Sunday, May 4: Beverley Square West Bash

West side of Stratford Road, looking south from Slocum Place, Beverley Square West, Flatbush, Brooklyn


This is a reminder to all Beverley Square West residents that the occasional, not quite biennial, Beverley Square West Bash will be held this Sunday, May 4th, from 4:30 – 7:30 PM, at Temple Beth Emeth at the corner of Marlborough Road and Church Avenue. There will be two DJs, a magician and catered banquet food. The menu selection will include:

• chicken marsala
  
• sliced BBQ pork loin
  
• baked ziti
  
• baked eggplant
  
• roast beef with gravy
  
• linguine with clam sauce
  
• a variety of cooked vegetables
  
• salad
  
• dessert (cake and fresh fruit salad)
  
• cold and hot drinks
  

Note that there will be a separate table set up with foods that children will especially enjoy. Also, free feel to bring your own wine or beer to this event.

If you haven't already, RSVP ASAP. The amount of food we order will be based upon the number of people who commit to the event, so be sure to note how many adults and children will be attending.

The admission price for the bash is $10 per family, but only if you RSVP. Price is $10 at the door with an RSVP, otherwise $20.

RSVP to BSWParty [at] gmail (dot) com

Sources of Plants for Brooklyn Gardeners

Left to right: Gowanus Nursery, Liberty Sunset Garden Center, Chelsea Garden Center, and Brooklyn Terminal Market

Just a timely pointer to my post from last year, Sources of Plants for Brooklyn Gardeners, May 24, 2007. Since Blogspot doesn't give me any means of creating a standing topic page, I continue to keep that post up to date.

Related Posts

Liberty Sunset Garden Center, July 20, 2007
Brooklyn Terminal Market is NOT Closed, June 22, 2007
Chelsea Garden Center, June 16, 2007
Sources of Plants for Brooklyn Gardeners, May 24, 2007
Opening Day at Gowanus, March 31, 2007
A Visit to the Brooklyn Terminal Market, May, 2006

Saturday, May 3: Bay Ridge Narrows Botanical Gardens Spring Festival

Crabapple, taken last fall at the Narrows Botanical Gardens


This Saturday, May 3 (rain date Sunday, May 4), the Narrows Botanical Garden in Bay Ridge is holding their annual Spring Festival:

Join us for our 13th Annual Spring Festival on Saturday, May 3rd between 10am and 4pm (rain date Sunday, May 4th). Browse among our many Craft Booths where you are sure to find something that catches your eye. Stroll along the Shore Road Promenade and meet some of our talented artists whose Art Exhibits will be for sale along the fence line of the gardens.

If gardening is your love, you may just find that special plant, shrub or flower that would suit your taste just in time for spring planting at our Plant Sale! Or, maybe you just have a question that needs answering on plants or gardening, our NBG experts would be glad to help.

It's a Family Event...so bring the kids! The NBG knows that kids are our future! What better way to introduce them to their environment then exposing them to the beauty of the gardens. Showing them how just a few people volunteering together made that difference.

Fun Stuff for Kids! Native Plant Tours: See who can spot a frog, turtle or fish in our pond! Paint a Flower Pot: plant it up in time for Mothers Day. Face Painting. Story telling.
- via email

Narrows Botanical Gardens is in Bay Ridge, along Shore Road between Bay Ridge Avenue and 72nd Street. When I visited it for the first time last fall, due to sidewalk construction along Shore Road, only the northernmost entrance, closest to Bay Ridge Avenue, was open. Unfortunately, the Native Plant Garden - and Turtle Sanctuary! - was also closed when I visited.

Nestled between beautiful Shore Road and the sparkling waters of The Narrows, in the welcoming community of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, four and a half acres of rambling parkland have been transformed by the inspiration and nurturing of a community of volunteers into the Narrows Botanical Gardens.

The Turtle Sanctuary in the Native Plant Garden. Since 1995, this verdant collection of hills, pathways, and gorgeous harbor views has blossomed into a lush conservatory of nature’s beauty and brilliance, providing an unequaled opportunity to stroll amid fragrant blossoms bustling with butterflies, a bubbling brook where turtles sun on the rocks, majestic Redwood trees that seem to touch the sky, and delicate orchids growing wild in a Native Plant Garden. Linger at our city’s only roadside lily pond, or promenade through the towering Linden Tree Allée. Snap portraits at the picturesque Rock Wall bench, or find meditative calm in the Zen Garden.

... And, when you have visited the Narrows Botanical Gardens, strolled its pathways and smelled its roses, you will be amazed to learn it is wholly created by, built by, and nurtured and maintained by volunteers, making the Narrows Botanical Gardens one of the largest community gardens in our great City of New York.

