The Horticultural Society of New York

We believe that everyone deserves access to plants. Everyone.

Urban horticulture improves human well-being, promotes social justice, and sustains a healthy ecosystem. Planted spaces increase the quality of our environment, the amount of fruits and vegetables we eat, our physical activity, our ability to manage stress and illness, and our social cohesion. Our programs are practical, therapeutic, and educational. We create greenspaces, provide services to people in need, and demonstrate the importance of plants in our lives.

The Hort improves human life through horticulture.

• We create green spaces in all neighborhoods as a vital part of social infrastructure.
• We train people for jobs that grow and sustain green communities.
• We develop fresh approaches to improve New Yorkers’ health, well-being, and environment through horticulture.

HORTICULTURE

We provide low-cost garden design, installation, and maintenance services to ensure that all NYC residents, especially those in low-income and marginalized communities, have access to green spaces. As a further public good, The Hort uses a workforce development model for service delivery: our full-time landscape and horticultural staff provide high-quality infield vocational training and paid internships for our crews, which consist of individuals overcoming barriers to employment. The Hort has designed, installed, and maintained more than 2,000 gardens and green spaces throughout New York City.

EDUCATION

The Hort provides education and enrichment programs for New Yorkers of all ages. Based out of the Greenhouse Education Center at Denny Farrell Riverbank State Park in West Harlem, The Hort offers free and affordable classes, workshops, and public events—both virtually and in-person—that engage more than 10,000 youth, families, and seniors in learning about gardening, nutrition, environmental science, and the culinary arts. The Hort’s educators also work at 35 public schools at which The Hort has designed and installed learning gardens, serving over 4,000 students annually.

THERAPEUTIC HORTICULTURE

The Hort has pioneered and advanced the practice of therapeutic horticulture through which people improve their social and emotional wellbeing by cultivating and caring for plants. The Hort’s program provides services to more than 1,000 people each year including individuals incarcerated and detained at the Rikers Island Correctional Facility. Additionally, we provide custom therapeutic gardening workshops, serving public, supportive, and affordable housing facilities, senior centers, outpatient treatment centers, the shelter system, foster-care settings, and detention centers.

The Hort is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, and relies on the generous support of individuals to continue providing our unique services to all New Yorkers.