Heritage Gardens on Staten Island

DAD'S VINE STAYS IN THE FAMILY

FROM GRASMERE GARDENER ANNE FANCIULLO:

"When my parents moved from New Brighton to City Boulevard in West Brighton in 1947, the wisteria came, too. My dad, Sam -- that's him on the ladder -- was tickled pink over his brilliant idea: Build scaffolding with metal pipe and train the wisteria to grow around the garage. For years we relished the blooms and the shade...but turned a blind eye to the work involved in keeping it under control. And on a sloping driveway, no less.

"Decades passed and finally Sam, in his 80s, said enough already. He poured gasoline into the wisteria's roots and waited for the vine to wither. I was horrified when he confessed days later. We fought. Finally he said: 'Are you going to get up on that ladder 10 times a year?' I didn't answer.

"My father died in 2003 but little did he know, the wisteria lived on, an unkillable being that soon became a tortured mass of vines. Another 15 years went by. The house was being sold, yet l couldn't leave it behind. l dug up a taproot and planted it in a five-gallon pot next to a trellis in my yard. A few blooms arrived each year but l basically resigned myself to failure. All leaves and not much reward for the work. But this year: Spectacular! Go figure. And since it's in a pot, its destiny is predetermined for the next generation. Or so l hope."

a grandmother's garden remembered

Native Staten Islander Davelyn Stucin tended her garden on Lester Street in Castleton Corners well into her late 80s. "It was her baby," granddaughter Laura Stucin recalled. "She talked about native plants before the term meant anything to me."

Decades prior, Mrs. Stucin, who died in 2011, was active in efforts to save the Greenbelt, and was a member of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, Friends of Blue Heron Park, and the Staten Island Herb Society.

Mrs. Stucin converted part of the driveway on the side of the house into a garden, growing lacy sweet Annie (Artemisia annua) there. "She'd cut it and dry it, and we made wreaths," said Laura.

"In the mid-1990s, Gran gave me plants from her garden that I still have," she added. These included Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica), and native bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) and violets, Viola canadensis and Viola sororia.

Laura is an active member of the nonprofit Native Plant Society of Staten Island, and regularly shares photos of these and other species thriving in her own Brooklyn garden.

Photos courtesy of Laura Stucin

FROM LONG ISLAND TO STATEN ISLAND

The perennial daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva) that bloom in front of Joanne Pentangelo's home in Clifton, Staten Island, evoke clear memories. Growing up on Long Island's South Shore, she recalls when her mother "pulled the daylilies from the gardens of an old farmhouse in East Meadow where my grandparents lived at the time."

Photo: Joanne Pentangelo

Joining the daylilies were Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) from the same site. "Over the years, as my sisters and I married and moved away, offspring of the daylilies and Rose of Sharon came with us. My grandparents' farmhouse flowers and trees now grow in Westhampton Beach, Baldwin, Cape May, and Staten Island."

Photo: Virginia N. Sherry

JOELLE'S OAKLEAF HYDRANGEA

When Joelle Morrison lived on Westervelt Avenue in New Brighton, she received a cutting of oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) from her friend Ellen Icolari who lived nearby.

The potted shrub moved with Joelle to a new home in Stapleton. Ever resilient, it thrives in the back yard, despite suffering damage during a storm.

Joelle shared a 4-foot-tall offspring of the shrub with her friend AJ Connelly.

"It's healthy and beautiful, right next to my front porch where it can enjoy the morning sun," AJ said. "And every time I see it I think of Joelle, who also gave me daylilies and Solomon's seal."

Photo: AJ Connelly

HARDY CHRYSANTHEMUMs FROM A MOTHER'S GARDEN

Memories from Aurora Walsh, who now gardens in Pennsylvania: "I lived in Staten Island from the time I was 2 years old. My Mom had these mums as far back as I can remember. I honestly don't know the origin of them, but they have been in my life for probably 71 years."

Photo: Aurora Walsh

"They are quite cold hardy and flower very late in the season in a raspberry color. I put them on the table at Thanksgiving," Aurora said.

Hardy chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum x morifolium) begin to grow in spring and summer but do not bloom until fall.

Photo: Aurora Walsh/November 1, 2021.

ONE PLANT STARTED A COLONY

This Solomon's seal (Polygonatum biflorum) has been with me for over 20 years. Its journey began at my house on Harvard Avenue in New Brighton, when my neighbor Ellen Gibbs, an avid gardener, shared one of her plants with me. Since then, this perennial was relocated first to Smith Terrace, then Tysen Street, and finally to Franklin Avenue. And multiplied into a colony!

--Virginia N. Sherry

Small, bell-shaped, greenish yellow flowers (usually in pairs) on short pedicels dangle in spring from the leaf axils along and underneath the arching stems. Flowers are followed by blue-black berries in autumn.

This photo was taken in late April.

The leaves slowly transition to bright yellow in early autumn.