Brooklyn Blogger Photo-Essay: Planting a Street Tree

Google Alerts is so cool. I just added an alert for “Brooklyn” and “Tree”. And this popped up within about 20 minutes:

I had an amazing time planting the street tree. I never had the opportunity before, only knowing how to take care of windowsill gardens. It felt like I was part of something larger than myself. I really liked getting my hand dirty and working outside. I felt like I was bringing back the wolf by bringing back a tree.
A tree grows in Brooklyn, art, life (no separation)

Angela’s post is illustrated by a sequence of photos showing the progress from empty pit to planted tree.

A Quality Housing requirement for the NYC Buildings Department is for the home owner to plant a street tree either in front of their new home or somewhere nearby (same block or neighborhood). That was my task this week. Along with my father, we planted our first street tree together. A Japanese Zelkovatree [Zelkova serrata], apparently impervious to the devastating longhorn beetle, was chosen in conjunction with the Parks Department.

Parks has a list of approved street tree species on their Web site. This is not a complete list of species that could be planted – “Superior cultivars may be substituted with the permission of the Agency” – but species susceptible to Asian-Longhorned Beetle (ALB, Anoplophora glabripennis) are specifically prohibited. These include Maples (Acer), Elms (Ulmus), Ashes (Fraxinus), and Hackberries (Celtis).

Related Posts

Asian-Longhorned Beetle
Urban Forestry

Links

Asian-Longhorned Beetle
Street Tree Species List
Trees & Greenstreets
NYC Department of Parks and Recreation

12/13: Hearing on Parks’ use of artificial turf

Field 11, part of nearly 40 acres of artificial surface at the Parade Grounds, on Caton Avenue south of Prospect Park in Brooklyn
Field 11, Parade Grounds, Caton Avenue

Next Thursday there will be an oversight hearing on the use of artificial turf in NYC’s parks:

The New York City Council Parks and Recreation Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the use of artificial turf in the City’s parks. New Yorkers for Parks published, “A New Turf War: Synthetic Turf in New York City,” which provides background on this issue and offers recommendations for determining when and where to use artificial turf in city parks and athletic fields. New Yorkers for Parks will use this opportunity to voice some of the recommendations of our policy report on the topic.
The Dangers of Fake Green Grass

The hearing will be held from 10am-12pm, at 250 Broadway, 14th Floor Hearing Room.

New York City’s Department of Parks & Recreation (DPR) has become increasingly reliant on synthetic turf as a replacement for asphalt and natural grass athletic fields across the city. Through the installation of the “new generation” of synthetic turf, DPR seeks to increase community access to fields as well as to solve the maintenance challenges of grass and the aesthetic and safety problems associated with asphalt. This surface offers all-weather playability and lower maintenance costs than grass; however, synthetic turf has some negative environmental impacts and requires a significant capital investment. The important environmental benefits of natural turf, such as its ability to absorb and filter rainwater and pollutants, and to decrease the impact of the urban heat island effect, must be considered in the debate.
– Executive Summary, A New Turf War, Spring 2006

Sign: Lawns Closed, Union Square Park, Manhattan
Sign: Lawns Closed, Union Square Park, Manhattan

Links

The Dangers of Fake Green Grass, Katia Kelly, Pardon Me For Asking
Parks Dept. denies health study of synthetic turf, April 4, 2007, Patrick Arden, Metro New York
A New Turf War: Synthetic Turf in New York City Parks, Spring 2006, New Yorkers for Parks

Tree Pits are not Dumpsters

Commercial Trash Dumped in Tree Pit on Cortelyou Road
Commercial Trash Dumped in Tree Pit on Cortelyou Road

I had a great community experience of planting Daffodils in the tree pits along Cortelyou Road the previous two weekends. So I was especially disheartened to find this afternoon that someone placed their trash in one of the tree pits.

You can see from the photo that it’s mostly recycling. There’s a bundle of cardboard on the right. The blue bags contain plastic and metal recyclables. The black bag contained mixed garbage, including papers identifying the business whose trash this was.

I don’t want to identify them right now. I want to give them a chance to respond. If I have time, I’ll try calling them tomorrow. I emailed them earlier this evening:

This afternoon I noticed that the tree pit in front of your building on Cortelyou Road had several bags and bundles of recycling and garbage in it. I looked for any items that could identify where it came from. I found several pieces of paper from your business.

