Garden Diary: What’s blooming now

In the backyard and shady path:

  • Astilbe, two unknown varieties: one with dark red flowers, and one with white flowers
  • Dicentra eximia “Aurora”, White bleeding heart
  • Hosta, variety unknown: small, yellow leaves, purple flowers, could be “Gold Drop”? (just starting to bloom)
  • Hydrangea, variety unknown: white, lacecap type flowers
  • Ilex verticillata “Southern Gentleman”, Winterberry, male (in container)
  • Itea “Little Henry”, Sweetspire: white flowers (in container)
  • Kalmia “Peppermint”, Mountain laurel: white flowers with dark red rays (just ending)
  • Lonicera sempervirens, trumpet honeysuckle: dark orange-red flowers (just ending)
  • Tradescantia “Sweet Kate”, Spiderwort: Chartreuse foliage, bright purple flowers

In the sunny border:

  • Alcea, Hollyhocks, unknown strain: tall, pink flowers, white flowers
  • Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly weed: Bright orange flowers
  • Campanula trachelium “Bernice”, Bellflower: Double purple flowers
  • Coreopsis verticillata “Zagreb”, Tickseed: Orange-yellow flowers
  • Digitalis, Foxglove, unknown variety: White flowers (just ending)
  • Hemerocallis (fulva?), Day lily: Bright orange flowers with brick red interior rays
  • Heuchera, Alumroot, unknown variety: white flowers, silver-variegated burgundy foliage
  • Ilex verticillata, Winterberry, female: White flowers, bright red berries still persisting from last year
  • Monarda didyma “Gardenview Scarlet”, Beebalm, Bergamot: Dark red flowers
  • Tradescantia, spiderwort: dark purple flowers

In the front of the house:

  • Centaurea, Bachelor’s buttons: Cornflower blue flowers
  • Dianthus caryophyllus Super Trouper Dark Violet, Carnation (windowboxes)
  • Heuchera, unknown variety: White flowers, burgundy foliage overlaid with white
  • Penstemon “Husker Red”: White flowers
  • Lavandula, Lavender, unknown variety: dark purple flowers
  • Thymus, Thyme: Pale purple flowers
  • Viola, Pansies: Large chrome yellow flowers with purple marks in the centers

First parrot sighting of the season!

I just heard, and then saw, a pair of the Brooklyn Parrots. This is my first sighting this season. They were flying down the adjacent road, just below rooftop level. I saw them as they passed between our two back neighbors’ houses. They’re easily identified. They are large (about the size of a blue jay), bright green, loud birds. Their flight is also distinctive: straight, strong, and fast.

Myiopsitta monachus, Monk Parakeets, have established numerous colonies in Brooklyn. They are Brooklyn’s most charismatic potentially invasive species. They are also now established in over a dozen other states.

Monk Parakeets are the only parrot species which build their own nests, rather than nest in existing cavities. They create large, communal nests of twigs and other materials. This is one of the characteristics which enables them to adapt to our winters. That, and they like to build their nests around the transformers of power distribution towers.

Links (in alphabetical order by title):

Event: CAMBA’s Annual Shona Sculpture Public Sale Benefit, June 7-11

The Church Avenue Merchants’ Block Association, CAMBA, is holding their annual benefit sale of Shona sculpture – stone sculpture from the Shona artists in the Republic of Zimbabwe – this week.

OPENING NIGHT COCKTAIL RECEPTION
Date: June 7, 2006
Time: 6-9 PM
Place: CAMBA Gallery
Admission: $75

PUBLIC SALE
Dates: Thursday June 8 – Friday June 9, 2006
Time: 1 – 7 PM
Dates: Saturday June 10 – Sunday June 11, 2006
Time: 1 – 6 PM
Place: CAMBA Gallery
Admission: Free

The CAMBA Gallery is located at 19 Winthrop Street, just east of Flatbush Avenue, one block north of Parkside Avenue. The closest subway stop is the Q Train Parkside Avenue station. The phone number is (718) 284-9064.

