Native Pollinator Walks, Wave Hill, Sunday, June 27

Posted on 2021-06-14 by admin

Update, 2021-06-23: These walks are now FREE with your admission to Wave Hill! Pre-registration is no longer required, but space is limited. Register on-site, the day of the walks, at the Perkins Visitor Center.

—–

I’m proud to announce that Sunday, June 27th, I will be leading two Native Pollinator Walks at Wave Hill in the Bronx. This is one of several events they have scheduled for their Native Pollinators Day, at the end of Pollinator Week.

I’ll be doing two walks:

FREE with your admission admission to Wave Hill’s grounds.

Flowers attract the attention of both human and animal visitors. Honeybees, bumblebees, and butterflies are easily spotted in the garden but solitary bees, beetles, and other native pollinators are often overlooked. Learn about pollination and observe native pollinators busy at work in the garden with naturalist and gardener Chris Kreussling. Ages 10 and older welcome with an adult. Native Pollinators Day event.

Registration required, onsite on the day of the walk, at the Perkins Visitor Center. Space is limited. Questions? Please email us at information@wavehill.org or call 718.549.3200 x251.

Links

Native Pollinators Day, Wave Hill

Sunday 6/23: Pollinator Safari: Urban Insect Gardening with Native Plants

Posted on 2019-06-08 by admin

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be hosting a pollinator-focused garden tour and citizen science workshop in my garden for Pollinator Week, in association with NYC Wildflower Week.

Event Details

Date: Sunday, June 23, 2019
Time: 1-4pm
Location: Brooklyn, NY, corner of Stratford Road and Matthews Place
Cost: FREE!
RSVP: Eventbrite

1-2pm: I’ll be focusing in using iNaturalist to observe and identify insects in the garden. Create a free account on iNaturalist, and install the app on your smart phone. I’ll show you how to make observations in the garden with your phone!
2-4pm: We’ll explore the garden, see examples of how to garden for insects and pollinators, look at insect-plant associations happening in the garden, and, optionally, make observations with iNaturalist.

These times are a rough guide. You can drop by any time.

What can you see?

With roughly 200 NYC-native species of trees, shrubs, ferns, grasses, and wildflowers, my garden hosts scores of native insects that use these plants throughout the year.

I’ve been documenting these residents and visitors on iNaturalist. Here’s what I’ve seen in June over the years:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?month=6&order_by=observed_on&place_id=125348&subview=table&taxon_id=47120&verifiable=any

My garden is registered with several programs dedicated to creating and preserving habitat:

National Wildlife Federation: Backyard Wildlife Habitat # 141173, May 2011
Xerces Society: Pollinator Habitat, June 2012
North American Butterfly Association: Butterfly and Monarch Garden and Habitat, July 2017

Links

NYC Wildflower Week

Pollinator Week

Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

NPILC 2018 – Speaker Notes and Handout

Posted on 2018-06-17 by admin

2018-06-23: Updated with more links.

Following is the outline, speaker notes, and references of my talk at this year’s Native Plants in the Landscape Conference. This was to have been published as a speaker handout for attendees, but it never made it to the conference Web site. So I’m publishing it here.

This isn’t intended to stand alone. This post has many links to my blog posts and photos for further reading and viewing. And the presentation itself is available on Slideshare.

About Me

My New York City Gardens

1981-1992: East Village, Manhattan
Lesson: Buildings -> Shade
1992-2002: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Lesson: Concrete -> Containers
2002-2005: Park Slope
Lesson: Weeds and Invasives
2005 to Present: Flatbush, Brooklyn
Lessons: all of the above

Genius Loci

Geography is Destiny

Long Island

PLACE: Long Island Geography > NYC Eco-Regions > Flatbush

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Long_Island

NASA Landsat satellite global mosaic image of Long Island, New York

URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Long_Island_Landsat_Mosaic.jpg

Long Island

Wisconsin Glaciation: ~21K years ago

Bennington, J Bret, 2003. New observations on the glacial geomorphology of Long Island from a digital elevation model (DEM). Long Island Geologists Conference, Stony Brook, New York, April 2003.

