The Queen Elizabeth II September 11th Garden

Within New York's financial district, this garden was commissioned by the British Memorial Garden Trust and given to the city in memory of the British and Commonwealth citizens who lost their lives in the attacks of September 11, 2001. Developed from a plan by English landscape designers Julian and Isabel Bannerman, it combines the historic footprint of the public square with the silhouette of the British Isles. Morayshire sandstone inlay from the highlands of Scotland encircles the garden and is inscribed with the shires of the British Isles, from Aberdeen in the north to Fortland in the south. A large rounded Braemar stone from a riverbed near Balmoral sits at the south end and marks the distance from Aberdeen to New York. New York-based garden designers Lynden B. Miller and Ronda M. Brands worked with the Bannerman design to create a garden for all seasons using plants from both the British Isles and North America that echo an English garden. At the northern end stand two tall Canadian hemlocks framing the inner path, while a ribbon of 67 heavenly bamboo shrubs runs the length of the garden, each signifying one of the 67 British victims of 9/11. Boxwoods, Irish yew, holly trees, Portland stone benches, and yew shrubs add structure and symbolic links between the living and the dead, while daffodils, bleeding heart, Siberian bugloss, rhododendrons, azaleas, foamflower, summersweet, foxgloves, meadowsweet, hydrangeas, Japanese anemone, and a yellow magnolia called Magnolia 'Elizabeth' shape the garden through the seasons. Queen Elizabeth II visited on July 6, 2010, and Magnolia 'Elizabeth,' patented at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in 1977, was planted by her grandson Prince Harry on May 29, 2009. Along the gates and slate walk are mementos of friendship between Americans and the British, including the four national flowers of the British Isles on the eastern fence and the coat of arms of Westminster Abbey set into the walk.

New York, New York · United States