Peace Garden At West River

2023 Greenspace Report

The West River Peace Garden was established in 1988 with the creation of the City of New Haven Peace Commission. New Haven was named a Peace Messenger City by the United Nations in 1990, as one of the first cities in the world to engage in the UN initiative to promote a city-wide culture of peace. Among the garden’s memorial trees is a gingko tree donated by the City of Hiroshima, which was one of the few saplings to survive the atomic bombings. The Friends of West River Peace Garden worked to weed, water, and beautify the garden this summer! We weeded and mulched the garden beds, added bricks to outline the back of the large garden bed, and planted several new native plants including switchgrass, winterberry, and coreopsis. We also installed a stone bench by the ginkgo tree, where we hope visitors can rest and reflect upon the garden and the ginkgo tree.

2023 Accomplishments

• 1 shrubs planted (winterberry)
• 15 perennials planted (‘heavy metal’ switchgrass (4), ‘silver sunrise’ big bluestem (2), coreopsis (6), butterfly milkweed (3) )
• 3.5 yards mulch spread
• 8 events
• 8 volunteers
• 44 volunteer hours