Help Envision a New Garden: Sunday, June 6

Update: June 16: Community Visioning Workshop for a new Communal Garden

Update, 2010.06.04: Added information about the site.
Update, 2010.06.03: Added registration link.


The Parsonage, Flatbush Reformed Church, 2103 Kenmore Terrace, corner of East 21st Street, Flatbush, Brooklyn
Parsonage
Thus Sunday, June 6, from 4-6pm, we’ll be holding the first of two Community Visioning Workshops for a new communal garden on the grounds of the landmarked Flatbush Reformed Church. One site is a small, fenced-off area. The other is the front lawn of the Parsonage. This landmarked historic building was built in 1853 – though portions of it may be even older – and moved to this site in 1913.

Front lawn, looking east from East 21st Street
Parsonage

The main area is the front lawn of the Parsonage. It’s a large area, about 25-feet deep, from the fence along Kenmore Terrace to the porch of the house, and about 85-feet long, from East 21st Street to the Church parking lot. There are opportunities to further develop the buffer plantings, 3-1/2-feet between the fence and the sidewalk, that Church members have already established.

Buffer Plantings, looking from the entrance gate toward East 21st Street
Flatbush Reformed Church

The site is dominated by large, mature Oak trees lining the fence on Kenmore Terrace and East 21st Street. These cast dense shade, and working with this constraint will be one of the challenges for designing the garden and plantings. I have a lot of experience with urban shade gardens, and see the potential in this site.

Parsonage

The most interesting aspects of this project will be the community partnerships. CAMBA, a large community-based service organization, has a young mothers program that meets at the Parsonage. We want the space and gardens to be child-friendly, and provide opportunities for exploration and learning about nature and gardening. The Flatbush Farm Share CSA distributes from the front lawn of the Parsonage. They offer shares for all income levels, and subsidize low-income members. We want to accommodate their needs for space and provide opportunities for education programs.

Soil Sampling for Texture Analysis
Soil Sampling

Press Release

Sustainable Flatbush is partnering with the Flatbush Reformed Church to create a new community garden! The whole community is invited to be involved in the planning and care of this neighborhood green space.

Two Community Garden Visioning Meetings have been scheduled for Sunday June 6th and Wednesday June 16th. At these brainstorming sessions community members will visit the garden area, located on church grounds, and work collaboratively to envision this new public green space: what can be grown, how to best utilize the space, how the garden will be built and maintained, what to name the garden, and how to be a part of it!

The new community garden is a joint project of Sustainable Flatbush’s Urban Gardens & Farms Initiative and the Flatbush Reformed Church.

The Urban Gardening and Farming Initiative works to foster community gardening efforts in Flatbush, promoting healthy local food, sustainable horticulture practices, and community building and beautification.

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

Flatbush Reformed Church is a welcoming, inclusive and ecumenical Church in the heart of Brooklyn.

WHAT: Community Garden Visioning Meetings
WHEN: Sunday, June 6th at 4pm and Wednesday, June 16th at 6pm.
WHERE: Flatbush Reformed Church, located at 890 Flatbush Avenue at Church Avenue, just three blocks east of the Q train or three blocks west of the 2 train, Church Avenue stop.

Sign up here to attend a Visioning Meeting.

Refreshments and childcare will be provided.

Parsonage

Related Content

Flickr photo set

Links

New Community Garden at Flatbush Reformed Church!, Sustainable Flatbush, 2010-05-31

Flatbush Reformed Church
CAMBA
Flatbush Farm Share CSA

Native Plant Profile: Amelanchier x grandiflora

Jump to How to Plant a Tree.


Today I planted Amelanchier x grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’, Apple Serviceberry, in my backyard native plant garden.
Mulched

I chose my backyard as my final class project for Urban Garden Design at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden last year. Serviceberry is one of the two key plants I specified for my planting scheme. Serviceberries are multi-season plants. They bloom in early Spring, before the flowering cherries. The berries ripen in mid-summer; they are edible and tasty, and attractive to birds. Fall color is excellent. Branching structure and bark provide winter interest.

Here are the initial sketch and final design for the project. The Amelanchier is the second smallest circle on the left (north) of the plan. In this design for an urban woodland garden, the Serviceberry plays the role of an understory tree. The larger circle on the right is Sassafras albidum, the canopy tree, which is proving even more difficult to source than the Amelanchier.


