Peter Smithers Dies at 92; Spy With a Green Thumb – New York Times:

Sir Peter Smithers, who saw his work as a lawyer, politician, diplomat, scholar, photographer and spy as distractions from his passion for growing glorious gardens, died on June 8 in Vico Morcote, Switzerland. He was 92.
…
As a spy in World War II, he worked for Ian Fleming, who went on to create the fictional spy James Bond …
Arguably, though, Sir Peter was to gardening what Bond was to martinis. The Royal Horticulture Society gave him one of its highest awards, the Gold Veitch Memorial Medal. His garden in Switzerland — with 10,000 plants, none a duplicate — won a prize for being the best in that country in 2001. The Financial Times said it was named one of the 500 greatest gardens since Roman times.
…
Peter Henry Berry Otway Smithers was born in Yorkshire on Dec. 9, 1913. He grew up hanging around potting sheds, spending spare change on plants. His nanny was a fervent naturalist who fed him fried blackbird eggs and hedge trimmings.

At 13, he persuaded the Royal Horticultural Society to let him attend the Chelsea Flower Show, the first child to do so, The Guardian said. At his public school, Harrow, he began an index of every plant and seed packet he acquired; it grew to 32,000 entries by his death.
…

– Peter Smithers Dies at 92; Spy With a Green Thumb, New York Times, June 25, 2006 (subscription required)

Links:

• American Clivia Society
• Council of Europe
• New York Times
• Royal Horticultural Society

Technorati tags: Sir Peter Henry Berry Otway Smithers, Gardening, Ian Fleming, James Bond

The Economic Value of Ecological Services Provided by Insects
Authors: Losey, John E.; Vaughan, Mace
Source: BioScience, Volume 56, Number 4, April 2006, pp. 311-323(13)
Publisher: American Institute of Biological Sciences

Abstract:

In this article we focus on the vital ecological services provided by insects. We restrict our focus to services provided by “wild” insects; we do not include services from domesticated or mass-reared insect species. The four insect services for which we provide value estimates—dung burial, pest control, pollination, and wildlife nutrition—were chosen not because of their importance but because of the availability of data and an algorithm for their estimation. We base our estimations of the value of each service on projections of losses that would accrue if insects were not functioning at their current level.We estimate the annual value of these ecological services provided in the United States to be at least $57 billion, an amount that justifies greater investment in the conservation of these services.

And from the authors’ conclusion:

… our findings lead us to espouse three qualitative guidelines. First, cost-free or relatively inexpensive measures are almost certainly justified to maintain and increase current service levels. Examples include volunteer construction of nest boxes for wild pollinators [butterfly houses?] and the inclusion of a diverse variety of native plant species in plantings for bank or soil stabilization and site restoration (Shepherd et al. 2003,Vaughan et al. 2004). Second, actions or investments that are estimated to have an economic return at or slightly below the break-even point, such as the use of less toxic pesticides, are probably justified because of their nontarget benefits. Third, actions that lead to substantial decreases in biodiversity should be avoided because of the high probability of a major disruption in essential services.
…
Once the benefits of insect-provided services are realized, there may be some call for increased funding to conserve rare insects through the Endangered Species Act. Insects are certainly underrepresented and underfunded through this legislation, and increased funding could save many rare insect species from extinction. However, while increasing funds targeted for the conservation of endangered species would help those beneficial insect species that share habitat with listed species, it would not in itself be sufficient to ensure the continuation of the services provided by beneficial insects.

The full text of the article is available in PDF format for free from the BioScience Web site.

Science & the City announced that another Brooklynite, Ben Jervey, has just published a book, “The Big Green Apple: Your Guide to Eco-Friendly Living in New York City.” He’s also launched a Web site, Green Apple Guide, in association with the book.

The opening to the book’s preface:

Right now, right here in New York City, somebody is cultivating a garden. [And how!] Around the corner, somebody is pocketing their car keys and hopping onto a bicycle. In some nearby kitchen, locally grown, organic produce is being kept cool in a refrigerator plugged into wind power energy. Somewhere in New York City, a street tree is being cared for by a concerned local resident, while a sanitation worker on the street adjacent is dutifully keeping the recyclable paper and plastics separate.

Although difficult for many to believe, all over the city of New York, acts of sustainable, low-impact living are being performed by a hearty bunch of citizens who recognize the inflexible connection between the quality of life in a place and the attitudes and lifestyle decisions made by those who live there.

The article presents five tips:

1. Change your light bulbs
2. Order a home water conservation kit from the
   DEP
3. Join a community-sponsored agriculture group
4. Choose your own energy source
5. Reduce, reuse, recycle – in that order!

