New flowers bloom at Queens Botanical Garden

A new area in the Queens Botanical Garden has opened. Photos by Anne Tan-Detchkov; Courtesy of Queens Botanical Garden

By Victoria Merlino

There’s officially more flower power at the Queens Botanical Garden.

The newly opened Unity Garden is located in QBG’s Gardens on Parade section, an exhibit originally modeled after a five-acre exhibit in the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair. 

The garden will have a design that features six 1964 World’s Fair-style benches, and feature 40 new trees and 2,000 perennials, including a rare Franklinia tree, which is no longer found in the wild. The center of the design features a circular lawn, representing unity. 

Plants present in the garden include spicebush, Virginia sweetspire, witch hazel, full moon maple and blue star. 

The renovation cost $375,000, with $250,000 funded through a grant from the state with assistance from area Assemblymembers Jeffrion Aubry and Nily Rozic.

“Queens Botanical Garden is a special place where everyone can come to find solace, to find comfort, enjoy the environment,” said Aubry said in a statement. “I want to thank my colleagues in government for being here and doing what they’ve done. Thank you [Queens Botanical Garden] for doing the work that you do…and staying faithful to the charge.”

“Our community is enriched by the Queens Botanical Garden and the staff who work tirelessly to make sure it remains a place of learning and conservation,” said Rozic in a statement. “It is with great excitement that we can support QBG’s expansion and I look forward to seeing the new Unity Garden come to life.”