Flatbush Gardener

Dividing Ornamental Grasses

2011-04-03T22:09:00.002-04:00

As we approach the Second Annual Great Flatbush Plant Swap, I'm hoping to post some tips on how to divide perennials to bring to the event. Now is the time to do it, as foliage has just emerged, plants are actively growing, and most will recover...

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Street Tree Walking Tour, Sunday 4/17

2011-04-06T23:42:00.008-04:00

Update 2011-04-16: As nasty as the weather is as I update this on Saturday night, it will be beautiful tomorrow for the tour, windy, but temperatures reaching into the upper 50s and low 60s. Added a Google Map of the tour below. The Sustainable...

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Happy Earth Day

2011-04-22T08:14:00.001-04:00

Earthrise over the moon as seen by the astronauts of Apollo 8 on December 22, 1968. This was not the first image of the isolated Earth from space. It was the first which contrasted in the same image the wet, blue and green, atmospheric Earth...

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Happy Arbor Day from Brooklyn's Trees

2011-04-29T08:57:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to all the great Brooklyn photographers and tree-lovers who continue to contribute to the Flickr photo pool I started a few years ago. Related ContentUrban Forestry page Urban Forestry blog posts LinksBrooklyn's Trees (Flickr photo...

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The Years Have Been Kind

2011-06-07T07:28:00.002-04:00

This Spring has been a season of garden anniversaries for me. Six years ago, my partner and I bought our home in Flatbush. In the first month after closing, I began weeding, composting, and envisioning the gardens. Five years ago, I started this...

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Solstice: Summer Abundant

2011-06-20T23:54:00.001-04:00

Illumination of Earth by Sun at the northern solstice. This season's Solstice (Summer in the Northern hemisphere, Winter in the Southern), occurs at 17:16/5:16pm UTC on June 21, 2011. That's 13:16/1:16pm where I am, in the Eastern Time zone,...

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What's a tree worth?

2011-08-05T10:34:00.002-04:00

You can quantify the relative benefits of an individual tree, and project its future benefits as it grows through the years, with i-Tree Design: i-Tree Design (beta) allows anyone to make a simple estimation of the benefits individual trees...

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Fall in Miniature: BBG's Bonsai in November

2011-11-13T11:21:00.000-05:00

A yose (group-style) bonsai specimen of Acer palmatum, Japanese Maple, developed by Stanley Chinn currently on display at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Yose typically group multiple specimens of the same, or closely related species, in the same...

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BBG 2012 Calendar: Your Take

2011-11-19T20:44:00.001-05:00

Updated 2011-11-20 My photo of Patrick Dougherty's "Natural History" blanketed in January's snow opens Brooklyn Botanic Garden's 2012 calendar. Earlier this year, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden solicited submissions for a visitor-sourced...

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Emergence

2012-03-25T10:19:00.001-04:00

Our unseasonably warm weather has turned the phenology dial up to 11 in my urban backyard native plant / wildlife habitat garden. Last Wednesday, the furry buds of Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance' were extending. Yesterday, four...

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Rest for Winter's Dead

2012-03-31T16:47:00.000-04:00

Amelanchier Flower Buds With a score or so species, subspecies, and natural hybrids native to northeastern North America, the genus Amelanchier goes by several common names, many of which represent the plants' phenology: Shadblow It blooms -...

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Gardening with the Hymenoptera (and yet not)

2011-07-31T23:29:00.015-04:00

One of the great pleasures of gardening is observing the activity the garden invites. I can lay out the welcome mat, and set the table, but the guests decide whether or not the invitation is enticing enough to stop by for a drink, a meal, or to...

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Patent Lies: What's "Native"? And What's Not.

2012-05-15T13:17:00.000-04:00

Echinacea pallida, Pale Coneflower, growing in my urban backyard native plant garden. I was appalled to see the National Wildlife Federation publish on their Web site, without qualification or counter-point, a press piece by the "Brand Manager...

