit the Liz Christy Community Garden, the city’s first official community garden, when the metasequoia tree is in full leaf.
Favorite Fall Spot
“I love to go to Central Park to see the Chrysanthemums in the Conservatory Garden. I normally don’t like that almost eye-candy-like kind of gardening, but it’s done so well. The colors are eye-catching without being garish. The Korean chrysanthemums are so graceful. And it’s just a beautiful sentiment.”
Dreamiest Winter Wonderland
“As winter gives way to spring, the blooming heaths cut an undulating swath of pink and white through the heather beds,” writes Ngo of the Heather Garden at Fort Tryon Park.
Photographs by Ngoc Minh Ngo.
I love Prospect Park after a snowstorm when the trees are beautifully crystalized You feel like you re in a winter wonderland Then the Heather Garden at Fort Tryon Park in late winter when the heath are in...
...bloom It s unique you can t see that anywhere else in the city It s also always a treat to visit the New York Botanical Garden to see all the colors in their annual Orchid Show
Photographs by Ngoc Minh Ngo.
Best-Kept Secret Garden
“This portal to a world of poetry and another way of seeing is just a short ferry ride away,” writes Ngo of New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden in Staten Island.
It’s a tiny place but I gave it six pages because I wanted to talk about how every little place can actually play a part in green infrastructure and water management.