Citizen Journalism

Posted on 2009-05-07 by admin

A meeting of online journalists, professional, citizen, and otherwise, with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz a few weeks ago.

Looking forward to seeing my fellow citizen journalists at the Brooklyn Blogfest this evening.

I haven’t been following the Senate Commerce Committee hearings on newspapers. Much of the testimony has contrasted big-house newspapers, and whether or not they need special protections, with citizen journalists – ie: bloggers – and whether or not they are a threat. In today’s Gawker, Ryan Tate takes of the speakers – David Simon, creator of the TV series The Wire – to task:

As a newspaper reporter who spent a few years covering a town much like Baltimore [the setting for The Wire] — Oakland, California — I often found that bloggers were the only other writers in the room at certain city council committee meetings and at certain community events. They tended to be the sort of persistently-involved residents newspapermen often refer to as “gadflies” — deeply, obsessively concerned about issues large and infinitesimal in the communities where they lived.
– David Simon: Dead-Wrong Dinosaur, Ryan Tate, Gawker, 2009-05-07

With so much quality civic reporting already being done online for little or no pay, it stands to reason we could eventually get quality government reporting entirely from bloggers, both professional and amateur, rather than depending on a federally-coddled cabal of conspiring nonprofit newspapers, as Simon envisions.

And there are reasons to think the quality would actually be better, since so many of the writers are deeply invested residents …

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Plant Sale, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Posted on 2009-05-06 by admin

This afternoon I attended the Members-Only Preview of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s 2009 Plant Sale. The sale opens to the general public all day tomorrow, Wednesday, from 9am to 7pm, and continues Thursday morning, from 9am to 12noon.

I haven’t been able to go for the past few years. I forgot how much fun it can be. It gets crowded at times, but it’s the most pleasant crowd to be in. Everyone is smiling, checking out each other’s little red wagons full of plants, offering advice and tips. The only potential meltdown I observed involved a young girl bringing an orchid to her mother, proudly sharing that this was the prettiest flower she could find. The orchid was not going into the wagon, and I moved on before things got ugly.

Because I was going to Soil Management class after the sale, I was limited to what I could carry by hand. Which was a good thing. Here are the six plants I came away with:

Fargesia rufa
Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’
Polygonatum falcatum ‘Variegatum’
Polystichum makinoi
Trillium erectum
Trillium grandiflorum

The two Trilliums are destined for the backyard native plant garden, of course. I’ve coveted a Fargesia for several years. I had one in the first garden, in the East Village. The genus was then known as Sinarundinaria; by any other name, still a lovely addition to a partially shaded location. This one, I think, will replace the Viburnum at the shady front of the house. The other three will go along the shady path on the north side of the house. There will be photographs of these in situ once they’re planted.

Waiting

Why?!

Shade Plants

The Big Tent

Father and Son

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Links

Brooklyn Botanic Garden 2009 Plant Sale

Flatbush Rezoning Hearing at Borough Hall 5/7

Posted on 2009-05-05 by admin

447 Westminster Road, Ditmas Park West, Flatbush, Brooklyn

Brooklyn’s Community Board 14 approved the Flatbush Rezoning Proposal without modification. The next step is review by the Borough President’s office. The public hearing is this Thursday, 5/7, at 5pm at Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street (back entrance), in the Courtroom.

The Flatbush Rezoning Proposal is unusual in several ways, not least of which is the degree to which the Brooklyn office of City Planning worked with Community Board 14 to develop and revise the plan. The proposal is intricate in its detail and deviates from defacto standard DCP practices in order to meet community concerns. It’s therefore critical that those who support the plan turn out in force to ensure that the collective voice of our communities carries the proposal forward.

There are three rezoning proposals on the agenda Thursday evening: Greenpoint-Williamsburg, Flatbush, and DUMBO. It’s going to be a busy night, and it conflicts with the Brooklyn Blogfest, which starts at 7pm the same evening. It’s a short ride on the B25 bus from Borough Hall to powerHouse Arena, the site of the Blogfest, so I hope to make both events on time.

