in our beautiful Garden Party 123 West 89th Street –
located mid-block between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenue, New York City.

Taste our fabulous international buffet of fine foods and wines
from local restaurants and purveyors of fine food.

Join us to honor Eric Schneiderman, New York State Senator, the Lower East Side Ecology Center, and Dr. Scott Gaynor, head of the Gaynor School on West 90th Street.

And  special tribute to our founder Dee Parisi who passed away last fall.

Tickets are $60, and checks may be sent to West Side Community Garden, PO Box 20301, Park West Station, New York, NY 10025 . To pay Electronically click on the NY Charities button on this web site, before June 5. the West Side Community garden is a  Not-For-Profit New York corporation and all donations are exempt to the full extent allowable by law.
For further  information call Mira Stulman at 212 875 0632

Sundays in June & July

June 13, 2010 – 4pm
Mary Cherney & David Nadal (Flute/Guitar Duo)
June 20, 2010 – 6pm
Bill Saxton (Jazz Quintet)
June 27, 2010 – 6pm
Sweet Plantain (Latin Classical String Quartet)
July 11, 2010 – 6pm
Community Sing-Along (Pop and Folk Songs)
July 18, 2010 – 4pm
Geoff Burke Trio (Jazz)
July 25, 2010 – 6pm
Tom Thies and Friends (Viola da Gamba, Bassoon, Portative Organ)

This project is made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Saturday, April 24, 2010 – Sunday, April 25, 2010, 1-4pm

Celebrate Spring on the Upper West Side! Enjoy a blaze of Spring tulips at our Annual Tulip Festival, All are welcome. Free Admission.

We are celebrating our 22nd year of tulips in bloom. You are invited to visit the beautiful West Side Community Garden while the tulips are in full color!

In addition, during the month of April we invite one and all to bring a camera to the garden, capture the beauty, and enter our first annual Tulip Photo Contest 2010.

For festival information, please contact:
Mira S. at 212-875-0632 (day) or
Jackie B. at 212-316-5490 (evening).

Congratulations goes to…

Ellie Nagler (aka Photogirl2010) for her winning photograph (left)!

Ellie’s work was presented to this year’s individuals honored at the Annual West Side Community Garden Benefit in June.

Honorable mentions goes to our four semi finalists:

Boris Gorelik, L Cheng, Bill Swersey (aka Swerz) and Brandon Remler (aka nycphotog2008).

Thank you to everyone who participated.

Thank you to All! –Tulip Photo Contest 2010

Many thanks to all of you who have submitted such amazing photographs showcasing the 2010 West Side Community Garden Tulip Festival.

As you can imagine, with over 578 submissions from 64 members, it has been tough to select the final winners.

Currently, the semi-finalists have been selected and winners will be notified via Flickrmail shortly. Please check your Flickr account soon for notifications.

Thank you for participating in and making our first West Side Community Garden Tulip Festival photo contest a success!

Sincerely,

West Side Community Garden Tulip Festival Committee

April in the Garden - Tulip Photo Contest 2010

Throughout the month of April, we invite you to bring your camera, capture your favorites and enter them in our community photo contest.

Winners will be announced following our festival weekend.

First Prize: The winning photographer will receive a ticket to this year’s West Side Community Garden Annual Benefit in June.

In addition, the photo will be our featured image in next year’s festival promotional material.

Submit your favorite images to our tulip festival Flickr group:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/wscgtulipfestival

Remember to add the date and your initials to your file name prior to submission/posting.

Note: If you do not already have one, you will need to set up a flickr account (free) to to submit your photos

The Garden’s downed Sophora tree was removed August 19, by Stuart Goldstein of A & S Tree Service. The remaining Sophora Tree is listing and may need to be removed.

The two Sophora trees, also known as “Japanese Scholar Trees,” are in the pea or legume family. They were in the original Garden, which was founded in 1975 and were preserved during the 1987-88 construction of the permanent West Side Community Garden site. Generations of Gardeners enjoyed their lovely height and light shade.

<–  USING THE NYCHARITIES.ORG BUTTON,  to the left

Angela LaGreca (comedian, singer, actress) will host an international al fresco dinner at The West Side Community Garden, honoring Susan Henshaw Jones and The Greenmarket. The event is on Wednesday, June 10th, from 6 to 8 pm. Everyone is welcome.

Location: The West Side Community Garden amphitheater, between 89 and 90 Streets and Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues. Tickets: $60. In addition to a sumptuous meal, there will also be a raffle to have lunch with Bradley Whitford, award-winning star of The West Wing.

This is our biggest fundraising event of the year, and helps support such programs as the Tulip Festival, our “Music in a Garden” Concert Series, Potluck Picnic, Theater… all free and open to the public.

For more information call ESMarks, 212-873-9661

PARTY January 10 6 pm to 9 PM

The West Side Community Garden Annual post-holiday Winter party is Saturday January 10 6 pm to 9 PM. This is a covered dish affair, so bring your best dish to meet and greet you summer gardening friends. Party is at St. Martin’s House 2nd floor Community Room, 65 West 90th Street, NE Corner West 90th and Columbus Avenue.