About CAMBA

CAMBA is a Brooklyn-based non profit organization with programs throughout the diverse neighborhoods of Brooklyn. CAMBA was founded as a merchants association in 1977, but in direct response to the emerging needs of the Brooklyn community, has steadily expanded its services. CAMBA has grown into a full-service, community-based organization providing a continuum of employment, education, health-related, housing, legal, social, business development and youth services to approximately 30,000 individuals each year. …

CAMBA serves persons of low-income; persons moving from welfare to work; persons who are homeless, at risk of homelessness or transitioning out of homelessness; persons living with or at risk of AIDS and HIV; immigrants and refugees; youth; and other groups, working to become self sufficient. Our 28 years of experience in working with Brooklyn’s diverse populations has demonstrated to us that, when provided with services and supports that are meaningful and culturally relevant, our clients can make tremendous contributions toward building their own lives, their families and their communities. The majority of CAMBA’s clients live, work and/or attend school in Brooklyn. CAMBA serves local residents of diverse ethnic backgrounds, including recent immigrants and refugees …

Links:

Invasive Plant Profile: Chelidonium majus, Celandine, Greater Celandine

Revised 2015-02-23: This was one of my earliest blog posts, first published in June 2006. I’ve overhauled it to 1) meet my current technical standards, and 2) improve the content based on the latest available information.



Chelidonium majus, Celandine or Greater Celandine, is a biennial (blooming the second year) herbaceous plant in the Papaveraceae, the Poppy family. It is native to Eurasia. It’s the only species in the genus.

It’s invasive outside its native range, and widespread across eastern North America. It emerges early in the Spring, before our native wildflowers emerge, and grows quickly to about 2 feet. That’s one of the clues to identification. It’s also one of the reasons why it’s so disruptive. The rapid early growth crowds and shades out native Spring ephemerals.

Greater celandine is one of the first weeds I identified when we bought our home in 2005 and I started the current gardens. Here’s my collection of photos from the garden’s second year, in 2006, highlighting the characteristics that help to identify this plant. The photos (click for embiggerization) show:

  1. Full view of plants, showing growth habit, bloom, and ripening seedpods on the same plants. The plants in this picture are about two feet tall. In the middle and lower left of the picture, you can see the leaves of Hemerocallis (Daylilies) just peeking out from under the Chelidonium.
  2. Broken stem with orange sap. You can also see a small flower bud in the leaf axil to the left.
  3. Detail of flower. Notice the 4 petals, clustered stamens, and central pistil with white stigma.
  4. Detail of ripening seedpod. These seedpods are what made me think at first that this plant was in the Brassicaceae (or, if you’re old-school like me, the Cruciferae), the Mustard family. It’s actually in the Papaveraceae (Poppy family).

At the time these pictures were taken in early June, these plants had already been blooming for two months. After I took these pictures, I removed all the plants (and there were many more than are visible in these photos!).

Part of coming to any new garden is learning the weeds. There are always new ones I’ve never encountered before, or that I recognize but am not familiar with. Learning what they are, how invasive or weedy they are, their lifecycle, how they propagate, and so on helps me prioritize their removal and monitor for their return.

For example, Chelidonium is a biennial. So pulling up visible plants before their seeds ripen and disperse kills this year’s generation and the generation two years from now. I might overlook next year’s generation this spring, but I’ll get them next year. The plants are shallowly rooted. By grabbing the plant at the base of the leaves, I can remove the whole thing easily, roots and all.

Chelidonium‘s seeds are dispersed by ants. They’re likely to show up next year close to where they were this year, but not necessarily in the same place. In addition, the soil probably has a reservoir of seeds from the years the garden was neglected. If I disturb the soil, or transplant plants from one part of the yard to another, they could show up in new places. By pulling the plants when they emerge in the spring, and keeping an eye out for their emergence in new places in the garden, I can easily control them. It will take a few years of vigilant weeding to eliminate them completely.