You may not know that your neighbors spent the past two weekends working on the tree pits along Cortelyou Road from the subway station to Coney island Avenue. We removed all the accumulated garbage, weeded the pits, and planted Daffodil bulbs, which will bloom next April.

Please dispose of your commercial trash properly, at curb-side, and not in the tree pit.

I called 311 to register a complaint. They didn’t even have a category for this. They said they would add it to their system, and to call back in a few days. I can’t believe that noone has ever complained about this kind of thing before. If I have time, I’ll try calling Parks, who have responsibility and authority for tree pits, and ask them what to do the next time this happens.

I removed the trash from the pit after I took my photos.

Event, Tomorrow, 11/14: Audubon Lecture with Parks Commisioner Benepe

I’m already engaged tomorrow evening, but this looks interesting:

[Parks] Commissioner [Adrian] Benepe will discuss New York City’s current period of transformation and expansion of its parks. The Department of Parks and Recreation is managing the biggest capital investment in New York City’s parks since the 1930s. Thanks to Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC initiative, Parks is receiving an additional $1.2 billion to expand active recreation and for greening initiatives. Commissioner Benepe will explain these projects and discuss their role in creating a greener, more sustainable city.
Creating a Greener NYC, NYC Audubon Events

Via Save Ridgewood Reservoir

Adrian Benepe has worked for the last 28 years protecting and enhancing New York City’s natural and historic beauty. Since his appointment as Commissioner of the Department of Parks & Recreation by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on January 25, 2002, he has focused on improving park facilities and programs for children and developing new waterfront parks and greenways.

Location: Helen Mills Theater at 137-139 West 26th Street (6th & 7th Ave)
Directions: 1, N, R, W to 28th St.; F, V to 23rd St.

Links

New York City Audubon
Helen Mills Theater

[where: Helen Mills Theater, 137-139 West 26th Street, New York, NY, 10001]

Basic Research: The State of the Forest in New York City

Updated 2007.11.13: Added direct links to all resolutions of the full report.


Thanks to a recent post on Save Ridgewood Reservoir, I learned of the existence of a comprehensive report on NYC’s street trees. This technical report was created by the Center for Urban Forest Research and addressed to Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe in April of this year. The report provides 72 pages of detailed, quantitative analysis of the state of NYC’s urban forest.

Relative age distribution of all NYC street trees by borough
Relative age distribution of all NYC street trees by borough

A find like this is a source of pleasure indescribable to someone who’s not already a tree-hugging geek such as myself. More important, it provides much-needed reference information for review and discussion of policy and planning, such as the Million Trees initiative, and DCP’s recent Yards Text Amendment proposal.

The city conducted a street tree census, Trees Count, in 2005-2006. The more accessible 12-page report [PDF] from that effort summarizes the numbers, types, sizes and conditions of street trees throughout NYC and by each borough. Here are some highlights for Brooklyn:

  • Number of trees: 142,747
  • Number of trees in 1995-1996 census: 112,400
  • %Change over 10 years: 27%
  • Most common street tree: London Plane, Platanus × hispanica (23.6%)
  • The top five most common trees account for 58% of the street trees.
  • Of Brooklyn Community Boards, CB14 tied with CB7 as having the highest percentage of tree canopy coverage.
  • Of Brooklyn Community Boards, CB14 had the third smallest increase of street trees, only 10%, followed by CB16 at 7% and CB17 at 5%
  • 38% of Brooklyn’s street trees have “infrastructure conflicts,” such as tree lights, choking wires and grates, and close paving.
  • The annual economic benefit of Brooklyn’s trees, considering property values, stormwater runoff, energy savings, air quality, and carbon sequestration, is $31,030,839.

Related posts

Center for Urban Forest Research
Preserving Livable Streets, November 7
Victorian Flatbush at risk from inappropriate zoning, October 23
Carolina Silverbell: One of a Million, October 9
State of Flatbush/Midwood, October 5
1M Trees in 10 Years, April 10
How Much is a Street Tree Worth, April 9
Landscape and Politics in Brooklyn’s City Council District 40, February 14
NASA Maps NYC’s Heat Island, August 1, 2006

Links

The full report – New York City, New York Municipal Forest Resource Analysis – is available as a PDF/Acrobat document from Parks and CUFR in different resolutions: smaller, lower resolution for online viewing, or larger, higher resolution to download for offline viewing or printing.

