Spring’s Trees at Historic Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn
Spring in New York City is exciting for anyone who vibrates to the pitch of trees greening and beginning to bloom.
A pin oak is late to leaf out above a meadow path in early May.
A pin oak is late to leaf out above a meadow path in early May.
Photography by Marie Viljoen
Green-Wood is a rich outdoor classroom and living museum—or, simply, a green haven in the largest city in the United States.
Skyline—a hilltop crowned by littleleaf lindens (Tilia cordata). Founded in 1838 by Henry Pierrepont, Green-Wood lies on land that in 1776 reverberated to the sounds of the Battle of Brooklyn during the Revolutionary War.
A pair of native American black cherries (Prunus serotina) in full bloom.
The pinks belong to cherry, dogwood, and redbud trees.
Photo by Vincent Mounier.
Dogwood, oak, and beech create an ephemeral tapestry.
The vivid flowers of redbud. Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) may be an understory tree, naturally, but thrives in full sun, its buds and blossoms persisting for a couple of weeks.
Possibly an umbrella magnolia, Magnolia tripetala.
A yellow-flowered ‘Sunsation’ beside Green-Wood’s Crescent Water. The Crescent Water is flanked by weeping cherry, crabapples, and magnolia.
Red samara on a Japanese maple. Spring trees are not all about bright blossoms.
A mighty pin oak (Qercus palustris, according to Green-Wood’s interactive Tree Finder map).
Oak catkins are the male flowers of Quercus species. The stately oaks—some of the largest in the city—are festooned with catkins, which produce pollen (atchoo!).
The flower buds of sweetgum, Liquidamber styraciflua.
Scented umbrella magnolia flowers. There is a lot more to see: electric azaleas, meadow grasses in bloom, and a wealth of spring perennials.