Sketch of backyard garden design
Final rendering, backyard garden design

Here’s how the north bed looked this afternoon, before planting the tree. The large shrub is Viburnum dentatum ‘Blue Muffin’, Arrowwood, which I transplanted here last Spring.
Site for the new tree

The Serviceberries hybridize readily in the wild. Although I specified A. arborea, A. canadensis, or A. laevis in my plant list, the species have proven difficult to locate. A. x grandiflora is a horticultural hybrid of my preferred species – sources disagree on whether it’s between A. arborea or A. canadensis and A. laevis – so this is a good alternative. Serviceberries are in the Rosaceae, the Rose Family, and so are subject to the same diseases as more conventional fruit trees such as apples. ‘Autumn Brilliance’ is a cultivar selected for its fall foliage and disease resistance.

Serviceberries sucker readily. Their growth is usually shrubby. even the larger species typically grow as trees with multiple trunks, but they can be trained to a single trunk. I went looking for such specimens on Thursday. I found two at Chelsea Garden Center in Red Hook. One was already tagged as sold. I bought this one.
Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance'

It’s deceptively small-looking in the photo. That’s a 15-gallon container. Once I got it into the backyard, I had some appreciation for the task I’d set for myself. Here it is set on the wagon I used to wheel it into the backyard.
Unwrapped

How to plant a tree

When planting a tree, it’s important not to plant it deeper than it was grown. I measured the depth of the container, and used that as a guide; since the soil level in the container is two inches down from the edge, I took two inches off the height of the container. You can also just take marks against your planting tools. I made final adjustments of depth with the tree in the hole: starting high, then gently tipping the tree and taking out just one shovelful at a time until the top of the roots were just above their original depth.

I also measured the width of the container. Normally, the width is not important: you can dig two or three times wider than the width of the roots, the wider the better. But I was planting into tight quarters – an already planted bed – and didn’t want to have to remove more soil than I needed to. Also, I worked this soil last Spring, when I built out the bed, so I didn’t need to dig a wider hole this time around.
Depth: 15"
Width: 17"
Planting hole scored to width

Before I tucked the tree in, I took the opportunity to prune out any broken or crossing branches. It doesn’t affect the look of the tree, and reduces later problems. This is easier to do with the tree on its side than upright. I have a pole pruner to use as the tree gets bigger.

Before
Before Pruning

After. See? It doesn’t look any different.
After Pruning

The final challenge: getting the tree to and into the hole without destroying the other plantings. For this, I setup a wide board as a ramp to slide the root ball over the other plants.
Ramp setup

Fortunately, just at this moment, Blog Widow returned home, and a neighbor stopped by. We made quick work of getting the tree in, with little damage to the other plants.
Planted

Mature size is 15-25′ high and wide. This will provide critical late day shade for the wildflowers and ferns planted in this bed. I could already see the difference today. Birds will be attracted to the fruit, which ripen before those of the existing Viburnum and Ilex verticillata. With early bloom and excellent fall color, this tree will anchor the garden in all seasons, and help define the space. This is the single most costly plant I’ve ever purchased. It’s one of the best investments I’ve made in the garden.

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Related Content

Photos of the day
Viburnum dentatum, Arrowwood, 2009-04-20
Woodland Garden Design Plant List , 2009-02-18

Links

References

MOBOT
NC State University
Plants for a Future

More Green Roofs for Parks Recreation Centers

Ten Parks recreation centers, including three in Brooklyn, will be getting green roofs. The planting will be based on two regional plant communities:

Each system will include 12 experimental plots, 85 square feet each, with soil depths ranging from 4 to 6 inches.

Each plot will be planted with a species mix from two native plant communities, the Hempstead Plains (Long Island) and Rocky Summit Grasslands (e.g. Bear Mountain) of the New York City region. These models were chosen because they are meadows, have plants that can tolerate the desiccated soils and high winds typical of roof conditions, and provide prime foraging for native insects and birds.

