Shrubberies

Posted on 2014-11-09 by admin

Update 2014-11-23:

Completed Step #4 today, nearly injuring myself in the exertion. Did I mention that established grasses have deep and extensive roots?
Also completed Step #5, replacing the Panicum.
Added Step #9. I’d overlooked this shrub, and need to find a place where it can be featured, while still kept in bounds with the garden. I think where the Aronia once stood, a transplant I did in the Spring of this year.

Update 2014-11-10:

I’m taking photos as the work progresses. See Before and After below.
Reordered based on the progress I’m making. Because the Rhododendron is shallow-rooted, I decided to leave that until the last weekend before Thanksgiving, when I’ll visit my sister and deliver her plants.

It’s a long weekend for me. The weather favors gardening.

I’ve got seven shrubs – and one or two mature perennials – to plant, transplant, and move out. Here’s the plan.

I’m moving Cornus sericea ‘Cardinal’ moving from the backyard, by the Gardener’s Nook, to the front-yard. In the winter this will look great against the red brick of the front porch.
Fothergilla ‘Mount Airy’ moves from being lost beneath the Viburnum and Amelanchier to the nook, to highlight its foliage.
A now-gigantic Hydrangea also came with the house. I’m moving that, as well, to my sister’s. It has to be cut back hard, so we’ll see if it survives.
Next to the driveway, a large specimen of Panicum virgatum ‘Cloud Nine’ flops and blocks passage. I’m moving that to replace the Hydrangea. That spot needs height, and it can flop a little without getting out of hand. A second, smaller specimen of the Panicum is also going to my sister, to replace an ornamental grass she had in the front yard that died on her.
I purchased Prunus maritima, beach plum, at this Spring’s Pinelands Preservation Alliance Native Plant Sale. This will replace the Panicum in the bed along the driveway. This will be easy to prune upright to prevent any obstruction.
I purchased Rosa virginiana from Catksill Native Nursery four years ago. I’ve been growing it in container, and it’s never been happy about it; it’s never bloomed. I’m planting that in the bed next to the new location of the Panicum. It’s going in beneath a window, which I hope will dissuade burglars.
Catskill Native Nursery
A no-name white-flowering Rhododendron came with the house. This has grown wild and rangy, and it’s large leaves are out of scale with the backyard, which is “only” 30’x30′. That’s large for an urban garden, but small for a large-leaved rhodie. I’ll move this to the woods of my sister’s place in New Jersey.
I purchased a Kalmia, mountain laurel, also from the Pinelands Alliance Plant Sale and still in container. This will go where the Rhododendron is. Its finer leaf texture better fits the scale of the backyard than the rhodie.
Somewhere still I need to find a place for Rhododendron periclymenoides, also purchased at the Pinelands sale. Since I saw this on a NYC Wildflwoer Week hike through Staten Island’s High Rock Park, I knew it would work beautifully in my garden. Just not quite sure where yet …

Before and After

The Gardener’s Nook, before transplant

The Gardener’s Nook, after transplant

Megachile, Leaf-Cutter Bees

Posted on 2014-08-10 by admin

A leaf-cutter bee removes a segment from a leaf of Rhododendron viscosum, swamp azalea, in my urban backyard native plant garden and wildlife habitat (National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat #141,173). You can see other segments – both completed and interrupted – on the same and adjacent leaves.

Like carpenter bees, Leaf-cutters are solitary bees that outfit their nests in tunnels in wood. Unlike carpenter bees, they’re unable to chew out their own tunnels, and so rely on existing ones. This year, I’ve observed a large leaf-cutter – yet to be identified – reusing a tunnel bored in previous years by the large Eastern carpenter bee, Xylocopa virginica.

They use the leaf segments to line the tunnels. The leaves of every native woody plant in my garden has many of these arcs cut from the leaves. The sizes of the arcs range widely, from dine-sized down to pencil-points, reflecting the different sizes of the bee species responsible.

Tiny arcs cut from the leaves of Wisteria frutescens in my backyard.

I speculate that different species of bees associate with different species of plants in my gardens. The thickness and texture of the leaves, their moisture content, and their chemical composition must all play a part. I’ve yet to locate any research on this; research, that is, that’s not locked up behind a paywall by the scam that passes for most of scientific publishing.

Although I’ve observed the “damage” on leaves in my garden for years, this was the first time I witnessed the behavior. Even standing in the full sun, I got chills all over my body. I recognize now that the “bees with big green butts” I’ve seen flying around, but unable to observe closely, let alone capture in a photograph, have been leaf-cutter bees.

As a group, they’re most easily identified by another difference: they carry pollen on the underside of their abdomen. A bee that has pollen, or fuzzy hairs, there will be a leaf-cutter bee.

An unidentified Megachile, leaf-cutter bee, I found in my garden.

Another behavior I observe among the leaf-cutters in my garden is that they tend to hold their abdomens above the line of their body, rather than below, as with other bees. Perhaps this is a behavioral adaptation to protect the pollen they collect. In any case, when I see a “bee with a perky butt,” I know it’s a leaf-cutter bee.