Related Posts

Narrows Botanical Gardens, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, October 22, 2007

Links

Narrows Botanical Gardens

May 3-10: NYC Wildflower Week

Dicentra cucullaria, Dutchman's Breeches, with Onoclea sensibilis, Sensitive Fern, poking through, in the Native Flora Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.


This Saturday, May 3, the Torrey Botanical Society kicks off NYC Wildflower Week:

NYC Wildflower Week celebrates all things green and wild in the Big Apple—the hundreds of native flowers, trees, shrubs and grasses that call NYC home. It's a week of inspired environmental learning, with dozens of free activities, walks and talks for all New Yorkers to enjoy.

The week of events actually kicks off this Friday evening, with the first of a series of lectures, at NYU:

Friday May 2nd, 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
New York University
“Native Wildflowers of New York City”
Discover the City’s 25,000 green acres—filled with majestic trees, wildflowers, grasses and ferns— the wild, unplanted thread in the Big Apple’s ecological fabric. Learn what makes a plant native and why local flora is important. Explore how life in the five boroughs means it’s not easy being green due to characteristics of urban forests and threats to indigenous flora. We’ll also discuss what you can do, including how to go native in the garden.

Speaker Marielle Anzelone is a botanist, landscape designer and founder of NYC Wildflower Week. This introduction to the flora of the five boroughs will be hosted by the Wallerstein Collaborative for Urban Environmental Education at NYU.

Space is limited.
RSVP by email to kathleen [dot] oliver (at) nyu [dot] edu or call 212-992-9362.

Saturday May 3rd, 8am to 3pm
Greenmarket Events

Free NYC Wildflower Week Bags!
Pick up a NYC Wildflower Week bag for your shopping and get information on the week’s events and why gardening with native plants is the way to go.

Gardening Advice and Demonstrations
Look for our tent at the south side of the Greenmarket. Marielle Anzelone will provide native plant gardening advice and demonstrations throughout the day. Find out what makes a plant native, how to attract butterflies and birds, and the best ways to start a native plant garden.

Greenmarket Native Plant Initiative
As a result of this unique program, Greenmarket vendor Oak Grove Farms will offer certified NYC native plants for sale for the first time starting Saturday May 3, 2008!

Sunday May 4th, 8am to 3pm
Native Plant Display Garden

Wildflower Giveaway
Come by the Native Plant Display Garden (15th St. & Union Square West) from 12 to 3 pm to get a free native plant seedling while supplies last.

Related Posts

Natives
Invasives

Links

NYC Wildflower Week
Torrey Botanical Society
Marielle Anzelone

Ditmas Park West Tree Planting

Updated 2008.04.29: Added link to Anne Pope's Sustainable Flatbush post and Flickr photo set.

---

This morning I helped, for the first time, to plant a street tree. It had rained overnight and was still raining when we started. Just one word to sum it all up:

MUD

Ditmas Park West is one of the neighborhoods of Victorian Flatbush. It's bounded by Cortelyou Road and Newkirk Avenue to the north and south, and Coney Island Avenue and the B/Q subway cut to the west and east. Over 25 years, Ditmas Park West has planted over 300 trees, averaging more than 10 trees each year.

About 25 people showed up this morning and fanned out to different locations. 6 or 7 trees got planted today. The crew of 10 or so I went with had two jobs: clear trash from a vacant lot and dig out a tree pit for a new tree to be planted.

The realities of urban street planting are not so idyllic as our vision of leafy green streets. First, we had to break through a few inches of concrete dumped over asphalt. Bob was handy with the ax.



Beneath all that, we had some not so bad, if compacted, clay.



Once the tree was delivered we measured the depth of our dig and compared it to the height of the root ball.



And kept digging until we got to the right level.



Then we rolled the tree into place ...

... filled in around the base, leveled, and stabilized the tree ...



... and began filling in and tamping down.



Once the tree was stable, we cut off the twine and removed burlap from the top of the ball. Roots got pulled out and spread out as we went along.




Meanwhile, in the adjacent vacant lot, our comrades had done an incredible job clearing trash and rubbish.



I look forward to future greening opportunities. I need some good work boots for next time.

Related Posts

Flickr photo set
Plant Trees in Ditmas Park West

Links

Ditmas Park West Tree Planting, Sustainable Flatbush
Many more photos from Anne Pope of Sustainable Flatbush

[where: 400 Stratford Road, Brooklyn, NY 11218]

Snake in the Garden, Prospect Park

These are the cherries just inside the entrance to Prospect Park at Grand Army Plaza. There is a snake in this garden.



This is a snake. It's not the snake.



Calvert Vaux designed the snake urns which flank the Grand Army Plaza entrances.




The cherries were peaking today. All these petals will be on the ground in a few days.



The snake is visible at the far right of the photo at the top. Here's a close-up. This guy was tearing branches off the cherry trees.

