Horticulture
The Gardens and Landscape
The Park sits atop nearly five acres of landfill, creating a truly urban feel to the waterfront landscape. Over 90 varieties of trees and plant life blanket the park, from river birch to weeping willows, from daffodils, bee balm, to roses. During recent years, artists have incorporated plantings into their exhibitions and artworks, reinvigorating the ecology of the Park.
Learn about the trees at the Park with NYC Parks and Recreation’s interactive NYC Tree Map HERE>>>
View the 2023 exhibition, Mary Mattingly Ebb of a Spring Tide Plant Guide HERE>>>
Have a question? Email Duke Yun, Director of Grounds & Operations
In Memory of Yousif Dawud
November 17, 2015
During our conversation on a unseasonably warm afternoon, Yousif Dawud casually shakes a tree, which lets loose a handful of pears. He picks them up, washes them with a nearby hose, and takes a bite out of the ripest one. As he walks on, he points out the other fruit trees and plant species that have been successfully grown at Socrates Sculpture Park. Looking around at the lush greenery that adorns the park’s pathways, it becomes difficult to believe that when the park was founded, it was a landfill and dumping site.
When asked if he has a favorite plant, Yousif replies, “I can’t say only one, that would be unfair!” However, he later confesses to liking Japanese Maple trees just a smidgen more than he does other types of plants. As the site’s resident horticulturist, Yousif has been bringing gardens and groves to the park since 2005. He works with Socrates through Plant Specialists, a Long Island City-based company that designs, maintains, and installs indoor and outdoor gardens. The landscaping company has played a critical role in developing and supporting the park’s Community Works Initiative, a program that engages local residents in employment and job training in the areas of landscaping and horticulture. Plant Specialists has also donated the majority of the plants and trees that are found throughout park premises.
Today Yousif is planting 500 daffodil bulbs the park received from the NYC Parks Department as part of New Yorkers for Parks’ annual Daffodil Project. These efforts will be largely unnoticed until early spring, when hundreds of daffodils will bloom and bring the season’s first blast of color to the park’s gardens.
In Jordan, Yousif received a Bachelor’s degree in agriculture, and when he came to the U.S., he originally settled in Mississippi to study for a Master’s degree, but relocated to New York not long after. “Life was too boring there,” he says, now in his 38th year in New York City. He lives in Queens with his wife, and his two children are now in their early twenties. At home, Yousef doesn’t garden, since living in an apartment in the city makes tending to plants a difficult task to accomplish. At the park, however, Yousif is constantly caring for the greenery that is flourishing.
As various components of the gardens grow and die every day, Yousif and his team maintain constant upkeep to make sure that the flowers, shrubs, and trees are getting the nutrients that meet their individual needs. “The ground here is not so great for plants sometimes,” Yousef says, referring to the abundance of sand and rocks found in the park dirt, which results from the park’s past as an industrial dump site. “You have to pay a lot of attention.”
Every spring around Earth Day, Socrates welcomes students from the Baccalaureate School for Global Education to the park for a day of spring cleaning, preparing the park for a new season. Students dig, plant, mulch, water, clean, and beautify the park, with Yousif as a resource for advice, tips, training. He feels that it is important for young kids to learn the value and importance of environmental awareness and garden maintenance.
Yousif points out apple trees, plum trees, and a grape vine, among other fruit species around the park. “The plums, they are not so great yet,” he shares. These trees stand among bushes and flowers that Yousif easily identifies as he passes by them. “When you are into something, you have to know everything about it,” he says of a row of shrubs that line the waterfront rail. “Improving the garden and landscaping isn’t an easy job,” Yousif continues, “but one of the best things you will ever have in your life are plants.”
Rain Bird by Xu Wang, 2017 Artist Fellow
Rain Bird, a portrait of Yousif, created in 2017, evolved from the artist shadowing Socrates’ grounds crew during the artist’s summer residency. Composed of materials found on site, polystyrene washed up from the East River, and an aluminum mask cast from scrap metal, Rain Bird reflects Socrates’ homegrown spirit, restorative origins, and dynamic evolving character. As part of his project, Wang created a companion film titled River Between Sun and Moon. Learn more about it HERE >>>
Image Credit: Swale Meadows from “Mary Mattingly: Ebb of a Spring Tide,” Photo: Alexa Hoyer. Bee on Flower, Photo: Alexa Hoyer, Strawberry, Photo: Douglas Paulson. Waterfront Path, Photo: Joyce S. Chan. Green Day 2024, Photo: Alonna Cole. Abigail Deville “Half Moon” in front of The Grove, Photo: Nate Dorr. Yellow foliage, Photo: Joyce S. Chan. Detail, Swale Meadows from “Mary Mattingly: Ebb of a Spring Tide,” Photo: Alexa Hoyer. Wolfberry, Photo: KMDeco Creative Solutions. Maren Hassinger “Vessel One,” Photo: Nicholas Knight Studio. Astilbe ‘Visions’ from “Suchitra Mattai: We are nomads, we are dreamers,” Photo: Scott Lynch, Tropical yellow Hibiscus from “Mary Mattingly: Ebb of a Spring Tide,” Photo: Alexa Hoyer. The Grove, Photo: Joyce S. Chan. Butterfly Bush, Photo: Joyce S. Chan. Maren Hassinger “Vessel Nine,” Photo: Nicholas Knight Studio. Ashley Harris and Ndivhuho Rasengani” Dwell in the Light,” Photo: Joyce S. Chan. Portrait of Yousif Dawoud. Courtesy of Socrates Sculpture Park.