DAYBREAK’S HEATHER LY GOT A PEEK INSIDE THE BUFFALO OLMSTED PARKS CONSERVANCY’S MLK GREENHOUSE.
There they grow 100 types of plants to beautify the parks on a budget. Watch the full video interview that was aired on WGRZ – Channel 2 on Sunday, March 6th 2016 at http://goo.gl/viOBVo
BUFFALO, N.Y. – When it comes to keeping the Olmsted Parks beautiful, the conservancy has to do it on a budget.
Heather Ly interviewing Eileen Martin, Supervisor of Parkways and Circles | Photo by Maureen Hanagan
The Buffalo Olmsted Park system is made up of six parks, seven parkways, and eight circles totaling 850 acres – seven more acres than Central Park in New York City.
The budget for the parks is significantly smaller in Buffalo – $3.4 million to Central Parks $57 million.
That means the conservancy and its workers and volunteers can’t spend a fortune on plants and flowers.
They are able to beautify the Buffalo Olmsted Parks for a few thousand dollars each year thanks to the greenhouse at MLK Park.
Frederick Law Olmsted introduced a number of greenhouses in his urban park system to grow the plants and flowers that would be used to beautify the green spaces. Today, more than 15,000 plants are grown in the MLK greenhouse. There are 100 different types. The colors and types are in keeping with Olmsted’s vision for how he wanted the parks to look.
Geraniums at MLK Jr. Park greenhouse | Photo by Maureen Hanagan
Executive director Stephanie Crockatt said it would financially impossible to beautify the park system the way they do if they had to buy their plants and flowers from someone else.
The plants inside the greenhouse and grown from seeds and cuttings. Volunteers help to transplant, weed, prune and water. Currently, they are growing 2,200 geraniums.
They’ll start planting in the parks in May.
Heather Ly, WGRZ – Channel 2, Buffalo
View of more pictures of Seed Sowing 2016 at the MLK, Jr. Park greenhouse!
