Goldenrod seeds and rose hips bearing seeds. Photo by Erik Baard.

HarborLAB is blessed with 125′ of waterfront facing southeast. That makes for bad sunburns but a vibrantly growing ecosystem! We’re increasing our bounty of flowering and fruiting plants (mostly indigenous), and sharing it with the estuary as a whole through seed gathering and propagation. We choose species that naturally stabilize shorelines and support wildlife.

When the HarborLAB armada salvos the shores of NYC, it’s not with cannon balls. It’s a barrage of seed balls! Good thing, because our canoes and kayaks would sink.  😉     We look forward to perfecting the craft with insights from from this local group: http://www.seedball.us/

We thank our sponsors, allies, and partners in this project: Citizens Committee for NYC; New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation; NYC Department of Parks and Recreation (Greenbelt Native Plant Center); Hunters Point Community Middle School; Hunters Point Parks Conservancy; CUNY LaGuardia Community College; Briermere Farms, and more coming soon!

This winter you can join us as we gather seeds and make seed balls. Just join through our events listing page on Facebook or email volunteer@harborlab.org with the subject line, “Seeds.”

We’re especially dedicated to creating Monarch Butterfly habitat by growing milkweed, goldenrod, beach plums, shadbush, and pokeberry. This program is the kind of kid-friendly, affordable contribution a small volunteer group can make to the environment and education, and have a big impact!

A seed ball.