Greene Thumb: Six Places To Stock Up On Garden Essentials

Now that Brooklyn is in bloom, it is time to make our own gardens bloom, too. But with no formal nurseries in the area, where, locally, can you buy seedlings and plants?

Well first to consider are plant sales, hosted by community groups:

• This Sunday, May 3, from 11am-3pm, is the Vinegar Hill Community Garden’s Plant Sale/Open House at 199 York Street.
  

• This coming Wednesday-Thursday, May 6-7 (9am-8pm on Wednesday, 9am-12pm on Thursday), the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is hosting its annual Plant Sale. Don’t miss out on the “largest collection of plants in the metropolitan area” — plus free talks and workshops on what plants work best where and how to take care of them.
  

• Saturday, May 9 from 11am-4pm, the Friends of Clinton Hill Library is holding their annual Bike The Branches Plant Sale/Fundraiser outside the library at 380 Washington Avenue. Stock up on green presents for yourself or for Mother’s Day while enjoying live music from Rolie Polie Guacamole at 1pm, and making eco-friendly crafts.

The Fort Greene Greenmarket is another option, available weekly every Saturday from 8am-4pm along Washington Park between DeKalb and Willoughby Avenues (handy because you can also get some grocery shopping done).

As for good nurseries, just over the other side of Atlantic Avenue, in Prospect Heights, is Natty Garden at 636 Washington Avenue, between Dean and Bergen Streets, which offers plants, flowers, shrubs, soil, pots, gardening materials and more that “incorporate the culture and style of the borough into our selection of plants and into our laid-back, yet cheerful attitude.”

Botanica Garden at 545 Atlantic Avenue is another option, sitting right across Flatbush Avenue in Boerum Hill, between Third and Fourth Avenues.