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black dirt region — famous for its
exceptionally fertile soil.
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SEEING GREEN: Kids at Mather High School in Manhattan traveled to Green-Wood to study
horticulture under the cemetery’s chief green thumb. Photo by Trey Pentecost
Going green
Manhattan students travel to Brooklyn
to study under Green-Wood gardener
BY COLIN MIXSON
Now that’s a fi eld trip!
A group of about 100 Manhattan
high school students gathered in
Brooklyn biggest necropolis to study
gardening under the graveyard’s chief
horticulturalist, who taught the kids
there’s more to Green-Wood Cemetery
than headstones and mausoleums.
“We presented Green-Wood as an
arboretum — and an active cemetery,”
said Joseph Charap, director of horticulture
at Green-Wood Cemetery. “The
breadth of horticulture here shows the
opportunities in the fi eld of horticulture,
and the beauty of the plants at
Green-Wood itself.”
The students from Stephen T.
Mather Building Arts & Craftsmanship
High School traveled all the way
to Brooklyn to join the graveyard’s
green thumb for a lesson landscaping,
which included instructions on planting
shrubs, weeding out unwanted
greens, and identifying some of the 723
tree species in residence at the cemetery.
The kids also pitched in to help
Charap and his gardeners with an ongoing
project to beautify the cemetery’s
legendary Battle Hill — an important
site in the Battle of Brooklyn, and the
highest natural point in the borough
— where the students planted more
than 10,000 hay-scented fern plugs on
the slope leading down the graveyard’s
MR. GREEN: Director of Horticulture at
Green-Wood Cemetery Joe Charap instructed
kids on the fundamentals of gardening at
the graveyard last week.
Photo by Trey Pentecost
historic chapel.
“They did a terrifi c job,” said
Charap. “They showed a real curiosity
about Green-Wood as a public garden
and green space.”
Charap said he looks forward to
hosting additional horticultural events
for kids in the future, saying Green-
Wood is the perfect place to get your
hands dirty in a city that doesn’t offer
too many opportunities to garden.
“Most people who live in New York
City don’t have much of an opportunity
to have a hands on experience like
they had on Thursday,” said Charap.
“”It’s a rare experience wherever you
are in New York and one that has a
real impact.”
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