A Pollinator Garden Grows in Cooper Park

Friends of Cooper Park at the new expansion of their pollinator garden by Cooper Park’s basketball courts. Among those pictured are Paul Kelterborn, Sarah Sheffield, and William Vega *Photo credit: Partnership for Parks*

The Friends of Cooper Park got to work expanding their pollinator garden with a little help from their friends: community volunteers, Partnership for Parks, NYC Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez provided funds, the North Brooklyn Park Alliance coordinated the purchase along with having their horticulturalist advise on the plants to get, and City Gardens Club of New York also provided funds for the purchase.

The Cooper Park pollinator garden started in 2021 and located by the tennis courts (along Morgan Avenue) was extended to an area on Morgan Avenue behind the basketball courts. The pollinator garden consists of native plants that “feed, shelter, and protect our local pollinators, including butterflies, bees, moths, hummingbirds, and bats,” says the sign in the original part of the garden.

Friends of Cooper Park volunteers plant new native plants in the new expansion of their pollinator garden by Cooper Park’s basketball courts *Photo credit: Partnership for Parks*

“We got lucky and only got rained on a bit during the planting. Then the plants got good and wet for the rest of the day,” said Sarah Sheffield, one of the Friends of Cooper Park

If you’d like to volunteer with the Friends of Cooper Park you can join their Weekend Weeders and meet at the tennis courts at 9 a.m. any Saturday; they have gloves and tools and they usually work for about an hour.