Update 2007.10.24:
- The insect nymphs have been identified as Large Milkweed Bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus.
- A work colleague translated the Russian sign for me.
Crabapple, Narrows Botanical Gardens
Yesterday I visited Bay Ridge for the first time to attend the fourth Blogade, organized by Rob Lenihan of Luna Park Gazette. This gave me a chance to visit the Narrows Botanical Gardens (NBG) earlier in the day.
NBG is a 4.5 acre community garden run entirely by volunteers. It lies between Shore Road and the waterfront trails along the Narrows between Brooklyn and Staten island in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You enter NBG from Shore Road. Unfortunately, my visit yesterday was ill-timed. Two of the three entrances were closed for construction. And the gate to native plant garden at the north end of NBG, which I was most looking forward to, was locked off.
It was another of those warm, sunny days we’ve been having, more like late May or June than October. There was lots in bloom, and lots of animal activity. I was surprised at the number of things I didn’t recognize or couldn’t identify. If you can identify any of these “unknowns”, please leave a comment!
Water Lily
Modern Rose
Beautyberry
Pennisetum, I think
Crabapples
Sleepy Bee
Nymphs of Large Milkweed Bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus
Thanks to Hannah Nendick-Mason, Contributing Editor to BugGuide and urtica (Flickr), whom I know better as Jennifer Forman Orth, author of the long-running and indispensible Invasive Species Weblog.
Monarch on Butterfly Bush
Bamboo, Zen Garden
Morning Glory
Fruit of unknown shrub
Monarch Butterfly on unknown purple-flowering shrub
“Please, don’t pick the flowers”
One of my work colleagues translated the sign for me. Here’s the Google English to Russian Translation:
English: DON’T PICK FLOWERS, PLEASE
Russian: Не ставят цветы, пожалуйста
The word for “PICK” doesn’t match the sign.
Another Modern Rose
Amaranth flowers
Opuntia in Fruit
(Firefox’ spell-checker didn’t recognize “Opuntia.” It suggested Jauntily Haunting Prudential Aunties.)
That garden looks and sounds great. You did a wonderful job with these pictures they are outstanding.
I can help with some of the items and guess on some of the others.
The grass is Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Moudry’ or Black Fountain Grass.
The butterfly looks like it is on Vitex agnus-castus, aka, Chaste or Hemp Tree.
(guess or not sure) For the Unknown Fruit check Clerodendron trichotomum.
(guess or not sure) The red rose is kind of like ‘Knockout’ but you have probably seen those before. The Apricot rose looks to me like some kind of Austin Rose.
Hope that helps. I am going to have to make a note to visit this garden next year.
The unknown sparrow is a Song Sparrow.