Sustainable Garden Design in Gowanus Development

Posted on 2007-12-14 by admin

Today on Brownstoner there’s a post and extended commentary (as one expects at the ‘Stoner) about the garden design for a multi-unit residential Project in Gowanus called Third & Bond (presumably located there):

Now that our building design is nearly complete, we’ve turned our attention to what surrounds the buildings: the outdoors. Third & Bond has 38 private outdoor spaces (enough for 85% of buyers to have their own) as well as 7 front yards and a courtyard. We want these spaces to look great, be easy to maintain, and meet our “green” goals. In short, we needed a green landscaping genius.

They choice local garden designer Timothy D. Osborne, who does business as The Organic Gardener. They promise to share “the actual designs in the coming weeks.” In today’s post they describe some design constraints dear to my heart: grass-less (meaning no lawn), native plants and local materials, and butterflies. Some of the points are a bit confused, but the intent is sound.

Grass is a LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] no-no. Lawn grasses like crab grass and Kentucky blue grass are not native to North America and require a tremendous amount of watering compared with native coastal grasses.

I just checked the LEED Version 2.2 Rating System and Credit Checklist for New Construction and didn’t find any references to lawn or grass. Still, eliminating lawn is a brave choice for a developer; I’m surprised and pleased to hear they’re going to try to make it work.

Since we bought our house some 30 months ago, I’ve been gradually reducing the garden space devoted to lawn. I have a small patch of lawn left in the front yard. We no longer use a lawn care service; they all use gas-powered mowers and leaf-blowers, which pound-for-pound are worse than SUVs for their carbon emissions, particulate pollutants, and noise pollution. I use a push-reel mower and rake. I rarely water, and it shows. I’ve seen some beautiful examples of lawn-less front-yard gardens in the area. I expect that within a few years what’s left of our lawn will be replaced with more complex, interesting, and sustainable plantings.

The Organic Gardener’s plant suggestions were almost all native including lavender and dogwood.

Lavender is not native to North America, but it’s a great choice for xeriscaping, low-water-use gardening.

Satisfying the local butterfly population is pretty much our #1 priority at Third & Bond. But seriously, another benefit to choosing local plants is that they are more attractive to birds and butterflies native to the area. We’re hoping our plant materials will be especially attractive to winged wildlife.

If they can follow through with these intentions, I have no doubt they will be.

Although I write about local issues, and go so far as to dive into zoning and land use, I avoid the hard-core, snipe and snark, body-slam arena of Brooklyn real-estate blogging. There’s not much opportunity to return the link-love I get now and then from Brownstoner. It’s nice to be able to return the favor while staying on-point for this blog.

Front garden
Native plants
Sustainability
Mowing the Lawn, June 6, 2006

Links

Third & Bond: Week 17, Brownstoner
The Organic Gardener, Timothy D. Osborne (Note: His Web site is poorly designed. All the information exists only as graphics. Even the menus are available only as image maps, with no labels. There’s no text anywhere on the site.)
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), U. S. Green Building Council

Native Plant Swap TODAY in East Willamsburg

Posted on 2007-10-12 by admin

Today, Friday, October 12, from 3-7pm, the Butterfly Project of the Wildlife Conservation Society (NYC Zoos) is sponsoring a native plant share at the Heckscher Foundation Children’s Garden (Willamsburg Community Garden), 134-136 Scholes Street, across the street from the Martinez Playground, between Manhattan and Graham Avenues in East Willamsburg, Brooklyn.

Join the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Butterfly Project to receive plants and information on how to start a butterfly garden.
Note: All plants available are for planting in public spaces.
[emphasis added]

Closest subway stop is Montrose Avenue on the L train.

For more information: (845) 531-9745

Note: OASIS’ mapping system identifies the area as “East Williamsburg”. I don’t know the area, and I welcome any corrections for the name of the neighborhood!

