Snowscape Visit: The Max Family Garden in Brooklyn

There is a strong temptation to stay indoors when the world freezes. But out there in the cold, and especially after snowfall, the brown bones of gardens are suddenly emphasized, outlined in white. Visiting gardens in winter, when leaves and flowers belong to dreams of spring, allows us the thrill of anticipation, the pure pleasure of comparison, and an appreciation of structure, adding layers of understanding to our experience. It also tests our plant identification skills.

For as much as it obscures, snow reveals what we may not have noticed before. Dusted with white, trees do not shape-shift—they can’t—as much as they become eloquent, damp snow emphasizing the gestures of bare branches.

Photography by Marie Viljoen.

Just a whisper north of the Brooklyn Bridge, and within Brooklyn Bridge Park, is the Max Family Garden (also known as the Triangle Garden), a hidden wedge guarded by old brick walls and arches, and designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA).

Near double swing-doors, a mature sassafras branch extends a gracefully welcoming arm, the theatrical winter expression in keeping with the entrance to St. Ann’s Warehouse within the garden

In 2015, the St Ann’s Warehouse performance space opened within the vestiges of a late nineteenth century tobacco warehouse, reimagined by Marvel Design.

The two-floor brick shell that encloses the Max Family Garden is what remains of the original structure, and was commissioned by St. Ann’s Warehouse to fulfill zoning regulations that require new waterfront development to include publicly accessible green space. Both an entrance to the theater and a backstage door open into the garden.

The restrained palette of trees is limited to birch, sassafras, and redbud. Beneath them shrubs include Japanese kerria and sweetspire, for spring and late summer bloom. Hellebores appear in late winter and the flower clusters of Skimmia follow soon after.

While the Max Family Garden becomes part of the working St. Ann’s Warehouse space (via doors within the triangle) it is open during regular Brooklyn Bridge Park hours, a quiet space within the bustling greenway.

See also:

• Help Birds in the Winter: 12 Tips for Food, Lodging, and Bird Safety
• A Gardener Never Sleeps: Your Winter To-Do List
• Cold Comfort: 15 Reasons to Walk in Winter