City Nature Challenge 2018

Posted on 2018-04-29 by admin

The “weedy” remnants of my front lawn, where Viola sororia, common blue violet, has taken charge. Easily overlooked, it seeds itself readily without any help from me (or any other gardener). Yet this species is native to New York City. It’s one of my iNaturalist observations from my garden for this year’s City Nature Challenge.

Today, Sunday, April 29th, is day 3 of the global City Nature Challenge, which continues into tomorrow. Building on the explosive popularity of iNaturalist as a platform for observations, this gamified bioblitz pits cities against each other, to see which can identify more taxa of living species in a 96-hour period.

NYC is currently is 6th place globally, and 4th nationally. There are still plenty of opportunities to join special events organized for New York City, with events in 4 of our 5 boroughs today, and more tomorrow.

I wasn’t able to take part in yesterday’s festivities. This weekend, I have to get my garden ready for this season’s garden tours. Armed with only my phone, I kept an eye out for anything I might see, uncover, or unearth. I was rewarded.

I came up with 16 observations yesterday. In addition to Viola sororia introduced at the top of the post, I observed:

Moss, one species
A weedy Prunus (I think)
Taraxacum officinale, dandelion
Slug, adult and eggs
Cepaea nemoralis, grove snail
Shell of another unknown snail
An earthworm, genus Lumbricus
Spiders, 2 species
Millipedes, maybe 2 species
Centipede
Armadillidium vulgare, Common Pillbug
An unknown fly

And not a vertebrate among them. There were plenty of birds, and the occasional squirrel, in the garden. I wouldn’t have been able to get close enough with my phone to any of them to get a decent photo.

Links

City Nature Challenge

NYC City Nature Challenge 2018 on iNaturalist

Native Plant Acquisitions, Gowanus Canal Conservancy Plant Sale

Posted on 2018-04-22 by admin

Today I made my way to my first Gowanus Canal Conservancy Native Plant Sale. Today is Earth Day 2018, and today’s sale was held at their nursery location, the Salt Lot where Second Avenue ends at the Gowanus Canal. They have two more sales this season. The next, on May 19th, conflicts with the NYC Wildflower Week tour of my garden.

A wide range of species are listed are available on their nursery page. Not all of them are still in stock. In compensation, they had other unlisted species available at today’s plant sale.

I used their published list of species to make a shopping list, always a good idea when heading out to plant sales. I cross-checked their list for species that 1) I didn’t already have, and 2) were native to New York City. Since they list the Greenbelt Native Plant Center as a partner, I suspected many of their species would be NYC-local ecotypes. I made a few exceptions for cases where I have the species, but not a NYC-local ecotype, e.g.: Solidago sempervirens, seaside goldenrod.

I had the chance to speak with a few of their staff and volunteers, including Diana Gruberg, their Horticultural Manager for the whole operation. I was pleased when she confirmed that some 90% of their species originated with Greenbelt. They are now successfully propagating many of these species themselves, both vegetatively and from seed.

Today’s acquisitions, listed alphabetically by botanical name:

Carex albicans, white-tinged sedge
Carex comosa, bristly sedge
Euthamia graminifolia, common flat-topped goldenrod
Juncus greenei, Greene’s rush
Monarda fistulosa, bee-balm
Oenothera biennis, common evening primrose
Quercus bicolor, swamp white oak
Schizachyrium littorale, dune blue-stem
Solidago sempervirens, seaside goldenrod, N YC-local ecotype
Symphyotrichum ericoides. heath aster
Veronicastrum virginicum, Culver’s root

I confirmed with Diana that the seaside goldenrod was propagated from a Greenbelt collection, so it’s a local ecotype. I don’t know for sure which of the others also are. Odds are good that it’s most, if not all, of them.

Links

Gowanus Canal Conservancy

Emerald Ash Borer Discovered in Prospect Park

Posted on 2017-10-28 by admin

Terrible news.

