New York City's Broadway Mall Joins the Pollinator Pathway!

By Donna Merrill

On that fabled New York City street named Broadway, sits a ribbon of greenery, a peaceful splash of nature running north from 60th Street through the Upper West Side, Harlem and Washington Heights. Known as The Broadway Mall, this 5-mile chain of median islands, each 240 feet long and 20 feet wide, has long provided a narrow oasis amidst the dust and din of the urban bustle. But move over English ivy!  It’s time to cede ground for golden rod, columbine, asters and sedges. 

Thanks to Ian Olsen, Director of Horticulture with the non-profit Broadway Mall Conservancy,  this corridor of green, re-planted with a multitude of native plants,  has become a vibrant connected urban habitat for native bees, butterflies, birds and local denizens who seek a quiet refuge, if only briefly, from the density and drama of city life.  

For more information about this vital habitat for urban wildlife, check out the Broadway Mall website, which includes a database and map of all the native plants on the Malls.  Follow the Broadway Mall on Instagram and Facebook.

Pollinator Pathway Board members visited the Broadway Mall last summer and were truly inspired by the project. This short video clip shows why!