When they’re not collecting leaves, they’re collecting pollen. Having patches of different plant species that bloom at different times of the year is crucial to providing a continuous supply of food for both the adults and their young.

An individual bee will visit different plant species (yes, I follow them to see what they’re doing). And different leaf-cutter species prefer different flowers. All the plants I’ve observed them visit share a common trait: they have tight clusters of flowers holding many small flowers; large, showy flowers hold no interest for the leaf-cutter bees.

Links

BugGuide: Genus Megachile

Synanthedon exitiosa, Peachtree Borer/Clearwing Moth

Posted on 2014-07-26 by admin

CORRECTION 2014-07-27: ID’d by William H. Taft on BugGuide as a male S. exitiosa, not S. fatifera, Arrowwood Borer, as I thought.

A lifer for me. I never even knew such a thing existed.

Synanthedon exitiosa, Peachtree Borer/Clearwing Moth, male, on Pycnanthemum muticum, Clustered Mountain Mint, in my garden yesterday afternoon.

I was showing a visitor all the pollinator activity on the Pycnanthemum. I identified 8 different bee species in less than a minute. Then I saw … THAT.

In my peripheral vision I thought it might be a wasp from the general shape and glossiness. Once I focussed on it, I recognized it as a moth.

How did I get “moth” from that?!

Body shape: It doesn’t have any narrowing along the body, which wasps and bees have.
Eyes: Large round eyes on the sides of the head, unlike the “wraparounds” of bees and wasps.
Antenna: They just looked “mothy” to me.

It was nectaring on Pycnanthemum muticum, Clustered Mountain Mint, in my garden. This patch of Pycnanthemum is just a few feet from the large Viburnum dentatum, Arrowwood, in my garden.

I’ve seen other Clearwing Moths, Sesiidae, so that gave me something to search on. The slender body was something I’d never seen before. Comparing with other images of Clearwing Moths, I was able to narrow it down to the genus Synanthedon. Then I used BugGuide and other authoritative sources to compare the coloration of the body and legs, and the markings on the wings, to key it out to species.

2014-07-24: But my original specific identification was incorrect! William H. Taft commented on one of my photos (the first in this blog post) on BugGuide that the amber color of the wings is a key to distinguishing S. exitiosa from S. fatifera. The BugGuide species page notes the yellow bands of “hairs” at the joints between the body segments. But the comparison species are other Peachtree Borers, not Arrowwood Borer, so I missed the comparison.

Looking at other photos of male Peachtree Borers, they look more like my find than Arrowwood Borer. Markings on the wings appear to be variable, not as diagnostic as I’d assumed. This is a lesson for me to be more conservative in my identification, and rely more on diagnostic keys than naive visual comparisons.

Oblique shot, showing the wing markings and venation.

Another common name for this species is Arrowwood Borer. It seems likely that this adult either just emerged from my shrub, or was attracted to it. I’ll look to see if I can find any borers still in the shrub.

Links

BugGuide species page

List of online guides to Moth and Butterfly identification, BAMONA

Event: Saturday 6/21 NYCWW Pollinator Safari of my Gardens

Posted on 2014-06-14 by admin

On Saturday, June 21, in partnership with NYC Wildflower Week, in observation of Pollinator Week, I’m opening my gardens for a guided tour, what I’m calling a “Pollinator Safari.” This is only the third time, and the first time in three years, I’ve opened my gardens for a tour.

This Hylaeus modestus, Modest Masked Bee, 1/4″ long, was visiting the blooms of Viburnum dentatum, Arrowwood, in my garden just two weeks ago. I’ve documented scores of insect pollinators in my gardens over the years, including bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, flies, and beetles.

Here’s the information from the Evite page, with a couple of extra links thrown in:

NYC Wildflower Week: Pollinator Week in Flatbush, Brooklyn

Date & Time: Saturday, June 21 from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm (rain date Sunday, June 22)
Location: Stratford Road at Matthews Court in Flatbush, Brooklyn

Guides:

Chris Kreussling, aka Flatbush Gardener

and a NYC bee naturalist

Event Description:

Since 2005, Chris has transformed a dusty, weedy backyard into a garden oasis. His gardens now incorporate over 80 species of native trees, shrubs, ferns, grasses and wildflowers. He’s documented the process on his gardening blog, Flatbush Gardener. In honor of National Pollinator Week, Chris will give us a behind-the-scenes tour!

Our bee expert will help us identify some of the gardens’ winged visitors, and review tips for creating an insect-friendly sustainable garden in urban settings.

A view of my urban backyard native plant garden, as it looked in 2011, six years in.

The same view as above, when we bought the house, in May 2005

Links

NYC Wildflower Week
Pollinator Week

Off-Topic: Vows

Posted on 2014-05-19 by admin

Two years ago, on May 19, 2012, I married my husband, John. These were my vows:

John:

I don’t know what I can say to you that I’ve not already said.

In front of family, friends, neighbors, and community, I can say this:

Today is not a beginning – We began many years ago.

Today is not an ending – There is much more for us to explore together.

I am grateful, that having moved apart, our separate journeys prepared us to come together again, and see each other with new eyes.

