This morning, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden announced the winner of the 17th annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest:
East 25th Stret, between Clarendon Road and Avenue D, in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, (pictured here) is the first place winner!
“We tried for 100 percent participation,” said Hazel Deane, who has lived on East 25th Street for 37 years and is chairperson of the block’s gardening club. “With 56 homes on the block, that’s a challenge. This year we had the most participation ever.”
The block was chosen for its fine use of native plants and careful attention to the street's tree beds, as well as the block's adoption of a vacant building, where the block's neighbors have created a vegetable garden. The block has a distinguished history in the contest, having won first place in 2004 and 2006.
“Above all, the sense of design on this block, the gorgeous colors, and careful arrangement of textures in containers, is just breathtaking. It was far and above the most beautiful block in the contest due to their gardening and their amazing collective effort,” said Robin Simmen, director of GreenBridge, the community garden arm of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which oversees the contest.