Links
Butterfly Project
Willamsburg Community Garden

Carolina Silverbell: One of a Million

Posted on 2007-10-10 by admin

Just the thought of Mike Bloomberg and Bette Midler together makes me giddy.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and New York Restoration Project (NYRP) Founder Bette Midler today launched the Million Trees NYC initiative to plant and care for one million trees throughout the five boroughs in the next decade. The Mayor and Ms. Midler planted a street tree in the Morrisania section of the Bronx – a neighborhood with too few trees and high rates of asthma – and declared the Carolina Silverbell to be the first of one million trees.
– Press release, Tuesday, October 9, 2007

And if not for the much-needed rain tonight, we could see that the Empire State Building is lit green to note today’s kickoff.

Not once do they mention the botanical name of the tree, Halesia carolina. It’s a lovely, graceful tree. I don’t know how it fares as a street tree in NYC. It’s native to the southeastern United States. It’s in the Styracaceae, the Storax or Snowball family.

The nomenclature for this genus seems confused. Wikipedia lists H. carolina as a synonym for H. tetraptera, but the USDA Plants database identifies the latter as a different species, the mountain silverbell, with two subspecies. I’ll defer to USDA Plants as the authority.

None of the four species of Halesia are native to New York state. According to the Atlas of the New York Flora Association, both H. carolina and H. tetraptera are known as escapes in the wild.

The Parks Department will receive nearly $400 million over the next ten years to plant 600,000 public trees by reforesting 2,000 acres of existing parkland and lining New York City streets with trees. The City’s partners, including non-profit and community organizations, businesses, developers and everyday New Yorkers will plant the remaining 400,000 trees.

There are many ways to get involved in Million Trees NYC:

plant a tree in your yard;

join a volunteer group planting trees in parks and on public land;

request that the City plant street trees on your block;

learn how to water, mulch, and prune trees;

educate other New Yorkers on the importance of our urban forest; and

become an advocate for planting trees.

Each request for a street tree will trigger an evaluation of the suggested site by a Parks department inspector. Considerations such as electrical wires, underground utilities, light posts and building entrances will be part of the inspection. If it is possible to plant a tree in the site requested, a tree planting contractor will be assigned to plant the tree in the next possible planting season, in either the spring or fall.

Links

Halesia carolina (USDA Plants Database)
Million Trees NYC Web site (also in the sidebar under Links > NYC)
New York Restoration Project (Bette Midler’s joint, also in the sidebar)

April 22: 1M Trees in 10 Years

A Weekend in the Garden

Posted on 2007-10-09 by admin

A fallen leaf from the cherry tree in the backyard

Some macro shots of what’s happening in the garden now. Most of the shots are from the backyard, some from the sideyard, along the driveway.

I was really surprised to have this Cicada fly right past me and land on the fence long enough for me to get a good shot of it. I’ve never see a live one so close up. I usually see them dead on the sidewalk, often missing their abdomen from predation. In that state, the markings on the top of the thorax (?) are dull dark brown and black. I think this is Tibicen canicularis, the dog-day cicada.

I’ve been watching the aphids on these milkweed stems for several weeks. This photo doesn’t capture the intense orange-yellow color of these bugs; they look more yellow in the photo than they actually are. I wonder if their color is caused by feeding on milkweed, much like the warning red-orange colors of Monarchs?

Berries of Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana

Berries of Winterberry, Ilex verticillata

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Sunflower

Gowanus Nursery under threat

Posted on 2007-09-04 by admin

Updated 22:00 EDT: Added links, maps, and legend.

Gowanus Nursery, as it appeared on their opening day this Spring

I received the following email this afternoon through the Gowanus Nursery mailing list.

On Wednesday August 22, a small group of business owners, employees and clients attended a city planning meeting that was to decide the fate of a few parcels of land located on Summit and Carroll streets.

The likely outcome is that Gowanus Nursery (45 Summit Street) will be forced to move, once again.

Remarkably, this change is a thinly disguised ‘spot zoning’ to allow for a residential development in a grandfathered commercial zone. This action, in the words of Community Board 6, has been the most aggressive use of ULURP (re-zoning) procedures that the current board has ever seen, forcing out active and flourishing businesses to make way for residential development.