A Green Roof Is Coming To A Recreation Center Near You!, Daily Plant, 2010-05-06

Here are the species they’ve specified from each community:

Hempstead Plains:

  • Schizachyrium scoparium, Little bluestem (Grass)
  • Panicum virgatum, Switchgrass
  • Sorghastrum nutans, Indian grass
  • Baptisia tinctoria, Yellow wild indigo
  • Solidago nemoralis, Gray goldenrod
  • Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly-weed
  • Eupatorium hyssopifolium, Hyssop-leaved boneset
  • Rubus flagellaris, North Dewberry

Rocky Summit Grasslands:

  • Carex pensylvanica, Pennsylavania sedge
  • Danthonia spicata, Poverty-oat grass
  • Deschampsia flexuosa, Common Hairgras
  • Lespedeza capitata, Bush-clover
  • Lysimachia quadrifolia, Whorled loosestrife
  • Cunila origanoides, Stone-mint, Dittany
  • Solidago odora, Licorice-goldenrod
  • Vaccinium angustifolium, Low-bush blueberry

Cunila origanoides is one of the three native plant species that were given away at the kickoff for NYC Wildflower Week last Saturday in Union Square. It’s in the Lamiaceae, the Mint Family. Its leaves smell like oregano. (The other two species were Thalictrum pubescens and Hystrix patula.)
I would expect that these plants have been propagated at the Greenbelt Native Plant Center. I’m trying to confirm that.

Related Content

Greenbelt Native Plant Center, Staten Island, 2010-05-03
NYC Wildflower Week, 5/1-5/9, 2010-04-29

Links

A Green Roof Is Coming To A Recreation Center Near You!, Daily Plant, 2010-05-06

Greenbelt Native Plant Center, Staten Island

Tim Chambers, Greenbelt Native Plant Center Nursery Manager, and our guide for the tour, explains GNPC’s history and mission at the start of the tour.
Greenbelt Native Plant Center

Monday, May 3, I visited the Greenbelt Native Plant Center (GNPC) for the first time. This tour was one of over 45 events scheduled for NYC Wildflower Week. From the event description:

The Greenbelt Native Plant Center is the only municipal native plant nursery in the country. It is a 13-acre greenhouse, nursery, founder seed and seed bank complex owned and operated by NYC Parks & Recreations Dept. Over the past fifteen years, the center has grown hundreds of thousands of specimens from locally collected seed of the city’s indigenous flora for use in restoration, and replanting projects and is currently developing bulk seed mixes for the city. The GNPC is a partner in the establishment of the first national native seed bank called Seeds of Success.

GNPC operates as a wholesale nursery serving primarily, but not exclusively, restoration projects around the NYC area. GNPC partners with other growers around the region. Not all their efforts go to NYC wild areas and parks; some go to other, nearby restorations, and they also receive plants of specific species when they don’t have the stock to meet the demand.

There are over 2,000 plant species native to the NYC area. GNPC currently propagates about 350, a remarkable proportion. That range is important; GNPC is not just in the business of species preservation, but also restoration of plant communities. That work requires sourcing of many different species, and the plant “palette” required depends on the goals of each project.

Collection

It all starts with the collection of seed from the wild. Collections are done throughout the region; NYC itself has over 8,700 acres in 51 nature preserves under its Forever Wild program. Wherever it comes from, the seed collection protocol links back to the mission of GNPC. As Tim Chambers, our guide for the tour, and GNPC’s Nursery Manager, explained to us, non-selection is the goal.

Use of plant materials from local populations ensures the success of ecological restoration or enhancement of natural systems. Our seed collection begins by employing internationally accepted protocols for collecting seeds from wild populations that capture the full genetic variability of a given plant population. Genetic variation is the basis for evolutionary success.
– Mission, GNPC

Part of the protocol includes random sampling across a population. Collecting seed from the most vigorous plants, or those with the largest seedheads, or some other criteria, introduces unnatural, human selection. This distorts the evolutionary history captured in the genetic diversity across the population. The population grown on from those seeds will be less representative of the original, less adapted to the conditions in which the original plants were found, and less suitable for restoration efforts.

Collection must be distributed not just spatially across a population, but across time. A given population may have individuals whose seed ripens slightly earlier, or slightly later, than the bulk of the population. These outliers give the population as a whole more resiliency in the face of unusual or extreme conditions: a drought, an early frost, an unusual outbreak of insects. Seed must be collected throughout the ripening seasons to capture that diversity.

Processing

If you’ve never collected seed from your own plants before, I can recommend it. It’s not so straightforward as you might think. You don’t usually collect seeds. You collect the fruits that contain the seeds. Getting the seeds out – separating the seeds from the chaff – can take some work. And it requires different techniques for each species.