• Rpm: Roanoke Point Moraine – North Fork
• Rm: Ronkonkoma Moraine – South Fork
• HHm: Harbor Hill Moraine – North Shore, into Brooklyn and Staten Island
• Kd: Kame Deltas

Central Brooklyn

The Wooded Plain

“Flatbush”: Anglicization of old Dutch:
• “vlachtebos” (vlacke bos, vladbos, flakkebos)
Land use History:
• Home of Lenape and Canarsie. https://native-land.ca/
• Dutch “settled” in early 1600s
• Primarily used for agriculture: woodland -> pasture, meadow
• Railways provided access from “the city” (Brooklyn) through “the country” (Flatbush) to beach resorts, e.g.: Coney Island
• 1870s: Prospect Park
• 1880s: Brooklyn Bridge
• One of five townships consolidated into the City of Brooklyn (Kings County) in 1890s.
• Last farms converted to residential in 1890s, early 1900s: pasture/meadow -> savannah
• Excursion railways converted to commuter lines

Ground Truth (My Neighborhood)

My garden is located roughly ½ mile south of Prospect Lake.
Landscape vernacular:
• Mow&Blow
• Green Death

Ecological Regions (EcoRegions)

In these maps, dashed lines are state boundaries.
Bailey (Roman numerals for Levels) v. Omernik/EPA (3-digit #s + letters)
Bailey: Levels I, II, and III

Level I:
8.0 Eastern Temperate Forests
5.0 Northern Forests

Level II:
8.5 Mississippi Alluvial and Southeast USA Coastal Plains
8.3 Southeastern USA Plains
8.1 Mixed Wood Plains

Level III:
8.1.7/59: Northeastern Coastal Zone
8.5.4/84: Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens
8.3.1/64: Northern Piedmont

Level IV (Omernik)

http://ecologicalregions.info/htm/na_eco.htm
https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoregions
https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoregions-north-america

My Garden

Garden Where You Are
Backyard
Front yard
Biodiversity
2011 Garden Tours:
• NYC Wildflower Week
• Victorian Flatbush House (& Garden!) Tour
URL: http://goo.gl/8LgEN#mygarden

Garden #4

2009: Certificate in Horticulture, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
2011: National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat #141,173
2012: Xerces Society Pollinator Habitat
2017: NABA Butterfly Garden #2348 and Monarch Garden

My Backyard Native Plant Garden

The Front Yard

I replaced most of the remaining front lawn in 2014.

Biodiversity

If you plant it, they will come

Plants

Native Plants
Species Acquisitions – “Plant More”
Can you tell from this chart the first year I attended NPILC?!

Insects in my Garden

Cumulative count of my observations of insects in my garden

Family	Common Name	# Species
Coleoptera	Beetles	19
Diptera	Flies	23
Hemiptera	Bugs	9
Hymenoptera	Bees	27
Hymenoptera	Wasps	26
Lepidoptera	Butterflies, Moths, and Skippers	22
		126

Excludes many other arthropod groups, including other insect families not listed here, spiders, centipedes, millipedes, etc.
1st BugGuide post: 2007! Neotibicen canicularis, dog-day/annual cicada
Joined iNaturalist in 2013, but posted my first observation in 2017

Allium triccocum, ramps

Aquilegia canadensis, red columbine

Limestone
Calcareous
Alvar
Grike

Aristolochia tomentosa, pipevine, Battus philenor, pipevine swallowtail

Coccinella novemnotata, C9

Glossary: Extirpated

Coleomegilla usurps Coccinella as New York State Insect, 2006-06-23
Coccinella novemnotata, nine-spotted lady beetle, aka “C9”, 2016-06-24

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

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.

Colletes thoracicus, cellophane bee

Dioprosopa clavata, four-speckled hoverfly

NEW YORK STATE RECORD
Glossary: Adventive

Heuchera ‘Caramel’

Glossary:
• Native
• Hybrid
• Selection
• Cultivar
• Patent

Plant Patent (PP) #15,560
https://patents.google.com/patent/USPP16560P3/en
Sandrine Delabroye
“The inventor discovered the new cultivar, ‘Caramel’ as a chance seedling in a cultivated nursery bed in Hantay, France, CT in 2003. Although the parentage is unknown, the characteristics of the new cultivar and the proximity of plants of Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’ (not patented) suggests that ‘Autumn Pride’ is a probable parent.”