Borough President Marty Markowitz’s recommendations suggest that the nursery occupied lot provides property owners the opportunity to lease under-developed land with minimal investment (part true since the only investment came in the form of our own labor and financial funding.) There seems something fundamentally wrong with labeling well-used open ‘green’ space as ‘under-developed’.

On a personal note, I am frustrated not only by the futility of the work we have already logged here, but also by the casual way that zoning change is happening in ‘our’ neighborhood. Last year, you, my customers and colleagues came to offer your services during the first move. Now, I ask for your help to help save this ‘green oasis’ from perishing in the changes affecting all of Brooklyn.

One of the questions asked by the city planning commissioners was “We have heard a lot of testimony about how this is the ‘best’ nursery, could you please give some definite examples to support this statement?” Well, we hope that our garden making has been successful; stimulating ideas and offering advice, suggesting different ways of seeing plants and how they affect our environment directly and indirectly. Of course, something akin to a mission remains: providing to gardeners experience-based knowledge and the broadest selection of perennial plants for Brooklyn gardens.

We hope that you can take the time to email the following parties to let them know in a few words what makes us an important part of the neighborhood and the whole Brooklyn experience.

Council representative – Bill de Blasio, deblasio@council.nyc.ny.us;
City Council Speaker – Christine Quinn, quinn@council.nyc.ny.us;
Land Use Committee Chairperson – Melinda R. Katz, katz@council.nyc.ny.us;
Mayor Michael Bloomberg

The following are some statements to paste into your appeal:

It’s impossible to run a nursery without land.

Businesses such as these provide necessary services to the community, and are the reason we choose Brooklyn.

Please help Gowanus Nursery to remain a Brooklyn institution.

I located a map of the proposed zoning change. This was certified to begin ULURP as far back as May 14th of this year.

The area enclosed by the dotted line is proposed to be rezoned by changing from an M1-1 District to an R6 District. The heavy solid lines indicate where the Zoning District Boundaries would like after the proposed zoning change. To become effective, the proposed changes must be approved first by the City Planning Commission, then the City Council.

Here’s a map, courtesy of OASIS-NYC, that shows the current uses of 45 Summit Street and nearby properties:

Legend:
Legend image 1 & 2 Family Residential
Multi-family Residential (3 or more Residential Units)
Mixed Use (Residential and Commercial)
Commercial
Institutions
Transportation & Parking
Industrial (corresponds to Zoning’s “Manufacturing” designation)
Vacant Lots

Comparing these two maps, it appears that most of the properties along Carroll Street within the proposed zoning change are already in residential use. The proeprties along Summit Street, however, are in industrial use, consistent with their M-1 Zoning designation.

The question of whether or not Gowanus is “the best” nursery is a red herring. This seems like a suspiciously convenient carve-out for someone. Who is going to reap the windfall from eminent domain-style tactics that strip privileges from one group and class of residents to benefit another?

Links:

Growing a Native Plant Garden in a Flatbush Backyard

Posted on 2007-08-06 by admin

Gardener’s Corner, the Backyard Native Plant Garden, May 2007, Flatbush, Brooklyn.

This past Winter, I wrote about the front garden and its changes so far. The backyard is getting jealous.

Collectively known as Victorian Flatbush, this area of Brooklyn is reputed to contain the largest collection of free-standing Victorian homes in the world: over 1,000. I keep seeing this factoid crop up, but I’ve yet to see any documentation backing it up.

In any case, most of these structures are the classic houses of children’s drawings, with peaked roofs and 6/1 or 1/1 double-hung sash windows. They are also fully “detached” houses, with exterior walls, and therefore gardening opportunities, on all sides of the house. Each side of our house has different exposures, full sun to shade. For the first time in more than 25 years of city gardening, I can grow just about anything somewhere around the house.

Over the past two years since we moved in, the backyard has become increasingly presentable. My ideas about what to do there, and what can be done, continue to evolve as I observe the seasons, the wildlife, and how people respond to the garden.