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Links

ULURP Public Hearing Notice [PDF], Borough Hall

Plant Sales this week in Brooklyn

Posted on 2009-05-01 by admin

Cobble Hill, May 2

Cobble Hill Tree Fund Plant Sale
Cobble Hill Park (at Clinton and Congress Streets)
Saturday, May 2. 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Rain date is Sunday, May 3.

Boerum Hill, May 2 & 3

Hoyt Street Association Annual Plant Sale
110 Hoyt Street (near Pacific Street)
Saturday, May 2 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sunday May 3. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Park Slope, May 2

PS 107 (Park Slope) Plant Sale
PS 107, 1301 8th Avenue (between 13th and 14th Streets)
Saturday, May 2 (rain date May 3). 10 am to 4 pm

Bay Ridge, May 3

Narrows Botanical Gardens Sneak Preview Sale
Narrows Botanical Gardens, 69th Street entrance
Sunday, May 3. 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, May 5-7

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Cherry Esplanade
Brooklyn Botanic Garden 2009 Plant Sale
Wednesday, May 6 | 9 a.m.–7 p.m.
Thursday, May 7 | 9 a.m.–Noon
Members-Only Preview Sale
Tuesday, May 5, 2009. 4:30–8:30 p.m. (Admission with BBG membership card only.)

Park Slope, May 9

615 Green Garden, 6th Avenue and 15th Street
6/15 Green Annual Spring Festival and Plant Sale
Saturday, May 9, 10am-3pm

Park Slope, May 10

Brooklyn Bear’s Pacific Street Garden, Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn Bears Mother’s Day Plant Sale
Saturday and Sunday, May 10 & 11 from 10am to 4pm

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Brooklyn Garden Tour Calendar

Posted on 2009-04-30 by admin

Most of these are house tours which also feature gardens, some are garden-only tours.

Brooklyn Heights, May 9

Five houses and their gardens will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. for the 24th annual tour of the Brooklyn Heights Association. There will be an 1842 Greek Revival house on a street once known as Mansion Row, with its original mahogany woodwork and a collection of contemporary art by American and German artists, and an 1846 house on a corner lot with formal-style gardens, interior front and back staircases and a Federal doorway that was salvaged from a neighborhood building. No children under 13 except infants in front packs. Reservations are recommended. Tickets, $30, by calling (718) 858-9193 and brooklynheightsassociation.org. On the day of the tour only, tickets will be sold starting at 12:30 p.m. at 129 Pierrepont Street (near Clinton Street). [Via New York Times, 2009-04-30]

East New York, May 17

East New York Community Gardens Bike Tour
As part of Bike Month NYC, join GreenThumb Community Gardeners for a bike tour starting in East New York, part of NYC’s densest concentration of community gardens. Learn about the tumultuous history of gardening in NYC and see the fruits of the gardens.
Sunday, May 17, 2009, 9:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Start at Green Gems Community Garden, 947-953 Glenmore Avenue, between Fountain and Crystal Street

Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, May 31

Eleven houses will be open from noon to 5 p.m., including a 1907 limestone house renovated with a mix of pocket doors, antique chandeliers, an exercise room and a contemporary galley kitchen; a 1911 townhouse with original Arts and Crafts interior details and a staircase decorated with vintage maps; and the home of the 2006 Silver Award winner of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, which has a back garden with two waterfalls, charming seating areas and winding paths. Infants in front packs only. Tickets, $25, at K-Dog & Dunebuggy Cafe, 43 Lincoln Road (between Flatbush and Ocean Avenues). Advance tickets, $20. Information: (718) 284-6210 or (718) 462-0024 and at leffertsmanor.org. [Via New York Times, 2009-04-30]

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, FORT GREENE AND CLINTON HILL, BROOKLYN, JUNE 14 The Brownstone Brooklyn Garden District’s Garden Walk, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., will feature a dozen private and five community gardens. This year’s sites include two gardens that occupy neighboring yards behind adjacent town houses. One evokes ancient Rome, with shards of masonry, sculptural fragments and embedded plaques set among perennials and tropical plants. The other, centered by a cherry tree planted by the jazz singer Betty Carter, features perennial plantings and flowering trees.

