Take a Look at the Urban Oasis That Won 2022's Greenest Block Contest in NYC

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden just announced the winner.

Photo by Nina Browne, courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Photo by Nina Browne, courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Instead of planning a trip to a faraway forest to enjoy some beautiful greenery, you could just head over to Brooklyn instead.

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden just named Lincoln Place between Nostrand and New York Avenues the greenest block in Brooklyn. It has it all: gardenias, roses, a rose of Sharon, a butterfly bush, and even elephant ears, The New York Times reports. There's also some creeping Charlie (an ivy variety) and creeping Jenny, which is a perennial.

After a two-year hiatus mandated by the pandemic, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden reinstated the contest this year, and 27 neighborhoods signed up to have their greenery judged. Among the many factors that are taken into account, the variety of the plants around the neighborhood is surely a crucial one. The level of community participation and the quality of gardening are also important, as is the suitability of the plants involved.

Lincoln Place won the judges' hearts with its universal participation, creativity and inventive, upcycled containers, and the impressive biomass of plantings across the neighborhood. It sets an example for every neighborhood across NYC, and the contest proves that with a little bit of care and creativity, even concrete jungles can look like urban oases. 

"In its 30 years, the Greenest Block in Brooklyn competition has encouraged the beautification of dozens of streets throughout our great borough, bringing whole communities together to plant and maintain green spaces that ultimately help improve our quality of life," said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in an official statement. "Congratulations to this year's winners throughout the borough and the community groups who contributed to these green spaces, and thank you to our partners, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and National Grid, for continuing to grow this competition."

Lincoln Place's greenery is mesmerizing, and it makes you feel like you're far away from NYC. "There are plants everywhere you look," Adrian Benepe, President of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden told The New York Times. The neighborhood's residents worked long and hard to win the contest, and residents even attended workshops to improve their gardening skills. It is not the first time they won, though. In 2019, Lincoln Place was awarded the greenest block in the residential category.

Lincoln Place's residents and gardeners were rewarded for their continued efforts and, according to officials, they deserve an even bigger prize.

"[It] should just be the greenest block in New York City," Benepe told the crowd during a press conference this morning. "I can assure you there's nothing like this in Manhattan. In Queens, maybe, maybe but I think Brooklyn's got it. Brooklyn's gardeners are the essence of resilience."

Take a look at some photos of the neighborhood below:

Photo by Nina Browne, courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Photo by Nina Browne, courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Photo by Nina Browne, courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden

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Serena Tara is a Staff Writer on the News team at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.