Spring 2005

Here are some photos showing how the backyard looked in Spring 2005, just after we moved in. (If the “after” photos below look a little roomier, it’s mostly because they were taken with a wider angle lens – and a better camera! – than I had available in 2005.)

At this time, the backyard was nothing but a weedy dustbowl. You wouldn’t know it from looking at these photos, but four (4) trees had just been removed from the backyard when I took these photos! You can still see the sawdust in some of the photos.

Looking South, toward the garage. Note the sawdust on the roof from removal of the tree which had been leaning against it. The crack in the garage wall at the rear of the garage (left in the photo) is damage from the tree growing under and pressing against it. There is also damage to the roof edge where the trunk made contact. You can also see a slope from from left to right, from the rear of the property toward the house. This is an indication of long-term drainage issues which will eventually require regrading of the surface away from the house.

There had been another tree, which we also had to get removed, growing up between our garage and that of our back neighbor’s .

Looking East, toward our back neighbor. Roughly behind the green pole was another weedy maple tree growing up between our cherry tree in the center of the photo and another large maple out of frame to the right, near the garage.

Looking North, away from the garage, toward our next-door neighbor. The fourth tree – another weedy maple – was growing where the two sections of fence meet. You can see damage to the fence where the trunk was pressing and rubbing against it.

Looking West, toward the house. This is a rear extension, extending 12 feet or so from the rear wall of the house. You can just see the bottom of my tree fort – the second floor porch – at the upper left of the photo. The greenery coming in from the right is our next-door neighbor’s apple tree.

The available space in the backyard is about 28 feet square. The garage takes up much of the width from side-to-side, and the sheltered doorway projecting into the backyard takes up much of the depth. From early on, I began thinking about how I might reclaim some of this space, physically and visually.

Summer 2005

This is a vision of what could be if we redesigned the ground floor of the house to connect it with the backyard. Arrows indicate traffic flows.

The rear extension of the house would be reconfigured to become a large, open plan kitchen the width of the house. This in turn opens up onto a full back porch. Physically and visually this would add more than 20 feet to the depth of the backyard. Steps would lead down from the porch to each side of the house and into the backyard. The dining room (DR) and living room (LR) would be unchanged, except for restoration of the pocket doors which used to join them.

Spring 2006

By March 2006, I had cleared the backyard of most of its weeds and established the “campfire circle” which exists today. The logs came from a large Eastern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) I had taken down from the front yard at the same time I’d had the backyard trees removed. That was a beautiful tree which had clearly been planted originally as a foundation shrub. It was taller than the house, and damaging the front porch. I hated having to have it taken down, and asked to keep several lengths of logs for a future project. For now, they make great seating, and add to the woodsy atmosphere the backyard is taking on.

In April 2006, I sketched my ideas at that time for the backyard. Unlike the earlier sketch, this one accepts, for now, the existing structures – the garage, house and concrete path – and permanent plants – the two large maple trees and the cherry tree at the back of the property.

The proposed additions in this diagram are two large shrubs adjacent to the path (hatch marks) which runs along the back of the house, a fence with a gated trellis at the entrance from the driveway, and a trellis with a porch swing in front of the large maple at the corner of the backyard. The diagonal lines show the lines of sight from the swing area to the driveway and the street. The placement of the large shrubs would block the lines of sight, providing privacy and a sense of enclosure, bringing the backyard closer to contributing being a sanctuary.

This photograph shows the view into the backyard from the driveway. No shrubs yet, but a simple metal trellis with a trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens cultivar) and a mature pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) do a fine job of filtering the view into the backyard. From the driveway you can’t see the “gardener’s corner” shown in the photo at the top of this post, right in front of the maple where the proposed porch swing would go.

Summer 2007

And here’s that weedy dustbowl as it stands today.

Looking South, toward the garage. Two of my three compost bins are hidden behind the screen at the left, next to the surviving maple near the garage. You can see the driveway through the trellis on the right.

Looking East, toward our back neighbor. They replaced their back fence, for which I am grateful. You can see where the compost bins are now, on the right side.