Note that, at a quick glance, this plant can be confused with the native* wildflower Stylophorum diphyllum, celandine-poppy. They’re very similar. Both are in the Papaveraceae, bloom in the spring with four-petaled yellow flowers, have lobed foliage and bright orange/yellow sap, and are about the same height. I find the seedpods the easiest way to distinguish them. The flowers of Stylophorum lack the prominent tall central pistil of Chelidonium, and the stamens form more of a “boss” around the center of the flower, not so obviously grouped in four clusters.

Stylophorum diphyllum, celandine-poppy, blooming and showing the distinctive, more poppy-like, ripening seedpods, in my urban backyard native plant garden, May 2013.

* Stylophorum isn’t native, or present, in New York. But it is native to eastern North America.

Related Content

Flickr photo sets:

References

Garden Diary: Mowing the lawn

Today I mowed the lawn.

It’s incredible that I have a lawn to mow. I suppose the novelty will wear off. In the heat of summer, the delight of raking, and walking my push-reel mower back and forth across the width of the house, and gathering up the precious green clippings for the compost … In the heat of summer, all this will be more of a chore, will require me to get up earlier in the morning, before it gets into the 80s, and 90s. But for now, when it’s still possible to catch a cool day without rain, it’s still a pleasure.

And I got to use my new toy: The cordless weed whacker. The grass in the median strip between the sidewalk and the street was heavy and wet from lack of mowing and the rain of the past few days. It’s too choppy and trashy to use the push-reel. The heavy grass drained the battery of the whacker, but I got it done. I just didn’t get to finish edging with it before the juice ran out. Another day for that.

Mowing the lawn puts me out with my neighbors. Across the street, some neighbors were doing the same with their lawn: whack, push, rake. Then I saw them trying to get a plastic bag out of a tree in their front yard. First the rake. Then standing on a plastic deck chair with the rake. Then a step ladder and the rake. Increasingly precarious. When one of them left to find another tool, I stopped my mowing, went to the garage, and got my pole-pruner. As I crossed the street toward them, they practically cheered me on. Standing on the ground, I extended the pole completely, snipped the small branch snagging the bag and brought it, and the bag, down. They told me the bag had been there for over a year! Introductions all around …

Then there was my elderly neighbor down the block who walks the dogs who “don’t like men.” I think they would like me, if we were given the chance. I walked her through the gardens and showed her what was blooming, answering her numerous questions about what things were. I showed her what’s coming up, what weeds there are I need to deal with, what’s going to bloom later in the year. I gave her some Hosta and bachelor’s button from my garden for her to plant in her yard. I’ll give her some Iris when it finishes blooming.

All this from mowing the lawn. And more. On March 28th, during a difficult day, I wrote:

… I sat on the front steps, in the sun, trying to calm myself … As I sat I saw a woman and three children walking up our block. The woman and one child walked on the sidewalk. The other two children alternately walked and ran across the lawns between the houses and the sidewalk. Children running on grass …

I thought that, when they saw me sitting on my front steps, the might move to the sidewalk, and I would invite them to continue running across our lawn as well. I needn’t have bothered. When they got to our yard, they continued across our lawn without visible pause or hesitation. The older barely regarded me. And on to the next lawn.

After they passed, I came to tears.

And so I weed, and mow, and rake, with gratitude.

Event: Brooklyn Week at StoryCorps, June 18-24, 2006

A photo of the StoryCorps booth in the PATH station at the World Trade Center.

The StoryCorps booth in the PATH station at the World Trade Center, taken when my partner and I recorded our remembrance of our friend David Joseph Wilcox on the 10th anniversary of his death from AIDS.
Photo taken: January 22, 2006

The Brooklyn Historical Society and StoryCorps are dedicating the week of Sunday, June 18 through Saturday, June 24 at the StoryCorp’s Lower Manhattan StoryBooth to the stories of those who live and work in Brooklyn. To make a reservation, call StoryCorps at (646) 723-7027, Monday through Friday, 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Online reservations will not be accepted for this event.

