Shedd Aquarium, Chicago

Posted on 2009-06-04 by admin

I got to Chicago early last week, ahead of the Chicago Spring Fling 2009 (CSF) weekend meetup of garden bloggers from across the country, so I could do a little touristy stuff. I didn’t get out as much as I had planned; mostly, I corrected my sleep deprivation. But I did get to go to the Shedd Aquarium.

When I was a boy, I lived in Florida for six years. That period of my childhood secured many of the interests that sustain me today, including photography, cosmology and space exploration, general natural history, and oceanography. I’ve lived my entire life no more than 20 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and most of it less than 5 miles. If you had asked me, when I was 10 or 11 years old, what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have responded: “A neurosurgeon, or a marine biologist.” (Yes, I have always been a geek, and proud of it.)

So, when I travel, I try to make a pilgrimage to whatever oceanographic attractions area nearby. Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium has been on my list to see. So it was easy to make that my first (and, it turned out, only) side-trip during CSF.

I didn’t know that much of what I saw was brand new. I also didn’t anticipate that, by mid-morning, I would be jostling for viewing space with thousands of school-children of all ages. I would have stayed longer, but I needed to eat. The line for the cafeteria went down the exhibit hall, so I had to leave earlier than I wanted to forage elsewhere.

Belugas

Sea Otters

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Links

Shedd Aquarium

Model Railroad Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden

Posted on 2009-06-01 by admin

Last Friday morning, the Chicago Spring Fling meetup of garden bloggers traveled to the Chicago Botanic Garden, one of the sponsors of the event. They provided a shuttle between the train station and the garden, free entry, and passes for the tram and this area: the Model Railroad Garden.

I had imagined a small kiddie ride of a train traveling through a garden. I thought it unseemly that a botanic garden should have an amusement ride in it. I also doubted that such a machine would have trouble handling my mass. So I wasn’t planning to visit this garden, despite the free pass.

However, as I left the landscape gardens behind, the entrance to this garden was right there. Since I had a free pass, I thought, “What the heck.” Similar to the New York Botanical Gardens annual display, this garden features, yes, model trains running continuously among model houses, buildings, dioramas and other scenes made of plant material. The difference is that this is outdoors, on and in the ground, with permanent plantings.

As a garden, it didn’t move me. But that’s not what this is about. It’s model trains. Leave your cynicism behind.

The 7,500-square-foot Model Railroad Garden features 17 garden-scale (G-scale) trains on 1,600 feet of track. The garden-scale trains are 1/29th the size of life-sized trains. Train and garden enthusiasts, young and old, return year after year for the delightful sights and sounds of the miniature trains traversing high and low through tunnels, across bridges, and around buildings — all intricately handcrafted with natural materials, including twigs, bark, leaves, acorns, and pebbles. More than 5,000 tiny trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and flowering plants of close to 300 varieties re-create the topographical landscape of America. Vignettes of tiny people and animals give the exhibit a storybook feel, while sound effects and a working geyser capture visitors’ imaginations.
– Railroad Garden

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Links

Railroad Garden

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, Lincoln Park, Chicago

Posted on 2009-05-31 by admin

A masterpiece of Prairie School landscape architecture.

Originally built in 1889 for raising tropical water lilies, the Lily Pool was redesigned in the prairie style during the 1930’s by Alfred Caldwell. The landscape design of the Caldwell Lily Pool is a tribute to the natural ecology of the Midwest. It was originally designed to mimic a river formed by a melting glacier’s flow of water cutting through limestone. The stonework and paths have a natural look that conveys the interpretation that melted glacial water flows are cutting through moraines, creating dramatic limestone bluffs. A waterfall near the north end of the lily pool represents the source of this glacial river.
– Lincoln Park Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

After decades of disrepair and neglect, this site was rehabilitated and refurbished in 2001 and 2002 and reopened to the public.

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Links

Lincoln Park Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

Rick Bayless Garden, Chicago Spring Fling 2009

Posted on 2009-05-31 by admin

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Links

Chicago Now
Mr. Brown Thumb
My Skinny Garden
Our Little Acre

Rick Bayless

Chicago Spring Fling 2009

Posted on 2009-05-30 by admin

It’s going to take me several days to slog through the 350 photos I shot today, let alone what’s coming tomorrow. Suffice to say that I was overwhelmed and inspired by what I saw.

Here’s the outline for my entire Chicago trip. I’ll be adding the links as I write the posts for each feature of the tours.

Shedd Aquarium
Chicago Botanic Garden:
- Native Plant Garden
- Edible Plant Garden
- Landscape Gardens
- Model Train Garden
- Other
Lurie Garden
Rick Bayless Garden
Ginkgo Botanic Garden
Carolyn Gail’s Garden
Franklin Park:
- Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

This is a 180-degree panoramic shot stitched together from eight hand-held and panned shots using the pano tool built into Microsoft Vista. Best viewed at the largest resolution your monitor can support. I took this shot while standing on the Nichols Bridgeway, just opened two weeks ago, which joins Millennium Park to the new modern wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. Monroe Street passes underneath, on the left and right of the photo. Downtown Chicago is to the left, and Lake Michigan is to the right. Millenium Park, including the Great Lawn and Lurie Garden, are roughly in the center of the photo.

I created this panorama of the Native Plant Garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden the same way.

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Links

Each Little World
Garden Punks
Gardening While Intoxicated
Mr. Brown Thumb: Words, Pictures
On the Shores of Lake Chicago: Day 1, Days 2 & 3
Our Little Acre
Prairie Rose’s Garden

Chicago Botanic Garden
Lurie Garden

Brooklyn Blogfest 2009

Posted on 2009-05-07 by admin

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]

Belugas

Sea Otters

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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