Photo Courtesy of Councilman Ulrich’s Office
Queens Botanical Garden Director of Education Rebecca Wolf (l. to r.), Broad Channel Civic Association President Dan Mundy, Councilman Eric Ulrich, and QBG Executive Director Susan Lacerte announce the planter partnership on Friday.
By Forum Staff
A dozen planters boasting several fancy plant species will be installed this fall on the medians along Cross Bay Boulevard near the Broad Channel entrance at 20th Road, City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) announced on Friday.
Ulrich secured the funding for the $30,000 beautification initiative that will be led by the Queens Botanical Garden. The project is scheduled to be completed next month.
“We’ve seen a remarkable insurgence of rebuilding and resiliency, and now we’re getting into beautification. This is the first installment in our series of initiatives to beautify Cross Bay Boulevard and we wanted to bring it to Broad Channel first,” Ulrich said. “It’s a community that will appreciate this and really needs this. It’s in-between Rockaway and Howard Beach and tens of thousands of cars, trucks and buses drive down Cross Bay Boulevard every single day. We want this to be something beautiful and this project is really going to spruce up the boulevard.”
The planters will be maintained by the Broad Channel Civic Association.
“We are looking forward to this great project. We’d like to thank Council Member Ulrich, who has been a great supporter of Broad Channel and our rebuilding efforts since Hurricane Sandy,” said BCCA President Dan Mundy, Jr. “This is going to make the town look a lot nicer driving through—whether you’re a resident or you’re coming down to enjoy the beach. We appreciate the councilman’s effort on this and we think it’s going to be a fantastic project.”
According to QBG officials, each planter will host a number of species, including: ornamental grasses, such as pennisetum setaceum (crimson fountaingrass), leymus arenarius (blue lyme grass), and liriope muscari (blue lily turf); hardy perennials like yucca filamentosa (Spanish bayonet), heuchera sanguinea (coral bells), dryopteris marginalis (marginal shield fern) and sedum.
“This area in Queens is already beautiful,” said QBG Executive Director Susan Lacerte, “but [these planters] will really add sparkle.”