– Eco-Friendly Living in New York City, Science & the City, June 19, 2006

Tips 2 and 5 are of particular relevance to gardening. Item 3 is also of interest.

Tip #2: Reduce water use. Now that we own our own home instead of renting an apartment, we see the water bill, which means we have some idea of how much water we’re using. I conserve water in the garden in several ways:

• Choose plants appropriate for the site, conditions, and climate. Native plants (appropriately sited) and drought-tolerant plants will need less water than others. Plants in sunny areas, containers, or exposed to extra heat from pavement, walls and other structures, will need more water. A rooftop garden, for example, is essentially a desert; choose and plant appropriately.
• Increase the amount of organic material, such as compost, in the soil. Organic material provides several water-related benefits, including absorbing and retaining water, reducing runoff by allowing water to penetrate the surface of the soil, and improving the soil structure to allow roots to run more deeply and widely, increasing the ability of plants to reach the moisture they need.
• When gardening in containers, use non-porous containers (I don’t always do this, but I’m mindful of it) and amend the soil with water-retentive materials such as compost or hydrogel.
• Mulch to reduce surface runoff and evaporation.
• Water only when needed. If the soil is moist below the surface, it doesn’t need water (yet). Group plants with similar moisture requirements together, so you can water them at the same time.
• When extra water is needed, water in the morning (ideally) before the sun is fully up, or in late afternoon or early evening, as the sun is going down.
• Water at or below the mulch or surface of the soil. A sprinkler loses more water to evaporation, in the air and from leaves, than hand watering at the surface. Soaker hoses reduce evaporation even more, since they can be placed on or below the mulch or soil surface. For containers, drip irrigation systems can achieve the same result. I haven’t used either of these, but my neighbor uses soaker hoses, and I hardly ever see any water runoff. The only way I know they’re watering is from the sound of the water passing through their faucet! I’m hoping to invest in a soaker system, possibly next year, when I have a better idea of how the beds will be arranged.
• Collect rainwater for garden watering. Again, I haven’t had the opportunity to try this before. Now that we have a house, it’s a possibility.

Tip #5: Reduce, reuse, recycle. There are numerous opportunitiess to reduce consumption in the garden:

• Apply organic growing techniques to reduce the use of fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals in the garden.
• Reduce or eliminate areas devoted to lawn and turf.
• Grow some of our own vegetables and fruits to reduce the need to transport them long distances to supermarkets and our homes (the “Victory garden“).
• Select native and heirloom plants and vegetables which we can propagate from year to year instead of having to purchase new seed, plants and bulbs each year.
• Replace gas-powered tools with electric ones, and powered tools with hand tools.

We can reuse materials throughout the garden:

• Broken pots can be used as decorations, and pot shards can be used in the bottoms of pots to control drainage.
• Other artifacts can be reused in the garden as containers and decorations. One of our neighbors has an old radiator spread out as a fan and used as a decoration in their front yard!
• Old, misshapen or imperfect brick and other building materials which can’t be used for construction can be used as pavers, stepping stones, edging and so on in the garden.
• Propagating plants, and giving them away to others, is the ultimate reuse.

Finally, in the garden, composting is the ideal recycling technique. Yard waste such as shrub trimmings and tree prunings can be chipped and shredded. Grass clippings which are not left on the lawn are prized ingredients in compost. Fall leaves, spring cleanup trimmings and summer weeds (which have not gone to seed) go into the compost heap. Kitchen scraps (excluding meat, fat and bones) can be added to the compost as well.

Links:

• Green Apple Guide
• New York Academy of Sciences, Science & the City

A web log from another Brooklynite, Rob J: “Red-tailed Hawks and other wildlife observations from around Brooklyn and NYC.” Beautiful photographs of nesting hawks and other birds all around New York City, and photo-journals of field trips to upstate New York and other areas. An avid, nay fanatical, birder.

Rob also authors Prospect Park Advocate on blogspot. On NYC Bloggers, he locates himself at my old subway stop in Park Slope, 7th Avenue on the F Train, which has the most blogs of any subway stop in Brooklyn.

I’m a space baby. During the 60s, I watched rocket launches from my bedroom window. Aside from my fascination with the technology, satellite imagery and data has transformed our recognition and understanding of earth systems. Think “ozone hole” for just one example.

I’m encouraged by news such as this. There is a strident minority in this country who would replace science and inquiry with fundamentalism and eisegesis. May they be left behind.