I love you, more than I could have imagined I would ever love anyone.

Today is a milestone on the path.

I want always to travel that path with you.

“We began many years ago”: John and I first met nearly 30 years ago at one of the then-many, now long-gone, gay bars in the East Village.
“having moved apart”: Somewhere explained in an earlier blog post. I moved from the East Village to Brooklyn
“our separate journeys”: Both John and I have spoken publicly about being in recovery. Speaking for myself, I needed a lot of work.

We’ve been “together” for 17 years or so. (John keeps track of these things.) We’ve been living together for 14 years. A few years ago, as the possibility of legal marriage in New York state seemed increasingly likely, I “pre-proposed” to John. I told him that, if and when it became legal in our home state, I would propose to him. He initially objected, “What if I want to propose to you?!”

In the Summer of 2011, marriage equality became law in New York state. The next day, we had a voice message from a couple of our straight neighbors: “When’s the wedding?!” All the pressure to marry came from straight friends and neighbors.

In the Fall of 2011, I ambushed John with a “surprise engagement.” I secretly gathered family and friends, and proposed to John on our second floor porch. We shared dinner after at a nearby restaurant.

Many years ago, when our partnership had not yet been secured, I vowed to John: “I commit to exploring relationship with you.” I maintain that vow.

Links

Wikipedia: Marriage Equality Act (New York)

What’s Blooming

Posted on 2014-05-10 by admin

Updated 2014-05-11: At the request of one of my readers, I started adding photos of the flowers.
Retracted Erythronium; I checked, and its petals have fallen. Hoping for seedset; I have plenty of ants to disperse them!

My backyard native plant garden is bursting with blooms right now. This is probably the peak bloom for the year. It happens to coincide with NYC Wildflower Week, which started today and runs through Sunday, May 18.

I will double-check this list tomorrow, but I think this is what I’ve got blooming:

Anemonella thalictroides
Aquilegia canadensis, Eastern Red Columbine, Canadian Columbine
Asarum canadense, Wild Ginger
Carex, Sedge
Claytonia virginica, Spring Beauty
Cornus sericea ‘Cardinal’, Red-Twig Dogwood
Dicentra eximia
Fothergilla gardenii
Fragaria virginiana, Wild Strawberry
Geranium maculatum, Spotted Geranium
Mertensia virginiana, Virginia Bluebells
Phlox stolonifera, Creeping Phlox
Photinia pyrifolia (Aronia arbutifolia) ‘Brilliantissima’, Red Chokeberry
Polemonium reptans, Jacob’s Ladder
Polygonatum biflorum, Solomon’s Seal
Podophyllum peltatum, Mayapple
Stylophorum diphyllum, Celandine Poppy
Vaccinium angustifolium, Lowbush Blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum, Highbush Blueberry
Viola, white-flowering and “vigorously” self-seeding, either V. canadensis or V. striata
Viola sororia, Dooryard Violet, the common “weed” of gardens
Trillium, unsure of species
Tiarella cordifolia, Foamflower

Not all of these photos were taken this weekend, but here are some of the flowers appearing in my backyard.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden removes science from its mission

Posted on 2014-01-20 by admin

After all their protests that eliminating their research staff in August 2013 was not “the end of science” at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, BBG’s Board of Trustees quietly voted at the end of September to change their mission. In contrast to their earlier spin machine, BBG has issued no press release, nor any Message from the President, Scot Medbury, to announce this.

“Our commitment to scientific research as a fundamental part of the Garden’s mission is unwavering.” – Medbury, Press Release, 2013-09-06
“Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s commitment to ensuring that scientific research remains a fundamental part of its mission is unwavering” – Medbury, Press Release, 2013-09-12
“Some of you may have seen news reports or petitions [such as the petition I and others started] suggesting that Brooklyn Botanic Garden has ended its commitment to plant science and research. I am writing today to assure you that this is not the case. Scientific research remains a fundamental part of Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s mission and programs.” – Medbury, “Message from the President” to BBG members, 2013-09-19
“If anything, this has catalyzed a greater commitment to making scientific research an enduring and fundamental part of our mission.” – Medbury, quoted in the NY Times, 2013-09-22, less than one week before BBG’s officially, and silently, changed its mission.

Turns out that all was, as so many of us have been saying for months, bullshit. Here is the new mission, now published on BBG’s Web site. Neither “Science,” nor even “Horticulture,” appear. The word “research” appears in the closing clause of the mission:

Brooklyn Botanic Garden is an urban botanic garden that connects people to the world of plants, fostering delight and curiosity while inspiring an appreciation and sense of stewardship of the natural world. Both in the Garden and well beyond, BBG inspires people of all ages through the conservation, display, and enjoyment of plants; with educational programs that emphasize learning by doing; and with research focused on understanding and conserving regional plants and plant communities. Approved by the Board of Trustees, September 28, 2013

For reference, here is the previous mission, approved by the Board in 1994, and no longer available on their Web site:

The mission of Brooklyn Botanic Garden is to serve all the people in its community and throughout the world by:

Displaying plants and practicing the high art of horticulture to provide a beautiful and hospitable setting for the delight and inspiration of the public.