Tickets, $20, at the Forest Floor, 659 Vanderbilt Avenue (Prospect Place) in Prospect Heights; Greene Grape Provisions, 753 Fulton Street (South Portland Avenue) in Fort Greene; and Root Stock and Quade, 471 Myrtle Avenue (Washington Street) in Clinton Hill. Advance tickets, $15, and information: (718) 858-7968, e-mail to brownstonebgd@gmail.com or bbgd.wordpress.com.

CROWN HEIGHTS NORTH, BROOKLYN OCT. 4 Eight houses, two churches and a community garden will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Tickets, $25, at St. Gregory’s Parish School, 991 St. Johns Place (between Brooklyn and New York Avenues). Advance tickets, $20, and information at (917) 748-4664 and crownheightsnorth.org. [Via New York Times, 2009-04-30]

Wildflower Week in NYC, 5/1 through 5/9

Posted on 2009-04-29 by admin

Mertensia virginica, Virginia Bluebells blooming yesterday afternoon in the Native Flora Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

This Friday, May 1, through next Saturday, May 9, is the Second Annual New York City Wildflower Week (WFW):

The 2nd annual NYC Wildflower Week celebrates all things green and wild in the Big Apple—the hundreds of native flowers, trees, shrubs and grasses that are found in the five boroughs. It gives New Yorkers numerous ways to connect with and be inspired by their local environment. Free activities throughout the city include: botanical walks, garden tours, ecology lectures, children’s events, planting opportunities, cooking classes, and food tastings at top restaurants. It is the largest celebration of National Wildflower Week, an initiative begun by Lady Bird Johnson.

Events are two numerous to list here. Please see the WFW calendar for a complete listing of and details on all events. They cover all five boroughs. See below for events in Brooklyn, which are also listed in the Flatbush Gardener calendar in the sidebar.

Aquilegia canadensis, Eastern Columbine blooming in the Union Square Native Plant Garden in May 2008.

Sunday, May 3, 11am: Native Plants of the Marsh of Marine Park

Guide: Ranger Allison McCarthy (allison.mccarthy@parks.nyc.gov)
Location: Meet outside Salt Marsh Nature Center, 3302 Avenue U
For more information, call 311 and ask for the Brooklyn Urban Park Rangers.
Description: Join the Urban Park Rangers for a hike through the salt marsh and learn about New York City’s beautiful native flora that flourish in the wetlands of Brooklyn. Dress for the weather, bring comfortable walking shoes and water, hat. You may also like to have a camera, hand lens, field guides, water, bug spray.

Sunday, May 3, 3:00pm: Prospect Park

Guide: Anne Wong, Director of Landscape Management (awong@prospectpark.org)
Location: Meet at Prospect Park Audubon Center
Description: Tour recent restorations in the woodlands and along the waterways in Prospect Park. The walk will focus on native plantings as well as invasive plant problems.

Dodecathon meadia, Eastern Shooting-Star, yesterday afternoon, Native Flora Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Wednesday, May 6, 11am: Brooklyn Botanic Garden Native Flora Garden,

Location: Meet at the front entrance of the Native Flora Garden (by the wooden gates, across from the Lilac Collection)
Guide: Ulrich Lorimer, Curator of BBG’s Native Flora Garden
Description: Highlights will include many spring ephemerals such as trillium species (Trillium spp.), mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) and violets (Viola spp.). Native azaleas will also be in bloom including the flame, pinxterbloom and sweet azaleas (Rhododendron spp.). A multitude of fern species will be emerging as well as aquatics such as golden club (Orontium aquaticum) and blue flag iris (Iris versicolor).