Separation Equipment
Seed Lab
Seed Lab
Separation Equipment

Barrels of Chaff
Chaff
Chaff
Chaff
Chaff

This chaff was softer than the softest feathers or wool you’ve ever felt.
Chaff

Germination

After separation, germination is tested in the Seed Lab. If germination succeeds, it means the seed is ripe; they sow the seeds in trays. They’re germinated and grown in a greenhouse dedicated to this first stage in getting plants from seed.

Propagation Greenhouse
Propagation Greenhouse, Greenbelt Native Plant Center

What results is a dense mat of first growth.

I didn’t get the id of these grass seedlings.
Propagation Greenhouse, Greenbelt Native Plant Center

Amelanchier canadensis, Canadian Serviceberry
Amelanchier canadensis seedlings

Agastache nepetoides, Yellow Giant Hyssop
Agastache nepetoides seedlings

Growing on

To grow past this point, the seedlings must be separated from their siblings. They’re pricked out from the mat and planted in individual containers, just like you find in any plant nursery. It’s delicate, time-consuming work.

Planting out
Planting out

The result is an abundance of beautiful, healthy seedlings of NYC-local ecotype native plants. These will be grown onto successively larger containers, depending on the needs of the projects for which they’ve been contracted.

Pinus strobus, Eastern White Pine. Mature height: 150 feet.
Pinus strobus seedlings
Pinus strobus seedlings

These cute little guys are Liriodendron tulipifera, Tulip Tree. Mature height: 120 feet.
Liriodendron tulipifera seedlings

Preparation and Storage

Slideshow


[http://goo.gl/fb/kWkcS]

Related Content

Flickr photo set

Links

Greenbelt Native Plant Center
Forever Wild
NYC Wildflower Week

Plant Sales This Week in and near Brooklyn

BBG Plant Sale, May 2009
BBG Plant Sale

It’s the week for the annual plant sale frenzy. All listed here are benefits for their respective gardens. It’s a great way to support your local gardens, meet other gardeners, and pick up some cool plants.

Saturday, May 1

Bay Ridge
Narrows Botanical Gardens (NBG)
10am-3pm
Annual Spring Plant Sale and Art Show
(Rain Date: May 8)

Sunday, May 2

Kensington/Windsor Terrace
East 4th Street Community Garden
East 4th Street between Caton and Fort Hamilton Parkway
9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Veggies, flowers and herbs

Tuesday, May 4

Downtown Manhattan
The Battery (Battery Park)
11am-1pm

The Battery Plant Sale, April 2008, with spectacular views. That’s the Statue of Liberty there in the background!
Battery Park Plant Sale

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Annual Plant Sale
Tuesday, 5/4: Members-Only Preview Sale
Open to the Public Wednesday, 5/5 and Thursday, 5/6
Hours vary by date; see the BBG Web site for details

Wednesday, May 5

BBG Plant Sale

Thursday, May 6

BBG Plant Sale

Sunday, May 8

Park Slope/Prospect Heights
Pacific Street Bear’s Garden, Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue
Annual Plant and Bake Sale
10am-4pm

Related Content

Plant Sale, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2009-05-05

Links

Narrows Botanical Gardens
The Battery (Battery Park)
BBG Annual Plant Sale

NYC Wildflower Week, 5/1-5/9

The Native Flora Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, May 2009. This was the first garden constructed after BBG was established on the site of a municipal ash dump 100 years ago, and the first public garden devoted to native plants. Next Wednesday’s tour of this garden with Uli Lorimer, curator of BBG’s Native Flora Garden and an instructor in their Certificate in Horticulture program, is one of over 45 FREE events in all – available during NYC Wildflower Week.
Native Flora Garden

NYC Wildflower Week kicks off Saturday 5/1. This is the third year for the event, and it’s bigger and better than ever. There are events all over the city, including tours of locations otherwise closed to the public. I’m looking forward to visiting, for the first time, the Greenbelt Native Plant Center on Staten Island, “the only municipal native plant nursery in the country.”

You can get all the details at the official, extensive, NYCWW Web site, or at the Parks Department event page:

From Friday, May 1, to Saturday, May 9, we’re celebrating the hundreds of native flowers, trees, shrubs and grasses in the Big Apple. Take advantage of the spring weather, and come out for a week of environmental learning, with free activities, walks, and talks galore.

