Bloomingdale Garden – Sidewalk Greenspace on New York's Upper West Side

Featured

Welcome to the Garden!

Bloomingdale Garden is a tiny patch of green in public space on New York City’s Upper West Side. (The garden’s name pays homage to a traditional moniker for this area that dates back more than three hundred years.)

Located in containers and tree beds along the sidewalk of 219/217/215 West 106th Street, the garden only occupies about a hundred square feet, but provides a welcome splash of color to the neighborhood.

Scroll down for more photos and updates, or follow the garden on Bluesky.

My name is Matthew Cavalletto, and I’ve created this site to showcase the flora and fauna that make their home in and around my garden, and to answer some common questions asked by passers by. I’ll also share some notes about my experiences as a gardener, in hopes that this will encourage other people to create their own pocket gardens anywhere they can.

Blue, White, and Red

Getting in the holiday spirit with our flag and some patriotic messages.

Tiny Fireworks

Lantana blossoms doing a great job of previewing tomorrow’s fireworks.

Strawberry Flowering

We had a first flush of strawberries a few weeks ago, with several coming ripe each day for weeks on end — and then there was a long dry spell, and I figured the heat had been too much, and we’d have to wait for the fall for more fruit… so I was pleasantly surprised to find another cluster of flowers forming, and am glad that we can look forward to a few more sweet treats later in July.

Mixed Bouquet

If you stop to look, you can find a variety of small flowers blooming in some of the raised planters.

Bees & Burdock

The burdock is blooming, and the bees are busy.

Rainstorm

Today’s downpour provided some much-needed moisture, although it can be a little hard on the tender blossoms.

New Lighting

I added some patio lights along the fence for the party earlier this month, but the general reaction has been positive, so we’ve decided to leave them up for a while.

Curbside Rainbow

It turns out that the hose is good for more than just keeping the plants hydrated…

Edifices With A Colorful History

The set of three residential buildings that abut the garden were built at the end of the 1800s, and have been home to a succession of interesting characters over the intervening century, as laid out by Tom Miller in his blog Daytonian in Manhattan.

Garden Party, June 11

We’ll be hosting a small social event in our sidewalk garden next week, and if you live nearby or are a friend of the garden, you are welcome to come and socialize with neighbors from the block.