Lilium canadense, Canada Lily, July 2006, Native Flora Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Thursday, May 7, 3:30-5:00pm: Brooklyn Bridge Park

Location: Meet at corner of Main Street and Plymouth Street in DUMBO
Description: This program is presented by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy with guest speaker and native plant specialist Sara Stopek. It features a guided tour of native plants and wildflowers in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The tour is followed by a native wildflower planting project by students from Science Skills High School.
To sign up please contact: Kara Gilmour, Education and Stewardship Coordinator, email: kgilmour@bbpc.net, or call 718-802-0603 x18

Berries of Phytolacca americana, Pokeweed, in my backyard native plant garden in Flatbush, Brooklyn, in October 2007.

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Links

New York City Wildflower Week (WFW)
Native Flora Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy

Native Flora Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Posted on 2009-04-27 by admin

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The Native Flora Garden was how I hoped it would be. Some of my favorite native woodland wildflowers were in bloom.

That was before our weekend heat wave and record high temperatures. Starting this week, I’ll be returning on Tuesday afternoons, when I take my Soil Management course toward my Certificate in Horticulture at BBG. The instructor is Uli Lorimer, who is also the curator of the Native Flora Garden.

Slideshow

Selected Photos

The view just inside the southern entrance to the garden.

There is a large drift of Viola sororia forma priceana, Confederate Violet, just inside the southern entrance to this garden. I would not mind this growing as a “weed” in my garden in place of the common purple violets I’m constantly digging out.

Dicentra eximia, Eastern Bleeding-Heart, grows inside and outside the entrance, and throughout the garden. I have a white-flowering form in my backyard garden which is just starting to bloom.

D. cucullaria, Dutchman’s Breeches, blooms nearby with similar wands of dangling flowers and lovely ferny foliage.

Erythronium americanum, Trout-Lily (yellow) and Trillium grandiflorum (white). When I visited, the Trout-Lily were blooming in fields of thousands all over the Native Flora Garden.

T. erectum, Purple Trillium, was bashful despite its specific epithet.

From repeated visits, I’m coming to appreciate the subtle charms of Uvularia sessilifolia, Wild Oats. This is one of the few upright flowers I found, just emerging from the bud; as the flowers mature, the peduncle extends, and the flowers dangle below like narrow bells.

Caltha palustris, Marsh Marigold, growing in the Bog habitat.

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Plant Trees in Ditmas Park West, Sunday, 4/26

Posted on 2009-04-23 by admin

I helped plant this Zelkova serrata, Japanese Zelkova, last year.

Part of the Arbor Day weekend activities in Flatbush, on Sunday you can help plant 9 trees in Ditmas Park West, one of the neighborhoods of Victorian Flatbush.

Meet at 10am at 458 Rugby Road [GMAP]. Bring your own tools and gloves, if you have them. Wear sturdy work boots, and prepare to get dirty! No rain is predicated through the weekend, so you won’t have to deal with last year’s mud. Possibly record highs – temperatures in the upper 80s – are predicted for Sunday, so wear your sunscreen and bring lots of water to stay hydrated.

At the meeting place, they will form work crews which will fan out to different locations. Some will plant trees, some will do cleanups. At 1pm, folks meet up for lunch.

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Happy Earth Day

Posted on 2009-04-22 by admin

Earthrise, Apollo VIII, December 22, 1968

I remember when we first received images of the earth from space. This image, taken by Apollo VIII astronauts returning to Earth after circumnavigating the moon, was not the first. But, showing the green, wet, full-of-life, and finite Earth in stark contrast to the dry, lifeless Moon, it helped energize the environmental movement.