Looking North, away from the garage, toward our next-door neighbor.

Looking West, toward the house

With all of this, I haven’t said much about the plants. It’s taken me weeks to put this post together, so I’ll stop trying to make it “perfect” and just send it out into the world. I’ll come back another time and show some of the plants I’m growing here.

Resources: Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants

Posted on 2007-05-22 by admin

As defined in U.S. Executive Order 13112 (Feb 3, 1999), an “invasive species” is:
1) non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration and
2) likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

Many, perhaps most (but not all) invasive plants were first introduced by gardeners as ornamental plants. For example, Ailanthus altissima, the Tree of Heaven, was cultivated as a shade tree. This is the “tree that grew in Brooklyn,” and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden even uses its image in its merchandise such as t-shirts and tote bags.

Not every plant which can become invasive is a risk in all areas. It helps to understand the ecological region and regime in which you garden and the threats to nearby natural areas. For example, the map of the Plant Provinces of North America in the BBG book Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants places New York City and Long Island in the province of Eastern Deciduous Forests rather than Coastal Plain Forests. Yet Long Island was built from millenia of glacial deposits; the area south of the southern terminal moraine – including most of Brooklyn – has more in common with coastal outwash plains than upland forests. Similarly, Brooklyn’s proximity to the ocean and the Gulf Stream moderates our temperatures compared to, say, the Bronx, the only borough on the mainland; our climate is a blend of Mid-Atlantic and New England as gardening goes.

Some states have taken the lead in making it illegal to sell, purchase, propagate or plant those species known to be invasive. Some gardeners, and nurseries, label such strategies “eco-fascism” and worse. I would support such legislation in New York, which has not yet joined the ranks of these states.

However, legislation should not be the sole strategy. Education must be a primary strategy. As gardeners, we can learn about the natural areas around us and the threats to them. We can avoid purchasing, propagating, planting or recommending plants known to be invasive. We can learn about alternative non-invasive or native choices for plants in our gardens. And we can educate others about these issues and possible solutions.

Mid-Atlantic

Kick the Invasive Exotic Gardening Habit with Great Native Plant Alternatives
National Arboretum

New England

Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants
University of Massachusetts at Boston
via Invasive Species Weblog

General

Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants (Excerpts from book)
Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Links

Ovenbird, Seiurus aurocapillus

Posted on 2007-05-13 by admin

At 4:30 this afternoon, I photographed another “life bird” for me, this time while I was sitting in the backyard garden: an Ovenbird, Seiurus aurocappilus.

These are the best from about 35 shots I took in rapid succession. I tried to adjust the color for a truer representation, or at least consistency. I need some better software tools for that, I think. Exposure in the backyard ranges from full shade, to dappled leafy shade, to full sun. And my little visitor ranged through all of it. Most of the shots were ruined due to camera shake, ie: photographer shake. Others were blurred by the motion of the bird itself; in the shade, the shutter speed was too slow to freeze its motion.

In the mixed native plant border, that’s a cinnamon fern behind, and the stem of a Turk’s Cap Lily in front. You can see the orange patch on the crown, a key for this species.

Here’s the original, full-frame shot showing more of the border. The blurry thing on the right is a wooden planter I’d just finished planting with a female Winterberry, Ilex verticillata.

Rear view, also showing the orange patch on the crown.

The ovenbird visited me for less than five minutes. It started out in our back neighbor’s cherry tree, where I couldn’t get a good shot and lost sight of it. I thought it flew off.

I was surprised to then see the bird on the ground, beneath one of our Adirondack chairs, about six feet from me. It wandered around the backyard. You can see much of the in-progress gardening clutter around the bird: a bin holding compost, a bag of leaves, and so on. It didn’t seem to be probing the ground. Maybe it was just checking out the neighborhood.

I take this as a good sign. My plan for the backyard is to recreate a woodland opening. I’ve been building up a collection of native shrubs, wildflowers and ferns. The past two weekends I’ve been reorganizing the space, clearing beds, and planting things which have been sitting in containers all this time. I’m starting to recreate the layered foliage structure of a clearing in an Eastern woodland. I feel like the ovenbird showed up as if to say: Getting warmer.

