Green thumb works his magic

Inside the maintenance garage at the village pool facility, there’s a row of banana trees next to shelves of equipment, hibernating for the winter. There were originally four, but thanks to the expertise and efforts of village employee Eugene Boening, 16 trees will grace the pool’s perimeter this summer.

Boening, 56, used to work for his family’s business, Boening Florist, on West Merrick Road, which existed from 1919 until it closed several years ago. Boening has been employed by the village for more than four years, and started as a laborer before the renovations at the pool provided a laboratory for his horticultural experimentation.

“Most annuals, they would die,” said pool manager Rich DeAngelis. “With Eugene, we now have the ability to actually build on plants year after year.”

DeAngelis calls it “the Eugene thing,” which started last year when the annuals were wintered in the garage. Boening began propagating the banana trees, hostas, clivia, hydrangea and other ornamental plants, using his knowledge to make the village’s purchases go further.

“I come in all the time and I’m like, ‘What’s up, what are you doing?’ And he’s like, ‘I’m separating these,’” DeAngelis said. “We have our [plastic] cups, and all of a sudden there are cups missing and there are plants in them and things are happening and he’s ready to grow … He gets into that zone.”

The propagation amounts to a fairly significant benefit for the village: A banana tree costs about $150 wholesale and $300 retail. By digging down to the roots and using a sharp knife to cut shoots from the trees’ rhizomes, Boening managed to quadruple the number of trees at the pool in two years’ time. He checks for drafts and stuffs any gaps under the garage’s doors with towels during freezing weather. He waters the trees and the other plants regularly, and mists their leaves with water from a spray bottle.

“This is the hard part,” he said, explaining that the garage’s artificial heat dries the plants out.

Eight banana trees accented the pool last summer, so this season visitors will see twice as many. The spring will bring even more propagation, since the village bought two 10-foot-by-20-foot greenhouses where Boening can continue his work throughout the growing season.