Engaging in research in plant sciences to expand human knowledge of plants, and disseminating the results to science professionals and the general public.

Teaching children and adults about plants at a popular level, as well as making available instruction in the exacting skills required to grow plants and make beautiful gardens.

Reaching out to help the people of all our diverse urban neighborhoods to enhance the quality of their surroundings and their daily lives through the cultivation and enjoyment of plants.

Seeking actively to arouse public awareness of the fragility of our natural environment, both local and global, and providing information about ways to conserve and protect it.

Adopted October 29, 1994

At its founding a century ago, Dr. Stuart Charles Gager, first Directory of BBG, stated succinctly:

For the advancement of botany and the service of the city.

Neither “botany” nor “service” seem relevant any more.

A Personal Note

Prior to this last round of firings in August 2013, I had remained a supporter of BBG. I am no longer.

BBG had been the largest recipient of my charitable contributions. I have bought books, tools, seends, and gifts in their garden shops. I’ve bought plants at their annual plant sale.

I have supported BBG through social media, through this blog, Facebook, and Twitter. I administered the Flickr BBG Visitor’s Group, when its founder, another BBG supporter, could no longer do it. I organized a meetup of bloggers at BBG in 2008. And I organized a petition to restore science to BBG.

I thought I had been supporting science and botany at BBG. Instead, they diverted my money, my energy, my passion to the shiny baubles of their “Campaign for the Next Century.” They have made it clear they no longer need my support, even if they still want my money.

My passion remains. I’m just redirecting it to where it will not be betrayed.

Links

Reports:
Botanic Garden’s celebrated plant research center wilts under layoffs, NY Daily News, 2013-08-28
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Cuts Science Staff Weeks After Native Garden Debut, DNAInfo, 2013-08-23

Reactions:
Softball Practice: Part 1: When an Organization Undermines Its Own Mission, 2013-08-24; Part 2: Follow up to “When an Organization Undermines . . .”, 2013-08-29

BBG Purge, Backyard and Beyond, 2013-08-23
Brooklyn Botanic Garden suspends science program, Kent Holsinger, 2013-08-23

Background:
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Names New President, Press Release, published on BGCI Web site, 2005-08-15

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Announces Interim Herbarium Plans, 2013-09-12
BBG Announces Plan to Reenvision Research Program, 2013-09-06
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Announces Suspension of Research Program, 2013-08-28
Note: BBG PULLED this press release when they decided they were “re-envisioning,” not “suspending.”

Campaign for the Next Century
Herbarium
Herbarium Course at BBG, 2012-08-10
Herbarium Receives Historic Collection, 2012-05-31
New York Metropolitan Flora Project (NYMF)

BBG’s 2013-09-06 Press Release:

In late August, Brooklyn Botanic Garden announced plans to put its research program on hiatus while it grapples with an engineering problem in its science building and formulates a plan for a new research direction in plant conservation.

Garden president Scot Medbury said, “Our commitment to scientific research as a fundamental part of the Garden’s mission is unwavering. We will use this transition period to refine the focus of our research program and strengthen its base of financial support.”

During the hiatus, the Garden is taking proactive steps to protect its valuable herbarium from a failing building foundation and will limit herbarium access to qualified researchers while planning to relocate the collection.

“BBG has successfully reimagined its research programs several times in its hundred-year history, and this is another such juncture,” said Medbury.

BBG’s 2013-09-12 Press Release:

Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) today announced a new collaboration offered by The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) during a period of planning and construction affecting access to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Herbarium.

In late August, engineering problems affecting the foundation at Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s off-site science center led to a phased closure of that building and consequent access restrictions to its herbarium, the collection of 330,000 pressed, dried plant specimens housed there. While planning gets under way to relocate the BBG Herbarium (BKL), BBG will remain focused on the care of its herbarium collections, maintaining one part-time and two full-time staff members, including its director of collections, Tony Morosco, an eight-year veteran of the University of California’s Jepson Herbarium during a similar period of transition. As part of the new collaboration, science staff from NYBG’s William and Lynda Steere Herbarium will provide additional monitoring and support for the BKL during BBG’s planning phases. BBG’s important subcollection of herbarium type specimens will be temporarily moved to NYBG to facilitate researcher access. NYBG will also help process the return of loans made to other institutions from the BKL and assist with future loan requests. In addition, plans are in progress to transfer the BKL database to NYBG, where it will become a subunit of NYBG’s C.V. Starr Virtual Herbarium.

“Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s commitment to ensuring that scientific research remains a fundamental part of its mission is unwavering,” said Scot Medbury, president of BBG. “We are deeply grateful to The New York Botanical Garden for their generous technical support while we undergo a major transition.”

Lemon Cardamon Sugar Cookies

Posted on 2013-12-13 by admin

Recipe updated (improved?) 2016-12-03.

A few weeks ago, I had a craving to do some baking with cardamon (cardamom). A few Google searches later, I found a recipe for lemon cardamon sugar cookies.n

Other than doubling the recipe, and substituting all butter instead of the blend of butter and shortening, I stuck pretty closely, at first, to the original recipe. The batter, however, was overpoweringly lemony; not bad! but the cardamon was lost. So I doubled the cardamon in the original. Still way more lemon than I wanted, so I added a touch of ground cloves.