I’m proud that this year, for the first time, I’ve been invited to participate in an official capacity. This Saturday morning, May 1, I’ll be on-hand at the information booth at Union Square to help answer questions and provide information about native plants.

A male Agapostemon, Green Metallic Bee, on a native perennial Helianthus, Sunflower, in my backyard native plant garden. Native plants provide vital habitat – food, forage, and shelter – for this and the rest of the more than 250 of bees native to NYC.
Agapostemon sp., Metallic Green Bee, Jade Bee

What can you do to help preserve NYC’s native plants?

Take a walk.
Head outdoors with a field guide and a friend to learn about the botanical jewels in your neck of the woods. Preservation comes to those places that are loved by people.

Ride with the masses.
Whenever possible, take mass transit. Let your legislators know how you travel. New roadways promote sprawl and destroy and degrade habitat. If this money were instead used to bolster mass transit, we could conserve oil, preserve biodiversity and decrease sprawl.

No picking.
Removing native plants from the wild depletes natural populations. Never take plants from parks or other open spaces. An exemption – if a site were slated for development, then the plants should be rescued and moved to another site, but ONLY if you were absolutely certain that the plants would otherwise be destroyed.

Be civically active.
Development is the cause of native plant destruction. Make note of open space slated for a strip mall or housing complex or active recreation area (because even settings like ball fields and golf courses eat up natural habitats). Attend community board meetings. Voice your dissent. Open space allows for passive recreation, like plant hunting, birding and hiking. Such activities nurture the naturalist in all of us.

Preserve open space.
Work to save our natural areas. Become a member of a local land trust or conservancy devoted to preserving open space and natural resources. If one doesn’t exist, consider starting your own.

Join a botanical society.
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut all have native plant societies. These groups lead tours through local fields and forests and always welcome new plant people. See our Resources page to learn more.

Compost with care.
Most homeowners believe it is environmentally responsible to pile lawn refuse (grass clippings, leaves, twigs) in adjacent open areas. Don’t. By dumping garden waste in woods or at property edge, you may be inadvertently overwhelming critical habitat for plants and animals!

Lay off the herbicide.
Is it really that important to have a “weed free” yard? The struggle for pristine green carpet (aka lawn) is a struggle against nature itself. Herbicides kill the native plants on and around your property. Instead, keep turf to a minimum, and maximize color, richness and beauty with native plant gardens.

Legal protection for plants.
New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut all have something in common – none of these states have laws safeguarding native flora. Moreover, they have no legal protections for rare plants. An undeveloped lot chuck-full of uncommon and unique vegetation is not legally viewed as special. This site is just as likely to be built upon as a lot full of crummy weeds. This happens even at the Federal level, where most of the money from the Endangered Species Act goes towards animal protection. Let your legislators know that your flora should have rights. Flower power!

Why Wildflowers?, NYC Wildflower Week

Cypripedium calceolus var. pubescens, BBG Native Flora Garden, May 2009
Cypripedium calceolus var. pubescens

Related Content

Native Plants

Links

NYC Wildflower Week

Web site
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter stream

Other

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Greenbelt Native Plant Center
Torrey Botanical Society

Cellophane Bees Return

Cellophane Bee

Colletes thoracicus, Cellophane Bee, is a native species of solitary, ground-nesting bees. Solitary, because each nest is burrowed out by a single queen, who constructs several chambers in which to lay individual eggs. Solitary, yet communal: where they find the right conditions, the nests can be densely packed.Here’s a short video showing the activity on Saturday morning.

This is the third year for what I’ve come to think of as “my little bees.” I noticed the holes earlier last week, and saw all this activity last Saturday, as I was readying for the Plant Swap. This is the earliest in the year that I’ve noticed them.

Make Your Garden Bee-Friendly

These bees took up residence in a “neglected” spot of the garden, one of the benefits of being a lazy gardener/ecosystem engineer. Different species of bees have different requirements. Here are some things you can do to make your garden bee-friendly.