  • Read it now from CUFR (1.4MB) or Parks (2.4MB)
  • Save it for later from CUFR (13MB)

Trees Count (Parks)
Trees & Greenstreets (Parks)
Million Trees NYC
Yards Text Amendment (DCP)
Center for Urban Forest Research (CUFR)

East 4th Street Community Garden

Updated 2007.11.04: Added Community section.


Afternoon Morning Glory, East 4th Street Community Garden (Windsor Terrace Kensington Veterans Memorial Garden), Kensington, Brooklyn
Afternoon Morning Glory

This afternoon a couple of Flatbush neighbors and I visited the East 4th Street Community Garden. It occupies .184 acres at 179 East 4th Street, between Caton Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway in Kensington. It also serves the neighborhood of Windsor Terrace.

The dedicated local residents of the East Fourth Street Garden Association have tended this site, formerly known as the Windsor Terrace Kensington Veterans Memorial Garden, since they first organized it in 1979. The garden, incorporated in 1981, has come to serve a central role as a gathering place in this community. The East Fourth Street garden has funded its operations and special projects through dues collection, flea markets, and two Mollie Parnis Dress Up Your Neighborhood Awards.
Parks Sign, East 4th Street Community Garden

The purpose of our visit was to meet with our gardening neighbors to the west, get ideas from their gardens, and learn from their experience.I arrived around 3pm, before anyone else showed up. That’s when I took most of these photos. I met one of the gardens, Mary Beth, who had brought her pumpkin for composting. We were then joined by two of my neighbors, Gary Jonas and Nelson Ryland. Michael O’Hara, who’s been with the garden for six years, arrived, then Susan Siegel.

Established on city property, the East Fourth Street Garden uses land originally cleared of homes for the construction of the F subway line in the 1930s. Transit builders changed their plans, running the line underground where the Windsor Terrace branch of the Public Library now stands. In 1998, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) surrendered the Fourth Street garden between Fort Hamilton Parkway and Caton Avenue to Parks. This arrangement safeguards the garden’s status as a green space while leaving the administration largely in the hands of its community developers.

You can see the grates for the subway in the sidewalk in front of the garden. During our visit, we heard, and felt, the subway rumbling beneath us every few minutes. The future home for the Flatbush Community Garden is adjacent to the open-cut B/Q line; the sounds and sensations of subway trains will be frequent there, as well.

East 4th Street Community Garden

Individual Plots

Here’s a view from the rear of the garden, looking West toward the entrance and East 4th Street. The individual plots are in the center of the photo, extending off-frame to the right. I counted 26 plots.
Individual Plots, East 4th Street Community Garden

Here’s a view from the North, from the shelter of the shady path which is one of the common areas in the garden.
Individual Plots, East 4th Street Community Garden

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The plots are edged with untreated, exterior-grade boards. These are concessions to decorum; as Michael explained, “Plots tend to expand.” Well-defined plot edges, like good fences, make good neighbors. They also keep the plants from spilling into the paths, which need to be mowed regularly, and keep people walking the paths from trampling the plants and plots.

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Plot Signs
Plot Signs

Common Areas

Common areas wrap the garden on its south, west, and north sides. Here are some views of the common areas along the front/street side of the garden.

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One of the features which interested us today was the north side of the garden with several mature trees, including some old apple trees. The Flatbush site, with its forest of 50-year-old trees, has lots of shade. Here a path enjoys the shade from the trees, leading from the front to the rear of the garden, toward the compost area and pond.

View along the shady path

White-Throated Sparrow

Squirrel on old Apple Tree

There Be Woodpeckers

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Necessaries

I met Mary Beth, one of the gardeners, here by the composting area. She came by to contribute her spent Jack-o-lantern. She lives in an apartment in the area. She told me she “always loved the smell of dirt” growing up. She now has an individual plot in the garden.

Composting area
DSC_5901

I thought the signs were a great way to encourage people to use the compost. They distinguish the finished product from that still in-process, and explicitly grant permission to people to use what they need.
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Also important are clear signs detailing what can and can’t go into the compost.
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Salvaging building materials for reuse in the garden is a way to keep costs down and keep construction and other building debris out of the waste stream.
Salvaged Slate

Salvaged Brick

There’s no free source of water for the garden. Their water bill runs about $400 a year. So collecting and storing rainwater is another sustainability practice that saves the garden money.
Rainwater Collection

Rainwater Diverter

I want to build a bat house. Some of the Flatbush visitors wanted to know “where do you get the bats?” They didn’t know that bats are already native residents of Brooklyn, and “if you build it, they will come.”
Bat House

Bat House

Community

When we visited, the day was overcast and buffeted by winds from tropical storm Noel passing off-shore. We were there after the normal visiting hours, and the garden was empty except for the six of us. Michael told us that we would “have to come here on a busy day in the summer” to see the community in evidence in the garden.

