News from the Committee on Aesthetics and Gardening

Maureen Rosen (August 2014)

Welcome to Greensview, a new website, created and maintained by Marc Mandelbaum, designed to keep you informed of the activities of the Committee on Aesthetics and Gardening.

The Committee’s goals are to help enhance the aesthetics of Queensview and beautify its grounds.

Headed by Queensview Board Member Toni Ceaser, the Committee has more than 20 members (see Membership List on the Cast and Crew page in Greensview), who have contributed well over $1,200 in cash and plant donations that have already been put to use. A basic core group of about ten cooperators attends most meetings and carries out the bulk of the work. The Committee meets once or twice a month; most decisions are reached by consensus.

Our Aims

While Queensview’s grounds provide a lovely green oasis for the neighborhood, there is general agreement on the need to add more color. Using the contributions from Committee members and donations received from individual cooperators, the Committee has purchased dozens of flowering and colorful plants. Some have already been planted; some are to be delivered for planting this fall and in the spring.

• No one could have missed the beautiful display of yellow daffodils this spring. The daffodils were obtained free of charge through a 9/11 Memorial Project, a moving tribute to the memory of those lost on that awful day. Committee members Ina Brennan and Effie Demopoulos and Queensview Board Member Phil Benyola used their own cars to drive to the distribution point to get the free daffodil bulbs, which were then planted by Queensview’s groundsmen. The daffodils will return to bloom and multiply each year. So will the hostas and coral bells – superb ground covers – planted around the buildings. Toni Ceaser’s article in Greensview gives more details of this landscaping work.

• Superintendent Vasile Ungureanu and` Kathryn Green made two trips and stood on line three separate times to get free saplings for Queensview. (Assistant Superintendent Juan Nieves has likewise used his own car to pick up free trees.) In years to come, as our lovely mature trees begin to fail, the replacement trees will be well on their way.

• An important donation in kind is the creation of a compost pile, a Committee recommendation. Leaves collected in the fall used to be bagged and hauled away as garbage. Now they’re put on the compost pile, where they’ll decompose naturally and add richness to our very “needy” soil. Queensview will need to purchase fewer garbage bags – and buy fewer commercial soil-enrichment products.

• Yet another donation in kind is research. What are the best flowers and shrubs to plant in the semicircular garden behind building 8 so that it’s attractive in all four seasons? Based on their research, Committee members Suzanne Cherney and Peter Kacalanos (see their articles here in Greensview) have drawn up detailed planting design plans and submitted them to the Committee for discussion and decision. While the redesign of the bed is still in its early stages, these new plants have already added color to the garden.

Our mission is to identify areas of need, make recommendations, and assist as appropriate in enhancing the aesthetics and beautifying the landscape of our cooperative, Queensview, Inc.

You Can Help

Do you have a few dollars – or more – to help us buy plants and speed up Queensview’s beautification?

If so, please send your check to the Office, indicating whether you want the donation earmarked for your building or added to the general garden fund. Thank you for your generosity!

Did someone give you a plant that isn’t doing so well in your apartment? Do you have bulbs that have flowered and died? Maybe we can bring them back to health and even get them replanted outside. No promises, but we’ll try!

Do you have the time to work with us? To join the Committee and pitch in, please let Toni Ceaser know by contacting the Office or sending an email to: greensview@greensview.org. All are welcome!

It all helps, and it helps us. Studies have shown that beautiful surroundings promote a general feeling of wellbeing and contentment.

Come grow with us - You’ll like it.