Impatiens capensis, orange jewelweed

Volunteers and urban habitats – the “moist meadow”

Oxalis stricta, yellow wood-sorrel

What’s a “weed”?
Other native weeds:
• Acalypha virginica, Virginia Copperleaf, Virginia Threeseed Mercury
• Ageratina altissima, white snakeroot
• Amaranthus retroflexus, Redroot Pigweed (Amaranth)
• Conyza canadensis (Erigeron canadensis), Horseweed
• Erechtites hieraciifolius, American burnweed
• Juncus tenuis, Slender Rush, Path Rush, Poverty Rush
• Lepidium virginicum, Virginia pepperweed, peppergrass
• Lobelia inflata, Indian tobacco, puke weed
• Oxalis stricta, Upright Yellow Wood-Sorrel, Common Yellow Oxalis
• Phytolacca americana, Pokeweed
• Plantago rugelii, blackseed plantain
• Solanum ptycanthum, Eastern Black Nightshade
• Viola sororia, Common Blue Violet

Pycnanthemum muticum, mountain-mint

Pollinator magnet
https://vimeo.com/136679893

Sphecius speciosus, cicada killer

Viburnum dentatum, arrowwood, Pyrrhalta viburni, Viburnum leaf beetle

Yucca filamentosa, Adam’s needle, Carpophilus melanopterus, Yucca beetle

Why Bother?

Living (and Gardening) in the Anthropocene

Population Urbanization
Habitat Loss
Globalization -> Invasive Species, Emergent Diseases
Injustice and Inequity: Environmental, Economic, Social

Climate Change

2018 = 60th anniversary of the Keeling curve
CO2 has increased by 32% IN MY LIFETIME
65 people died in New York state, 44 of them in New York City, 8 in Brooklyn, as a result of Sandy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Sandy_in_New_York
https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/11/05/the-people-who-were-killed-by-hurricane-sandy/

The Sixth Extinction

Extinction Symbol
Lost Species Day of Remembrance: November 30th
Extinct Plant Species of Northern North America

Defiance and Resistance

Links

Native Plants in the Landscape Conference

Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve

NPILC 2018 – Books

Posted on 2018-06-08 by admin

I spoke this year at the Native Plants in the Landscape Conference at Millersville University in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The organizers asked speakers for a list of books we recommend.

This is my list, grouped roughly by category.

Science

Brian Capon, Botany for Gardeners, 3rd Edition
2010, Timber Press
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-604690-95-8

Steven B. Carroll and Steve D. Salt, Ecology for Gardeners
2004, Timber Press
Hardcover, ISBN-13 978-0-88192-611-8
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-604694-45-1

James B. Nardi, Life in the Soil: A Guide for Naturalists and Gardeners
2007, The University of Chicago Press
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-0-22656853-9

See also: Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home

Plants

Lauren Brown, Grasses: An Identification Guide
1979, Houghton Mifflin Company

Paperback, ISBN 0-395-62881-4

C. Colston Burrell, Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants
2006, Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guides

Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-889538-74-7

William Cullina, Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada
2000, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Hardcover, ISBN-13 978-0-39596609-9

Eric Lee-Mäder, Jarrod Fowler, Jillian Vento, Jennifer Hopwood, 100 Plants to Feed the Bees: Provide a Healthy Habitat to Help Pollinators Thrive
2016, The Xerces Society/Storey Publishing Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-61212-701-9

Lawrence Newcomb, Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide: The classic field guide for quick identification of wildflowers, flowering shrubs, and vines
1977, Little, Brown and CompanyPaperback, ISBN-13 978-0-316-60442-0

Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal, and Joseph M. DiTomaso, Weeds of the Northeast
1997, Cornell University Press
Hardcover, ISBN-13 978-0-8014-3391-6
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-0-8014-8334-9