The Liberty Elm Project

Posted on 2007-05-11 by admin

Update 2007.05.29: Cornell University does not recommend Liberty Elm because:

‘Liberty’ is highly susceptibility to elm yellows and is not recommended due to variability of resistance to Dutch elm disease.
– American Elm Cultivars (PDF), Recommended Urban Trees, Cornell Urban Horticulture Institute

Their top choices for American Elm Cultivars are “Valley Forge” and “New Harmony”, both of which they rate “resistant” to Elm Yellows and Elm leaf beetle, in addition to resistance to DED.

At last night’s 2nd Annual Brooklyn Blogfest, one of the highlights for me was getting interviewed by Dope on the Slope. He had some great gardening questions for me, and I hope I did them justice.

One thing I got wrong, though, was in response to his question about the American Elm, Ulmus americana. He mentioned that Home Despot is selling American Elms resistant to Dutch Elm Disease (DED). I responded that, although there are hybrids which are resistant, they’re not fully American Elms.

I Was Wrong

The Liberty elm is not a hybrid. ERI’s [Elm Research Institute] American Liberty elm is actually a group of six genetically different cultivars. All six look like classic, old fashioned American elms. …
– About the American Liberty Elm

DED is caused by at least three fungi strains: Ophiostoma (Ceratocystis) ulmi, O. himal-ulmi, and O. novo-ulmi. At least two species of bark beetles – the native elm bark beetle, Hylurgopinus rufipes, and the European elm bark beetle, Scolytus multistriatus – serve as vectors for infection. American Elms, which used to be premier street trees across the country, were devastated by the disease since it reached U.S. shores on imported lumber in 1928. European Elms have been similarly affected.

The Liberty Elm, or American Liberty Elm, is the outcome of a decades-long research and breeding program to develop a strain of American Elm, developed only from American Elms, reliably resistant to DED. These are not inter-specific hybrids. They have been developed from survivors collected and propagated from across the country. The resulting plants are propagated vegetatively for distribution.

Genetic differences provide diversity. Having six cultivars in the series is insurance against all the elms being wiped out by any disease or problem, even one that might show up in the future. ERI mixes all six cultivars in its shipments.

During the research phase for all these new elms, they were challenged with injections of the Dutch Elm Disease (DED) fungus in controlled tests. But the American Liberty elm is now long past the experiment stages, and at this point it has been through the additional test of growing in public locations around the country for over 18 years, where it has been exposed naturally to DED fungus where it may occur in those environments.

There is no known American elm variety that can be called entirely immune to DED. The American Liberty elm is resistant to DED, and its resistance has a strong record. In the 18 years since the tree’s introduction, ERI has confirmed less than 100 cases of DED among the 250,000 elms it has sent out.

– About the American Liberty Elm

Cornell University notes other DED-resistant cultivars available, including ‘Princeton’, ‘Independence’, ‘Valley Forge’, ‘New Harmony’ and ‘Jefferson’. They also note all of these elms are susceptible to Elm Yellows and should not be used where that disease occurs.

Any of you gardeners out there have any knowledge about these trees? Do you know of any growing in your area?

Cinder Block & Razor Wire: Opening Day at Gowanus Nursery in Red Hook

Posted on 2007-03-31 by admin

It was a beautiful day to visit Gowanus Nursery. I bought six plants, just enough to fill the two shopping bags I brought. They threw me off when they gave me an extra Columbine, a survivor from their old location which they were giving to customers today to celebrate their re-opening. They also had some beautiful pre-planted trough gardens. If I’d had personal transportation I would have given them more attention.

This space is on a much wider lot than their old 3rd street location, better suited to wandering amongst the generous displays of plants. They have lots of elbow room to bring in more plants, and spread out their stock as it gets larger during the season. Construction of shelters and other structures was still going on when I visited. Will be interesting to see when everything’s put together.

Many more photos below. Or visit the Flickr set.