The rising Earth is about five degrees above the lunar horizon in this telephoto view taken from the Apollo 8 spacecraft near 110 degrees east longitude. The horizon, about 570 kilometers (250 statute miles) from the spacecraft, is near the eastern limb of the Moon as viewed from the Earth. On the earth, the sunset terminator crosses Africa. The south pole is in the white area near the left end of the terminator. North and South America are under the clouds. The lunar surface probably has less pronounced color than indicated by this print.
– NASA Earth Observatory

Flatbush Tree Tour, Saturday, April 25

Posted on 2009-04-21 by admin

2009.04.23 IMPORTANT TRANSIT SERVICE ADVISORY: The Manhattan-bound Q train will only stop at Church Avenue between Kings Highway and Prospect Park this weekend. Coney Island bound trains will make all stops.

Argyle Road in my neighborhood of Beverley Square West in Flatbush, Brooklyn, one of the blocks that will be on Saturday’s tour.

This Saturday, April 25, join Sustainable Flatbush in our second year of celebrating Arbor Day and the magnificent street trees of Brooklyn’s Victorian Flatbush. The Sustainable Flatbush Arbor Day 2009 Street Tree Walking Tour reprises last year’s route, visiting the Victorian Flatbush neighborhoods of Beverley Square West and Prospect Park South.

Tours will depart at 11am and 12noon from Third Root Community Health Center at 380 Marlborough Road, just south of Cortelyou Road. [GMAP] Take the Q train to Cortelyou Road and walk one block west (left) to Marlborough Road after exiting the station.

View Sustainable Flatbush Arbor Day 2009 Street Tree Walking Tour in a larger map

Your tour guides will be my neighbor, Tracey Hohman, a professional gardener, and yours truly. Throughout the tour, we will:

identify trees and their characteristics
share interesting facts
explore local tree history
discuss the many ways street trees benefit the environment
explain how to obtain and care for street trees
and more

This FREE tour is a little over a mile in length and lasts approximately 90 minutes. Tours will take place rain or shine. Please gear appropriately for the weather and walk: sunscreen, comfortable walking shoes, water, and so on.

The area boasts a rich variety of both street trees and ornamental trees and shrubs. On the tour, you will see:

Acer platanoides, Norway Maple
Aesculus hippocastanum, Horsechestnut
Amelancier, Serviceberry
Betula nigra, River Birch
Cercis canadensis, Redbud
Cornus florida, Flowering Dogwood
Cryptomeria japonica, Japanese Red Cedar
Ginkgo biloba, Ginkgo
Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust
Liquidambar styraciflua, Sweetgum
Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Dawn Redwood
Pinus strobus, White Pine
Platanus x acerifolia, London Plane
Pyrus calleryana, Flowering Pear, Callery Pear
Quercus palustris, Pin Oak
Quercus robur ‘Fastigiata’, Columnar English Oak
Sophora japonica, Japanese Pagoda Tree, Scholar Tree
Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock
Ulmus americana, American Elm
… and many more

For more information about the tour, please email garden AT sustainableflatbush DOT org.

Sustainable Flatbush brings neighbors together to discuss, educate, and advocate for sustainable living in our Brooklyn neighborhood and beyond.

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Links

Sustainable Flatbush

Resources

Web

To request a free street tree, fill out the form at http://www.nyc.gov/freetree

Million Trees NYC
Trees New York

Online Tree ID Guide, Arbor Day Foundation

Books

Dirr, Michael A. Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Timber Press. ISBN-13: 9780881924046

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Links

Related Content

Links

Cobble Hill, May 2

Boerum Hill, May 2 & 3

Park Slope, May 2

Bay Ridge, May 3

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, May 5-7

Park Slope, May 9

Park Slope, May 10

Brooklyn Heights, May 9

East New York, May 17

Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, May 31

Sunday, May 3, 11am: Native Plants of the Marsh of Marine Park

Sunday, May 3, 3:00pm: Prospect Park

Wednesday, May 6, 11am: Brooklyn Botanic Garden Native Flora Garden,

Thursday, May 7, 3:30-5:00pm: Brooklyn Bridge Park

Related Content

Links

Slideshow

Selected Photos

Related Content

Related Content

Related Content

Links

Resources

Web

Books