Until this announcement, Agrilus planipennis, emerald ash borer, or EAB for short, had been found throughout New York state, but the locations closest to NYC were in Westchester County. This is quite a leap. One of the ways invasive forest pests get spread is through moving firewood. I wonder if that was the case here.

I live 1/2 mile south of Prospect Park. I am going to visit the ash trees in my neighborhood. They may not be here next year.

Press release from Prospect Park Alliance, 2017-10-27:

Today, the New York State Departments of Agriculture and Markets (DAM) and Environmental Conservation (DEC) confirmed the first-ever discovery of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) in New York City in Prospect Park. Of an initial survey of 10 suspected trees in Prospect Park by Prospect Park Alliance—the non-profit that cares for the Park in partnership with the City, three were confirmed to be infested by this invasive pest by a Cornell University researcher.

Prospect Park Alliance has removed three trees to date that succumbed to this infestation, located along the Ocean Avenue perimeter of the Park, and additional affected trees in this area will be removed over the winter. NYC Parks, DEC, DAM and Prospect Park Alliance are taking immediate action to limit the spread of infestation and protect New York City’s more than 51,000 ash trees.

“The Emerald Ash Borer infestation was detected in Prospect Park thanks to vigilant monitoring of the tree population by Prospect Park Alliance arborists, a year-round tree crew committed to the protection and preservation of the Park’s 30,000 trees,” said John Jordan, Director of Landscape Management for Prospect Park Alliance. “The Alliance will continue to monitor ash trees in the Park, and will work closely with New York City Parks Department, USDA and DEC to continue tracking and responding to this infestation.”

EAB is a non-native species of beetle whose larvae kill trees by burrowing into the inner bark and thus interrupting the circulation of water and vital nutrients. EAB-infested trees are characterized by thin crowns, sprouts on the trunks of the trees, and the signature d-shaped exit holes adult beetles leave on trees’ bark. EAB only affects ash trees, which constitute roughly three percent of NYC’s street trees. EAB has been present in New York State since 2009.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently awarded a $75,000 Urban Forestry Grant to the Prospect Park Alliance to conduct a tree inventory of Prospect Park. The inventory will include an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 trees in the landscaped areas of the park, representing about half of the total population. The tree inventory will include an invasive insect, pest, and disease detection survey by incorporating the USDA Forest Service early pest detection protocol (IPED).

Thank you to Jessica Katz who posted this to several NYC gardening groups, which is how I learned of it.

Exhibit on Agrilus planipennis, emerald ash borer, from the Onondaga County Cornell Cooperative Extension at the 2012 New York State Fair.

Links

Press release from Prospect Park Alliance, 2017-10-27

Map of ash trees planted as NYC street trees

NY State Department of Environmental Conservation:
Emerald Ash Borer
Look for and report EAB

Remembering Sandy, Five Years Later

Posted on 2017-10-28 by admin

Rockaway Beach Boulevard, between Beach 113th & 114th Streets, Rockaway Park, Queens, November 4, 2012

The storm surge flooded this block to at least five feet. Fire broke out and was quickly spread by 80-mph winds. These buildings burned down to the water line.

This was the site of a heroic rescue by FDNY Swift Water Team 6 and other firefighters attached to this unit for rescues during the storm. Firefighters Edward A. Morrison and Thomas J. Fee received awards for their actions during these rescues.
www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-166/issue-5…
www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/pdf/publications/medal_day/2013/Med…

Investigators later determined this fire was caused by downed electrical wires falling onto 113-18 Rockaway Beach Boulevard. 16 homes were destroyed by the fire.
www.nydailynews.com/new-york/sea-water-surge-behind-serio…

There was worse destruction than this on Beach 130th Street, between Rockaway Beach Boulevard and Beach Channel Road. That fire started at 239 Beach 129 St. and destroyed 31 buildings.

Links

Remembering Sandy 5 Years Later, National Weather Service
Saved by Sand Dunes, Cool green Science blog, Nature
Five years later, AN looks at the impact of Hurricane Sandy on New York’s built environment, Audrey Wachs, The Architects Newspaper, 2017-10-27

Land of the Free: A Civics Lesson

Posted on 2017-09-16 by admin

[Transcribed from a 2017-09-16 Twitter thread and back-dated.]