Even after adding the flour, the dough was very wet and soft. I baked one batch directly after mixing. They spread a lot in baking. I chilled the rest of the dough, which made it easier to manage. They still spread a lot.

Those were the most lemony cookies I ever had. Delicious, but still a waste of good cardamon. I adjusted the recipe further:

I reduced the amount of lemon to balance the spices.
Reducing the lemon juice also reduces the liquid, for a firmer dough.
I added some ground ginger.
To save time and reduce waste, I zested a frozen lemon instead of separately zesting and juicing fresh lemons.

The trick of using a frozen lemon and zesting the whole thing is something I picked up from my husband. He came across it, as he says, “on the computer.”

This recipe is good enough for all you beta testers out there, but it’s not “finished.” Although the flavors balance beautifully, my adaptation is now a little dry for my taste. I’ve made notes in this revision of things I would do differently next time. If you try this recipe – the original, my adaptation, or your own variant – let me know what you did and how it turned out in the comments!

Adapted from: Lemon Cardamom Sugar Cookies, Full Measure of Happiness

Yield: 60 (5 dozen) cookies

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
½ frozen lemon, zested
3 cups (12 ¾ oz) all-purpose flour, sifted, whole wheat or white to taste
NEXT TIME: Reduce by ¼ or ½ cup
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt (optional)

Directions

Let the butter soften to room temperature.
Zest the frozen lemon (pick out seeds, as needed) into a small bowl and set aside to thaw.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda together and set aside.
NEXT TIME: Try adding baking powder and soda LAST to the batter, instead of sifting it with the flour.
Cream the butter until smooth.
Cream the butter and sugar together at high speed until light and fluffy.
Add the zested lemon, extracts, and spices. Add salt to taste, if desired.
Add the sifted dry ingredients and mix until just blended together and no flecks remain.
Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.
Scoop tablespoons of the chilled dough, roll lightly in sugar, and place on the parchment. Flatten them gently with the back of a flat spoon. Leave space between them; they will roughly double in diameter.
Bake for 10 minutes until just brown on the edges. Your sense of smell is the best guide; remove them when you can just smell the sugar caramelizing.
Remove and cool for a few minutes, then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.

Links

Lemon Cardamom Sugar Cookies, Full Measure of Happiness

Sign the Petition to Restore Science to Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Posted on 2013-09-16 by admin

Updates:
2013-10-05: Guest post on Garden Rant.
2013-09-26: Thanks to the Brokelyn link, the petition surges past 2,500, adding 800 new signatures in two days, nearly all of them from Brooklyn.
2013-09-24: Brokelyn favorably summarizes the issue and links to the petition.
2013-09-22: The NY Times mentions the petition, but doesn’t link to it. It briefly quotes me and links to this blog. The article is a puff piece largely written by BBG.
The petition has reached 1,750 signatures, and continues to grow.
2013-09-19: Brooklyn Daily Eagle and NY Daily News have picked up the petition.
We reached the 1,500 signature mark earlier today.
2013-09-16: Added selections of some of my favorite comments from signatories to the petition.

Contents

Seeds, Asclepias incarnata, Swamp Milkweed, NYC-local ecotype, growing in my urban backyard native plant garden and wildlife habitat in November 2010. Monitoring and propagation of rare and endangered native plants from local, wild populations is one of the activities Brooklyn Botanic has eliminated with its latest round of cuts.

Three weeks ago, I wrote about the elimination of the last science staff, programs and activities at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG). Since then, I’ve learned much more about the history of just how far BBG has drifted from its mission, which is supposed to include:

Engaging in research in plant sciences to expand human knowledge of plants, and disseminating the results to science professionals and the general public.

Several of us have continued working to formulate a response. Over the weekend, we launched a petition on Change.org to Restore Science to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden:

Reinstate Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s field work, herbarium and library access, and the scientists needed to support these programs and services.

Restore science as a priority, as required by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s mission: “Engaging in research in plant sciences to expand human knowledge of plants, and disseminating the results to science professionals and the general public.”

Include Brooklyn, its neighborhoods, and scientific communities – the public for which Brooklyn Botanic Garden was founded, and is funded, to serve – in all decisions affecting its research and education programs and activities.

In less than 24 hours, we reached the 100-signature mark. Even this early, after seeing the responses in one day, there’s hope we may see thousands of signatures in this campaign.

If you share our concern and passion about these developments, please read, sign, and share and forward the petition.

Selected Comments

As of the evening of Monday, September 16, the petition exceeded 500 signatures. (1,330 as of Wednesday evening.) I’ve been trying to read all of the comments, but I can’t keep up any more. Here are some of my favorites.

Botanic Gardens and Arboreta must continue to maintain experts in the local floras and ecology. In many areas they are the last bastion of botany as universities abandon the study of plants for more lucrative directions.

