The Quilt Garden at the North Carolina Arboretum

Posted on 2007-08-17 by admin

Update 2007.12.12: Added links to related posts and Arboretum Web site, including their page of past photos of the Quilt Garden.

The Quilt Garden is one of a series of gardens bordering the promenade at the North Carolina Arboretum. It’s redesigned every year with a different combination of annuals in a different design based on traditional quilt patterns of North Carolina.

As you approach, from ground-level, the garden is colorful, but the pattern is not obvious. You climb the stairs to the overlook to get the full effect.

The center of the overlook is aligned with other features of the landscape, and a view to the mountains beyond, to give you the view in the photo at the top of this post. This is as formal as the gardens get at the Arboretum.

Back at ground-level, the plants themselves are interesting. C.C. noted that they could have spaced the yellow more closely to fill in the pattern.

And from the right angle, the pattern reveals itself at ground-level as well.

The New Baker Exhibit Center
The North Carolina Arboretum

Links

Arboretum Quilt Garden, Past and Present, North Carolina Arboretum

The New Baker Exhibit Center at the North Carolina Arboretum

Posted on 2007-08-17 by admin

Today I got to spend most of the day with Christopher C. of Outside Clyde.We met at the new Baker Exhibit Center at the North Carolina Arboretum. When I was at the Arboretum last fall, it was still under construction. It’s only been open about a month.

It’s a beautiful building. It holds a great room, an exhibit hall, and a greenhouse which was not yet open. Not shown in these photos, this building also houses a gallery shop, with fine arts and crafts of mostly garden-related subjects and themes available for purchase. It opens on two levels. The lower level, with the main entrance, opens to the parking lot. The upper level opens onto the Arboretum’s promenade, which includes the Quilt Garden. I’ll have photos from that later.

Quilt Garden
The North Carolina Arboretum

Links

North Carolina Arboretum

Oconaluftee Indian Village, Cherokee, NC

Posted on 2007-08-16 by admin

I am much looking forward to tomorrow, when I get to meet Christopher C. of Outside Clyde. This will be my first chance to meet another gardener-blogger.

So it’s late and I must get to sleep to be rested and fresh for tomorrow. Here are some photographic impressions of today’s visit to Oconaluftee Indian Village in Cherokee, North Carolina. The first set of photos, including the one at the top of this post, are from the exhibit itself. The second set comes from the Cherokee Botanical Gardens which shares the grounds with the exhibit, a self-guided tour with signs identifying many of the trees, bushes, and cultivated plants important to the Cherokee.

Pottery Tools

Weaving a white oak basket

Blowing a dart

Log canoes

Mossy Roof

Shadows on a red clay wall

At home I’ve been reading a book on moss gardening by George Schenk. The Botanical Gardens offered numerous object lessons in how well-grown mosses should look. I’m struggling to achieve this in my own garden.

Exploring Biophilia Through a USB Microscope

Posted on 2007-08-14 by admin

Tiny Strawberry. Credit: Michaela and Cassandra.

I’m in North Carolina this week, visiting my parents with my sister and nieces. It’s a confusing time, with both my nieces and parents demanding both my sister’s and my attention. “Which imaginary friend do you want to help me feed?” “Did I show you this?” So I welcome activities which can engage everyone, including me.

For this visit, my father bought an inexpensive USB microscope. I’ve been thinking about getting one of these myself, so I welcomed the opportunity to play around with one. It also turned an otherwise ordinary trip through the backyard with the nieces into an expedition. We collected samples – “specimens” – along the way, for examination under the microscope. Here are some of the highlights.

Moss and Lichen from a decaying stump. Credit: Xris.

Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis). Credit: Michaela and Cassandra.

Tip of a fern frond (unidentified). Credit: Xris

Diseased Leaf, Credit: Michaela and Cassandra.

Another Diseased Leaf. Credit: Michaela and Cassandra.

Nurtured by our parents, Both my sister and I have a life-long love of nature, and she has clearly nurtured the same in her children. My nieces picked out all these samples. They identified, and I gathered many of the specimens (there was poison ivy about). In a half-hour expedition, we collected about 20 samples, most of which went under the microscope. Much of that half-hour was taken up by observing the wildlife: electric blue damselflies, swallowtail butterflies, a frog, fish, a cardinal, and a rabbit. My nieces each carried their own binoculars. They’re 7 and 8 years old.

All the images are snapshots at 10X magnification. This microscope also offers 60X and 200X, but the controls are mushy and it’s difficult to hold an image in the narrow field of focus. The software is intuitive; my nieces figured out the controls before I did! My nieces did most of the manipulation of framing and lighting for the images above. I’ve credited the photos accordingly above. It took me some exploration to figure out how to capture an image and export it to a JPEG for upload. I did some tweaks for image capture, and some post-processing for shadows and contrast.

They’re brilliant, sometimes scary-smart, children. It’s a privilege to share and explore the world with them.

