Photography by Marie Viljoen for Gardenista.
Gowanus Nursery in Brooklyn is not in the neighborhood of Gowanus. In an open-air lot beside her indoor shop and home, owner Michele Palladino sells an intense mix of trees, shrubs and perennials, as well as plants she has propagated herself.
The nursery was born in Gowanus in 2003, when Michele Palladino cleared a lot of Ailanthus trees and launched her business. Subject to the wild tides of local real estate, it has had to up-anchor twice ahead of development.
For plant lovers the show starts early, on the sidewalk, where Michele rejuvenated a narrow strip between the concrete and the nursery’s yard.
For Brooklyn author and rosarian-turned-baker Sarah Owens, a beautifully trained specimen of the heirloom rose ‘Veilchenblau,’ is reason enough for a visit.
The nursery’s 2011 beginnings were bare and uninspiring.
Circa 2011
Unlike most nurseries where the plants are transients, the Gowanus Nursery has a compelling assortment of permanent plantings.
2016
A Carolina hornbeam forest was planted right after Hurricane Sandy (when seawater flooded the building’s basement).”I didn’t feel it as a remarkable event at the time, but maybe it was,” says Michele.
In mid spring sidewalk Valerian (a calming choice for stressed city gardeners?)
A delectable columbine—Aquilegia viridiflora—beckons in a rock garden outside the nursery gates.
“I’d be much more of a seed freak if I had more space,” she says.
While the nursery’s main customers used to be “gardeners of a certain age” says Michele, more and more younger customers are finding their way there, in part, she thinks, because the nursery has a dedicated houseplant space and because many younger people don’t have much, if any, gardening space in the expensive city.
Sarah adds that while her own garden design work sends her to wholesale growers, she shops at the Gowanus Nursery when she is looking for “extra-special plants,” as Michele has a well-curated collection.
Like many self-invented horticulturists, Michele’s background is a kaleidoscope of pursuits, each bringing her a step closer to nursery-owning life.
On her days off she took a part-time job at a nursery, and after a subsequent stint in construction management began working for celebrity-landscape designer Edwina von Gal.
To customers the nursery is an enticing green haven.
“I’m aware of my dwindling resources in the physical arena, because they are put to the test day after day. The unloading of trucks is relentless in the spring. So I sometimes have people say in April or May ‘Are you going to get anything more?’ for the season and I just burst out laughing.”
Despite a relatively small footprint, the selection of plants in the nursery is diverse, and for a plant geek, irresistible.
In the kitchen garden section of the nursery an in-ground black raspberry (from the original Gowanus site) forms a backdrop against a south-facing wall, evidence of fruit that thrives in a city.
Annual climbing spinach (Basella rubra), perennial Alpine strawberries, potted figs, and grape vines share space with aromatics and edibles.
Dwarf Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum humile) is handy for gardens that cannot accommodate the generous arching clumps of its full-size relative.
Local horticulturist Dodo Loechle says about the nursery’s plant menu: “I often recommend it as a place where one can get unusual plants and shade plants.” Garden designer Julia Miller of Four Gardens recently ordered 60 of the full size Solomon’s seal, and says she was grateful for their gentle treatment.
In my own challenging Brooklyn garden, where sun and shade mix, my plant palette has been expanded by the selections at the Gowanus Nursery.
South African native Leonotis is a hummingbird magnet for the birds on their annual return flight.
“The Internet is great,” answers Michele, “but it’s not the same as being in someone’s world, that will make you think differently. And I don’t think anyone goes to Lowe’s for enlightenment.”