Insects

Eric Grissell, Bees, Wasps, and Ants: The Indispensable Role of Hymenoptera in Gardens
2010, Timber Press
Hardcover, ISBN-13 978-0-88192-988-1

Heather Holm, Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
2014, Pollination Press
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-0-9913563-0-0

Eric Mader, Matthew Shepherd, Mace Vaughan, Scott Black, and Gretchen LeBuhn, Attracting Native Pollinators
2011, The Xerces Society
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-60342695-4

Paul H. Williams, Robbin W. Thorp, Leif L. Richardson, and Sheila R. Colla, Bumblebees of North America: An Identification Guide
2014, Princeton University Press
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-0-69115222-6

The Xerces Society, Gardening for Butterflies
2016, The Xerces Society
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-60469598-4

Inspiration

Rick Darke & Doug Tallamy, The Living Landscape: Designing for beauty and biodiversity in the home garden
2014, Timber Press
Hardcover, ISBN-13 978-1-60469-408-6

Kenneth I. Helphand, Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime 2006, Trinity University PressHardcover, ISBN-13 978-1-59534-021-4 Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-59534-045-0

Thomas Rainer and Claudia West, Planting in a Post-Wild World Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes
2015, Timber Press Hardcover, ISBN-13 978-1-60649-553-3

Douglas W. Tallamy & Rick Darke, Bringing Nature Home: How native plants sustain wildlife in our gardens
Timber Press
Hardcover, 2007, ISBN-13 978-0-88192-854-9

Paperback, 2009, ISBN-13 978-0-88192-992-1

Links

Native Plants in the Landscape Conference

Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve

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

Garden Insect Species Records 2015

Posted on 2015-07-07 by admin

2015-09-19: Added Homeosoma, observed 10 days ago and just identified, bringing the total to 23.
2015-09-13: Two more Hymenoptera species identified from the last weekend in August: Bombus fervidus, golden northern bumblebee, and Gnamptopelta osidianator, an Ichneumon wasp. And a new Diptera species identified today: Hermetia illucens. That brings the number of species to 22.
2015-07-12: Added two I’d forgotten about: Orius insidiosus, and Anthrenus verbasci. That brings the number of species to 19.

These are the insect species I’ve discovered or identified in my garden for the first time this year.

Hymenoptera – Bees

Bombus fervidus, golden northern bumblebee, yellow bumblebee, 2015-08-30
Ceratina calcarata, spurred ceratina, small carpenter bee
Cerceris, two different species, not identified down to species.
Nomada, cuckoo bee
Osmia pumila, mason bee
Stelis louisae, Megachilid bee, cleptoparasite of Megachile campanuelae and perhaps related bees

Hymenoptera – Wasps

Gasteruption, carrot wasp
Gnamptopelta obsdianator, Ichneumon wasp, spider wasp mimic, a parasitoid on Sphingid moth caterpillars, especially those feeding on Vitis, grape, hosts. 2015-08-31
Omalus, cuckoo wasp

Coleoptera, Beetles

Anthrenus verbasci, varied carpet beetle
Coccinella septempunctata, seven-spotted lady-beetle (introduced)
Exomala orientalis, Oriental beetle (introduced)
Pyrrhalta viburni, Viburnum leaf beetle (invasive)

Diptera, Flies

Allograpta obliqua, oblique syrphid fly
Hermetia illucens, black solder fly, a wasp mimic
Merodon equstris, Narcissus bulb fly (introduced)

Hemiptera, True Bugs

Coelidia olitoria, leafhopper
Hormaphis hamamelidis, witchhazel cone gall aphid
Jalysus, stilt bug
Lygaeus kalmii, small milkweed bug. I have no observation records of this species in my garden before this year. This year, there are scores of them.
Orius insidiosus, insidious flower bug

Other

Chrysopidae, green lacewings, Neuroptera
Homeosoma, a Pyralid moth

Anthrenus verbasci, varied carpet beetle, and Orius insidiosus, insidous flower bug, on Erigeron, fleabane.