Images: Brooklyn From Space

Posted on 2007-07-31 by admin

Astronaut photograph ISS015-E-5483, courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center.

Apologies for the dearth of posts of late. I find myself overextended, and needing to regroup. I’ve got a post or two in the works. Meanwhile, here’s a cool astronaut photograph of Brooklyn. The original, uncropped, image covers much more of Brooklyn. You can even see my house! (Not really.)

This astronaut photograph captures the dense urban fabric of Brooklyn, New York City’s largest borough (population of 2.6 million), characterized by the regular pattern of highly reflective building rooftops (white). Two main arteries from Manhattan into Brooklyn—the famous Brooklyn Bridge and neighboring Manhattan Bridge—cross the East River along the left (north) side of the image. The densely built-up landscape contrasts with the East River and Upper New York Bay (image lower right) waterfront areas, recognizable by docks and large industrial loading facilities that extend across the image center from left to right. Much of the shipping traffic has moved to the New Jersey side of New York Bay, a shift that has spurred dismantling and redevelopment of the historic dockyards and waterfront warehouses into residential properties. However, efforts to conserve historic buildings are also ongoing.

The original name for Brooklyn, Breukelen, means “broken land” in Dutch, perhaps in recognition of the highly mixed deposits (boulders, sand, silt, and clay) left behind by the Wisconsin glacier between 20,000 and 90,000 years ago. These deposits form much of Long Island, of which Brooklyn occupies the western tip. This image features one of Brooklyn’s largest green spaces, the Green-Wood Cemetery. The green canopy of the cemetery’s trees contrasts sharply with the surrounding urban land cover. Today, the cemetery also functions as a natural park, and it is an Audubon Sanctuary. Also visible in the image is Governors Island, which served as a strategic military installation for the U.S. Army (1783–1966) and a major U.S. Coast Guard installation (1966–1996). Today the historic fortifications on the island and their surroundings comprise the Governors Island National Monument.

Red Hook Pier 44 Waterfront Garden

Posted on 2007-07-16 by admin

Pier 44 Waterfront Garden, North Entrance, Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Saturday, when Blog Widow and I journeyed to Red Hook, he offered to drop me off at Pier 41 for the Liberty Sunset Garden Center before he went off to the Fairway. I told him I’d get out at Fairway with him, because I wanted to walk through a garden on the way to Pier 41.

I’d only seen this space in late winter, when I visited the Waterfront Museum as part of the Historic District Council’s Red Hook Walking Tour. The garden was closed at that time, but I could see some of its promise. That glimpse really didn’t prepare me for the summer lushness I encountered on Saturday.

Leaving the Fairway parking lot by the North exit brings you to Conover Street. Crossing the street brings you to a gated entrance with several signs for the Waterfront Museum and the Garden, the only hint of what lies beyond.

Continuing through the entrance brings you to a narrow corridor, fenced with chain link, and graced with industrial oil drum planters. We’re not there yet.

Ah, now we’re starting to see something.

Walking to the left brings us alongside this seaside meadow. This is mostly weeds right now, but has the potential to become much more over the years.

I continued walking to the left around the perimeter. The small grove of trees in the center will eventually provide shade for the benches and lounging boulders placed in the center.

Here’s the view in the other direction.

And we’re walking … and looking back whence we came.

Here we’re looking back along the “shortcut” path we could have taken from the entrance instead of walking the long way around the meadow.

Keep walking and look back again.

One of the gardeners was watering. I spoke with her briefly, and saw her again a little later, when she was working at the Liberty Sunset Garden Center. She said the gardens were about four years old. Just coming into maturity. The garden designer had worked on many other public projects, including gardens in Madison Square Park and Bryant Park in Manhattan.

I love big red Hibiscus. I want this.

Bzz. BZZ, BZZZ, BZZZZ!

All good things must come to an end. Ahead is the exit, and Pier 41 awaits us.

Ditmas Park Garden View

Posted on 2007-07-16 by admin

I went on the Ditmas Park Garden View this afternoon. Here’s a sample of some of the photos. Many more available in the Flickr set from my visit.

During my visit I was surprised, and flattered, by the number of people wanting to meet me. One woman walked up to me and said “I’m looking for the Flatbush Gardener.” She later explained that she was checking everyone with a camera until she found me. A couple I met from Kensington said they’d heard about the event through this blog. Overhearing some of the event organizers, it seems that this year was one of the best-attended. I hope I had something to do with that.

When I checked in, I asked again about taking photos. I was asked to check with each owner at each stop, and not to publish any addresses. I tried to ask. I don’t know any of the owners. After the first two stops, the intended order of a guided tour broke down, and it wasn’t always possible to identify the owner at each stop. Several other folks had cameras out and were taking photos. So I took photos as best I could without identifying locations. If any owner reading this objects to photos of your property, please let me know and I’ll remove them.

First Macro Shots

Posted on 2007-06-19 by admin

Alstroemeria

My new macro lens arrived today. I would say that I was like a kid on Christmas, except that I am notorious among friends and family for carefully unwrapping any gift I receive so as to not tear the paper so I can save it.

