Each season, we highlight a different group of native plants that are best suited for that time of year. These collections will give you a sense of how you can create your own beautiful landscape, rooftop, or window box while providing a service to our ever-important pollinators. These native plants will help restore the diverse ecosystem that was once here, and provide food sources and habitat for local wildlife.

Our fall display features plenty of the solidagos and asters that hold up the fall season across the northeast. The species being showcased from this group are: Symphyotrichum ericoides (heath aster), Symphyotrichum oolentangiense (sky-blue aster), Solidago flexicaulis (zig-zag goldenrod), and Solidago speciosa (showy goldenrod).

The garden also features Virginia creeper, which you may have noticed while walking down the tree-lined streets of NYC by their orange, yellow, and red tones during the fall. This species is actually commonly confused with poison ivy. The difference between the harmless Virginia creeper and poison ivy is that Virginia creeper has a set of five leaves and poison ivy has a set of three. Virginia creeper is joined here by another vine, Clematis virginiana, which is a wonderful species that features white flowers for up to a month.

We hope you’ll stop by our fall native plant garden the next time you’re in the park, and join us in our effort to add more native plants to our city. For more information, download our Guide to Restoring Native Plants in NYC.