Pyrrhalta viburni, viburnum leaf beetle (VLB)

Posted on 2015-07-01 by admin

Pyrrhalta viburni, the viburnum leaf beetle, or VLB for short, is native to Europe. It was first discovered in North America barely two decades ago, in Maine in 1994. Both larvae and adults eat leaves. Our native Viburnum species are extremely vulnerable; they aren’t adapted to this species of leaf beetle. With ample food supply, and no native predators to control its spread, VLB has rapidly expanded its range since.

The viburnum leaf beetle, Pyrrhalta viburni (Paykull), is an invasive, non-native beetle that first appeared in New York along Lake Ontario in 1996, and has steadily spread across the state and down the Hudson Valley. It is a voracious eater that can defoliate viburnum shrubs entirely. Plants may die after two or three years of heavy infestation, particularly when larvae strip plants after hatching out in spring followed by heavy adult feeding later in summer.
– Viburnum leaf beetle invading NYC?, Cornell Horticulture Blog, May 2009

It’s been in New York City less than a decade. In Brooklyn, I first observed the damage on Viburnum dentatum, arrowwood, at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in May 2012. Last year, I found it in Prospect Park; by May, arrowwoods there were shredded.

I’ve seen light damage on my large arrowwood for the past few years. I’ve suspected VLB, but never observed it. I’m ~1/2 mile south of Prospect Lake in Prospect Park, so it should be here. This Spring, I finally found it.

Pyrrhalta viburni, viburnum leaf beetle (VLB), 3rd instar larva, feeding on Viburnum dentatum, arrowwood, from my backyard, May 2015

Despite the fact I’ve made no special efforts to control or contain it, VLB has not gotten out of control on my single shrub. I have some hypotheses about why that might be.

Ecotype

My specimen is a cultivar, sold as ‘Blue Muffin.’ I suspect the plants in Prospect Park are local ecotypes planted as part of the woodlands restorations. When we select cultivars for horticultural characteristics, we select away from ecological value. It could be that this cultivar has some natural resistance to VLB.

Exposure

The shredded arrowwoods in Prospect Park were growing in forest shade. Mine is growing in nearly full sun. The little damage I see on my shrub occurs only on the lower leaves; upper leaves don’t appear affected. From what I’ve read, this makes a difference, though the reasons are unclear.

Density

My specimen has never fruited well. I suspect this is due to the lack of arrowwoods in other gardens nearby. This low density could affect the ability of VLB to establish a viable population that can explode to the levels I’ve observed in Prospect Park.

Predation

I specialize in gardening with native plants, and have lots of habitat in my smallish urban garden. There are likely many native predators existing in the landscape that can predate on VLB. I suspect the prevalence of natural predators in my garden have kept them in check the past few years.

By planting a wide variety of native plants, especially plants from the Asteraceae and Apiaceae, we can provide shelter and food for these insects, keeping them around for when VLB emerges.

Links

Viburnum leaf beetle invading NYC?, Cornell Horticulture Blog, 2009-05-22

Predation by Podisus maculiventris (Say) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) on Viburnum Leaf Beetle, Pyrrhalta viburni (Paykull) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Under Laboratory and Field Conditions, Gaylord Desurmont , Paul A. Weston, Environmental Entomology, Volume 37, Issue 5, pp. 1241 – 1251

Viburnum leaf beetle, Department of Horticulture, Cornell University
Viburnum Leaf Beetle – Pyrrhalta viburni, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry

What I’m About

Posted on 2015-06-23 by admin

Notice anything different about me? Until a few minutes ago, the by-line at the header of this blog read:

Adventures in Neo-Victorian, Wild, Shade, Organic and Native Plant Gardening, Garden Design, and Garden Restoration.

It now reads:

Urban Gardening with Native Plants

This better communicates the focus of my interests and expertise than the “anything goes” byline it replaces.

How I got here

We bought our house and garden 10 years ago. I started this blog 9 years ago.

The byline I just replaced reflected the experimental approach I was taking to having so much space to play with. Heirloom plants in the front yard, which might have been available to the original gardener of our home. Shade gardening because what urban gardener doesn’t have to deal with shade somewhere? Wild, because something has to be left uncultivated. And always organic gardening.

I’ve gardened with native plants since my first garden in the East Village. Each of the 4 gardens I’ve worked on in New York City has incorporated native plants. When we bought our house 10 years ago, I had pretty much a blank slate to work with. I quickly decided that the backyard would be a woodland garden, populated with ephemerals, ferns, and others plants native to the forests of northeastern North America.

Over time, I eliminated the major invasives I had inherited, including Rosa multiflora, Clematis terniflora, sweet autumn clematis (SAC), and Acer platanoides, Norway maple. I succeeded in transforming the backyard from the dustbowl I started with.

I expanded the areas devoted to native plants. I took up part of the driveway so the “woodland” could expand into the “clearing” offered by the south side of the house. The front yard has enjoyed a similar transformation. I removed first one section of front lawn, then replaced most of the rest with native plants last year.

My garden has been on tour four times, three times with NYC Wildflower Week. Last month, I spoke at the Long Island Botanical Society about my gardens, and the increasing number and variety of insect visitors I’ve observed and documented.

As I’ve expanded the areas of native plants in my garden, I’ve narrowed the focus, specializing increasingly in species native to New York City. I’m growing nearly 100 NYC-native species. I’ve added another 70 species this year, and continue to expand the areas for them.

All this diversity brings in countless species of insects, including dozens of bees and wasps. I’ve identified a half dozen new species in the garden just this Spring. Summer, the peak pollinator season, is just around the corner. I look forward to what else I will find this year.

So, when people ask, I say: I specialize in urban gardening with native plants. This isn’t a limitation. I see no end to what I can discover and learn by doing so. And no end to the benefits this can bring to myself, my family, my community, and the region.

Links

NYC Wildflower Week

Native Plant Acquisitions: LINPI 2015 Plant Sale

Posted on 2015-06-14 by admin

Saturday, June 13 was the last open day in 2015 for the Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI) Plant Sale. I picked up another 13 species to add to my list, which has already grown this Spring to over 200 species of plants native to eastern North America. We’ll see how many of them survive my, um “gardening.”

As with all the plants available through LINPI, all are local ecotypes propagated by NYC Parks’ Greenbelt Native Plant Center from wild populations on Long Island and Staten Island. It so happens all these species are also native to New York City.

Apocynaceae

(or Asclepiadaceae, depending on taxonomy)

Asclepias tuberosa, butterfly weed
I bought a 6-pack of these from the LINPI Plant sale two years ago. They are blooming now. I bought a flat (6 x 6-packs = 36 plants) this time. I want to have larger groups of them in several sunny areas to see where they thrive.

Asteraceae

Eupatorium hyssopifolium, hyssop-leaved throughwort, hyssop-leaved boneset

Eupatorium perfoliatum, common boneset, boneset thoroughwort
This species is only found in wetlands (Wetland indicator status OBL/”obligate”), so I’m planting this in and around the garage, for runoff, and planters, where it will benefit from overflow from watering.

Eupatorium serotinum, late-flowering thoroughwort
This was listed incorrectly as Eutrochium serotinum on LINPI’s web site. This is the odd one out for nativity, which is challenged by some, e.g.: NEWFS.

Solidago nemoralis, gray goldenrod
One of the shade-tolerant goldenrods, I bought a flat of these to plant them all around the house as an experiment to see where/how they fare from sun to shade.

Solidago speciosa, showy goldenrod

Ericaeae

Vaccinum macrocarpon, cranberry

This is one of the species available on-site at the plant sale that wasn’t listed on LINPI’s web site. I already have two of these, one in each bog planter. I bought a 6-pack as an intentional duplicate. I planted 4 in the two bog planters I have. I need to fill in these planters so the squirrels won’t keep digging them out. As an experiment, I planted the other two nearby, alongside the garage, where they’ll get runoff from the roof and gutter downspout.

Fabaceae

Chamaecrista fasciculata, prairie senna, partridge pea, partridge sensitive-pea
Lespedeza hirta
Lespedeza virginica

Malvaceae

Hibiscus moscheutos, swamp rosemallow
Another obligate wetland species, I planted this by the side of the garage to benefit from runoff from the roof, and to server as a backdrop for this mixed shrub-perennial bed.