As a longstanding member of the BBG, I have been dismayed to learn of these layoffs. Science should be a priority aspect of the BBG’s focus and investment. Given the high-profile, major expenditures on upscale entrances/architecture and related new features of the garden, I’m confused as to how the budget for what should be the most essential, core components of your work is somehow lacking.

Eliminating science and education from the BBG will reduce a world-class botanical institution to just another Brooklyn bauble.

I am a plant systematics researcher and access to the invaluable natural history collections stored and curated in herbaria is important to my work. I have had a chance to interact with the staff at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and they are exceptionally helpful and profssional. Even if the physical facilities are damaged, sacking the staff, who look after the collections and maintain a research program at the herbarium, shows a real lack of commitment to science by the board.

Without science-based publication, I will no longer be able to use and recommend your publications. The botanical world is awhirl in change – what a lousy time to abandon your gardens to the whimsy of marketers.

As a longstanding member of the BBG, I have been dismayed to learn of these layoffs. Science should be a priority aspect of the BBG’s focus and investment. Given the high-profile, major expenditures on upscale entrances/architecture and related new features of the garden, I’m confused as to how the budget for what should be the most essential, core components of your work is somehow lacking.

Science!

Duh.

And this one stands alone:

“For the advancement of botany and the service of the city.” Although it galls some to be reminded of the vision of Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s first director, Charles Stuart Gager, the mission was never more clearly stated. In the first volume of the Garden’s Record, Gager wrote that a botanic garden’s “aims and treatment must differ greatly from those of a public park or a mere pleasure garden.” Judged by their recent action and inaction the current administration and board of trustees disagree and seem determined to erase the history of a great institution.

Gager so valued a botanical library that he made personal appeals for acquisitions and wrote to readers of the Record, “A well chosen library is absolutely essential in order properly to classify, name, and label our collections and public exhibits.” Three years ago this administration and board also eviscerated that department. One must ask where will it end?

For anyone who would like to read about BBG’s dishonored history, it can be accessed here: Brooklyn Botanic Garden Record, Volume 1, 1912

Links

The Petition in the News:
Petition Seeks to Bring Science Back to Brooklyn Botanic Garden, David Colon, Brokelyn, 2013-09-24
Science is on hiatus at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brady Dale, Technical.ly: Brooklyn, 2013-09-23
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Defends Decision to Suspend Science Program, Lisa Foderaro, NY Times, 2013-09-22.
Angry tree huggers demand that Brooklyn Botanic Garden bring back axed researchers, NY Daily News, 2013-09-19. Note: The reporter contacted me late in the day the article went online. We spoke for about 10 minutes. However, none of our conversation made it into the article. The quotes attributed to me come directly from the text of the petition.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden denies it’s ending scientific research, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 2013-09-18. Note: Although I’m quoted in this article, they made no attempt to contact me. Everything attributed to me comes from the petition.
Neighbor Starts Petition To Restore Science At Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Ditmas Park Corner Blog, 2013-09-17

Reports:
Brooklyn Botanic Garden denies it’s ending scientific research, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 2013-09-18
Note: I am quoted in the Eagle article, but they made no attempt to contact me. (And I’m easy to find!) All language attributed to me comes from the petition.
Botanic Garden’s celebrated plant research center wilts under layoffs, NY Daily News, 2013-08-28
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Cuts Science Staff Weeks After Native Garden Debut, DNAInfo, Crown
Heights and Prospect Heights edition, 2013-08-23

Reactions:
My husband, John Magisano, a consultant to non-profits, has made a case study of this episode on his blog, Softball Practice:

When an Organization Undermines Its Own Mission, 2013-08-24;
Follow up to “When an Organization Undermines . . .”, 2013-08-29
How to Read a Press Release, 2013-09-16
Competing Organizational Narratives, 2013-09-30
Evading the Question (Again) at BBG, 2013-10-05

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Petition, Marie Viljoen, 66 Square Feet, 2013-10-07 (updated, originally published 2013-09-20)
BBG Purge, Backyard and Beyond, 2013-08-23
Brooklyn Botanic Garden suspends science program, Kent Holsinger, 2013-08-23

Background:
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Names New President, Press Release, published on BGCI Web site, 2005-08-15
Spring has Sprung, Ivan Oransky, TheScientist, 2005-04-25

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Mission Statement, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Campaign for the Next Century
Herbarium
Herbarium Course at BBG, 2012-08-10
Herbarium Receives Historic Collection, 2012-05-31
New York Metropolitan Flora Project (NYMF)

BBG’s 2013-09-06 Press Release:

In late August, Brooklyn Botanic Garden announced plans to put its research program on hiatus while it grapples with an engineering problem in its science building and formulates a plan for a new research direction in plant conservation.

Garden president Scot Medbury said, “Our commitment to scientific research as a fundamental part of the Garden’s mission is unwavering. We will use this transition period to refine the focus of our research program and strengthen its base of financial support.”

During the hiatus, the Garden is taking proactive steps to protect its valuable herbarium from a failing building foundation and will limit herbarium access to qualified researchers while planning to relocate the collection.

“BBG has successfully reimagined its research programs several times in its hundred-year history, and this is another such juncture,” said Medbury.