I originally wrote this as a linked group of posts on Twitter in response to an article about a teacher put on leave after “manhandling” (violently snatching from his chair) a student who refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

A billion yrs ago, I was in high school. I was gay, atheist, and figuring out my personal conscience and integrity against the injustice I saw in the world.

I spent a lot of time in the school library. There I found a copy of an ACLU handbook on students’ rights. Among the chapters, there was a section about reciting, or even standing for, the so-called “Pledge of Allegiance.” That was the practice in my high scool’s “home room”: the first “class” of the day, where attendance was taken, and Pledge recited. I had been standing only, not reciting, for weeks.

After reviewing the ACLU handbook, I wanted to exercise my conscience, and my right. One morning, I remained seated. The teacher, calling me by my last name, told me to stand. I refused. He asked why. I explained. I was lying if I recited it. There was no “liberty and justice for all.” I was atheist, and did not believe in a nation “under god.”

He moved on that 1st day. The 2nd day, he brought in the school’s disciplinarian to glare at me from the doorway, to intimidate. I sat. There was the visit to the principal’s office. I explained my reasons again. I remained seated.

This gave other students license to attempt intimidation, push my chair while I remained seated, shove me in hallways outside class. One student called me a “godless, commie fag.” He didn’t know I was gay. It was just the worst insult he could think of.

Links

“Farmington teacher accused of mistreating student put on leave“, Charles E. Ramirez and Mark Hicks, The Detroit News, 2017-09-15 Continue reading →

Blooming Now

Posted on 2017-04-30 by admin

NYC-Native Species

Asarum canadense, wild ginger

Fragaria virginiana, Virginia strawberry

Geranium maculatum

Geum rivale, purple avens

Podophyllum peltatum, mayapple

Polygonatum biflorum

Rhododendron periclymenoides

Thalictrum thalictroides

Vaccinium angustifolium, lowbush blueberry

Vaccinium corymbosum, highbush blueberry

Viola lanceolata, bog white violet

Viola sororia, dooryard violet (several different varieties)

Zizia aurea, golden alexanders

Eastern Regional Native Species

Dicentra eximia

Fothergilla major

Phlox stolonifera (in bud)

Polemonium reptans, Jacob’s ladder

Sedum ternatum

Stylophorum diphyllum, woodland poppy

Tiarella cordifolia, foamflower

Trillium grandiflorum, great white trillium

Standing Still 2016

Posted on 2016-12-21 by admin

Persephone with her pomegranate. Dante Gabriel Rossetti – Proserpine (Oil on canvas, 1874) – Tate Gallery, London

This season’s solstice (Winter in the Northern hemisphere, Summer in the Southern), occurs at 10:44 UTC, December 22, 05:44 Eastern Standard Time (UTC-05:00), December 21. Etymology: Latin solstitium (sol “sun” + stitium, from sistere “to stand still”)

The name is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstices, the Sun stands still in declination; that is, its apparent movement north or south comes to a standstill.
– Solstice, Wikipedia

This year feels darker than most. Yesterday, as expected, the U.S. presidential electorate election was affirmed. “Standing Still” takes on a different meaning if there’s a chance the light won’t return.

So we light a candle against the darkness, and try to keep it lit. If I’m feeling hopeful, I might reflect on these lyrics from Peter Gabriel’s song written in memory of Stephen Biko, who would have been 90 this past week:

You can blow out a candle
But you can’t blow out a fire.
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher.

Wishing for peace, wishing you peace, these dark days.

This page has a little MIDI file which bangs out the tune so you can follow the score.

Illumination of Earth by Sun at the southern solstice.

Links

Wikipedia: Solstice

Lemon-Cardamon Sugar Cookies

Posted on 2016-12-04 by admin

This is an updated version of a recipe I published 3 years ago. This version reflects the adjustments I’ve made since then. I feel like I’ve perfected this one. If you try this recipe, let me know what you did and how it turned out in the comments!