The very, very first shot I took was of my router. Not that interesting. I deleted it. The Alstroemeria is the second macro shot I took. One of our next-door neighbors was coming home, and she had a bouquet in her arms. The other shots are from my backyard.

Itea “Little Henry”

Ilex verticillata, Winterberry (female)

Nepeta calamintha, Catmint “Walker’s Low”

Note the bonus ant in the above photo!

Hydrangea flower

This lens will take some getting used to before I can select and frame my subjects effectively. It’s a long lens, 105mm (digital, logner equivalent 35mm), so the depth-of-field is compressed. The advantage is that the combination of long focal length and closest focusing distance of 1 foot can provide 1:1 reproduction ratios: life-size images captured in the camera, which are much larger than life when enlarged. For example, here’s a 1:1 photo of text from the second paragraph of this post:

Besides shallow depth-of-field, the other disadvantage of a long focal length is increased sensitivity to camera shake. This macro lens also has built-in image stabilization, which counteracts shake by a factor of 2 or more.

I’m really interested in trying out this new lens for insect photography. The lens can focus out to infinity, so I can increase the depth-of-field by shooting from a greater distance. Here’s an example of that in the last shot I took today: leaves from the mystery Ligularia I bought at the Chelsea Garden Center two Saturdays ago.

Ligularia leaves

These leaves are exceptionally ruffled. Although much of each leaf is still not in focus, the overall image accurately conveys the texture and depth of the leaves. This is my favorite of the dozen or so shots I took today with my new toy. I’m looking forward to having more play time with it.

2007 Victorian Flatbush House Tour

Posted on 2007-06-11 by admin

317 Rugby Road, Beverley Square West

This was the third year in a row I’ve gone on the house tour. This year was actually one of the best overall. There was variety in the houses shown, largely because nearly every neighborhood of Victorian Flatbush was represented on the tour. I was surprised, pleased and proud to see that three of my neighbors in Beverley Square West were showing their houses this year.

This year I felt bold enough to ask at each stop whether or not interior photos were permitted. At most of the houses this was allowed. In many cases the volunteers directed me to ask the owners themselves, and so I got to meet more of my neighbors than I would have otherwise.

So I have many more photos than if I had only been allowed to shoot exteriors. Still, there are only 182 photos from this trip. The battery on my camera gave out about 2/3 of the way through. There would have been 100 more. This is not the first time my battery has died in the middle of a shoot. I’ve learned my lesson. I’m going to buy a backup battery, and an AA battery adapter so I can use regular NiMH rechargables.

In the interest of time and timeliness, I’m just including highlights in this post. You can see all 182 photos in the Flickr set from my trip. Not all the photos are of houses on the tour. Many are of other houses, gardens and other sights along the way.

Midwood Park and Fiske Terrace, both of which had a house on the tour this year, are calendared to be landmarked as a single area by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Even with that, only five of the 11 neighborhoods of Victorian Flatbush will have been landmarked. 7 of the 12 houses on this year’s tour are in neighborhoods with no protection: Beverley Square West, Beverley Square East, Ditmas Park West, and South Midwood. Two of the four neighborhoods which did not show houses this year are also unprotected: Caton Park and West Midwood. Many of the houses in Victorian Flatbush are also at risk from inappropriate zoning: blocks with detached, single-family Victorian homes Zoned R6 for dense, townhouse development.

Stop #2: 1306 Albemarle Road, Prospect Park South

Stop #3: 85 Westminster Road, Prospect Park South

Stop #4: 209 Westminster Road, Beverley Square West

Stop #5: 317 Rugby Road, Beverley Square West

Stop #6: 352 Marlborough Road, Beverley Square West

Stop #8: 498 Rugby Road, Ditmas Park West

I have no interior shots of 498 Rugby. The owner wanted to show everyone through the house. This made it impossible to get any photographs of the interior, since it was always crowded with people. I could have gotten some shots if I had lagged behind the tour crowd, but I hate crowds so I was feeling a bit cranky.

Stop #9: 500 Marlborough Road, Ditmas Park West

Stop #10: 654 East 17th Street, Midwood Park

Interior photography was not allowed in this house.

The tour book incorrectly places 654 East 17th in Fiske Terrace. It’s in Midwood Park.

Members Reception in BBG’s Cranford Rose Garden

Posted on 2007-06-09 by admin

Calm before the storm in the Cranford Rose Garden

Wednesday evening, blog widow John and I went to the members’ wine and cheese reception in the Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. During the summer, BBG stays open until 8pm on Wednesday evenings for members only, one of their benefits to members.

John overheard another visitor say “Well, the roses are beautiful, even if the people aren’t.” Free cheese and crackers seemed to stir visitors into a feeding frenzy. Maybe it was the free wine, of which John and I don’t partake. Away from the food, things were more pleasant, though still crowded in the rose garden. Away from the rose garden, the gardens were lovely.

Entrance to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden