Downtown Alliance Gives Away 4,000 Geraniums in Bowling Green

The Alliance for Downtown New York gave away more than 4,000 red geraniums Wednesday morning during the third annual Adopt A Geranium Day in Bowling Green.

Part of the Downtown Alliance’s Going Green Downtown initiative, the event helped prepare Bowling Green for the organization’s annual Fall Community Planting Day on Saturday, October 23, when volunteers will plant tulips in the park from 10 AM to noon.

“Today several thousand people came to the city’s oldest park to help green Lower Manhattan in a sustainable way,” said Elizabeth H. Berger, President of the Downtown Alliance. “This is our way of involving the community to keep the planting cycle going at the park. At the same time, people got some fresh air, grabbed a pot and trowel, and even got a little dirt under their fingernails. We look forward to seeing many of them back for our annual Fall Community Planting Day.”

While staff from the Downtown Alliance and Nielson Elefante Nurseries was on hand to help dig up and pot the flowers at the Adopt A Geranium event, many participants—including some in work suits—elected to do the dirty work themselves. Guests were given Downtown Alliance tote bags to use for carrying the flowers.

You can view pictures of the event on the Downtown Alliance’s Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/downtownny/sets/72157625156842924/. Pictures will be added throughout the week.

Special guests included Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, State Senator Daniel Squadron, City Council Member Margaret Chin and Battery Park City Authority Chairman William C. Thompson, Jr.

The Downtown Alliance’s Going Green Downtown initiative is dedicated to building an environmentally sustainable Lower Manhattan. In addition to the upcoming Fall Community Planting Day, the initiative includes Mulch Mania, a December event that grinds holiday trees into mulch for New York City’s parks, and Spring Community Planting Day, when Lower Manhattan residents, workers and visitors plant flowers in Manahatta Park on Wall Street.

Adopt A Geranium Day was made possible with support from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (which provided digging tools), Partnerships for Parks, Manhattan Borough President Stringer, New York City Council Member Chin, and Community Board 1.