New York Green

New York City is filled to the brim with beautiful, unique green spaces-if you know where to look.

From the Church of St. Luke in the Fields in the West Village to the Brooklyn Grange rooftop farm in the Navy Yard, the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in Queens to New York's Chinese Scholar's Garden in Staten Island, celebrated photographer Ngoc Minh Ngo takes readers on a tour of the most exceptional gardens and parks across the five boroughs in this lushly illustrated guidebook.

Through Ngoc's beautifully photographed and well-researched profiles, readers will not only discover parks and gardens they never knew existed, but they will also learn the fascinating history of green spaces in New York and about the innovative new projects being undertaken to ensure we all can enjoy them for years to come. Head up to the nearly century-old Met Cloisters to discover a garden filled with plants depicted in the museum's medieval art collection, and an herb garden planted exclusively with species known in the Middle Ages. Then travel to Brooklyn to visit the Gil Hodges Community Garden, a tiny oasis along the Gowanus Canal and a critical piece of the city's green infrastructure: storm water is absorbed, filtered, and diverted to the garden, relieving pressure on the sewer system and thereby protecting the local waterways from contamination.

The book features wildlife preserves and community vegetable patches, sprawling old-growth forests and vest-pocket parks of less than five thousand square feet. Each one tells a story, and offers a wonderful refuge from the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle.

“"Once a vast, unspoiled natural paradise, New York City's last four centuries were largely marked by uprooting and paving over forests, meadows, and shorelines. The last four decades, however, provided an antidote, with ruined parks restored and thousands of acres of new parks created. Ngoc Minh Ngo's New York Green documents in glorious, vivid images the near-miraculous transformation of NYC into a city of startling natural beauty, from tiny churchyards to vast natural areas and glorious parks built atop post-industrial ruins." -- Adrian Benepe, president of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and former NYC Parks Commissioner”

“A true homage to New York, and an invitation to form an intimate relationship with its parks, brilliantly captured here from the Breugelesque winter scene in Prospect Park, to the jewel-like planting in the gardens of the Cloisters. There were so many places I didn’t know about, and cannot wait to explore.” 

—Miranda Brooks, landscape architect and contributing editor at Vogue

“A true homage to New York, and an invitation to form an intimate relationship with its parks, which are brilliantly captured here, from the Breugelesque winter scene in Prospect Park to the jewel-like plantings in the gardens of the Cloisters. There were so many places I didn’t know about and cannot wait to explore.”

—Miranda Brooks, landscape architect and contributing editor at Vogue
“Visitors to New York City might see mainly concrete, glass, and asphalt, but ask any longtime resident and they’ll enthusiastically share their favorite (and absolutely necessary) green escapes, from pocket parks tucked between pencil towers to outlying spaces that verge on the nearly wild. Ngoc brings a New Yorker’s insider knowledge and an artist’s eye to the many slices of nature this great city has to offer.”—Stephen Orr, editor in chief, Better Homes Gardens
“Visitors to New York City might see mainly concrete, glass, and asphalt, but ask any longtime resident and they’ll enthusiastically share their favorite (and absolutely necessary) green escapes, from pocket parks tucked between pencil towers to outlying spaces that verge on the nearly wild. Ngoc brings a New Yorker’s insider knowledge and an artist’s eye to reveal the many slices of nature this great city has to offer.”—Stephen Orr, editor in chief, Better Homes Gardens
“In this gorgeous book, Ngoc Minh Ngo celebrates public gardens in New York City, in all five boroughs and all four seasons. Poring over the photographs and reading the history of each garden, I wanted to drop everything and race to see them up close—the familiar spaces I’ve loved for decades and especially the hidden gems. This is an essential guide for lifelong New Yorkers and visitors alike.” —Frances Palmer, potter, gardener, and author of Life in the Studio
“In this gorgeous book, Ngoc Minh Ngo celebrates public gardens in New York City, in all five boroughs and all four seasons. Poring over the photographs and reading the history of each garden, I wanted to drop everything and race to see them up close—the familiar spaces I’ve loved for decades and especially the hidden gems. This is an essential guide for lifelong New Yorkers and visitors alike.”—Frances Palmer, potter, gardener, and author of Life in the Studio
“For almost four centuries, the once vast unspoiled natural paradise of New York City was subjected to the uprooting and paving over of forests, meadows, and shorelines. The last four decades, however, provided an antidote, with ruined parks restored and thousands of acres of new parks created. New York Green documents in glorious, vivid images the near-miraculous transformation of NYC back to a city of startling natural beauty, from tiny churchyards to vast natural areas and glorious parks built atop post-industrial ruins.”—Adrian Benepe, president of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and former New York City parks commissioner
“Once a vast, unspoiled natural paradise, New York City’s last four centuries were marked by uprooting and paving over of forests, meadows, and shorelines. The last four decades, however, provided an antidote, with ruined parks restored and thousands of acres of new parks created. New York Green documents in glorious, vivid images the near-miraculous transformation of NYC back to a city of startling natural beauty, from tiny churchyards to vast natural areas and glorious parks built atop post-industrial ruins.” —Adrian Benepe, president of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and former NYC Parks Commissioner

Ngoc Minh Ngo is a New York based photographer whose work explores the intrinsic beauty of plants and nature. She is the author and photographer of Bringing Nature Home, In Bloom, and Eden Revisited. Her images have been published in international publications such as The World of Interiors, Architectural Digest, and T Magazine. She has also exhibited her work at the Musee Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakesh. Follow her on Instagram at @minh_ngoc.

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