BBG’s 2013-09-12 Press Release:

Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) today announced a new collaboration offered by The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) during a period of planning and construction affecting access to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Herbarium.

In late August, engineering problems affecting the foundation at Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s off-site science center led to a phased closure of that building and consequent access restrictions to its herbarium, the collection of 330,000 pressed, dried plant specimens housed there. While planning gets under way to relocate the BBG Herbarium (BKL), BBG will remain focused on the care of its herbarium collections, maintaining one part-time and two full-time staff members, including its director of collections, Tony Morosco, an eight-year veteran of the University of California’s Jepson Herbarium during a similar period of transition.

As part of the new collaboration, science staff from NYBG’s William and Lynda Steere Herbarium will provide additional monitoring and support for the BKL during BBG’s planning phases. BBG’s important subcollection of herbarium type specimens will be temporarily moved to NYBG to facilitate researcher access. NYBG will also help process the return of loans made to other institutions from the BKL and assist with future loan requests. In addition, plans are in progress to transfer the BKL database to NYBG, where it will become a subunit of NYBG’s C.V. Starr Virtual Herbarium.

“Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s commitment to ensuring that scientific research remains a fundamental part of its mission is unwavering,” said Scot Medbury, president of BBG. “We are deeply grateful to The New York Botanical Garden for their generous technical support while we undergo a major transition.”

Hempstead Plains, Long Island’s Remnant Prairie

Posted on 2013-09-05 by admin

Updated 2013-09-05: CORRECTION – The white-flowering plant is Eupatorium hyssopifolium, Hyssop-leaf Throughwort, not E. perfoliatum, Common Boneset, as I misidentified it.

At a glance – say, highway speed – this may appear to be yet another old-field meadow, biding its time before it transitions into shrubland and eventually forest. This is Hempstead Plains, one of several mature grasslands on Long Island, and the only true prairie east of the Appalachian Mountains.

Hempstead Plains on the grounds of Nassau Community College in East Garden City, Nassau County, NY. The white-flowering plants are Eupatorium hyssopifolium, Hyssop-leaf Throughwort.

On Sunday, August 25, I joined three other native plant lovers for a whirlwind tour of Hempstead Plains. We had only an hour; I could have spent several hours there. For me, this was a pilgrimage. I spent most of my childhood on Long Island.

Our guide was Betsy Gulotta, Conservation Project Manager of the Friends of Hempstead Plains, Department of Biology, Nassau Community College, on whose grounds this remnant stands. Here Betsy points out Apocynum cannabinum, Indian Hemp, at the start of our visit.

A Brief Natural History of Hempstead Plains

New York’s Long Island comprises four counties; from east to West they are Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, and Kings (aka Brooklyn). If you look down from space, and maybe squint a bit, Long Island resembles a fish: Brooklyn is the face, Queens is the head and gills, and Nassau and Suffolk are the body and tail.

The fish shape of Long Island arises from two ridges, running roughly east-west. The ridges stand out as light yellow to white in this Digital Elevation Model (DEM) map of Long Island. I’ve highlighted the location of Hempstead Plains in Nassau County, right about where the fish’s pectoral fins would be.Map: Dr. J. Bret Pennington, Department of Geology, Hofstra University

These ridges are terminal moraines: deposits of sand, gravel and rock left behind as the Wisconsin glaciation made its last stand, then retreated, 20,000-19,000 years ago. Long Island is part of the Outer Lands, the archipelago formed by these moraines, that extends to Cape Cod.

South of the moraines are outwash plains, laced with streams and rivers leading to the bays of Long Island’s southern shores. Hempstead Plains once spanned the westernmost extent of these plains, bounded on the west and north by the northern Harbor Hills Moraine, and on the east by the Ronkonkoma Moraine, where it abuts the Harbor Hills Moraine. This map, from a U.S Fish & Wildlife Service survey of grasslands habitats on Long Island, shows the estimated original extent of Hempstead Plains prior to European colonization, based on soil surveys and historical accounts.

Why Hempstead Plains is Special

Even if no more of this land were taken up in farms, the continued growth of New York City is bound to cover it all with houses sooner or later, and it behooves scientists to make an exhaustive study of the region before the opportunity is gone forever.
– The Hempstead Plains: A Natural Prairie on Long Island, Roland M. Harper, 1911

The existence and persistence of this prairie has yet to be completely explained.

There’s evidence of periodic fire disturbance, whether natural or man-made, even prior to European colonization. (Today, they mow to keep invasive species in check.) But the pine barrens that once extended east of here are also adapted to fire. Why prairie, not pine barrens, here?

The soil here is nothing like the deep topsoils of midwestern prairies. Most of Long Island is a glacial deposit of sand and gravel. Perhaps that balances out the relatively high rainfall we get here. Then why wasn’t there more prairie on Long Island?

Hempstead Plains shares another characteristic with arid and semi-arid lands, including prairie: biological soil crust. During our visit, there were a few places where the lichen soil crust was visible. Where it’s disturbed, as in this photo, you can see the sandy, gravelly underlying soil.