  • Avoid chemicals, especially pesticides.
  • Leave some areas of bare or muddy ground for ground-nesting species.
  • Set aside “wild” areas, even a few square feet.
  • Provide bee nesting houses.
  • Forego that perfect lawn, minimize lawn area, and/or mow less often.
  • Plant a diversity of flowering plants; bees prefer yellow, blue, and purple flowers.
  • Provide a succession of blooming plants throughout the growing season, especially early spring and late fall.
  • Provide a mix of flower shapes to accommodate different bee tongue lengths.
  • Emphasize native perennial plants. (See plant lists under Links below.)
  • Minimize the use of doubled flowers.
  • Select sunny locations, sheltered from the wind, for your flower plantings.
  • Practice peaceful coexistence.

[goo.gl]

Related Content

Colletes thoracicus (Colletidae), Cellophane Bees, Flickr photo set

Who cares about honeybees, anyway?, 2009-11-04, my guest rant on Garden Rant

Bee Watchers Needed in NYC (and a rant), 2009-06-05
Bees, a Mockingbird, and Marriage Equality, 2009-05-22
Cellophane Bees Return, 2009-05-09
Colletes thoracicus (Colletidae), Cellophane Bees, 2008-05-26

Links

NYC

Great Pollinator Project
Understanding Native Bees, the Great Pollinators

Plant Lists

Regional Plant Lists, PlantNative
Plants Attractive to Native Bees, USDA 

Other

Ecoregion Location Maps and Planting Guides, Pollinator Partnership
North American Pollinator Protection Campaign
Urban Bee Gardens, Dr. Gordon Frankie, University of Berkeley
The Xerces Society

White-Nose Syndrome Reaches Missouri

White-nose Syndrome (WNS) continues to spread north, south, and west. It was discovered earlier this year in Ontario and Tennessee. It has now also been confirmed in a Missouri cave.

In mid-April, 2010, the Missouri Department of Conservation confirmed Missouri’s first signs of a new disease in bats that scientists have named “White-Nose Syndrome.” The name describes a white fungus, Geomyces destructans, typically found on the faces and wings of infected bats.
MDC monitoring new bat disease in Missouri, Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC)

White-Nose Syndrome and Bat Hibernation Areas – April 19, 2010, Bat Conservation International
White-Nose Syndrome and Bat Hibernation Areas - April 19, 2010

This is the westernmost spread of WNS since it was first discovered in bat winter-hibernation caves – hibernacula – in New York in the Winter of 2006-2007. This reaches far past even the discovery of WNS in Tennessee, within the bounds of Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Biologists at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have received confirmation that one Little Brown bat collected from its hibernating refuge in the Park’s White Oak Blowhole cave tested positive for Geomyces destructans [the fungus and the presumptive causative agent of White Nose Syndrome (WNS)]. White Oak Blowhole cave contains the largest known Indiana bat hibernacula in Tennessee. The Indiana bat is a federally listed endangered species which has seen declines in the Northeastern U.S. due to WNS. White Nose Syndrome has killed in excess of 90% of the bats in many of the caves and mines in the Northeast, and is just now showing up in the Southeast.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Bat Tests Positive for White Nose Syndrome Fungus, Press release, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 2010-04-19

I put up my bat house two years ago in response to learning about WNS. I fear it may never receive any tenants. Without critical scientific breakthroughs on the mortality of this disease, we may see the extinction of several bat species within a decade.

The new bat house

Mortality rates approaching 100 percent are reported at some sites. White-nose Syndrome has now moved into Canada, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and Maryland. It threatens some of the largest hibernation caves for endangered Indiana myotis, gray myotis, and Virginia big-eared bats. Ultimately, bats across North America are at imminent risk.
White-Nose Syndrome, Bat Conservation International

[goo.gl]

Related Content

Bats, Bat Houses, and White-Nose Syndrome, 2009-03-26
Bat Houses, 2008-04-13
Northeastern Bats in Peril, 2008-03-18

Links

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Bat Tests Positive for White Nose Syndrome Fungus, Press release, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 2010-04-19
MDC monitoring new bat disease in Missouri, Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC)
White-Nose Syndrome, Bat Conservation International

40 Years of Earth

Earthrise over the moon as seen by the astronauts of Apollo 8 on December 22, 1968.
Earthrise, Apollo 8

This iconic image has become my regular Earth Day illustration. It was not the first image of the isolated Earth from space. It was the first which contrasted in the same image the wet, blue and green, atmospheric Earth with the barren, dusted, lifeless Moon.

It is easy to deceive ourselves that we can exploit the Earth and dehumanize others – basically, sh*t where we eat and sleep – without consequences. It is hard to see, concretely and measurably, how interconnected and interdependent we are.