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Native plants blooming in my garden today

2012-04-28T10:56:00.000-04:00

Lonicera sempervirens, Trumpet Honeysuckle, blooming in my urban backyard native plant garden and wildlife habitat this afternoon. My little urban backyard native plant garden is in its peak Spring bloom: Amsonia tabernaemontana, eastern...

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Trichopoda pennipes, Feather-legged Fly

2012-08-21T21:14:00.001-04:00

Trichopoda pennipes, Feather-legged Fly, on Pycnanthemum, Mountain-Mint, in my garden yesterday. Although it's widespread and common, occurring throughout North America, this was the first time I've noticed this species in my garden. This photo...

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Atteva aurea, Ailanthus Webworm Moth

2012-09-09T11:43:00.001-04:00

Atteva aurea, Ailanthus Webworm Moth, on Pycnanthemum, Mountain-Mint, in my garden last weekend. The intense colors are believed to be aposematic, a warning coloration to deter predators, probably because they would be distasteful. The larvae...

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Gardening with the Lepidoptera

2011-06-11T13:39:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow, Sunday, June 12, my garden will be opened for its second tour of the season: the Victorian Flatbush House (and Garden!) Tour, to benefit the Flatbush Development Corporation (FDC). Earlier this week, I wrote about the transformation of the...

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A Hudson River Riparian Plant Community

2012-08-27T10:17:00.000-04:00

Part of the eastern bank of the Hudson River, just south of the Route 8 bridge at Riparius/Riverside in the Adirondacks of New York. A year ago, this was all underwater, inundated by flood waters from Hurricane Irene. One year ago, Hurricane...

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Papilio polyxenes, Eastern Black Swallowtail

2012-09-06T21:10:00.000-04:00

Update 2012-09-10: Only one caterpillar remains. The morning of the day we left on our last road trip - which led us to the Adirondack Hudson, among other places - I saw this in one of our vegetable beds: This is a female Eastern Black...

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Scolia dubia, Blue-Winged Digger Wasp

2012-08-13T08:41:00.001-04:00

Scolia dubia, Blue-winged Digger Wasp, on Pycnanthemum, Mountain-Mint, in my garden. Another little jewel of a wasp that is new to me this year. I've been seeing it on the Pycnanthemum, but was unable to get decent photos of it until yesterday....

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Sekijoju, Acer buergerianum, by Stanley Chinn

2013-01-09T19:31:00.001-05:00

Acer buergerianum, Bonsai, Root over rock style (Sekijoju), Brooklyn Botanic Garden, a photo by Flatbush Gardener on Flickr.

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Off-topic: 20 Years

2013-03-25T22:54:00.001-04:00

Today is the 20th anniversary of my sobriety. Sobriety, abstinence, and recovery are often conflated. They're not the same things. I got sober because drinking was interfering with my recovery. I say "I got sober," not just "I stopped...

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Great Flatbush Plant Swap 2013, Sunday, 4/21, Noon-3pm

2013-04-17T07:44:00.000-04:00

This Sunday, April 21, from noon to 3pm, join your fellow green-thumbs, and brown-thumbs, for the 2013 Great Flatbush Plant Swap. Got some extra seed-starts you don't need? Leftovers from dividing perennials? No place for that shrub you just dug...

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A Busy Flatbush Gardener's Weekend

2013-04-19T20:34:00.000-04:00

I'll be out and about in the community at two events this weekend. Stop by and say hello! And maybe pick up some tips and plants while you're at it. Saturday, April 21, 9:30-1:30 Sustainable Flatbush Church Garden - Earth Day Open...

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My Plant Giveaway

2013-04-29T21:30:00.000-04:00

2013-04-30 UPDATE: Full house! Sorry, but the response was enthusiastic. I already have all my availability booked for this weekend. If I have any time on subsequent weekends, I will post another update here. I'm reorganizing some of my planting...

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