First goats, now… ladybugs? Prospect Park Alliance is always on the lookout for innovative and environmentally friendly ways to sustain the park. In recent years, this meant a crew of goats to clear invasive weeds, and this past summer it meant the introduction of tens of thousands of ladybugs to combat a new challenge: lace bugs.

“We noticed that the asters were dying,” said Allie Loux, Prospect Park Alliance Assistant Gardener at the LeFrak Center at Lakeside. “They were turning yellow and brown and covered in these little dots.” Asters are an important perennial species and one of the most common flowers in Prospect Park, often sporting purple or white flowers. Lakeside’s aster plants had been hit with a lace bug infestation. These miniscule insects feed on the leaves of flowering plants and shrubs, and in high concentrations they can spell disaster for plants.

Alliance gardeners needed to find a solution to their lace bug problem, and wanted an alternative to traditional pesticides. “Lakeside is very wild,” said LJ Philp, Alliance Lead Gardener at Lakeside, “and when you’re spraying chemicals, you’re going to hit something else.”

Aster plants in Prospect Park, photo courtesy of Christian Zimmerman, Prospect Park Alliance Vice President of Capital and Landscape Management 

While Prospect Park’s 585 acres may seem wild, this green space is a carefully cultivated ecosystem, and the Alliance’s crews avoid introducing chemicals whenever possible. Loux added, “when we use toxic chemicals, it’s getting in the air, in the water, harming our bodies as well as the animals and the plants. Maybe a pesticide will get rid of the lace bugs, but it will also probably kill something else.”

Their first course of action was to test neem oil, a natural pesticide derived from the neem tree. When they realized the necessary quantity of the oil would be prohibitively expensive and application would be time consuming, the gardeners got creative.

“Integrative pest management practices (the broad-based approach that integrates practices for control of pests) suggested finding a natural predator,” said Philp, “and ladybugs seemed like a great fit.” Introducing ladybugs, an insect not found in great quantities in the park, could be a tactic for managing the lace bug infestation while avoiding harmful chemicals, and sparing staff hours. “We did our research and weren’t worried that the ladybugs would out-compete other species or take over, so we decided to give it a try.”

In July, the gardeners, including Uriel Walker (formerly an Assistant Gardener at Lakeside) received their shipment of ladybugs, 72,000 for a grand sum of $150, and dispersed them in locations around Lakeside. They even left them with damp cardboard boxes smeared with honey (food and lodgings). “We wanted them to feel like they were in a safe place,” said Philp.

So, was this experimental treatment a success? “The lace bugs went away,” said Philp, “it worked!” In just a few short weeks, the infestation had cleared and the asters revived. In finding a creative solution, these Alliance gardeners preserved one of the park’s natural habitats, and added a few thousand lucky bugs to the ecosystem in the process.

Learn more about how Prospect Park Alliance sustains the park environment.

This year, the Prospect Park Alliance horticultural crew dug in and got their hands dirty in order to make an exciting new addition to their team: a greenhouse. The existing structure, located in the park’s Garage Compound space for maintenance and operations, had last been used for this purpose roughly 20 years ago, and had served as storage in recent years.

The resurrection of the greenhouse was primarily undertaken by LJ Philp (Lead Gardener at the Lefrak Center at Lakeside), Uriel Walker (Assistant Gardener, Lakeside) and Allie Loux (Assistant Gardener, Lakeside), with the intention of creating a facility for Alliance gardeners to learn, experiment and move Prospect Park towards greater self-sufficiency and resiliency. 

With 19 variations of native species of plants, including grasses (Virginia wild rye, Little bluestem and Purple love grass) and broadleaf flowering plants (Black-eyed susan and Beardtongue foxglove), the three gardeners, along with the support of other Alliance staff, have nurtured the greenhouse back to life.

The undertaking required carpentry work (including the creation of roll-up sides for ventilation, meshing for shade, and a sliding door to combat heavy winter snow), as well as the installation of a misting irrigation system. The seven-month-old greenhouse is bursting with life and ecological lessons. 

The trial of learning how to grow these specific native plants from seed has proved to be a hands-on process of “positive trial and error,” says Philp. By supplementing the plants purchased at a nursery with home-grown additions, Prospect Park Alliance gardeners can better understand the full lifespan of Prospect Park’s plants and move towards self-sufficiency.

These native plants will not only live longer and thrive with less care, but they will also serve as a greater addition to the park’s ecosystem: providing food and habitat for native wildlife and pollinators and enhancing the park’s resiliency to help it thrive for years to come. 

The project is still young, and the team has bright eyes for the possibilities it can bring to Brooklyn’s Backyard.

Learn more about the Alliance’s work to sustain the Park’s environment.

This June, Prospect Park Alliance marks a staff milestone as Mark Anthony, the supervisor of our Natural Resources Crew, celebrates 25 years with the Alliance, the non-profit that cares for the park. When Mark joined in the early 1990s, the Alliance was only seven years old, just beginning to make its mark in the revival of these vast 585 acres. We sat down with Mark to catch up on the changes he has seen in the park and his reflections on 25 years.

Congratulations on 25 years at Prospect Park Alliance! How did you begin your work with the Alliance?

I grew up in Brooklyn, and came to the Alliance through a program called the City Volunteer Corps, an organization that took inner-city kids and placed them in jobs that helped clean up the city. I started in a horticultural position, and after six months and an exchange program in Washington, D.C., I took a seasonal horticultural position at the Alliance. I started learning the trade from there, pruning and taking care of trees. I also got a second seasonal position working at the old ice skating rink in the winters. I switched back to horticulture in the summer, doing woodland work, and going back and forth, until the Alliance hired me full-time to work in the woodlands.

What were the woodlands like in 1994?

It was decrepit and a mess; it was unsafe to go through. You didn’t even know the woods were there because there was a vast amount of erosion, graffiti and garbage: you couldn’t figure out what was what. The trees there were mostly invasive species, there were no native trees where wildlife could thrive. That was the main reason we created the Natural Resources Crew, to bring back the habitat, diversify the woodlands, and make it better so people could use the park.

Have you seen the results of your work in the park?

Our work in the woodlands—the Ravine, Midwood, and Lookout Hill—helped mark the boundaries, to show “here are the woodlands, here is a path”. We restored the habitat, rebuilt slopes, planted native species. We restored the waterfall in the Ravine. It was underground, so we had to dig it up and get the water flowing through it again.
Our work has been successful. Certain bird species come through the park that we hadn’t seen in years. Chipmunks are back in the park, I don’t know where they went but they’re back now, the population is growing. We have owls and Red-tailed hawks, egrets that nest here and continue to come back each year. And the people are enjoying the park, too. They’re enjoying them too much, but you can’t fault them for that. That’s the reason we do the work, it’s people’s habitat too.

What do you enjoy about this work?

My job is a different than it used to be when I first joined the Alliance. I’m supervising the work of a crew, but I still get a chance to get my hands dirty. I go out and push the mower, push the weed-whacker, and even that is gratifying. You transform the area, make it visible and safe, and now people can actually use it. There’s gratification in seeing your labor and hard work put into this place. Seeing trees I planted that are surviving, some 15-feet tall. Seeing landscapes I worked on a long time ago, and they’re still thriving. This is something that is part of what I need to be doing: giving back to nature, people and the world.