BBG gardeners Travis Wolf and Chris Roddick joined me for an initial inspection of the grounds this morning. BBG seemed to fare relatively well. While a few trees were lost, either uprooted by the wind or so heavily damaged they will have be removed, the Garden overall was spared what occurred on all sides of us.
The Horticulture department will be busy today and next week with the cleanup from this storm. Some notable specimens were affected:
- In the Osborne Garden, close to Mount Prospect Park, a 70-year-old linden blew over.
- In the north service area, a large pin oak (Quercus palustris) blew over.
- We observed snapped and cracked branches in the canopy of the Native Flora Garden.
- On the Overlook, a ginkgo (Gingkgo biloba) was broken in half, and one of the American yellowwoods (Cladrastis kentukea) sustained a lot of damage and will possibly have to be removed. Many other yellowwoods on the Overlook lost smaller branches.
- On the slope behind the Annual Border a 30-foot-tall Chinese sand pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) blew over.
- Around Oak Circle, the Chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia) that was planted in 1916 lost a limb. When this limb came down, it also damaged a Japanese zelkova (Zelkova serrata).
- Two of our Long Island champion trees lost branches: the panicled goldenrain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata) in the Osborne Garden and the Turkish filbert (Corylus columa), located just north of the Herb Garden orchard.
- Patrick Dougherty's woven-willow sculpture escaped unscathed.
We’ll keep the Native Flora Garden closed through the weekend to ensure everyone's safety. Apart from that, the grounds are open, and many parts of the Garden seem barely affected. We indeed are fortunate!