ELECTION January 27, 2009 5-8 pm

And, for the politically minded, the West Side Community garden annual elections for the board of Directors is . Early voters can come 5-7 pm to vote, and the election meeting will start at 7 pm, when we will have a presentation of the upcoming year in the garden, projects, events, and a Greenhouse report. Election is at St. Martin’s House 2nd floor Community Room, 65 West 90th Street, NE Corner West 90th and Columbus

BOARD MEETING January 5, 7:30

Members wishing to run for the 2009 WSCG Board of directors are invited to attend a Board meeting January 5, 7:30, or call Edith Marks 212 873 9661, Brad Smith 212 749 6861, Jackie B. at 212 316 5490, or drop an email asking to be listed on the ballot. People wishing to be listed on the January Newsletter should let us know by January 12. The cutoff date for being listed on the printed ballot is January 25, 2009, before 8 pm. Board Meeting is at St. Martin’s House 2nd floor Community Room, 65 West 90th Street, NE Corner West 90th and Columbus

Except during holiday weekends, the WSCG Board meetings are the first Monday of each month 7:30 pm- 9:30 pm

Help Wanted

Winter party – People to help decorate needed Saturday Jan 10 5 pm. if you would like to help, respond to this email or Call Edith marks 212 873 9661, Brad Smith 212 749 6861, Jackie B. at 212 316 5490

Election committee Volunteers: Brad Smith 212 749 6861 or respond to this email.

Snow Shovelers: Call Brad Smith within 4 hours of snow fall. People needed to spread salt substitute, shovel snow, and ( occasionally) to laboriously chip the ice off the sidewalks.

And FINALLY, THE FLOWER COMMITTEE is preparing for its annual spring and summer of fun. The greenhouse at St. John the Divine has heat pads and seedlings will be starting next month. WE will also be planning the summer bulbs order, and preparing our annual seed order. Check out the seed companies on line to get an idea about what you would like to see planted in the garden this summer. There will be more light this summer because of the major pruning job three weeks ago. Call Tom Thies at 212 369 6183 to find out how you can be involved.

EVERYONE IS WELCOME AT THIS DOWNHOME EVENT- THE ENTRANCE FEE IS “BRING A DISH” FOR SIX.
We need desserts, appetizers, main deals like casseroles, salads, and meat dishes. Beverages and  BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs are supplied by the garden BBQ chef. Call Jackie B. at 212 316 5490 for ideas of what to bring.

Tickets are available at the 89th Street gate for $60, or mail before Friday June 6 to: West Side Community Garden PO Box 20301Park West Finance Station, New York, NY 10025, or donate at www.nycharities.org

Honorees: Assemblyman Daniel J. O’Donnell, Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal;

Special tribute to our founding member and webmeister Judith Rohn and treasurer Frederick Young who both passed away this year, and to Vivian Sansom, who has retired after many years of dedicated service as WSCG Newsletter Editor

Join your friends and neighbors in an international buffet of fine food and wines to preserve this treasured community flower park. Our annual benefit is celebrating the “Greening of New York” in the floral amphitheater on West 89th street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues. Upper West Side restaurants will be donating a signature dish, Garden members will be preparing Turkey, Salmon and other special treats, there will be a wine bar and soft drinks, and live chamber music. Come Join the Celebration!

The city’s community gardens are everywhere, and Weekend in New York has mentioned a few in past columns. All have their charms, but many of those charms are more rustic than manicured. But leave it to the Upper West Side to create an onslaught of flowers in an elegant setting and hide it on a side street where you’d never find it if you didn’t know it was there.

Tulip season is the true mind-blowing time of year, and you just missed it. (Note in BlackBerry: Sunday, April 19, 2009: “Lazy afternoon, West Side Community Garden.) But there will be a lot more blooming into the summer: lilies, impatiens, zinnias, black-eyed Susans, sweet Williams, and so forth. And in a slight advantage over the other gardens, traffic noise is largely replaced with the happy screams of kids in two neighboring playgrounds.

On April 12th, 19th, and 22nd, Grace Wu, an 8th Grader, came and planted the tree pits on 90th Street and 89th Street, with Impatiens, Pansies, and Lariope grass.

On April 27th we had six volunteers from the School. Ninth graders Amy Zheng and Amy Trey pulled out the spent Tulips on the North-West corner of the common flower beds, near the garbage cans. Under the direction of Garden board member Michael Modlock, the young women added compost to the ground and then started planting Sweet Williams in place of the old Tulips. They will finish the job in the coming weeks.

Their classmates Cherry Kim (10th Grade) and Nancy Zhang (9th Grade) planted little yellow Violas in a bald patch on the North-East walkway of the Garden, at the 90th Street entrance. Fellow 10th Grader Anya Gleizer pulled out lariope grass from the edges of some plots, and planted them in the tree pits at 89th Street. Anya also made a trip to the hardware store, and bought nuts and bolts to fix the small folding table, which holds our donations jar for those important sunny days. She was supervised by Garden member Randa Kirshbaum.

