Historic Kissena Park Grove Gets Spring Trim

A katsura tree in the Kissena Park Historic Grove.

In time for the spring buds to form, more than 160 trees in and around the Kissena Park Historic Grove have been pruned, the first large-scale pruning of the whole grove, removing dead wood or damaged branches so that the trees' natural form remained intact.

"Flushing has many claims to fame, including its history as the site of some of the first commercial nurseries," Parks & Recreation Queens Borough Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski said. "Kissena Park is home to the remnants of one of these flourishing nurseries- the Parsons and Company nursery. We are thankful to the New York Hospital of Queens [NYHQ] for providing this pruning service, which will help maintain the health of these trees- part of the city's living history."

NYHQ paid for this $65,000 in-kind service as part of their temporary-use agreement for parking while the hospital is under construction. Valley Tree Service completed the pruning in and around the 14-acre grove on March 16.

More than 100 varieties of trees thrive in the Historic Grove, located in the northern part of the park at Rose Avenue and Parsons Boulevard, many of them are mature, exotic specimens. The rarest include a Persian parrotia (Parrotica persica) of Iran, Chinese toon (Cedrela sinensis), and castoraralia Kalopanax pictus) of Japan, China and Siberia.

One of the most noticeable and interesting tree specie in the Grove is the katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) of Asia, which appears to be one tree with many stems shooting from the ground. The trees were planted in a single row- as part of the nursery stock- and have fused together creating the illusion of a single tree.

In 1906 the city acquired the property as parkland following the death of the eldest member of the Parsons family. All but 14 acres of nursery stock were removed during the initial construction of Kissena Park. The site of the Grove was rediscovered in 1981 by Parks horticulturist Shelly Stiles and her interns whose goal was to clean up a 2-acre parcel that had become overgrown and were surprised to discover the remnants of the old Parsons nursery. Eighty-two of the trees in the Grove are categorized historic and are from the 19th century nursery.