Additional details are available on their Web sites:

Opening Day, Cortelyou Greenmarket

Some of the apple varieties available from Red Jacket Orchards at the Courtelyou Greenmarket on opening day.
Photo taken: June 3, 2006

Today was the first day of the season for the Courtelyou Greenmarket which serves our neighborhood:

Greenmarket has organized and managed open-air farmers markets in NYC since 1976. By providing regional small family farmers with opportunities to sell their fruits, vegetables and other farm products to New Yorkers, Greenmarket supports farmers and preserves farmland for the future.
Greenmarket Farmers Market

The Courtelyou Greenmarket is located in the schoolyard of P.S. 139 on Argyle Road, just up the block from Courtelyou Road. There were only three vendors there for opening day:

Based on our experience last year, the number of vendors will ramp up through the month of June. There’s about a dozen during the summer, selling all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables, plus meat, dairy, baked goods and some handcrafts.

Related Posts

Greenmarket

Links

Greenmarket

Web Resource: New York Metropolitan Flora Project (NYMF)

Updated, 2013-08-25: Corrected links.


Brooklyn Botanic Garden‘s New York Metropolitan Flora Project (NYMF) documents the distribution of woody plant species among 25 counties in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut within a 50-mile radius around New York City. Tools available online include:

While most of the botanical community concentrates on tracking the threats to biodiversity in the tropics, scientists at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden are undertaking the most comprehensive study ever of the plant biodiversity in metropolitan New York. Studying the vegetation changes in highly populated areas is critical to understanding the future of life in our rapidly urbanizing world. …
Understanding the urban landscape is critical in our rapidly urbanizing world. Findings of BBG’s Metropolitan Flora Project serve as vital references for those involved in environmental efforts, from preserving rare plants, to planning parks and greenways, to repairing degraded habitats, to designing home gardens in which native plant communities are preserved or restored.

Links

Brooklyn Botanic Garden: New York Metropolitan Flora Project

GAO Report, April 24, 2006: Invasive Forest Pests

GAO just released a report on the status of efforts to eradicate Anoplophora glabripennis, the Asian longhorned beetle, or “ALB” for short:

Invasive forest pests have seriously harmed our environment and imposed significant costs upon our economy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the lead agency for responding to forest pests. This report evaluates the federal response to three invasive forest pests–the Asian longhorned beetle [Anoplophora glabripennis], the emerald ash borer, and the pathogen Phytophthora ramorum (P. ramorum) [Sudden Oak Death]. Specifically, GAO describes (1) the status of efforts to eradicate these species, (2) the factors affecting the success of those efforts, (3) overall forest health monitoring programs, (4) coordination and communication of the three pest response efforts, and (5) USDA’s use of panels of scientific experts to aid in the response efforts.

Invasive Forest Pests: Lessons Learned from Three Recent Infestations May Aid in Managing Future Efforts, GAO-06-353, April 21, 2006
http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-06-353

In August 1996, the first ALB in the United States was discoved in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I garden just a few blocks south of Prospect Park and the NYC ALB quarantine zone. To learn how to identify ALB, and NYC’s efforts, visit the NYC Parks ALB Home Page.

Web Resource: Invasive Species Weblog

Long-running, encyclopedic web log, with global coverage of invasive plants and animals:

… I started the ISW in April of 2002, with two goals in mind: 1) Find a way to keep up with current events and 2) Find a way to keep up with current internet trends. With a public record of my efforts, I have found that I am less likely to “slack off” and stop keeping an eye out for important invasive species issues.
As of January 2004, the ISW has over 600 entries, covering a full range of topics, from legal issues, to early detection warnings, to the use of invasive species in marketable products. …
Jennifer Forman Orth, “About the Invasive Species Weblog”, http://www.knottybits.com/isw/AboutTheISW.html