Images like those above remind us that we are alone, isolated, and fragile. We are stewards of the Earth. We are gardeners of the world. It’s our responsibility now.

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.

Despite the origin of the photo at the top of this post, I am opposed to the human “exploration” of space at this stage in the development of our species and civilization. (Reporter: “What do you think of Western civilization?” Gandhi: “I think it would be a good idea.”) We know all we need which can be learned from sending and keeping humans in space, other than hot to keep humans in space. That should not be our priority. It is far too costly, in economic, human, and environmental costs, for the benefits. We have far more pressing and urgent investments to make, in education, health, and our increasing hunger for things.

[goog.gl]

Related Content

Apollo: a personal/biographical perspective, 2009-07-19
Happy Earth Day, 2009-04-22
Happy Earth Day!, 2008-04-21
We Are All One World, 2007-10-10

Links

Wikipedia: Earth Day
Apollo, NASA

Not just for Tree-Huggers: Street Tree Tour Sunday, 5/2

RESCHEDULED: The Tree Tour has been rescheduled for the rain date of Sunday, May 2, same times and location.


340 Argyle Road, Beverley Square West, April 2007
340 Argyle Road

Sustainable Flatbush’s 3rd Annual Spring Street Tree Walking Tour will be Sunday, May 2. I’m proud to once again be one of your guides.

Sustainable Flatbush Street Tree Walking Tour, Arbor Day 2009. That’s me in the middle, next to the tree. Photo by Keka (Flickr)

Tours start at 11am and 12noon from Sacred Vibes Apothecary, 376 Argyle Road, between Cortelyou & Dorchester Roads, and loop through the historic neighborhoods of Beverley Square West and landmarked Prospect Park South. In addition to architectural beauty, the area boasts a rich variety of street trees, as well as ornamental trees and shrubs.


View Sustainable Flatbush Spring 2010 Street Tree Walking Tour in a larger map

On the tour, you can see:

  • Acer platanoides, Norway Maple
  • Aesculus hippocastanum, Horsechestnut
  • Amelanchier, 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.

The suggested donation for the tour is $5. From the Sustainable Flatbush Web site:


On Sunday, May 2, Sustainable Flatbush will host our fourth Street Tree Walking Tour! Join tour guides Chris Kreussling (better known as Flatbush Gardener) and Tracey Hohman (professional gardener) for a fun, fulfilling and enlightening tour of Brooklyn’s diverse canopy.

On the Street Tree Walking Tour, you will learn to identify a variety of trees (think of how you can impress your friends!), examine local natural tree history and tree lore (no textbooks needed!), explore the way street trees benefit urban areas (you’ll become a tree’s best friend), and find out how you can obtain and care for street trees yourself!

Become a street tree defender as you walk your way around Victorian Flatbush! The tour (recommended by Brokelyn as a great cheap date!) will take about two hours. Make sure to dress appropriately for the weather and the walk!

The Street Tree Walking Tour is about “connecting people to streetscape,” according to Chris Kreussling. Street trees remind us that we are not separate from nature, but instead dependent upon it for our survival and safety. So grab a friend — or three! – for the walk of the season, and fall more in love with the beautiful foliage of Brooklyn!

What: Street Tree Walking Tour
Where: Begins and ends at Sacred Vibes Apothecary (376 Argyle Road, btwn Cortelyou & Dorchester Roads)
When: Sunday, May 2 — two tours are scheduled: one at 11 a.m., one at noon

Suggested donation $5

Keep an eye out for Sustainable Flatbush’s Street Tree Walking Tour next fall!


Directions:

  • Take the Q train to Cortelyou Road Station and walk west after exiting the station toward Argyle Road.
  • As a reminder, check the MTA website for schedule and service advisories before you head out.
  • Buses that stop on or near Cortelyou Road include the B23, B103, B68, and BM1,2,3,4 and x29 express busess.

[goo.gl]

Related Content

Previous Tree Tour Posts:

Factoids: Street Trees and Property Values, December 2, 2007
Factoids: NYC’s Street Trees and Stormwater Reduction, November 15, 2007
Basic Research: The State of the Forest in New York City, November 12, 2007

Albemarle Road, Local Landscape

Links

Street Tree Walking Tour April 25th!, Sustainable Flatbush