Cherry Vandal



Why would someone do this? Oh, so he could give them to his lady friend.



What a classy couple.

Related posts

Flickr photo set

Links

Calvert Vaux, Wikipedia
You can have your very own Calvert Vaux Snake Urn for a modest $11,000.

More Hanami at BBG

Cherry Esplanade, Brooklyn Botanic Garden


On my way to Botany class at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden last night, I checked out the Cherry Esplanade. This is the big show, folks. Most of the cherries at BBG are now in full bloom.

The forecast calls for rain most of the weekend. Not the best for viewing, but it will keep the crowds down.





The Cherry Esplanade viewed from The Overlook.

Related Posts

Hanami at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, April 4, 2008
Introducing the BBG Hanami Flickr Group, April 3, 2008

Links

Flowering Cherries at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Saturday, April 26: Help cleanup a community garden in Flatbush/PLG

Via email from Anne Pope of Sustainable Flatbush:

This Saturday all are welcome to help clean up a community garden here
in the neighborhood.

Woodruff Seniors Garden Cleanup
Saturday April 26, 12-2pm
Ocean Avenue between Crooke and Woodruff Avenues
(two blocks from the Southeast entrance to Prospect Park)
[Google Map]

(I don't know too many other details at this point -- history of the
garden, future plans, etc., but will post as they become available)

Ditto what Anne says. I'm not familiar with this garden, myself.

Links

Sustainable Flatbush

Sunday, April 27: A day for trees in Flatbush

A reminder that you have two opportunities to get your green on in Victorian Flatbush this Arbor Day weekend on Sunday, April 27.

At 9:30am, meet at 458 Rugby Road to plant trees in Ditmas Park West and spruce up tree pits. Over 14 years, Ditmas Park West residents have planted 300 trees. Their long-running tree-planting program can serve as a model for other neighborhoods to green their streets.

Starting at 1pm, meet at 1414 Cortelyou Road to enjoy and learn about some of the trees in Victorian Flatbush. The Sustainable Flatbush Street Tree Walking Tour will loop through the neighborhoods of Beverley Square West and Prospect Park South. A Google Map of the tour route is available.

Related Posts

Plant Trees in Ditmas Park West
Sustainable Flatbush Street Tree Walking Tour

Links

Sustainable Flatbush
Trees New York

Urban Trees and Social Marketing

Cherry Tree, 244 Argyle Road, Beverley Square West


Today's New York Times profiles Parks Urban Forester Arthur Simpson. Transplanted from the Western United States:

Mr. Simpson has been really surprised by only one aspect of New York City life, and that’s the unwelcome reception he sometimes get at the site of an imminent tree-planting. Sometimes the residents or homeowners are worried about their allergies (though the trees are intended to help alleviate asthma and allergy rates citywide); sometimes they’re worried that a branch will fall on their car (a call to 311 will procure a free pruning). Sometimes they’re worried about the extensive construction required to plant a tree in a patch of concrete.
- Big City: For Urban Tree Planters, Concrete Is the Easy Part, New York Times, April 21, 2008

For my non-NYC readers, 311 is the city-wide telephone portal for all city services and information. Street trees fall under the jurisdiction of the City's Department of Parks and Recreation.

It was only a year ago today, April 21, that the City announced MillionTreesNYC, a plan to plant one million new trees in NYC over the next ten years. Ancillary laws and regulations have yet to catch up. This has amplified inconsistencies between who has authority, and who has responsibility and liability, for this narrow strip of land that borders streets and private property.

As a tree advocate myself, I'm still surprised by the virulence of opposition to trees - indeed, to any kind of greening - I sometimes encounter. My local community board voted to oppose City Planning's Yards Text Amendment, which will prevent paving over front yards and define minimum open space requirements. I recently provided information to my neighborhood association about how to request a free street tree. One of my neighbors approached me after the meeting and asked me not to request a street tree in front of their house; they want to put in a driveway.

In a dense, urban environment, where every square foot of turf matters, conflicts inevitably arise over how to make the best use of the land. I believe that we can't afford to wall ourselves off, to pave over every square inch, to value, absolutely, individual property "rights" without regard for the common good. It is up to advocates to make the case for the collective benefits that street trees provide, and ensure that the costs and responsibilities are distributed equitably.

Related content

City Planning Commission Unanimously Approves Green Initiatives, April 2, 2008
Basic Research: The State of the Forest in New York City, November 12, 2007
Preserving Livable Streets: DCP's Yards Text Amendment, November 7, 2007
1M Trees in 10 Years, April 22, 2007

Links

New York Times, April 21, 2008:
Big City: For Urban Tree Planters, Concrete Is the Easy Part
City Room: Who Is Against Planting Trees?

Residents say block is overplanted, Daily News, April 22, 2008

MillionTreesNYC