Poaceae

Panicum virgatum, switchgrass
Sorghastrum nutans, indian grass
Tridens flavus, purple top

Rosaceae

Rosa carolina, Carolina rose

Rubiaceae

Cephalanthus occidentalis, buttonbush

Links

Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI) Plant Sale

This Season’s Schedule

Posted on 2015-04-03 by admin

Lots of native plant events from April to June which I hope to attend. And I’ll be speaking, hosting, or tabling at three of them.

Me in my front yard last year, hosting a NYC Wildflower Week Pollinator Safari during Pollinator Week 2014. Photo: Alan Riback.

Saturday, April 25, 11am-3pm
Pinelands Preservation Alliance (PPA) Earth Day Native Plant Sale
PPA Headquarters, 17 Pemberton Road, Southampton, NJ 08088
One of my two favorite regional native plant sales. Growers include Pinelands Nursery and New Moon Nursery.

Saturday, May 9, 1-4pm
Butterflies, Bulbs, and Bookmarks
Cortelyou Library Plaza
I will be on-hand to talk about plants, flowers, and pollinators.

Saturday, May 9 to Sunday, May 17
NYC Wildflower Week (NYCWW)
I will be out and about, enjoying many of the free tours and events offered throughout the week. To be announced: A tour of my garden may be one of the events for this year’s NYCWW.

Rhododendron periclymenoides, Pinxterbloom Azalea, seen on the NYCWW 2014 tour of Staten Island’s High Rock Park, Staten Island

Tuesday, May 12, 7:30pm
Long Island Botanical Society (LIBS) Meeting
Muttontown Preserve, East Norwich, Nassau County
I will be a guest speaker, talking about urban gardening with native plants, and the wildlife this supports.

June 3 to June 6
Native Plants in the Landscape Conference (NPILC)
Student Memorial Center, Millersville University, Millersville, PA 17551-0302
This is the first year I’ve registered for this conference. I’m looking forward to meeting fellow native plant geeks.

Friday & Saturday, June 5 & 6, and June 12 & 13
Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI) Native Plant Sale
Suffolk County Community College Eastern Campus Greenhouse, 121 Speonk-Riverhead Road, Riverhead, NY 11901
The second of my favorite regional native plant sales, with plants propagated by the NYC Parks Greenbelt Native Plant Center from populations on Long Island and Staten Island.

The 2013 LINPI Plant Sale

June 15 to June 21
Pollinator Week
To be announced: Another possible Pollinator Safari tour of my garden.

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Event Details

What can you see?

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About Me

My New York City Gardens

Genius Loci

Long Island

Long Island

Central Brooklyn

The Wooded Plain

Ground Truth (My Neighborhood)

Ecological Regions (EcoRegions)

My Garden

Garden #4

My Backyard Native Plant Garden

The Front Yard

Biodiversity

Plants

Insects in my Garden

Allium triccocum, ramps

Aquilegia canadensis, red columbine

Aristolochia tomentosa, pipevine, Battus philenor, pipevine swallowtail

Coccinella novemnotata, C9

Gardening for Insects

Colletes thoracicus, cellophane bee

Dioprosopa clavata, four-speckled hoverfly

Heuchera ‘Caramel’

Impatiens capensis, orange jewelweed

Oxalis stricta, yellow wood-sorrel

Pycnanthemum muticum, mountain-mint

Sphecius speciosus, cicada killer

Viburnum dentatum, arrowwood, Pyrrhalta viburni, Viburnum leaf beetle

Yucca filamentosa, Adam’s needle, Carpophilus melanopterus, Yucca beetle

Why Bother?

Climate Change

The Sixth Extinction

Defiance and Resistance

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Science

Plants

Insects

Inspiration

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Gardening for Insects

Timeline

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Other Links

Hymenoptera – Bees

Hymenoptera – Wasps

Coleoptera, Beetles

Diptera, Flies

Hemiptera, True Bugs

Other

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Ecotype

Exposure

Density

Predation

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How I got here

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Apocynaceae

Asteraceae

Ericaeae

Fabaceae

Malvaceae

Poaceae

Rosaceae

Rubiaceae

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