Finally Kevin Yi (9th Grade) watered the peripheral flower beds, bagged the trash, and took the bags out to the curb. We found out later that Tuesday is the collection day, not Monday, so the bags were brought back inside the gate by Veronica Humphries and Randa Kirshbaum.

If anyone is interested in adopting the trash as their Garden duty, please step up and tell a Garden board member. This is a very important job!

we will have much more content in a matter of days, stay tuned -

Saturday, May 10 Another rainy Saturday! Tomorrow,  will be cloudy in the morning clearing with a high of 65. The ground will be wet. So use the time to pull early weeds and spent Tulips- from the paths! It’s not a good idea to walk on waterlogged soil. Vegetable plots are looking good with all this rain. If you have a vegetable plot and haven’t planted yet there are still a few lettuce plants near the herb beds. Next week end is a greening weekend so we want to be ready to go so we can start putting in summer annuals to replace the Tulips.

Next Weekend May 17-18 is Greening Weekend. 11 AM -3 PM. All vegetable plots have to be accounted for and planted. If you have a vegetable plot and cannot get to the Garden to plant before May 20 call Brad Smith at 212 749 6861 

Flower volunteers will be able to pull the rest of the spent Tulips so we can plant summer annuals. We will be planting Alyssum along the paths from seed, cutting the lawn, and selling books from our shed. !

May 20: Benefit Organizational meeting- 7:30 PM at St Martins House 2nd floor community room – North East Corner 90th Street at Columbus avenue.

Long View: Benefit is Coming- June 11, 2008. 

Edith Marks has Benefit Invitations, and they are stunning! Plan on picking some up from Edith, or check them out at the garden Saturday. Edith’s number is 212 873 9661.

This week in the Garden: Sunday afternoon, March 23, was sunny and almost warm, the Japanese plum is in full glorious bloom, and the tree was flooded with honeybees collecting the nectar. The flower beds are covered with snowbells and crocus blooms. Green shoots promise first tulips within a week to ten days- weather permitting. Tom Thies and Richard Kaplan were working away pruning dead wood and collecting branches. Vegetable plots need cleaning and care- plot holders should drop by and clear their plots before the weeds get started, and use the bags of compost to put in some early peas and lettuce.

SCHEDULE Tuesday April 1, is membership day. Plan to stop by St. Martin’s house second floor community room NE corner of west 90th and Columbus Avenue 7- 8:30 pm to pay your yearly dues, talk about committees and the year at the Garden. There will be free seeds available. West Side Community Garden board meeting Monday, April 7, 7:30 St. martins house Community Room.

WEEKLY TASKS: Greenhouse at St. John the Divine volunteers for watering, seeding, and transplanting. Saturday 11:30ish. If you can work during the week call Tom Thies at 212 369 6183.
HELP WANTED: Database volunteers, for updating the database on Garden computer. Person needed for Publicity- Call Jackie Bukowksi at 212 316 5490. Must have fax, daytime telephone, and email capability. This is the greatest garden in the City- we need someone to tell the world!

THE JAPENESE PLUM IS BLOOMING, THE HELLEBORES ON 89TH STREET AND IN THE ROCK GARDEN BY THE PATH ARE BLOOMING AND THE TULIPS ARE COMING UP

PICK UP COMPOST AND EARTH FRIENDLY PEATMOSS
piled up in the vegetable garden. Add some compost to your vegetable beds. The peat moss is good in the Flower beds to lighten up the soil. It has little or no nutritive value, but helps the soil drain properly and encourages good root systems.

GREENHOUSE
Call Tom Thies at 212 369 6183 to participate and watch the seedlings grow. Remember these plants not only benefit our garden but also The Cathederal, the 111th street Garden, the Broadway Malls and Riverside Park.

ALL GARDEN MEMBERSHIP MEETING APRIL FIRST
Tuesday, April Fools Day. 7 PM ST MARTINS HOUSE, NORTH EAST CORNER WEST 90TH STREET AND COLUMBUS AVE. 2ND FLOOR COMMUNITY ROOM . You can pay your dues and there will be free seeds available- WE will also have refreshments, and present the yearly garden events plan and budget.

ELECTION RESULTS
The yearly election results for the Garden Board are as follows:

• Jackie Beech-Bukowski – President 212 316 5490,
• Brad Smith – Vice president,
• Edith Marks – corresponding secretary 212 873 9661;
• Judith Rohn – recording secretary
• Lisa Sarajian – interim corresponding secretary
• Veronica Humphries – Treasurer
• Thomas Thies – Greenhouse Projects Manager
• Flower Committee
  • Blanche Hodges
  • Stephanie Noland
  • Mary Ann Brun
  • Michael Modlock
  • Mira Stulman
  • Sandy Owen

The yearly Benefit is June 11. If you want to serve on the benefit Committee or just volunteer on June 10, or 11, call Edith marks at 212 873 9661.

Finally , the garden suffered a serious loss last year with the unexpected passing of Fred Young. We are fortunate that Vernica Humphries , assisted by Blanche Biodges and Lisa Sarajian, has taken on the job of treasurer. Thanks Veronica.

Finally- we are still looking for publicity people- let us know.

Jackie Bukowski, President West Side Community garden 212 316 5490