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.” As you grind down the lemon toward the center, be sure to pick out the seeds with a fork.

Yield: 60 (5 dozen) cookies

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
½ frozen lemon, zested
2-1/2 cups (10 oz) all-purpose flour, sifted. I like using white whole wheat flower for a recipe like this that has more delicate flavorings.
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 teaspoons 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 and set aside.
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 baking powder and baking soda and blend well.
Add the sifted flour 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. 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. The edges should be just starting to darken. This will give you a crisp edge and chewy center.
Remove the baking sheet to a cooling rack, and let the cookies cool and set up on the sheet.

Links

The original recipe by Lauren Zietsman, published on her blog “A Full Measure of Happiness,” is no longer available on the Web.

Lemon Cardamom Sugar Cookies, Full Measure of Happiness

A milkweed by an other name …

Posted on 2016-08-07 by admin

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
– Juliet, Romeo and Juliet, Wiliam Shakespeare

A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.
– Gertrude Stein, various

I started to get into a little tiffle on a post (since removed) on one of the insect ID groups in Facebook. The original poster was trying to ID a tight cluster of orange eggs on a leaf of a plant she identified as “milkweed vine.” One of the responders commented: “Milkweed vine? Not likely.” And then we were off.

What’s a “milkweed,” anyway?

Responding in a comment, the original poster specified that the plant was Morrenia odorata, an introduced, and invasive, vine in the Apocynaceae, the dogbane family. (Some authorities still list it under Asclepiadaceae, the milkweed family, which is now considered a sub-family, Asclepiadoideae, of Apocynaceae.) Its common names include latex plant, strangler vine, and, yes, milkweed vine.

The responder’s objection was that “Aclepias is milkweed.” Period. Final. Absolute declaration.

It’s not that simple.

Common names like “milkweed” have no authority. Many plants have “milkweed” as part of their common name, not just Asclepias species. Cynanchum laeve, a native vine in the same family as Morrenia and Asclepias, has a common name of climbing milkweed, among several others.

Noone can claim that only Asclepias species can be called “milkweed.” To insist so is, at best, dismissive. I would use stronger language. (I blocked the responder on Facebook to avoid future tiffles with them.)

Why plant ID matters for insect ID

Why did the original poster include the id of the plant in their requesting for identifying insect eggs? Because they understand that many insect species depend on different types of plants. Specialist insect-host associations are common in the co-evolutionary biochemical arms race between insect herbivores and their host plants.

Only five years ago, I didn’t have any knowledge of insect-host plant relationships. Marielle Anzelone (@NYCBotanist on Twitter – follow her!) clued me in on what was going on when I observed this in my backyard in May 2011:

I recognized it as a swallowtail. Knowledge of the plant – Aristolochia tomentosa, wooly dutchman’s pipevine – id’d the butterfly as pipevine swallowtail, Papilo troilus. The caterpillars of this species feed only on plants in the Aristolochiaceae, the pipevine family, primarily – but not exclusively – Aristolochia species.

And so it is with “milkweeds” and their most famous herbivore, the caterpillars of monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus.

The butterflies nectar on a wide variety of flowers. Their caterpillars, however, are specialized feeders on plants in the Apocynaceae. While they are most commonly associated with Asclepias species, they have also been observed on Cynanchum and Apocynum species. They have even been observed on a few plants outside of this family.

So, when trying to identify insects, knowledge of plants, plant families, and their ecological associations is also important. Being pedantic about common names, not so much.

Battus philenor, Pipevine Swallowtail, Flickr photo set
Danaus plexippus, monarch butterfly, Flickr photo set
Aristolochia tomentosa, Wooly Dutchman’s Pipevine, Flickr photo set

Battus philenor, Pipevine Swallowtail, BugGuide

Battus philenor, Pipevine Swallowtail, Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA)

Battus philenor host plants, HOSTS: World’s Lepidopteran Hostplants Database
Danaus plexippus host plants, HOSTS: World’s Lepidopteran Hostplants Database

Aristolochia tomentosa Sims, woolly dutchman’s pipe, USDA PLANTS Database (Synonym: Isotrema tomentosa (Sims) Huber)

Isotrema tomentosum (Sims) H. Huber, NY Flora Association Atlas (Does not list as present, let alone native, in NY)

Coccinella novemnotata, nine-spotted lady beetle, aka “C9”

Posted on 2016-06-25 by admin

New York State Gardeners: You can help re-introduce our state insect! See Links below.