… The first-ever spaceborne millimeter wavelength radar, CloudSat’s Cloud-Profiling Radar is more than 1,000 times more sensitive than typical weather radar. It can observe clouds and precipitation in a way never before possible, distinguishing between cloud particles and precipitation. Its measurements are expected to offer new insights into how fresh water is created from water vapor and how much of this water falls to the surface as rain and snow. …
First Images From NASA’S Cloudsat Have Scientists Sky High

CloudSat is one of an internationally coordinated suite of satellites, the “A-Train” (“A” for “Atmosphere”?), which are orbiting over the same areas within 15 minutes of each other. CloudSat and CALIPSO, another U.S. satellite, will orbit within 15 seconds of each other:

CloudSat and CALIPSO will collect information about the vertical structure of clouds and aerosols unavailable from other Earth observing satellites. Their data will improve our models and provide a better understanding of the human impact on the atmosphere. Policy makers and business leaders will make more informed long-term environmental decisions about public health, the economy and better day-to-day weather predictions as a result of these missions.
Cloudsat Mission Overview

Links:

• Cloudsat Home Page

I’ve been researching old roses for the heirloom garden for the front of the house. My primary search criteria are:

• Strong fragrance. I want the fragrance available for passersby and open windows in the summertime.
• Good rebloom. Since the front garden is not large, it needs to put on a good show for a long time.
• Old/heirloom/antique. The variety was introduced before 1905, ideally in the late 1800s. Our house was built in 1900.

Additional requirements:

• Non-invasive. Roses which are clearly invasive in the New York City area are R. multifora, Multiflora Rose and R. rugosa, Beach Rose.
• Disease resistance for mildew, black spot, and so on.
• Shrub form, non-climbing. Up to 6′ high and wide is okay.
• Long season interest. This is provided by good foliage, especially persistent or semi-evergreen leaves, rose hips, and interesting branching structure.

I’ve been able to find a surprisingly large number of varieties, primarily by taking advantage of the advanced search capabilities offered by the Web sites of Rogue Valley Roses (RVR) and Vintage Gardens (VG). Both of these offer searching by fragrance, rebloom, and year of introduction. I tried using HelpMeFind/Roses, but it doesn’t offer any search by fragrance, and attempts to include year of introduction in the search returned nothing.

Of the list below, varieties which most interest me right now are marked with *. I don’t think I have enough room to grow them all, since I’m not interested in growing a rose garden. I might try a few, keep the ones perform best in my gardens, and give away or donate the others. Varieties which are not suitable for my needs are marked with -.

• Aimée Vibert (RVR, VG). Introduced 1828. Flower color: white/near white. Foliage: Dark green, semi-evergreen. Habit: Spreading. Height: 4′. Disease resistant.
• *Ardoisée de Lyon (RVR, VG), a color sport of Baronne Prévost. Introduced 1858. Flower color: Deep pink/purple, fading to lavender and mauve. Habit: Upright. Height: 6′. Disease resistant. Good for hips. Good for cutting.
• -Baltimore Belle (RVR, VG). Introduced 1843. Flower color: Blush pink (VG), White, near white (RVR). Habit: Rambler. Height: 10-15′. RVR doesn’t list this as reblooming, while VG notes a long, moderate rebloom.
• *Baronne Prévost (RVR, VG). Introduced 1842. Flower color: Rose/Clear/Deep Pink. Habit: Upright. Height: 6′. Disease resistant. Good for cutting.
• -Blanc Double de Coubert (RVR, VG), classified as a Rugosa. Introduced 1892. Flower color: White. Sets few hips.
• Blush Noisette (RVR, VG). Introduced 1814/1817. Flower color: Blush/Light pink. Habit: Shrub, upright. Height: 6-8′. Disease resistant.
• Cecile Brunner, Everblooming Spray form (RVR). Introduced 1881.
• *Clotilde Soupert (RVR, VG). Introduced 1890. Flower color: White with pink centers. Habit: Upright. Height: 3′. Both RVR and VG note that this variety “balls” for them, whatever that means, especially in the cool, wet weather of spring. It seems to mean that the buds never fully open.
• -Deuil de Dr. Reynaud (RVR, VG). Introduced 1862. Flower color: Cerise, deep pink. Habit: Shrub, or climber. Height: 10-15′.
• Eugene de Beauharnais (RVR). Introduced 1838.
• Général Jacqueminot (General Jack) (RVR, VG). Introduced 1846/1853. Flower color: Dark red. Habit: Shrub or Climber. Height: 8-10′. Good for cutting.
• Mme. Bérard (RVR, VG). Introduced 1870. Flower color: Apricot, Peach. Habit: Shrub. Height: 6-8′.
• Mme. Creux (VG), likely Kaiserin Freidrich. Introduced 1890. Flower color: Apricot-Buff. Habit: Upright? Height: 4-5′?
• -Mme. Ernest Calvat (RVR, VG), possibly sport of Mme. Isaac Pereire. Introduced 1888. Flower color: Light pink, lavender, cerise. Habit: Upright. Height: 10-15′. Shade Tolerant. Good for cutting.
• *Mme. Isaac Pereire (RVR, VG). Introduced 1881. Flower color: Pink, amaranth, magenta, purple. Habit: Arching. Height: 8-10′. Good for hips. Good for cutting.
• Mme. Lambard (RVR, VG). Introduced 1878. Flower color: Variable, pink, apricot, coppery. Habit: Spreading. Height: 6′. Good for cutting.
• *Marie Pavie (RVR). Introduced 1888. Flower color: White. Habit: Upright. Height: 3′. Very disease resistant. Good for cutting.
• Narrow Water (RVR, VG), sport of Nastarana. Introduced 1883. Flower color: Blush/Light pink. Habit: Shrub, upright? Height: 6-8′.
• Nastarana (RVR, VG). Introduced 1879. Flower color: White. Habit: Shrub. Height: 6-8′. Good for cutting.
• *Pierre Notting (RVR, VG). (Note: This is completely different from Souvenir de Pierre Notting.) Introduced 1863. Flower color: Dark red (VG), Mauve (RVR). Habit: Shrub. Height: 6-8′. Good for cutting.
• Pink Soupert (VG). Introduced 1896. VG describes this as “Almost a ringer for Clothilde Soupert, and every bit as fragrant, but with somewhat smaller flowers a bit less double, foliage narrower, more rugose.”
• *Reine des Violettes (RVR, VG). Introduced 1860. Flower color: Violet/lilac/mauve. Habit: Shrurb. Height: 6-8′. Disease resistant.

