Journal

Saviors of Central Park: Part Two: Geri Weinstein-Breunig

Back in the 1970s, if you were a New Yorker, when you heard the place name “Central Park” you automatically thought of drug dealers, muggers, vandals, and sloppy graffitists’ tags on every piece of masonry in sight, all of which brought New York City’s green heart into a state of severe dereliction. Where had pleasure in looking, playing and picnicking on green lawns and meadows and studying the foliage and forms of plants, including a rich variety of trees, gone? Ignorance in this regard was countered by the Central Park Conservancy’s formation of a tree crew, a turf crew, a planting crew, and a general horticultural maintenance crew, all of which was overseen by a woman named Geri Weinstein, who was a graduate of the New York Botanical Garden’s School of Horticulture offering classes in botany and horticulture.

Geri’s passion for Central Park fueled my own, and, because of her unflagging oversight of the crews mentioned above, I knew that the still-young, not-for-profit Central Park Conservancy had the ability to take charge of the management of the park’s entire landscape and oversee numerous necessary horticultural tasks in a highly professional manner. When I told her that I was requesting memoirs from other Central Park saviors whose vision, dedication, and diligence laid the groundwork for the small not-for-profit Conservancy to grow and become the Park’s primary custodian today, she graciously obliged with the following:

My Days as a Horticulturist in Central Park by Geri Weinstein Breunig

My first walk in Central Park was in 1972 with my husband. We lived in an apartment 2½ blocks from the Park. I was born in the Bronx where my parents and older brother lived. I lived close to what became my job and my love, Central Park. My training in horticulture was from the New York Botanical Garden. There, I received practical experience in all phases of landscape management and horticulture. My job, as a Central Park Conservancy employee, was to be a working horticulturist and head of the crews that plant and take care of the Park’s indigenous and non-native vegetation.

A typical morning began with a 20-minute walk. This was through the Park to my office at the Arsenal. I often used the walk to evaluate the current work of the landscape restoration crews. For instance, on a Spring Sunday I looked at ornamental Japanese Cherry trees (prunus serrulata ‘Kwanzan’) on both the east and west sides of the Reservoir. Not a favorite of Central Park’s original designer, Frederick Law Olmsted, but the public loved them. For this reason, the Conservancy’s Tree Care crew prunes these trees in a manner to promote optimal flowering. Then, I walked the length of the Mall, looking up at branches in the canopy formed by four rows of overarching American Elms. In the 1980s, the infection known as Dutch Elm Disease had became a major concern throughout the northeastern United States, and I was actively inspecting the Park’s elms with a focused eye for flagging branches, a sign the tree may be infected with this fungal disease.

American Elms, lining the Park’s perimeter, as well as the Mall, are important to the Park’s design and loved by its users. Therefore, it was necessary, for me, to ensure the Conservancy’s Tree Care crew went down the mall with climbing equipment. This enabled them to gather pieces of flagging branches to send to a botanical laboratory where it would be would be ascertained whether one or more particular trees were infected and had to be cut down and removed from the Park.

An important part of my job was to oversee the Conservancy’s series of Park-wide tree inventories. As part of a tree inventory, we looked at a tree and identified it according to its species. We then measured its girth, surmised its age, and evaluated its condition. I recall that one tree inventory told us we had 900 Cherry Trees. Another inventory, had the Park with only nine European Beech Trees. We also identified the most historic trees of the Park, some of which dated from the time between 1858 and 1872 when the Park was being built. We hired 30 college students. Their task was to assess each tree in the Park according to species, age, size, and condition. They interacted with the public. People were happy to know how we cared for ‘their’ trees. We took turf management seriously. We applied what we learned from other professionals. One example was how better drainage could offset intense use. Our work was reviewed by Dr. Richard Pampana of the University of Maine. He was an expert on Dutch Elm Disease. My morning walk went down the Nell Singer Lilac Walk, just outside the northeast corner of the Sheep Meadow. I found the lilacs had grown too dense to flower well. I had the landscape crew thin them out. The effect was soon on display. Looking between the lilac branches at the Sheep Meadow, I was happy to see how well it was being cut and managed by the Turf Crew. I reached my office, happy to know the landscape restoration component of the Conservancy’s management and restoration plan was in a good place. Of course, restoration has to be sustained. This is a primary responsibility of the Central Park Conservancy. The Park means so much to so many. It deserves the care of skilled professionals. It makes me proud to say I got to help with that.

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