With such an unusual confluence of conditions, Hempstead Plains is home to several species that are locally or globally rare and threatened. During our visit, we were privileged to see Agalinis acuta, Sandplain Gerardia, in bud.

Back to our little troupe; here we are closely examining a specimen of Baptisia tinctoria, Blue Indigo. We remarked on how different the Hempstead Plains Baptisia looks from horticultural varieties, even of the same species.

Wild areas such as Hempstead Plains provide critical reservoirs of seeds for conservation and restoration efforts. Local ecotypes of native plants are adapted to local conditions. They’ve co-evolved with other organisms in their environment, and support more wildlife than cultivars. Their populations exhibit diversity that disappears when we select and propagate plants for our purposes, such as “garden value.”

Local ecotypes are rarely available commercially. For example: several of the plants offered at June’s Long Island Native Plant Initiative Plant Sale were propagated by the Greenbelt Native Plant Center from seed collected at Hempstead Plains. Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s elimination of field work threatens such regional conservation efforts.

The Hempstead Plains is the last remnant of native prairie grassland that once covered 40,000 acres of central Nassau County. Today, as a result of commercial development only a few acres remain. The site is considered highly ecologically and historically significant. The Hempstead Plains supports populations of federally endangered and globally rare plants among its 250 different kinds of vegetation as well as several plant species that are now considered rare in New York State. It represents one of the most rapidly vanishing habitats in the world, along with scores of birds, butterflies, and other animals that are vanishing with it.
– About the Plains, Friends of Hempstead Plains

Plants

Here are some of the plants we met during our visit. First, some characteristic tall-grass prairie species.

Andropogon gerardii, Big Bluestem

Panicum virgatum, Switchgrass

Sorghastrum nutans, Indian Grass

And a handful of other, smaller grasses. There are 35-40 species of grasses, native and non-native, at Hempstead Plains.

Dichanthelium clandestinum, Deer-Tongue Grass (in the center of the weeds)

Eragrostic spectabilis, Purple Lovegrass

Schizachyrium scoparium, Little Bluestem

Here are some more conventional “wildflowers.”

Eupatorium hyssopifolium, Hyssop-leaf Throughwort

Euthamia caroliniana/, Slender Goldentop, Flat-top Goldenrod

Visiting Hempstead Plains

The site is not open to the public except for scheduled guided tours. Plants aren’t labelled – it’s a wild area, not a botanic garden – so you’ll want a knowledgable guide, anyway! Check the Activities page on the Friends of Hempstead Plains web site for their calendar. They have regularly scheduled tours on Friday afternoons, and volunteer days on Saturday mornings, into November.

Getting there is confusing. It’s really easy to miss the turnoff. I circled the entire campus of Nassau Community College before I was able to get back on approach to Perimeter Road, where the parking area is located. I could have used a navigator.

They’re working on a new Interpretive Center, scheduled to be open in 2014. The building site is a corner of the property that was already less than pristine. Nevertheless, they’re disturbing the soil as little as possible. The composting toilet will be an above-ground model, instead of one that requires excavation. The building will have a green roof populated with plants propagated from the site.

I look forward to a return visit.

Links

Friends of Hempstead Plains
Hempstead Plains Grassland, New York Natural Heritage Program
Wikipedia: Hempstead Plains

Saving Bits of Nassau’s Original Prairie, Barbara Delatiner, New York Times, 2003-06-22
An urban nature reserve takes shape on the Diana Center’s green roof (Video), Hilary Callahan, Barnard College News, 2011-08-10 (This Project uses plants propagated by the Greenbelt Native Plant Center from Hempstead Plains seed stock)

Long Island Native Grass Initiative, Nassau County Soil & Water Conservation District
Coastal Grasslands (PDF), Long Island Sound Habitat Restoration Initiative, February 2003
Long Island Grasslands, Significant Habitats and Habitat Complexes of the New York Bight Watershed, 1996-1997, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Long Island Botanical Society
Long Island Native Plant Initiative

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Maps of Long Island, Dr. J. Bret Pennington, Department of Geology, Hofstra University
Geology of Long Island, Garvies Point Museum and Preserve

An Introduction to Biological Soil Crusts, SoilCrust.org

Historical References:
The Vegetation History of Hempstead Plains (PDF), Richard Stalter and Wayne Seyfert, St. John’s University, Proceedings of the 11th North American Prairie Conference, 1989 (Hosted at the Digital Commons, University of Nebraska, Lincoln)
The Hempstead Plains: A Natural Prairie on Long Island, Roland M. Harper, Bulletin of the American Geographical Society , Vol. 43, No. 5 (1911), pp. 351-360 (An edited version was republished in Torreya, Volume 12, 1912)
Soil Survey of the Long Island area of New York (PDF), by Jay A. Bonsteel and Party, Field Operations of the Bureau of Soils, 1903 (Hosted at New York Online Soil Survey Manuscripts, Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA)

Before and After

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On the blog

My Photography on Flickr

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A Personal Note

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Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Ingredients

Directions

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Selected Comments

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Brooklyn Botanic Garden

A Brief Natural History of Hempstead Plains

Why Hempstead Plains is Special

Plants

Visiting Hempstead Plains

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