According to Michael, the garden was “a well-kept secret for a long time.” Today there are about 60 people on the mailing list, and 20-30 active members, with a 1 year waiting list. Dues are about $20/year.

Members come from within a four or five block radius of the garden. Maintenance requires weekly visits over the summer, so geographic proximity is important. Members also need to sign up for shifts for shared responsibilities, such as seasonal cleanups and keeping the garden open to the public during scheduled hours. They encourage members who don’t yet have individual plots to plant and maintain containers, or sign-up for the numerous gardening tasks in the common areas. This gives them a feel for the time commitment it takes, especially important for those with little gardening experience.

The garden hosts the Kensington/Windsor Terrace CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture). This CSA is supplied by the Garden of Eve farm on the East End of Long Island. In a recent survey of CSA members, 100% of those responding said they were happy with the garden as a distribution site.

Links

Flickr photo set
East 4th Street Community Garden (OASIS page)
East 4th Street Community Garden (Parks page)
Kensington/Windsor Terrace CSA (Blog)
Garden of Eve
[where: 179 East 4th Street, Brooklyn, NY]

News: A Green Center for Refuge Visitors in Jamaica Bay

In the New York Daily News yesterday:

A new $3.3 million visitor center for the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge opened last week after more than five years of design and construction. …

Once certified, the building will be the first in the National Park Service’s Northeast Region to meet a stringent standard for green buildings known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, said Carol Whipple, the project manager.

Eco-friendly Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Opens, Rachel Monahan, New York Daily News

The 10,000 acres of the wildlife refuge provides an important stopover for migratory birds. In all, more than 330 species of birds call it home. …

The lighting is 90% natural.

On a warm summer day, the breeze from open windows pulled upward by a wind turbine on the roof keeps the central hall plenty cool without air conditioning.

The building also maximizes the sun’s rays in winter, including windows aligned for the sun’s winter path and its warmth collected in a dark, heat-retaining floor. …

Additionally, all the materials came from within 500 miles, including recycled redwood siding and easily renewable materials such as the bamboo and cork floors and the natural-fiber cabinets.

They also reused the old concrete structure on the site. The urinals are waterless, and the landscaping outside relies on native plants.

Links:

News: A Meadow for Columbia

The city’s Green Thumb parks program has paired with a team of local landscape designers to create a lush, wildflower-dotted meadow on a long-vacant corner of President and Van Brunt streets, next to Mother Cabrini Park in the Columbia Street Waterfront District.

The storefront-sized meadow — now an unmanicured thicket of knee-high grasses and rangy wildflowers — should be open for neighborly grazing by the end of the summer.
A little green pocket, by Ariella Cohen, The Brooklyn Paper

The new greenery is expected to clean the air of approximately 33 pounds of pollutants annually, according to a study of the soot-sucking capabilities of the .18-acre site. Scientists from Columbia University also found that the store-front-size meadow will absorb the run-off equivalent of 60,000 toilet flushes, or 240,000 gallons of rainwater.

The Second Annual Battery Plant Sale

Last week, I took note of the Second Annual Battery Plant Sale as one of the upcoming events I’d hoped to attend. During my lunch break today, I was about to get there.

I got in some good aerobic and agility training as well, speed-walking the sidewalks of lower Broadway packed with lunchtime crowds of office workers and throngs of tourists who don’t know where they are and don’t know how to stand on a sidewalk (step aside, please, out of the way of those of with someplace to go!).

I told my partner I was only going to get four plants. Right. Once I was there, I couldn’t help myself. Here are the eleven I picked up today:

  • Agastache foeniculum “Blue Fortune”
  • Aster oblongifolius “October Skies”
  • Aster divaricatus
  • Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta
  • Carex platyphylla
  • Molinia caerulea “Moorflamme”
  • Nepeta racemosa “Walker’s Low”
  • Pycnanthemum muticum
  • Schizachrium scoparium “The Blues”
  • Sporobulus heterolepis
  • Veronicastrum virginicum

There had to be thousands of individual plants available for purchase. The plants and their tables were well-labeled. Each table had a standing sign with a color photo of the mature plant or a detail of its features, such as flowers. The sign included basic cultural information such as light requirements (most were full sun), water, and so on. For species and cultivars, it also included information about the country or region of origin. All the plants were potted up in containers of the same size, and the side of each container had a label with the name of the plant.