A decade ago, shortly after I launched this blog, I wrote the following:

[Coccinella] novemnotata was once common. How did New York State get to have a once-native-but-no-longer-resident state insect?

Not just common; C. novemnotata, or C9 for short, was once the most common lady beetle in the eastern U.S.
In 1980, when the bill was first introduced to make C9 our state insect, it was still common. It suffered a rapid decline through the 1980s. By the time it was finally designated the state insect in 1989, it hadn’t been seen in the state for 7 years.

In 2006, then-assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun introduced a bill to change the state insect to one which hadn’t been extirpated from the state. In her words, “Why do we want to get something like this wrong?” I wrote:

Instead of introducing a bill to gloss over the extirpation of a species, let’s reintroduce and restore C. novemnotata to New York State. Then our state insect would be a symbol to aspire to, and not simply an “error.”

Well, it may finally be time to do so. In 2001, 29 years after its disappearance from the state, C9 was finally found again, on Long Island. After years of research, Dr. John Losey and his colleagues at Cornell University have successfully reared C9 in captivity. And now, through the Lost Ladybug Project, they are making C9 larvae available to New York state gardeners and others.

Here’s one of them, freshly released in my garden, exploring Heliopsis helianthoides in my front yard.

Gardening for Insects

Stop using pesticides in the garden. Not just insecticides, but herbicides, fungicides, etc.
Grow more native plants, and more varieties of them. Many insects feed on plants in their larval stages, e.g.: caterpillars, and can’t feed effectively on plants with which they haven’t co-evolved.
A variety of native plant species also provides more flowers to provide nectar and pollen for adult insects. Choose plants that have clusters of small flowers, which will attract a larger diversity of insects than big, blowsy flowers.
Leave piles of leaf litter, old logs and branches, standing dead stems of plants. These provide shelter for eggs, pupae, and adults.

Timeline

1970: Coccinella novemnotata (C9) is the most common lady beetle species in the northeastern U.S.
1980: Nominated as New York state insect.
1980s: Begins rapidly declining. Speculation as to causes includes competition with introduced species, but no definitive answers have yet been found.
1982: Last seen in New York state.
1989: Designated NY State Insect, despite being apparently absent for 7 years.
1992: Last seen in the eastern U.S.
2000: The Lost Ladybug Project initiated as a citizen science project.
2006-06-15: Bill 2005-A06247 passes the NY State Assembly to change the state insect from Coccinella novemnotata, extirpated from NY State, to Coleomegilla maculata.
October 2006: C9 re-discovered in Virginia, first time it’s seen on the East Coast since 1992, 14 years.
2011-07-30: C9 rediscovered on Long Island, first time seen in New York since 1982, 29 years.
2016: Lost Ladybug Project launches program to re-introduce captively bred C9

Links

Lost Ladybug Project

Ninespotted Ladybug Restoration
C. novemnotata in decline

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NYC-Native Species

Eastern Regional Native Species

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Ingredients

Directions

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Links

What’s a “milkweed,” anyway?

Why plant ID matters for insect ID

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Battus philenor, Pipevine Swallowtail, Flickr photo setDanaus plexippus, monarch butterfly, Flickr photo setAristolochia tomentosa, Wooly Dutchman’s Pipevine, Flickr photo set

Links

Gardening for Insects

Timeline

Related Content

Links

Other Links

Battus philenor, Pipevine Swallowtail, Flickr photo set
Danaus plexippus, monarch butterfly, Flickr photo set
Aristolochia tomentosa, Wooly Dutchman’s Pipevine, Flickr photo set