… provide[s] an information clearinghouse for invasive plant identification, research and management … by:

* Identifying the type and extent of impacts of invasive plants on biodiversity
* Developing working lists of invasive plants and guidelines for their management
* Compiling and facilitating access to information on invasive plants
* Promoting alternatives to the use of invasive plants
* Establishing statewide objectives for management of invasive plants
* Sponsoring and facilitating conferences and forums on invasive plants and their management
* Identifying potential and new plant invasions, facilitating awareness of invasive plant spread and associated ecological impacts, and promoting aggressive control as appropriate
– The Invasive Plant Council of NYS

The next Brooklyn Wild Parrot Safari is Saturday, June 3, 2006.

The tours, guided by Steve Baldwin, start at 12 noon
at Brooklyn College‘s Hillel Gate, on Campus Road at Hillel Place, close to the last stop on the 2 train (Flatbush Avenue/Nostrand Avenue).

The photo above was taken September 29, 2005. It shows a parrot checking me out as s/he’s about to get into a fruit from our next-door neighbor’s apple tree. Their apple tree bloomed gloriously last Spring, just after we bought our house. More blooms = more bees = more apples = more parrots. This Spring the bloom was scant, so we expect fewer apples, and fewer parrots, this year than last.

[Technical update, August 21, 2006: Removed new lines between table rows to eliminate white-space preceding table, per http://groups.google.com/group/blogger-help-publishing/browse_thread/thread/a2999c2c0017b5b0.]

I’m trying to select an “antique” rose or two for the heirloom garden, one which was available in 1905 or earlier. (Our house was built in 1900.) I don’t want to have to learn how roses are classified: Floribunda, Musk, Bourbon, and so on. I want a rose which will perform well in a mixed border: long-/repeat-blooming, fragrant, disease-free.

Many of the rose growers I’ve found online assume that the visitor is a rose “geek.” The only way to look at their offerings is to browse through a hierarchical listing of what’s available. They require that you already know the rose you’re looking for and how it’s classified.

Vintage Gardens provides the best online search tool I’ve found.

Our rose collection has grown to over 3500 varieties, including every rose class from the very oldest to the most modern. It is the largest collection of roses offered by any nursery in the world today. We value each variety and look on this as a preservation collection that provides a valuable resource to gardeners and helps to preserve our heritage of roses. We go to the greatest lengths to maintain correct identifications on our roses. We research and compare with collections worldwide to ensure that our information is as accurate as it can be. In our catalogue we identify the source from which our mother plant came, to assist others who are seeking a specific rose.

Vintage Gardens

Below is a table listing partial results from a search for roses introduced in the 1800s with intense scent and rapid rebloom.