There were also lots of helpers and volunteers on hand to help out. I think there were more of them than us, the shoppers. In retrospect, I wish I had asked for some suggestions, such as any native plants they had. I couldn’t discern any particular order to how the plants were arranged, such as alphabetical by name, or grouped by cultural requirements.

The selection was excellent, as you can see even from my “short” list above. However, in advance of showing up there today, there was no way to know what one would find. The only information on their Web site was a flyer of photos and plant names from last year’s sale. Only when I went to checkout did I find this year’s flyer, and a complete list of information on each plant. These should have been available in advance of the sale, and at the entrance. I told the woman who handled my purchase that these weren’t available on their Web site. She said that “because they’re perennials”, they’re the same as last year.

Um, NOT. There were 37 plants listed last year. This year, there were 63 plants, nearly double. In addition, only 22 of last year’s plants made it onto this year’s list. 15 of last year’s plants didn’t make the cut; several of them were ones I had highlighted on my copy of last year’s flyer. Of the plants available this year, 41 – 2 out of 3 – were new.

They need to advertise when and where the sale is held. The Battery is a large park, and there was nothing on their Web site to show where in the Battery the sale would be. Within the park, there were no signs or other markers to even say there was a sale going on, let alone where it might be. After searching for 5 minutes for any sign, I found two helpful guys driving by in a Parks truck who knew exactly where I needed to go. It took me another 5 minutes to get there.

Sorry, no pictures of the event. I’d forgotten about it until I got into work today, and I didn’t bring my camera with me. I’ll update with pictures of the plants themselves when I have a chance.

Events for a Brooklyn Gardener-Blogger

[Updated 2007.05.01 21:00 EDT: Added Merchant’s House Museum Plant Sale.]

Some quick notes on upcoming events, most of which I’ve previously written about.

This Weekend

Today and Tomorrow, April 28 & 29, 10am-6pm
Sakura Matsuri at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

The single most popular annual event at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, tens of thousands of people turn out for the Cherry Blossom Festival every year. Entrance lines and waits are long. BBG’s Blossom Status Map shows that the only cherry trees not in bloom at BBG right now are those that have already finished their show. This will surely pump up the crowds even more.

Rain is predicted both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. This morning started out beautiful and sunny, with blue skies, but it’s already clouding over. The rains will keep the crowds down. I have other commitments this weekend, or I would be there right now.

Next week

May 1-3, hours vary
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Plant Sale

This may be BBG’s second most popular annual event. The Garden closes early on Tuesday, May 1, to re-open for the Members-Only Preview Sale from 4:30-8pm. This is a feeding frenzy of plant fanatics. If you’re not already a BBG member, you can purchase a membership on-site. I’m going to try stopping by there after work on Tuesday if I can get out early enough. Anyone can visit the public sale on Wednesday, May 2, from 9am to 7pm, or Thursday, May 3, from 9am to 12noon.

Thursday, May 3, 11am-5pm
Second Annual Battery Plant Sale, The Battery, Downtown Manhattan

After September 11, the Gardens of Remembrance were planted along The Battery, at the southernmost tip of Manhattan. The plants and gardens are now entering their fifth year. As in any mature garden, the plants need to be divided and replanted. The extra divisions go into their plant sale.

The post card says the plants are “organic, pest-free, and hardy.” They have to be “hardy”. They’re growing more or less on the shore of downtown Manhattan, subject to winter winds and salt spray. Judging from the plant list for last year’s sale, selections are varied and interesting. Most of the plants, all perennials, require or prefer full sun. I could use some in the developing sunny, mixed border along the south side of the house. The only chance I have to get there is on my lunch break.

Following Week

Sunday, May 6, 10am-12noon
Merchant’s House Museum Annual Plant Sale

Located in Manhattan at 29 East 4th Street, between Lafayette St. and the Bowery, the Merchant’s House Museum plant sale benefits the Museum’s Garden Fund. Selections include divisions and seedlings from their historic garden, such as astilbes, hostas, and epimediums.

Thursday, May 10, 8pm
Second Annual Brooklyn Blogfest

This will be at the Old Stone House in J. J. Byrne Memorial Park at 5th Avenue and 3rd Street in Park Slope. I’m really looking forward to meeting some of the other Brooklyn bloggers I read. And I should have my Flickr cards in hand to give out. Collect the whole set!